A Better Angel by Chris Adrian

   Just what short stories are supposed to be. A question mark in the beginning and an open mystery at the end. I had such a good time reading this book.


Favorite Quote:

"She yodels again, or yiddles, or whatever it is, that sound like some rebel parrot would make."


Overall Opinion:

Mysterious and a little creepy, the stories are hauntingly terrific.


Rating:

Yes!

The Postcard by Tony Abbott

Youth Fiction Pick

   Now, if you read my Firegirl review, you know that I enjoyed Tony Abbott. The Postcard is no exception. Written for a younger audience, this "mystery within a mystery" is engaging for all readers and something I like as a mother of boys, a male protagonist.

   Jason has just begun his summer vacation when he learns that he must join his father in a visit to Florida. Jason's paternal grandmother who he doesn't know and is rarely spoken of has died. Unhappy with being there and while cleaning up, Jason unexpectedly learns something about his grandmother through an old postcard. The mystery adventure begins.

  

Favorite Quote:

"There was no fight, no rumble of berets and spatulas and walkers.

Overall Opinion:

Grab your 8-12 year olds and wow them with a good time with a good book!

Rating:

Borrow It For Your Kids

Jimi & Me by Jaime Adoff

Teen Fiction Pick


   Another winner by Jaime Adoff. His storytelling, his poetry style, they both add up to great books! Jimi & Me is a first person story that follows Keith, a boy who has just lost his father, has to move to a new town and must struggle with new revelations about his family.
   For jr and senior high audiences, this book poignantly speaks to its audience without speaking down or resorting to preachiness. Mr. Adoff allows his characters to be themselves and resolve their dilemmas in a realistic way that young audiences can appreciate and older audiences can understand.



Favorite Quotes:

"My cereal bowl is almost empty,
as the question slides
down the kitchen walls,
landing like a brick in Mom's lap."

"I'm trying to tell myself that things will be okay.
I know it's a lie. But I heard
if you tell a lie long enough
it becomes the truth.
Maybe this lie will come true.
I hope it does."


Overall Opinion:

Written powerfully and poetically, Jaime Adoff's books are ones to add to your teen's library. His stories are a well blended mix of drama and redemption.


Rating:

I would say
in a word-
good.

I would say
in two words-
very good.

I would say
in a word-
delicious.

Dearest Friend A Life of Abigail Adams by Lynne Withey

   What an engaging book! It was nonfiction that read like fiction; a good story well told, richly woven and easily read. Lynne Withey was far from stingy in telling Abigail Adams' story in her own words, readily taking from Mrs. Adams' own correspondence to tell her story in her own words as much as possible. The book was very insightful and drew me into the time.
   Abigail Adams fascinated me. Her responsibility for her family, her sense of duty and willingness to sacrifice what she wanted most for what was necessary spoke to me personally; her words were some that I spoke myself when my husband deployed, repeatedly. The way she sought to improve herself, to enhance her education and saw it as an extension of her role as a wife and mother, her willingness to be in the fight for her husband and children were opinions and feelings that I share.
   And then there was the Abigail Adams whose rigidity and unwillingness to recognize any opinion that differed from hers as anything other than selfish or naive or detrimental or just simply wrong, wrong, wrong. I have to admit I also recognized her moral certainty, though I believe not entirely her rigidity. (I hope my "Venture Books That Impacted Me" proves that for me.)
   I felt like I should pray to be both more and less like Abigail Adams by turn. She was a paradox to me, someone by turns that I admired and would have liked to know and whose company I would not have sought and thought her more than a bit dishonest with herself in the bargain. As I said. A paradox.


Favorite Quotes:

Regarding the raising and education of children: "These first principal[s] which grow with their growth and strengthen with their strength neither time nor custom can totally eradicate."

&

"What strang Ideas they have ours is the task to fix them right, that they may surpass thire mothers in every [thing]."

John Adams in a letter to Abigail describing the Congress at the moment: "There is scarcely animation enough in either house, to excite attention. One may sleep in the midst of a Debate. I have not yet tried however."


Overall Opinion:

In two words: Read it!


Rating:

An I Would Read It Again Book


Links to: John Adams by John Patrick Diggins  

The Alexander Cipher by Will Adams

   If I had more free time this week, I would have happily gobbled up this book the first day. Intelligent, well-spun and well-wrapped, The Alexander Cipher is a good read. Daniel Knox, archeologist, finds that doing the right thing comes with a definite price, especially when the right thing runs counter to the wrong person. Both a thriller and an archeological dig, this book meets this reader's reading expectations.
  

Favorite Quotes:

"He scowled to put himself in the right frame of mind for delivering a proper tongue-lashing..."

"The place was coming to life like a gigantic yawn."


Overall Opinion:

The characters are fleshed out, three dimensional and realistic. The plot has enough twists and turns to satisfy thriller seekers. The ending doesn't disappoint. The parallel stories blend well.


Rating:

Cause it's thriller, thriller yeah!

Fault Line by Laurie Alberts

   It's been a slow reading week so far, but this book was worth the time. Fault Line is a stark, uncompromising view of Laurie Albert's life and her relationship with Kim Janik. It is unapologetic, grim and doesn't hesitate in its revelations.
   Laurie is sixteen when she meets Kim, a junior at Harvard. They quickly form a relationship that is fragile, broken and unyielding from the beginning. Both Laurie and Kim are broken vessels and spend their on and off relationship of fifteen years trying to seal the leaks with pieces of each other, other men (in Laurie's case) and a quest for greater knowledge (Kim's case).
   Laurie Albert's writes the book in response to Kim's death, an event that shakes her core despite the fact that she has been a wife and mother for more than seven years and has not had any contact with Kim in about ten. Her writing is beautiful in its honesty. She spares herself no criticism, whether her own or the reader's. She bares herself in the process and tries to be equally honest about Kim, though I think in her love she spare's him a little.


Overall Opinion:

Fault Line is a haunting story that demands that its readers look at themselves and ask their own hard questions.


Rating:

Yes!

names will never hurt me by Jaime Adoff

Teen Fiction Pick

   Written like a form of poetry, names will never hurt me is filled with tension and keeps you wondering how it will end. It follows four different students during a day at school. Each character is written in the first person with intersecting stories.

   The day is the one year anniversary of another student's death on campus. None of the four really knew the student, but the import of the day nevertheless has an impact. Kurt, Tisha, Mark and Ryan range in the pecking order from greatest to least and don't appear to have anything in common. Except for the day.

   names will never hurt me builds to a taut crescendo, its foundation is bullying, worship, rascism, invisibility, attention and desire. The end is as satisfying as the beginning and the middle. Bonus? Yup. A question that doesn't get answered.

Favorite Quotes:

"My words warming up on the sidelines, ready for the play."

"Sandwiches and confessions fall out of backpacks, crashing to the floor, waiting to be swept up and thrown away."

Overall Opinion:

From the writing style to the story itself, it was fantastic!

Rating:

              !

           P

        U

   Thumbs

Two

Worth a Thousand Words by Stacy Hawkins Adams

   I looked at the cover when I picked it up to read it and I thought to myself that it looked a lot like some of the Christian romance I've been known to read. And you know what? It was. And at the right time too! Not so much the romance, but the Christian.
   Sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed by the "adult" language and situations that I come across every day, everywhere. It's nice to turn some of that off and indulge in just the story.
   Worth a Thousand Words features Indigo Burns who is at the beginning of her career. She has just graduated with her bachelor's and is a summer away from beginning her master degree as a photographer. Her boyfriend Brian, soon to leave for Officer Candidate School with the Navy, has proposed and she has hesitatingly said yes. On top of her own personal dilemma, her family encounters crises that must be met with courage and grace.
   Ms. Adams infuses her novel with a faith that is practical and beautiful. Her characters realistically approach their problems and, though it is a light book (it is a romance, after all) she does an excellent of not dismissing her character's problems in fluffy protestations of faith.


Favorite Quote:

"God can bind anyone in sisterhood, you know."


Overall Opinion:

This is a novel that knows what it is. It tackles romance, life and faith and does justice to all three.


Rating:

8

The Rainaldi Quartet by Paul Adam

   The Rainaldi Quartet is a thriller that follows Gianni Castiglione and policeman Antonio Guastafeste as they attempt to solve the murder of their friend. Set in Italy, the case can only be solved by following their friend Rainaldi's mysterious search for "The Messiah's Sister", a lost violin made, they believe, by Stadivari himself.
   How intriguing can a story of luthiers, violins and grandfathers be, you ask? Very, I answer.
   Mr. Adam weaves a tale of history, mystery and myth that adds up to a satisfying story. I liked the characters, the descriptions of places and the use of historical personages and violin history the author blended so well. As a bonus, Mr. Adam used foreign spelling and word usage to enhance the feeling of foreign people in foreign places. (Think "tyre", "kerb" and "windscreen".)


Favorite Quotes:

"That is the romantic view, of course, a guidebook description of St. Mark's. In fact, when you get to the square you find it brimming over with braying foreigners, unscrupulous street sellers and overfed pigeons which spatter droppings on your head as you fight your way through the throng."

"There was a flurry among the cooing carpet of pigeons in the centre of the Piazza."

"She was caked in orange make-up and around her shoulders-despite the warm evening- she was wearing what appeared to be the last surviving North American buffalo."

"...I am aware that the years are ticking away. In my more morbid moments I feel the darkness drawing nearer. Perhaps He does not have me in his sights just yet, but I am acutely conscious that I am within range."

"...insignificant settlements that are almost too small to be flattered with the title "village"- a one-horse town where the nag has long since keeled over and been consigned to the dogmeat factory."


Overall Opinion:

I hope there are more Paul Adam books on the shelves.


Rating:

A Thrilla You Don't Want To Milla (Alright, I know it makes no sense, but "miss" doesn't rhyme with "thrilla")

Hard Call Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them by John McCain with Mark Salter

   Compiled of portraits of a wide array of people across the world and throughout modern history, Hard Call is a book that inspires the reader to expand their reading list and to learn more about themselves. The book is divided into six chapters that highlight the qualities necessary to good decision making by profiling different people and their characters within the chapters.
   Winston Churchill, King Camp Gillette (don't you think the invention of the razor should have been obvious to someone named Gillette?), Anwar Sadat, Reinhold Niebuhr and Robert Gould Shaw are just a handful of the personages the reader meets. Mr. McCain does a fabulous job of bringing his pages to life. You are drawn into the profiles, learn new things and relearn some you may have forgotten. The profiles are fleshed out and give enough background to allow the reader the sense that they have read something worth reading.
   I do have two cons, however. The first is the introductory piece for each chapter; I found them to be a little "lecturey". The second is the surprising number of missing "the's", "is's", "and's" and other small grammatical absences. It is a bit perplexing to me that there are so many. It was also a bit distracting.
   I almost forgot. There are connections to two other "Venture" books thus far, A Useful Woman and The Last Hero. One of the connections is thin, but it's there. The other is a little stronger. I'll leave you to determine which is which.  :) Finding the connections was definitely a fun aspect of reading the book! I am (Warning: Excessive synonym usage follows!) liking, fancying and enjoying finding these connections and feeling the dots in my brain connect!!


Favorite Quotes:

Attributed to Winston Churchill: "One might as well breed slow race horses."

"In the end, self-confidence is only a virtue when it is premised on the author's certainty that he has prepared himself, in the past and in the present situation, to make the best decision he can. All else is vanity, perhaps the worst attribute that anyone who is responsible for making important decisions could possess...Once the decision is made, and its execution ordered, confidence should become fortitude."

Attributed to Karl Bonhoeffer: "Who stands firm?...Only the one for whom the final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all these, when in faith and sole allegiance to God he is called to obedient and responsible action: the responsible person, whose life will be nothing but an answer to God's question and call."

"We must establish and defend strictures on our own conduct that will protect justice from the demands of our egos. And we must have the humility to accept the guilt we share in by the actions we might be required to take to do justice."

Attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr: "Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man's inclination to injustice make democracy necessary." & "Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness."

"We may not know the full answer in our time. To history, in its poor imitation of God's timeless judgement, one man's life lasts no longer than the spark of a struck flint. But the flame it kindles lasts a bit longer, and thus the full achievement awaits a later, posthumous judgement."


Overall Opinion:

An excellent book overall. Great synopses of men and women who contributed to their day and our time. 


Rating:

9


Links to: A Useful Woman The Early Life of Jane Addams by Gioia Diliberto & The Last Hero A Life of Henry Aaron by Howard Bryant

Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams

   Written with a charming disregard for anything approaching pithy speech, Mostly Harmless is the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Trilogy, but the first and only book in the series that I found on the shelf. Having a teenager I have seen the "Hitchhiker" movie (several times), howsomever it has been several years leaving me with just the memory of its quirkiness.
   Mostly Harmless is definitely quirky. Mr. Adams employs the longest, most circular way to say the shortest things without managing to drone. His writing is enchanting which is funny in that his story is in no way a fairy tale. He is also able to tell a fifth story in a series without having to return to the previous four. This is a stand alone book, though I think it would be even better had I read the first four before it.
   To number four. Arthur Dent is traveling, rather lacklusterly (not sure if I can say that with an -ly, but since I just did, I guess I can) through the universe looking for something like home. Ford Prefect is battling Infinidum, the new corporate owners of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Trillian pops up to bestow Arthur with responsibility.
   I think that was it in a nutshell. The nut took much longer to write and was much more amusing to read. Try it yourself (reading the book, not writing the review) and let me know what you think (in the comments as a short review).  :)


Favorite Quotes:

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof was to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."

"The last thing he wanted after a hellish night like this one was some blasted day coming along and barging about the place."


Overall Opinion:

I haven't spent a more pleasant time taking forever to get to the point of a sentence.


Rating:

If there was a rating system for increasingly wordy books with ever expanding sentences that went in everlastingly magnified circles then the rating would exponentially mount in number until the person saying it would run out of breath in a steadily decreasing gasp so that the person patiently, or impatiently as the case may be, would only hear an almost inaudible "hhhhh".

Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams

   Here is a classic example of oversight. It didn't even occur to me that Down the Rabbit Hole was written by the same Peter Abrahams who wrote Delusion. Not until I had both books in front of me to write my reviews did I notice the similarity. If I'm being totally candid, it took me until I checked the author's picture in both books to figure it out. Eep.
   If you already read my posted review of Delusion, you will know that I was ambivalent, though willing to give him another shot. Well, this was his other shot (though, who are we kidding, if there's another one on the shelf I'll be reading that too).
   Down the Rabbit Hole was an enjoyable mystery. It began well and ended well. It is written for teens without dumbing down to reach its audience. I liked Ingrid, or Griddie as she prefers to be called, though she is the only one to call herself that. I liked the story and I liked the connection to Alice in Wonderland, that isn't what you might believe it to be if you go by the book's title.
   It's the first book in the Echo Falls Mystery series and I'm looking forward to getting to know more about the characters in the series. There are plenty of threads left to be pulled that Mr. Abrahams was kind enough to place. It was a smart move that is sure to invest the reader with a desire to make Echo Falls a place they would like to visit.


Favorite Quotes:

"He was the kind of dog that in a cartoon would harrumph a lot and play second fiddle."

"What was crimson? Just a mealymouthed color that didn't have the guts to be red."


Overall Opinion:

It's one of those teen books that kids will enjoy and adults will forget is for kids.


Rating:

8

Open An Autobiography by Andre Agassi

   Everything I knew about Andre Agassi prior to reading his book: he played tennis, was with Brooke Shields, his face was recognizable to me. What I know about Agassi now is, well, more than that. Open was a good book, written in a way that was seemingly, pardon the phrase, open and fair to those around him. In an autobiography, I think those are good attributes.
   Mr. Agassi is a driven man, raised by a driven father. He lived a professional life he didn't want and was seemingly unachored, personally, until he found a purpose greater than himself that he could fulfill because of his professional life.
   When writing about people he doesn't like or with whom he personally struggled, Andre Agassi is either tight lipped or balanced in his description of the problems. To wit, his relationship with Brooke Shields which, from his description leads the reader to conclude that it was more a poor match with neither one being the complete bad guy. Though he is clear that his decision to propose was poorly made leading to an inevitable conclusion.
   As a person who appreciates spouses who are careful in their speech about each other to outsiders and generous in their praise of the other, I liked his approach to Brooke Shields and I loved the way he spoke about his current wife and their children.
   Mr. Agassi was fair to his family and spoke plainly about his father when he could have been ugly. His confusion and apathy, his immaturity and contrariness are well-spelled. I think the reader will walk away thinking he's a complainer who could have changed his life but didn't or someone who was genuinely torn and lost and didn't develop the maturity neccessary to deal with his life or a bit of all those things (the opinion that's closest to mine).
   The thing I liked most about this book was its lack of quotation marks. It seemed to keep a rhythm and flow that kept you in the book and left the feeling that you were remembering the events with him, rather than being told about the events by him.


Favorite Quotes:

"Her name is Wendi. She's one of the ball girls, about my age, a vision in her blue uniform. I love her instantly, with all my heart and part of my spleen."

"I try to rest, but it's hard with an albino pit bull eyeing you."


Overall Opinion:

You want to pat him on the back and shake sense into him by turns, but you also want to hear how his story ends.


Rating:

8
  

The Secret School by Avi

   Youth Fiction Pick
   What a pleasant one hour read! It's 1925 and Ida Bidson, along with her fellow classmates (all 7 of them), have just learned that their teacher has to leave her post to tend her ailing mother. On top of that, Mr. Jordan the head of the school board, will not be retaining another teacher since the year is almost over. Ida and her friend Tom Kohl must finish the year in order to take the eighth grade end of year exam to qualify for high school.
   Aahhh, what do you do when your dream to be a teacher faces an untimely end for the lack of one yourself? The Secret School is charmingly told, with characters that you can't help but like. It also, importantly, draws a contextual picture of the time that allows the reader to grasp what it was like to live in a small farming town at the time of the story.
  

Favorite Quotes:

"It's hard being patient," Ida replied, "if there's nothing to be patient for."

Tom telling Ida what his uncle told him: "Said, 'If you want to try something new, and you're not scared, means you're not really trying something new.' "

Tom's mother to Ida: " 'Not seen you for the age of the dog.' "

"Sure as aces."


Overall Opinion:

This would be a good read alone or read aloud book.


Rating:

I really liked it, and my eight year old son, really liked it too.

Tudor Portraits Sucess and Failure of an Age by Michael Foss

This was a really interesting book. Rather than focusing on the monarchy, which I assumed based on the title, Mr. Foss introduced the other main characters of the age. More, Walsingham, Gilbert, Greshem and even Mary Tudor; which was interesting because she was a monarch.
   Tudor Portraits gave an inside look at the time and background of the age. It elaborated on the economic picture, the familial, political and economic ties of the eras main players and, what I thought most intriguing, drew a portrait that included the context of the time. I've read some nonfiction that covered the 16th century before, but it usually focused on the monarchy and it was really interesting to draw that focus out and learn more about the movers and shakers behind the throne.
   I really enjoyed learning about how these people were perceived by the men of their day. In a time of religious persecution, corruption and class distinction, it appeals to my desire for a broader understanding to know where they fit in on the days scale. Were they more, less or average? Were they held in general esteem or were they reviled? Was their motive only money? Were they genuinely seeking religion or was it a power ploy?


Favorite Quotes:

His (Sir Thomas Greshem) pleas, backed by certain influential men and supported by Dansell's unfailing ability to bungle..."

Queen Elizabeth:
"Now the wit of the fox is everywhere on foot, so as hardly a faithful or virtuous man may be found."

"The brutal may show a disinterested lust for blood, but the courtier of gentle breeding, if he is to gain honour from the squalors of war, must endow the terrible business with noble purpose."

Richard Hooker:
"In polity as well ecclesiastical as civil, there are and will be always evils which no art of man can cure, breaches and leaks more than man's wits hath hands to stop."

Robert Greene written in his Repentance:
"I light amongst wags as lewd as myself, with whom I consumed the flower of my youth."

Describing the gypsies, Robert Borde is quoted, "They be swart and do go disguised in their apparel contrary to other nations. They be light-fingered and use picking; they have little manner and evil lodging, and yet they be pleasant dancers."


Overall Opinion:

I definitely appreciated the book. My only request would have been a current day comparison of money at some point. That would have really helped for the framing.


Rating:

Good Snapshot Read

murder suicide by Keith Ablow

   Alrighty-roo. If there is another Keith Ablow book on the shelves when I go back to the library, I won't be disappointed. murder suicide takes place earlier in Frank Clevenger's (the protagonist) chronology than The Architect. Going backwards with a serial character can sometimes be a little off putting for me because the later you find the character, the more he/she is usually developed. I still liked Frank. Granted I have only read two books that feature him, but still, I like him.
   Dr. Ablow does another fantastic job of keeping the suspense keen enough that you can't wait to solve the mystery without drawing the tension so tight that you just want to get it over with. Kudos. There are enough possible suspects that it could be anyone which eliminates conclusion jumping. It's more like conclusion hopping, you change your mind back and forth as the story progresses.
   Well developed characters (definitely rooting for Billy), no skimping on the psychological analysis (Clevenger is, after all, a forensic psychiastrist), strong visual imagery that enhances the drama and suspense.


Favorite Quotes:

"Snow's wife had never seen him undress, scarcely seen him naked. Their sex was something stolen from one another under the covers by night."

"'It's early,' Billy blurted out, then looked down self-consciously, as if he'd dropped his veneer of cool somewhere near his feet."


Overall Opinion:

Is it suicide or is it murder? I'm not telling. Read the book and find out for yourself.


Rating:

Read it!

The Architect by Keith Ablow

   Keith Ablow is a forensic psychiatrist. When I see him on the news expounding on this or that I find him to be intelligent and straightforward. As a writer I find him to be an entertaining author with an engaging protaganist. It is fitting that his main character is also a forensic psychiatrist, write what you know indeed.
   The Architect is the first of two Dr. Ablow books that I checked out in this week's haul. It was smartly written and features Dr. Frank Clevenger, a personable good guy who does his job well and seems to be doing his darndest to tread water in his personal life. I was definitely rooting for him. Ablow's book reminded me of James Patterson's (one of my favorite thriller/detective go to authors) Michael Bennett and/or Alex Cross series; also personable good guys treading water.
   This book kept me turning pages, the characters were well developed, the storyline was intriguing and the tension was good. I love me a surprise ending and was thrilled to find that this book had one. (So often the books I've read in this genre don't.) Good relaxing day read.


Favorite Quotes:

"Bright white Chiclets for teeth."

"He had visited the prisoners at Middleton many times. The three officers behind the huge plate glass window in the lobby, cashiers of humanity, knew him well."


Overall Opinion:

I'm thinking about adding Ablow to my Patterson lineup.


Rating:

Definitely a Read Worth Reading

A Useful Woman The Early Life of Jane Addams by Gioia Diliberto

   I have been waiting for enough time to write this review. This book gave me a lot to think about and was so worth the time it took to read it! A Useful Woman is the type of 920 book that makes the genre as good as it is; informational and enjoyable. Gioia Diliberto writes clearly, appreciates the reader's need for context clues and cites well.
   Jane Addams was completely new to me; I knew nothing about her before reading the book and resisted a Wikipedia sneak peek to find out. I'm glad I did. It was fun to meet her as I read the book and, I think, a little less confusing. Jane Addams was a feminist, activist, unionist, charity working liberal. She put her time, money and life where her mouth was and agree or disagree with her she lived her beliefs. Keep in mind that Jane Addams was born in 1860, a different time indeed.
   A little about me. I am almost ardently anti-union, I enjoy spending money on May 1 because it's May Day and have little sympathy for feminism as it is known today. That being said, I also believe there was a time when unions and feminists were necessary and on the right side of the issues more often than the wrong side. Jane Addams' era was one of those times. She provided educated women an opportunity to work and gave educational and vocational opportunities for the poor by running Hull House. She worked hard and dedicated her life to improving the lives of the poor and uneducated in a concrete way. Ms. Addams saw traditional charity as little lasting help and believed that education and vocational instruction were the way to change lives.
   Jane Addams was not perfect, and in fact, was a pacifist (something that goes against my moral grain), but she stuck to her guns. I always appreciate someone who says what they mean and means what they say. Whether I agree or disagree with someone, I respect those who stand by their opinions; it seems that Jane Addams was one of those people.
   Gioia Diliberto emphasizes the "drudgery" of a woman's life in the home as though all women were unhappily confined. It's an obviously feminist perspective, but seemed pretty fair in her assessment of Jane's good and bad characteristics. Jane Addams' perspective that women were morally superior is an expression of the time that seems to still abound today in the argument that there would be fewer wars if women were in charge. Both are arguments that are equally silly then and now.
   One of my favorite things about the book was that Diliberto didn't tell the reader how much money Jane was left and leave it at that. She went on to tell the reader what the money would be worth today; it is something that makes a difference in understanding the context of the time.


Favorite Quotes:

Written by John Addams (Jane Addams' father) in his diary, "Integrity above all else. Am firmly impressed that 'Honesty is the best Policy,' and hope that I may by all means and through all hazards stick to the above Proverb. Let come what may, let me stick to the above."

Written by Jane Addams, "Life's a burden, bear it. Life's a duty, dare it. Life's a thorn crown, wear it. And spurn to be a coward!"

Jane Addams: "If you don't take charge of a child at night you can't feel a scared trembling little hand grow confiding and quiet as soon as it lies within your own."

Ellen Starr, one of Jane's friends: " I love Franscesco better than any child in the world. I would like to own him if I could make enough money to buy his clothes & food...we omit the small circumstance that his parents probably want him. Italians never give up their children."

In response to the district's corrupt alderman, Johnny Powers, who bought off the constituent's: "Indeed, what headway can the notion of civic purity, of honesty of administration make against this big manifestation of human friendliness, this stalking survival of village kindness? The notions of the civic reformer are negative and impotent before it. They give themselves over largely to criticisms of the present state of affairs, to writing and talking of what the future may be, but their goodness is not dramatic, it is not even concrete and human."


Overall Opinion:

What an interesting book. Full of history and contextual references.


Rating:

9


Links to: Hard Call Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them by John McCain with Mark Salter

Great Gunfighters of the West by Carl W. Breihan

   What a fun book. It came with quite a few technical difficulties, but that didn't stop the book from telling its tale and telling it vividly. Great Gunfighters of the West profiles nine gunfighters, some of whom I knew of and most whom I didn't. If you walk away with nothing else, you will walk away with thankfulness that we live in a much more lawful America.
   Whew! I have seen my share of westerns and I still was struck by a certain titillating fear of living in the West during the 1800's to the turn of the century. I know the context of your own personal time defines your reaction to events, but still, I am thankful that this time is my time.
   I was struck by how many of these men were so bad and still sought after to be lawmen of the towns they lived in. (The author states that it was not uncommon to hire badmen to keep the others in line, which I suppose makes a certain kind of sense.) I also found it interesting to see how often they returned to the areas they were already in trouble in. That reminded me of the car chases that take place in the driver's neighborhoods. I always think that I would get out of Dodge (after reading about the actual Dodge City, I am surprised more people didn't) and wondered why the profiled gunmen didn't. I suppose, like our current hoodlums, there is something to be said for familiar places and faces.
   As to the technical difficulties. There was a consistent, though not completely unnerving, use of grammar errors. There was also an assumption of the readers familialarity of the profiled characters and their time, that left me a little confused. I think that this good book could have been at least a really good book if the author had taken the time to tease out some of the background that he alluded to in his profiles. Chapter 8 felt rushed, I think because there was either not enough to tell, the author felt more of an obligation to include him, or both.  The addition of a bibliography of his source materials would have been helpful as well.

Favorite Quotes:

"This was Wild Bill Longley. Cold-blooded, vicious, psychopathic. The only good thing that can be said of him is that he died young, and most of those who knew him thought that wasn't soon enough."

Written to a Texas newspaper before his (Bill Longley's) hanging: "And now, boys, remember the road Bill Longley had travelled, in disobeying his parents, and when you start to do wrong remember that a very small wrong always leads to still greater ones, and so on until finally, nothing will seem wrong to your if you follow the wrong road."

Bat Masterson on gunfighting: "The main thing is to shoot first and never miss."

"He (Ben Thompson) suffered from insomnia and liked to spend the night roving from one quarter of the town to another, usually shooting playfully at anything he saw."

Clay Allison: "Go heel yourself, varmint. I'm waitin'."

Overall Opinion:
At any rate, and my goggle-eyed reading aside, Breihan whet my appetite for a more in depth look at the subject. That's a good thing for an author to accomplish.

Rating:

7

John Adams by John Patrick Diggins

   Until I read John Adams I didn't know just how much I idealized the time of America's founding. I saw everyone on the same page, thinking along the same lines; ready to hold hands and sing Kumbaya. I knew there were differences, but I thought they existed more between the Tories and Whigs. I enjoyed this biography for the insight into the time and for opening my eyes to the realities that people are people; a perspective I usually am pretty good at keeping, but, for some reason, I neglected to a fault.
   I learned that I "personally" like John Adams more than Thomas Jefferson. John Adams was smart and insightful and, at times, puzzlingly shortsighted. He loved his wife. I learned that President Adams was a real person who would probably recoil from the celebrity with which he is currently held.
   John Patrick Diggins' book is a short 175 pages that most likely hit the main points and leaves the minutia for a longer treatise. Diggins still does a good job of painting a picture, though whether the picture is more of Thomas Jefferson or John Adams, I'm not quite sure.

Favorite Quotes:

"Ben Franklin described Adams as "always an honest Man, often a Wise One, but sometimes and in somethings, absolutely out of his Senses."

"His father...wanted his son to study Latin...When he protested that he hated the subject, his father replied: 'Well, John, if Latin-grammar does not suit you, you may try ditching, perhaps that will...' Young John looked forward to the "delightful change," only to discover after a day and a half of hard, backbreaking work that he preferred Latin to labor. Finally at nightfall 'toil conquered pride, and I told my father, one of the severest trials of my life, that, if he chose, I would go back to Latin-grammar. He was glad of it; and if I have since gained any distinction, it has been owing to the two days' labor in that abominable ditch.'"

"The great sin, announced Adams the Puritan, is passivity and complacency. "Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.'"

"Years earlier they (Adams and Benjamin Franklin) slept in the same room, and when Adams closed the windows tight before turning in, he would awake shivering to find that Franklin had opened them wide and, instead of allowing Adams to get back to sleep, Franklin would give him a lecture on the virtues of fresh air."

"Party politics in America begins in bravado and ends in bathos, an electoral campaign that promises a climactic resolution and succumbs to the ordinary trivia of everyday politics."

"'Why, he (Adams) asked, 'are the personal accomplishments of  beauty, elegance, and grace, held in such esteem by mankind? Is it merely from the pleasure which is received from the sight of these attributes? By no means. The taste for such delicacies is not universal; in those who feel the most lively sense of them, it is but a slight sensation, and of the shortest continuance; but those attractions command the notice and attention of the public; they draw the eyes of the spectators.'"

Overall Opinion:

A good introduction to John Adams; leaves me definitely wanting to learn more.

Rating:

7


Links to: Dearest Friend A Life of Abigail Adams by Lynne Withey