The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth 5

 

"Questions, questions---you wear me out with your questions, child. Find out for yourself---we all have to in the end. No one can give you faith. It is a gift from God alone. Seek and ye shall find. Read the Gospels. There is no other way. Do not pester me with your everlasting questions. Go with God, child; just go with God."

           -Sister Monica Joan

When I knew that this was Book One of a trilogy that inspired the TV series "Call the Midwife," I downloaded it right away. I have been a fan of the PBS series for a couple of seasons. I didn't know at first if I was going to like the book because it didn't grab my interest immediately. However, it didn't take long to get emotionally involved with the characters and the stories. I have rated it a 5.

Author Jennifer Lee Worth was a nurse in the 1950's before going to live in a convent to train as a midwife. She meets the most amazing characters---the nuns themselves, including the inimitable and highly quotable Sister Monica Joan, and the patients. The most memorable story was that of Len and Conchita Warren. At the age of 41 Conchita was expecting her 25th child and spoke no English! 

The memoir is beautifully written and at times humorous, touching and spiritual. The Cockney accents were a bit challenging even for the author according to the Appendix of the book. My husband and I were recently exposed to the Gullah language in South Carolina which we found difficult, as well.

I may soon look for Book Two, Shadows of the Workhouse.

We Fed an Island: The True Story of Rebuilding Puerto Rico, One Meal at a Time by Jose Andres 4

 

"Hello, people of America, people of the world. Today: big news. Twenty-one days in this beautiful island of Puerto Rico, and I can tell you at the World Central Kitchen Chefs for Puerto Rico initiative, we are about to reach today one million meals cooked by the men and women of Puerto Rico. Big day. I love you all."

       -Chef Andres, from a press release video, 2017

I might not have read this book except that it was suggested for a multigenerational group of which I am member. It was very enlightening as to what happened in Puerto Rico in 2017 after Hurricane Maria. Chef Andres and his World Central Kitchen crew arrived 4 days after the storm and proceeded to find ways to help the people who were suffering so much. He was immediately focused on getting food and water to all the islanders he could reach. As the book title suggests, he fed hundreds of thousands of people, 

He had a good bit to say about the failings of the US government, specifically the president and FEMA, and some of the nonprofit organizations we would expect to be helpers after a disaster. Along with criticism, he had ideas about how some of the mistakes made in Puerto Rico could be avoided in the future.

I learned that Puerto Ricans, although they have been US citizens since 1917, have never had the respect or equality of the mainlanders. I find it very sad. 

I have rated the book a 4. Long chapters and somewhat repetitive but otherwise a worthy read.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford 4

 

"Time and space is a hard one to deal with, let me tell you. Moving all the way up here from the South, I can testify to that one. People relations is hard business. Hard to keep that going. But don't give up, something good will come of it all---things have a way of working out just fine, you'll see."      -Sheldon Thomas, advice to Henry

In 1986, Henry Lee learns of a discovery in the old Panama Hotel, a Seattle landmark: abandoned belongings of Japanese families evacuated back in 1942. Henry is grieving the recent loss of his wife, Ethel, and reminiscing about a beloved friend of his youth, Keiko Okabe, a Japanese American. There is a souvenir of that long ago relationship that Henry feels may be in that collection in the hotel and he has a great desire to find it.

The story is told in a split narrative, past and present. In 1942, Henry, a Chinese American boy, and Keiko meet as scholarship students in a white school. They both work in the kitchen to earn their tuition, and both are bullied. They become very close and when Keiko's family is relocated after Pearl Harbor, Henry is devastated. They promise to wait for each other and write letters. And Henry's good friend, Sheldon, a sax player takes him to the internment camp in Idaho to visit her.

They lose touch over 40+ years, each moving on with their lives. And I will let you predict the ending or read the book to find out.

The book was well-researched, a sad reminder of an ugly time in American history, but I enjoyed it all the same. My rating is 4. I learned some things about Asian cultures and I liked the characters, Henry, Keiko and Sheldon, and even Henry's once-estranged son, Marty.

The Wager A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann 3

 

"No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned."

         -Samuel Johnson

In 1740 during a war with Spain, the HMS Wager with several other ships, left Portsmouth on a mission to capture a treasure laden Spanish galleon. The subtitle of the book provides more than a hint to the outcome. 

While attempting to sail around Cape Horn, an area known for dangerous weather, Wager is badly damaged and runs aground near Patagonia. The crew, greatly diminished by scurvy and starvation, lapses into anarchy. Captain David Cheap is seen as a tyrant, blamed for the wreckage and accused of murder, which brings on a mutiny led by the gunner, Bulkely and others.

After 5 years a small percentage of those sent out have returned to England in a few different groups. The survivors of one group are casting blame on the others and a court martial is held in 1746.

I didn't particularly enjoy The Wager but I found it interesting enough to rate it a 3. I read Killers of the Flower Moon by this author a couple of years ago and gave it a 4; a more relatable story to me but one that made me angry and sad.

I learned a few things about sailing in the 18th century that I didn't know like why British  sailors are referred to as "limeys," how the ship was known as a "wooden world," where the expression "under the weather" originated and the meaning of "walk up Ladder Lane and down Hemp Street" (to face hanging as punishment).

There were many quotes for me to choose from, the one I began with and this from Herman Melville: "Impracticable Cape! You may approach it from this direction or that---in any way you please---from the east or from the west; with the wind astern, or abeam, or on the quarter; and still Cape Horn is Cape Horn....Heaven help the sailors, their wives and their little ones."

I would recommend this nonfiction to readers who have experience sailing the ocean.

God's Country by William Kent Krueger 5

 

"You are who you always were. You have never been one thing. No human ever is. We are the lion and we are the lamb. We are the rock and we are the wind. We are the creator and we are the destroyer. You are no different."

    -Henry Meloux's advice to Cork

God's Country is the 22nd novel in the Cork O'Connor series and I have read, and enjoyed, them all! I had anticipated this one so long, I actually bought it for Kindle because I would have been on a longggg waitlist for a library copy. Maybe the first eBook I've ever paid full price for.

In this installment of the series, Cork sets out on a family trip (just the men and boys) into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. After a short time, signs of violence are noted, and Cork sends the family members home to summon law enforcement. Knowing his long-time friend, Cordell Bishop, is leading this suspicious group, Cork feels he must be in danger and so sets out to find and hopefully rescue him.

He finds the Kennedy brothers have basically kidnapped Cordell and are trying to force him to help them find their late father's stash of something apparently quite valuable. It is a dangerous choice Cork makes when he decides he must help his friend. As he gets to know the brothers, he faces not just his own survival instinct but also inner turmoil about how to treat the captors. He can't help but think of something Henry has mentioned before, an Indigenous saying: "There are two wolves constantly battling in the human heart. One is love, the other hate. Which one wins the battle? The one you feed. Always the one you feed."      

There are so many quotable passages in this book, it was hard to choose one, but I think I have started almost every Cork O'Connor blog post with wisdom from Henry Meloux. This time I included two. I am always in awe at Krueger's powers of description, making me wish I could see "God's country" in Minnesota, although not in the canoe trip he depicts in this novel!

Another thriller from this author, I rated it a 5 even though it wouldn't be among my favorites. This is the first in the series where I thought the end was a cliffhanger. Now we have to wait for book 23 to know how Cork handles his angst!

London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe 3

 

"For five years, the Brettlers had spent an inordinate amount of time poring over the mystery of Zac's death, and their diligence had exposed, at least partially, a matrix of power and secrecy and corruption in contemporary London, a dimension of their own city that they had never recognized before now."

I recognized this author's name when I began to see this title on the Bestseller List. I had read 2 of Keefe's nonfictions---Say Nothing and Empire of Pain. Both were captivating and I gave them high ratings. I am giving this one a 3---it made me want to finish but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the other two. There were so many characters to keep track of and so many were evil. Much discussion of the financial world and corruption left me cold, not to mention an unsatisfying ending.

I think between the subtitle: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth and the quote above, you have a short summary of this true crime.story. Zac Brettler is the 19-year-old son of Rachelle and Matthew Brettler who has been leading a double life and getting mixed up with some dangerous characters. Zac is caught on camera pacing the patio of a luxury apartment some time before his body is found in the Thames. Keefe writes "A lot of people in London have a story like this---about a body in the Thames. Every year, thirty or so bodies are retrieved from its waters." Guess that explains the title.

Zac's death was thought to be suicide but the people who knew him best did not believe it. The investigation was far from thorough leading the Brettlers and this author to keep searching for clues.

A Heartbeat at My Feet by Kristin Judd 5

 

"Listen: I've mentioned that, as a dog, human relationships often befuddle me---they're overly complicated ridiculously intricate. Consider, dogs, for example. Consider, if you will, me: I either love someone, or hate them, or am indifferent altogether....

But when you get right down to it, when I love someone, I love them without ambiguity. That's how it is with dogs. But human relationships? Dio Mio...love between humans can be as clear as a muddy pond."

       -Cicero, from the novel

Unexpectedly this was one of the most enjoyable books I've read in a while. I generally do not read romances, and this one contains that element but much more. I am rating it a 5---well-written and so light and entertaining.

Josie Ballard is a young woman hurt by a philandering husband who takes off on a long-dreamed-of trip to Italy. Meanwhile, a "snobbish terrier of indeterminate breeding" named Cicero is wandering Pompeii, mourning the loss of his precious owner, Giorgio. When the two meet up, it seems a match made in heaven, especially when they are led to Hugo, Giorgio's estranged son. Can you say serendipity?

The chapters alternate between Josie's perspective and Cicero's narratives, which are very humorous. Made me laugh out loud at times.

I recommend this endearing story.