Keep Moving by Dick Van Dyke with Todd Gold

"However, after ninety years on the planet, I can confirm one absolute, fundamental, inarguable truth about life: it is an endless series of surprises. We old people---no, make that us folks who have lived a long time---have learned this basic truth: no one knows what is going to happen next. It's all a mystery wrapped in a gift box that you only find when you least expect it."
                  -Dick Van Dyke

With the subtitle and Other Tips and Truths About Aging, this book seems like a manual of how-to grow old gracefully. It was easy to read, just over 200 pages, with some very good advice for seniors.
Many of the "tips and truths" I had read or heard before but Van Dyke has put his advice together in an entertaining way, spicing it up with some of the humor for which he is well-known. Since I love to dance, I really appreciated his suggestion that the best way to stay sharp is dancing! Keep Moving gets a rating of 3 from me.

I have been a fan of Van Dyke's work but didn't know he currently sings with a quartet called the Vantastix. They do charity performances, including in hospitals. Throughout the book he includes anecdotes about his work and the people who have influenced him, particularly Carl Reiner. I didn't realize Stan Laurel was his idol, but it makes sense.

The chapter titled "Ninety Years--a Report Card" was cleverly written, covering the biggest news of his lifetime and grading each from A-F. Interestingly, his 3rd wife, Arlene is more than 40 years his junior. How they got together after the loss of his beloved 2nd wife to cancer added some romance to his book.

If you are over 60 and need some inspiration for staying young, read this one!

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

"Then the sound....caused a sudden explosive chain reaction in Strike's brain, lighting a landing strip for a theory that he knew, with the certainty of a prophet, would lead to the killer. As the steel joists of a building are revealed as it burns, so Strike saw in this flash of inspiration the skeleton of the killer's plan, recognizing those crucial flaws that he had missed---that everyone had missed---but which might, at last, be the means by which the murderer and his macabre schemes could be brought down."                                   -from the novel

This novel was written by J. K. Rowling by another name, a pen name she chose after finishing her Harry Potter series, which I loved. Her first was The Casual Vacancy which I finished but really disliked. Then came The Cuckoo's Calling, the first of the Cormoran Strike crime series, a better novel, in my opinion. Career of Evil is the third of the series with one called The Silkworm being the second and one I was unaware of until now. Not sure how I missed it and I am wondering if something I missed would have made a difference in my enjoyment of this one. Also I read The Cuckoo's Calling so long ago I had forgotten much of its plot. To add to all that,  the thread of Blue Oyster Cult lyrics was lost to my understanding, since I have no experience with that music. Even the novel's title comes from one of the Cult's song titles, "Career of Evil." All things considered I give this one a 3.5. It WAS a page-turner, well-written, but the graphic violence was far from entertaining. Sort of reminded me of James Patterson's grisly themes. Most likely I will go back and read The Silkworm, if that tells you anything.

This thriller begins with Robin Ellacott receiving a woman's severed leg at the office where she is assistant to Cormoran Strike, private detective. It soon becomes apparent there is a vicious serial killer on the loose, one who is stalking Robin, seemingly to exact revenge on Strike. It doesn't take long for Strike to come up with 3 suspects, all of whom have been an ugly part of his past. The story alternates between Strike's investigation with Robin's help to the stalker's evil plans. Pretty exciting about 400 pages in!

I did enjoyed the setting of London since my husband and I visited there last spring. Mentions of the Tube and other landmarks like The Gherkin (a pickle-shaped building) elicited fond memories. I loved the British slang, expressions like nip into the office, mobile (cell phone), spot on, crisps (potato chips), car park, fag or cig for cigarette, ring pull (pop tab) and cashpoint for ATM. Many dialects were used by minor characters, some a little challenging to figure out. This was interesting to me since I was recently talking with someone from London who was saying how you can tell what part of London a person is from by how they speak.

One of these days I am going to go back and reread all those Harry Potter books. I believe they showed this author at her best!

Forever Island by Patrick D. Smith

"What good will there be in a park where nothing grows and no animals can live. Who would want to see that? If Big Cypress dies, the park [Everglades National Park] dies. And that's a fact."
                 -newspaper man Albert Lykes, from the novel

Though this book is fiction, it comes eerily close to the truth. Main character Charlie Jumper, an elderly Mikasuki Seminole, is faced with being forced from the land he loves in Big Cypress Swamp. In reading the novel one can learn much of the history of the Seminoles in Florida and the efforts by 20th century natives  to make a living and maintain their culture while dealing with "progress." The story is short, simple and touching. My rating is a 3.

I am always struck by the profound respect that native Americans have for nature---the land, water, plants and animals.  Forever Island reminds me of a song called "Seminole Wind" by Floridian John Anderson. Both the song and novel portray the unfortunate toll of land development on out beautiful state. I attempted to attach a link to the YouTube video with no success. Look for it if you are interested. The address is below.

https://youtu.be/KGoBQIhyFFM?list=RDKGoBQIhyFFM

I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb

"It is all connected, Dominick. Life is not a series of isolated ponds and puddles; life is this river you see below, before you. It flows from the past through the present on its way to the future...Life is a river. Only in the most literal sense are we born on the day we leave our mother's womb. In the larger, truer sense, we are born of the past---connected to its fluidity, both genetically and experientially."                                   -Dr. Patel, from the novel

It seemed like I would never finish this novel of 897 pages but it was such an intriguing story, I was sorry when I finally did. It gets a 5 rating from me.

In this ultimate dysfunctional family story, Dominick Birdsey has an identical twin who is schizophrenic and a mother who has never revealed the identity of their father. Dominick feels overwhelmed with being brother Thomas's protector and frustrated by the mystery of his paternity. When Dominick meets with Dr.Patel to try to help her analyze his brother, he comes to grips with much of his own guilt, grief and fears. In efforts to help Dr. Patel understand Thomas, he begins to actually find himself.

The novel seems to me to be a story within a story within a story. Not only does the reader follow Dominick's own story but as he reads the autobiography of his late grandfather, we learn the story of a first-generation Sicilian immigrant of the early 1900's. Within the grandfather's story is another story involving two women, one of whom ends up being Dominick's grandmother. There were also flashbacks to the childhood and youth of the twins.

I mentioned this was a dysfunctional family story so it was depressing at times, infuriating at others. Not much entertainment value but very thought-provoking and even profound in places, especially in Dr. Patel's therapy sessions. (See quote above.)

I did enjoy the challenge of figuring out the Italian words and phrases in the grandfather's autobiography, the ones not translated in footnotes by the author. At times, I could use my slight knowledge of Spanish and the context to come up with a meaning. For example, il mal occhio---the evil eye and ovazione in piedi---standing ovation.

A fascinating saga, carefully researched, beautifully written---I Know This Much Is True!

READING LIST 2015

Here are the books that Page Turners have read in 2015, the ratings we assigned them and how they ranked.

rank   rating              title/author

1.   4.4   All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr   January

2.   3.9   The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon        August

3.   3.7   In the Garden of Beasts by Eric Larsen                  June

4.   3.5   The Martian by Andy Weir                                     November

5.   3.4   Another Man's Treasure by Charles Hall                April

6.   3.2   Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes                           March

7.   3.1   The Spymistress by Jennifer Chiaverini                  February

8.   3.0   The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant        October

9.   2.9   The Lost City of Z by David Grann                        September

10.  2.8   The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht                              May

11.  2.1   Bossypants by Tina Fey                                           July

The Martian by Andy Weir

"Okay, enough moping. I am having a conversation with someone: whoever reads this log. It's a bit one-sided but it'll have to do. I might die, but damn it, someone will know what I had to say."
                       -from Mark Watney's log

I was skeptical about how I'd react to a science fiction novel since it's a genre I rarely, if ever, select. It was highly recommended as a book that anyone could like. Having read it I'd say techie types would enjoy it more---it has lots of technical descriptions, science terms, chemical formulas and space jargon.

In this novel astronaut Mark Watney is assumed dead by his crew and abandoned on Mars so the story is of his struggle to survive in an environment unconducive to life. His intelligence and educational background as mechanical engineer and botanist, his intense astronaut training,
his resourcefulness and his powerful will to live combine to help him overcome challenge after challenge. The intensity and high-tech detail of Watney's log is relieved by occasional narrative accounts of Earth's reaction to his predicament---that is Mission Control. And a while later the reader becomes aware of the Ares 3 crew's reactions, as well.

The reading would have been far more tedious without Watney's sense of humor, for example at one point he states that "Duct tape is magic and should be worshipped" and at another claims to be "the best botanist on the planet." His sarcastic comments about 70's music and TV reruns, his only entertainment thanks to Commander Lewis's collection, are funny and add nostalgia for the reader who remembers the decade well. He even chose the Bee Gee's "Stayin' Alive" as his theme song. (I was, and still am, a fan.)

The paperback copy of the book contained A Conversation with the Author and an essay by him, an admitted science nerd. These were very interesting and added to my appreciation of his work.

The novel seemed like a cross between "Castaway" and "Apollo 13." Like the latter it was very exciting even knowing the outcome of the story. I rated the book a 3. I liked it, didn't love it.

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Eleven members of the Page Turners group met to discuss the book. Ten had read it and half voted a rating of  4 and the other half, 3---average: 3.5; even I could do that math in my head. One member pointed out that the highest ratings were from the retired engineers! (Remember what I predicted earlier?) In discussing most of the 20 questions provided by the publisher, we agreed that Mark Watney was a likeable character, that his challenges and problem-solving were believable and that his humor kept the story entertaining, and may have actually helped to save his life. We agreed it was not so much science fiction as a good survival story. One person described the novel as Robinson Crusoe on Mars. Can you guess what our refreshments included? Potatoes, of course! (If you haven't read it, you may not get the significance.) Some in our group had seen the movie and liked it. I am looking forward to seeing it soon!

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So the movie version was excellent! My husband accompanied me, not having read the book and he loved it, as well. The casting was outstanding and the acting was superb, especially Matt Damon in the lead role. I was delighted that the commander of Ares 3 was a woman, in both novel and movie.

The film followed the book very well, I thought. There were less obstacles in the movie but the ones included were more dramatic because of the multi-media experience---cinematography and sound effects. I would say many parts were frighteningly realistic and I KNEW how it would turn out! I loved hearing some of the 70's music in places and being better able to visualize Mars, the Hermes ship, the Hab, the rover, Pathfinder, etc.

A big addition to the movie is an Epilogue, something our group thought would have improved the ending of the novel. There would be good reasons to see the movie before reading the book but either way don't miss The Martian!

The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant

"Studying the dogs, she had learned how to live within herself entirely:  to sit without expectation, to rest, eyes half-closed, and panting through the stifling heat, sniffing subtle changes in the air, succumbing to sleep when it came. The dogs were neither noisy nor silent, neither idle nor busy. They snored and sighed, coughed, scratched, and snapped at buzzing passersby. They stood and stretched, ambled to the bushes to lift a leg, or crouch, returned to shade or tall grass to circle and settle again. They smelled one another lazily, chewed on the grass, lifted their chins to follow the motion of a bird or a scent on the wind. Ruth passed whole days among them, floating through time like it was warm water."
                         -from the novel

This book didn't do much for me. Had it not been a book club selection, I'm not sure I would have finished it. I had read The Red Tent by this author some time ago and it was much better. I'm only rating this one a 2.

Though the setting was 1814 Massachusetts I didn't get much "flavor" of that period other than the mention of witches and lack of modern conveniences. There were so many characters I had trouble keeping up with the relationships between them let alone becoming involved with any. One could say that Judy Rhimes was the main character and I did develop some empathy for her. Easter Carter was an admirable woman, as well, so positive and compassionate. Most characters had so much emotional baggage that the story couldn't help but drag the reader down---ill-treated orphans, drunks, prostitutes, lonely spinsters, star-crossed lovers.

The frequent appearance of dogs and descriptions of them probably had some significance that I didn't quite get, in fact the beginning quote may hint at it.
I hope our group discussion will shed some light on this hodge podge of a novel and show me some redeeeming qualities.

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Our group rating is a 3 for The Last Days of Dogtown; in fact the majority voted a 3. At least two people of our eleven really liked the book, seemingly because several of the characters were resilient and managed to rise above their unfortunate circumstances. Some descriptions of the mood of the novel were: grim, bleak, dreary, depressing. Perhaps we should have expected that from a book with such a title. Most of us thought the ending was plausible and satisfactory. A couple of members agreed with me that Easter was one of the more consistent and likeable characters and added that she was a central, connecting figure in the story.

When someone mentioned the part where Stanwood's "angelic visitation" took place, we all had a good laugh remembering one of the lighter events of the plot.

Four or five of us had read The Red Tent by this author and enjoyed it. If you've read nothing by Diamant, I would start with that one!