Just Because I Have Not Been On Here In Awhile Does Not Mean I Have Stopped Reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                  Au contraire, my dears, au contraire.  Not only have I been reading, I have just reached my 82nd book, meaning I am now only 18 books away from my goal of 100.

                                  As for what I have read, it has been a mixed bag.  Let's get started--

                                                                               

                                               "Mayflies," by Andrew O'Hagan--Girls, this is not an easy one.  Short, and to the point, it is also exuberant and heartbreaking.  From Chapter 20 on, I was sobbing.   And I am usually not that way with print.  A friendship forms between Tully Dawson and James in working class Scotland, circa 1986, and the deptiction of youthful camaraderie, and things shared at no other time of  life, are priceless.  Then the story moves into adulthood.  Tully, recently married, is terminally ill, and Tully asks James to "help" him.  You know what I mean,  dolls.  Like Sipsie "helped" Ruth in "Fried Green Tomatoes."  This places a burden on James, a wedge in Tully's marriage, and the reader knows where this is going, so who can stop crying?  Nevertheless, O' Hagan pulls off a minor literary mirace.  Because even while the reader sobs, the last sentences and images of this novel are exhilirating and filled with hope and happiness.  An achievement not to be forgotten.

                                                                              

                                              "Not A Happy Family," by Shari LaPena--Hons, I needed something to  take the edge off  "Mayflies," and when I heard there was a new Shari Lapena  out, I ran  to the bookstore, because I knew this would be just the thing.  And it was.  The Mertons--Fred and Sheila, and their children--Catherine, Dan, and Jenna--are the most affluent family in  their Westchester suburb.  Not since Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes" has there been such malice.  While not as highbrow as Hellman, LaPena's latest is the needed fun after finishing an emotional draining book, and one where I turned out to be  wrong  in  guessing the culprit,  when I  am  usually right.  Not to give anything away, but, in  its own, quiet way, "Not A Happy Family" may be one of best arguments in favor of birth control.  You have got to read it,  darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                                                 

                                               "We Are The Brennans," by Tracy Lange--When I first saw, and heard, about this, I thought someone was doing a redo of Joyce Carol Oates' "We Were The Mulvaneys."  The book in not as highbrow as Oates', but, speaking from my own experience, it gets the whole Irish Cathlic milieu right.  There is a passage that reads, "We wear our shame and guilt as medals," and boy, let me tell you, that is the truth.  Grudges long held, betrayals, envy, jealousy--it is all part of  the Irish Catholic experience,-- and while a novel, there were characters I recognized as people I had grown up around,  some of whom are my relatives.  An entertaining read, and a good insight as to what constitutes Irish Catholic guilt--mostly sex--as opposed to other cultural kinds.

                                                                              

                                                 "Ethel Rosenberg, An American Tragedy," by Anne Sebba--We  love you, Ethel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And Julius, too.  For shame, being done in by those treacherous Greenglasses, with Ruthie going scott free.  I hope when they passed--the Greenglasses--the Rosenbergs were waiting on other side to slap their faces!  As to Anne Sebba, who the hell is she?  Best selling author of what?  Not on the basis of this book, which sheds no more light on this deplorable deed on the part of our government than has been told anywhere else.  Really, to get the emotional, if not historical, truth, read E. L.  Doctorow's "The Book Of Daniel," or see the underrated 1983 movie.  This was such a disappointment, I am telling readers here and now to skip it.  Annie, what the hell did you think you were doing? I will stay far away from you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Ethel and Jules deserved better--in every way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                                            

                                            "Great Circle," by Maggie Shipstead--Finally, FINALLY, I get to unload about  this one!  I am just finding out, because my edition does not have the sticker, that "Great Circle" has been chosen as a "Read With Jenna" book!!!!!!!!!!!!  Not that this, in and of itself, means anything, but the novel has also been nominated for the Booker, and almost universally praised by critics as  the greatest thing since "Ragtime," by E.L. Doctorow.   It most certainly is NOT.  This plodding, almost 600 pager, is the story of aviatrix Marion Graves, clearly a standin for Amelia Earheart, even though the latter is referenced throughout the book.  She is juxtaposed, in the present day, with the story of  Hadley Baxter, a one-time child  actress, trying to gain fame again in a biopic of Graves.  Simpstead's one distinction is she manages to  make the  Hollywood segments  completely uninteresting, whereas lesser  writers,  like Jacqueline Susann, Judith Kantz, and Shirley Conran, have had a field day with it.  The Marion parts are fine--I found her brother, Jamie, an especially moving character--and outdo and outnumber the Hollywood ones, thankfully.  Why this is causing such a fuss is beyond me.  I found it overwritten and draining--and not in a good way.  When done, I was so tired,  I had to take a nap!  Have yourselves a good snooze, girls, and  forget about this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                              So, that is what I have been reading lately.  I cannot wait to report on more books, and for those who may be asking, I have found, among my readings, some contenders for a list, but none so far for Book Of The Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                Hope springs eternal, dears!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!