I am having trouble explaining all of the ins and outs of this book. So I am going to copy and paste an excerpt from the description on Amazon:
William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him—so when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano in his freshman year of college, it’s as if the world has lit up around him. With Julia comes her family, as she and her three sisters are inseparable: Sylvie, the family’s dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book; Cecelia is a free-spirited artist; and Emeline patiently takes care of them all. With the Padavanos, William experiences a newfound contentment; every moment in their house is filled with loving chaos.
William's love of the sport of basketball is a highlight of the book.
Monday, January 29, 2024
Oh, wow, I was not expecting to like this book so much. I have barely started, but already I am drawn into the story of a young girl who has lost her mother.....and a relationship that has begun between this child and her grandmother.
Here is a published review:
According to Confucius, "an educated woman is a worthless woman," but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.
From a young age, Yunxian learns about women's illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose—despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it—and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other's joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus, they tell themselves: from adversity beauty can bloom.
But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife—embroider bound-foot slippers, pluck instruments, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights.
How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions, go on to treat women and girls from every level of society, and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? Lady Tan's Circle of Women is a captivating story of women helping other women. It is also a triumphant reimagining of the life of a woman who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.
I finished the book the first week of February, 2024. I liked it as much at the end as I did in the beginning. Quite a bit of gore and "bad stuff", but done in a way that I didn't have to put the book down and leave it alone for a while as I have so many of the WWII books. I find myself wishing for more pages and haven't yet started a new book.
My kind of book.....I like this a lot. I will put some of the reviews and etc in later.
Tonight I am listening to a part that speaks to me a bit because it makes fun of me. Moshe Ludlow is the
main character of the book. He owns at least one theatre/dance hall?/place that hosts dances/events...
I just read about sometimes he hosts events that are attended by Colonial Dames...etc...and the men in their top hats...and the couples dance ....very staid...very boring....well let me just say that it is the opposite of events that happen when his Black clientele or his Jewish clientele have an event....Do we who are the ones who attend Gypsy wish to be those who attend the Negro or Jewish events? Could I do that? I like when books make me think! The descriptions of the events attended by the Jewish and the Black are just plain fun. But there is no doubt in my mind that I would be more comfortable attending the Colonial Dames event.
Here is a review that I liked. It is from a reader: I want to put this in your hands and promise you a magnificent reading experience. It starts off in a shaggy dog kind of way, with an ensemble of characters, several who possess whimsical names like Fatty, Big Soap, Monkey Pants, Dodo. And their names fit flawlessly to their nature. The story starts with a 1972 prologue—a human skeleton is found in an old abandoned well, and then the body of the story begins in 1936 in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, a place called Chicken Hill, where Jews, immigrants, and Black folks lived side by side, sometimes in harmony, other times in discord, but here’s the thing—the goodness of people, the kindness of their hearts—that is what ultimately rises to the top.
For the story to unfold, there has to be some sinister aspects, too—aren’t we still fighting the fight of ignorance, bigotry, corruption, meanness? But, in the McBride world, well, we also follow the long stretch of yarn as it wends around this way and that, through streets and backyards, dirt roads, onto hills and a shul and a church, through tunnels and a dance hall. And The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store.
I don’t need to rehash the plot, but there are a few fun facts about this book worth mentioning in a review. Such as, there are an abundance of characters introduced early on, and then again later on, before the plot actually launches. That’s the shaggy part. We don’t get to the plot too quickly—instead, Mcbride takes his time, builds the characters. They are already leaping off the pages by the time the plot rolls in.
There are subplots, too, but in the end, they all weave their chords and come together. McBride may slow your roll at first, but it’s a winning bonanza of breadth and depth, from the smallest detail to the broadest design. Scenes that seem initially inconsequential become key notes later on.
Early on, we meet the arresting Jewess, Chona. Chona is an unforgettable female protagonist—I’m keeping her in my journal of best. female. characters. ever. She is handicapped with a limp—but her limp doesn’t stop her strength of purpose, her fierce dignity, her bounteous benevolence, her gentle grace, and her consummate integrity. You will fall in love with her, just like Moshe, the theater and dance hall owner, did. Moshe and Chona dared to welcome change and inclusivity to their part of the world.
So I didn't add much as I read the middle part. However I want to add something tonight. I believe it likely that Chona is dead. Need to read a few more pages to know that for sure. But the author speaks about devices in Chapter 18 which is labelled The Hot Dog.
I finished the book late January. There were a few rough places. And the fact of whose body was in the well was a mystery until the very end of the book. But by the time the book got to the end, there were enough people who deserved to be at the bottom of the well that you knew for sure it would be one of them.
In preparation for the December luncheon of the DAR, I decided that I would make a very brief talk about General Washington's Decembers. The idea came about because the National Defender for Nov/Dec had an article about The Decembers of his Life: Highlights in the life of George Washington.
And this is of GREAT interest! Not only because of my interest in the Revolutionary War, but also because My ancestor, William Morrison was right there with Washington in the Decembers of 1776 when he and his troops crossed the Delaware and December 1777 when his troops stayed alive at Valley Forge. December 1783, George Washington resigned as commander in Chief of the Continental Army. And then the article pointed out that George Washington died 12 December 1799.
I have spent a great deal of time in the last ten years or perhaps longer studying the Revolution in the southern States. But I am not nearly so acquainted with the Revolution in the opening years. Tonight I listened to the information about the Battle of Brooklyn Heights. I feel moved to make a few notes. The Battle took place 27 Aug 1776. The British troops had been routed from Boston and General Washington guessed correctly that they would move down the coast to New York. And he moved his troops to that area to be ready.
And indeed the British ships arrived with the formidable amount of troops. They marched across Long Island to fight with the Patriot troops under the command of General George Washington. The book is worth the price for just the description of this one battle. The battle was a rout. The patriots were so greatly outnumbered. There is also a description of George Washington eyeing the Maryland and Delaware troops in their valiant bravery as the rest of the army was scurrying to the protection of the fortifications on the hill. It is said that they saved much loss of life by their bravery.
There seems to have been a lot of chaos as the British moved en mass up the road and the patriots were forced to scramble for their lives to the defenses that had been put in place on the Brooklyn Heights. The British dug in for a siege. And General Washington made the wise decision to move his troops in the middle of the night across the river to the safety of Manhattan Island. Here is wikipedia's description:
Washington evacuating Army, a 175th anniversary issue, published in 1951 and depicting Fulton Ferry House (on right) and flat-bottomed ferry boats in the East River (in background)
Retreat to Manhattan
The Foot of Wall Street And Ferry House – 1746, a portrait depicting the Manhattan side of the East Rivercrossing, known then as the Brooklyn Ferry, as it appeared in the mid-1700s.[74]
Washington and the Continental Army were surrounded on Brooklyn Heights with the East River to their backs.[75]As the day went on, the British began to dig trenches, slowly coming closer to the American defenses. By doing this, the British would not have to cross over open ground to assault the American defenses as they did in Boston the year before.[76] Despite this perilous situation, Washington ordered 1,200 more men from Manhattan to Brooklyn on August 28,[75] and two Pennsylvania regiments and Colonel John Glover's regiment from Marblehead, Massachusetts responded to Washington, sending troops. Thomas Mifflin, who commanded the Pennsylvania troops after arriving, volunteered to inspect the outer defenses and report back to Washington.[77] In these outer defenses, small skirmishes were still taking place. On the afternoon of August 28, rain began to fall, and Washington had his cannons bombarded the British well into the night.[78]
As the rain continued, Washington sent a letter instructing General William Heath, who was at Kings Bridge over the Harlem River between Manhattan and what is now The Bronx, to send every flat-bottomed boat and sloop without delay, in case battalions of infantry from New Jersey came to reinforce their position.[79] At 16:00, on August 29, Washington held a meeting with his generals. Mifflin advised Washington to retreat to Manhattan while Mifflin and his Pennsylvania regiments made up the rear guard, holding the line until the rest of the army had withdrawn.[79] The generals agreed unanimously with Mifflin that retreat was the best option and Washington had orders go out by the evening.[80]
The troops were told that they were to gather up all their ammunition and baggage and prepare for a night attack.[80] By 21:00, the sick and wounded began to move to the Brooklyn Ferry in preparation for evacuation. At 23:00, Glover and his Massachusetts men, who were sailors and fishermen, began to evacuate the troops.[81]
As more troops were evacuated, more were ordered to withdraw from the lines and march to the ferry landing. Wagon wheels were muffled, and men were forbidden to talk.[81] Mifflin's rear guard was tending campfires to deceive the British. At 04:00, on August 30, Mifflin was informed that it was his unit's turn to evacuate.[82] Mifflin told the man who had been sent to order him to leave, Major Alexander Scammell, that he must be mistaken, but Scammell insisted that he was not and Mifflin ordered his troops to move out. When Mifflin's troops were within a half mile of the ferry landing, Washington rode up and demanded to know why they were not at their defenses. Edward Hand, who was leading the troops, tried to explain what had happened, but Mifflin arrived shortly.[83]Washington exclaimed "Good God. General Mifflin, I am afraid you have ruined us." Mifflin explained that he had been told that it was his turn to evacuate by Scammell; Washington told him it had been a mistake. Mifflin then led his troops back to the outer defenses.[83]
Artillery, supplies, and troops were all being evacuated across the river at this time but it was not going as fast as Washington had anticipated and daybreak soon came.[83] A fog settled in and concealed the evacuation from the British. British patrols noticed that there did not seem to be any American pickets and thus began to search the area. While they were doing this, Washington, the last man left, stepped onto the last boat.[76] At 07:00, the last American troops landed in Manhattan.[84] All 9,000 troops had been evacuated with no loss of life.[84]
This was a fun read. I am not the right age....but then who is the right age? I think back to when my children were young. I liked the games. They liked the games. We played. Why did I buy this book? It was set in places I know.,...Boston and Harvard.....Venice Beach and Los Angeles. Even though there is sadness in the book, it is hopeful. Friendship is important. Life goes on.
I liked this book. A bit of a romance which is not my favorite genre, but I read it to the end and liked the fact that Barbara Davis tied up the ends very neatly.
Here is the publisher's synopsis: Rare-book dealer Ashlyn Greer’s affinity for books extends beyond the intoxicating scent of old paper, ink, and leather. She can feel the echoes of the books’ previous owners—an emotional fingerprint only she can read. When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound volumes that appear to have never been published, her gift quickly becomes an obsession. Not only is each inscribed with a startling incrimination, but the authors, Hemi and Belle, tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance.
With no trace of how these mysterious books came into the world, Ashlyn is caught up in a decades-old literary mystery, beckoned by two hearts in ruins, whoever they were, wherever they are. Determined to learn the truth behind the doomed lovers’ tale, she reads on, following a trail of broken promises and seemingly unforgivable betrayals. The more Ashlyn learns about Hemi and Belle, the nearer she comes to bringing closure to their love story—and to the unfinished chapters of her own life.
This book was definitely a Romance. That is not the genre that I am most drawn to. However, I stayed with the book because not only was it a romance but it was also a book about the characters having reached into the stories of their ancestors. I found the book worth reading for that!
