Book 12: The Plot Against America by Philip Roth

This book is the last of my purchases from the latest Westport Library Book Sale. 

I had seen and liked the HBO mini-series and decided to pick up the book.

The Plot Against America is an alternate history of the United States in the 1940s. Here, the aviator hero Charles Lindbergh defeated FDR and won the US Presidency in 1940, with the slogan, "Vote for Lindbergh or Vote for War." Lindbergh publicly blamed the Jews for pushing the country into war.

"We cannot blame them for looking out for what they believe to be their own interests, but we also must look out for ours. We cannot allow the natural passions and prejudices of other peoples to lead our country to destruction."

Lindbergh later signed a treaty with Hitler that the US would not interfere with German expansion in Europe.

The book's narrator is seven-year-old Philip. He lives with his parents and brother in the Jewish Weequahic neighborhood in Newark. Philip says they were a happy family in 1940. Everything changed when the Republicans nominated Lindbergh. 

I loved seeing how the political world impacted Philip's in his eyes. It was a great choice of narrator. 

Down the Shore Part One

I grew up in Audubon, New Jersey, a town close to the Delaware River. My aunt and uncle had a bungalow in Ortley Beach, New Jersey, where we spent many vacations. My cousin Barb lives there now. The bungalow had been totally destroyed in Hurricane Sandy and remodeled. It's strange to see how drastically the street has changed. Of course, it's stranger for my cousins who spent so many summers there.  

Barb's sister, brother, and other family members arrived Saturday. Jeff and I, on Sunday. We had been told a 4 PM check-in, but I missed the owner's email that we could arrive early--I was driving and didn't check my phone.

We didn't see much of one branch of the family. They didn't want Jace at their rental--even though we agreed to keep him outside. Then my cousin's wife fell on the boardwalk. She suffered a black eye and a swollen, bruised cheekbone, and needed six stitches. Luckily, she didn't have a concussion. She was talking it easy the last two days we were in the area.

We did have great visit with my cousin Cindy and husband Brian--the dog people who joined us for lunch outside despite a strong wind (that knocked over my iced tea as well as many other things.) Cindy was my closest cousin growing up. We laughed over old stories and memories. 

We found some dog-friendly places. First, we stopped at Last Wave Brewing Company in Point Pleasant on our drive down. We each enjoyed two half-pours (they didn't offer flights.). Then we drove down Route 35 South instead of going back to the Garden State Parkway. We went to two dog-friendly restaurants in town: Bum Rogers Crabhouse and Island Beach Fish Company.

We stayed at a condo in Seaside Park, just south of Seaside Heights and its famous boardwalk. Our condo was in a great location, right off the main drag, but in a quiet area. We had an off-street parking spot, and it was only three steps to enter the condo.

I loved the neighborhood. We were close to the bay, and Jace and enjoyed exploring. One day, a duck was walking ahead of us. The next day we trailed a pair of ducks. A new experience for us. 

I really liked Seaside Park. While it has its share of beach McMansions, it retains some of the old-style bungalows that were the norm when I was growing up. I'd like to return.

Book 11: The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx

This was one of my latest library sale purchases. Ny friend Cynthia saw it first; she had read it and said it was weird (at least I think that was her word.) I'm not sure what to make of it myself. I wanted to keep reading; isn't that a sign of success?

Quoyle is a lonely man abused by his family, who fails at everything he tries His only two friends move out of town. His marriage is a farce; his wife Petal is a continual cheater. His parents die by a double suicide, telling Quoyle by a message on his answering machine. He loses his job. Then Petal runs off with a lover after selling their two daughters to a pornographer. The children are rescued unharmed, but Petal and her lover die in a car accident.

Quoyle and his daughters join his aunt and return to the family home on the Newfoundland coast where they meet several colorful characters and make new friends. 

I'm ambivalent about this book. I cared enough about the characters to want to finish their story. On the other hand, the quirkiness factor was off the charts and unbelievable.

Thursday Thoughts

Had a frustrating medical morning involving tests and a hearing aid evaluation. I naively thought I could just drop off specimens for lab work, but got stuck waiting for about 15 minutes which made me late for the evaluation. I was told I should have made an appointment. In hindsight, I should have rescheduled the evaluation, but I had already rescheduled it twice. I felt obligated to go when they said it was okay. Today, I got a short version of the evaluation and have to go back again anyway. Sigh.

It's hot. At least it's not 100 degrees, just the 90s. Mornings are okay, with temperatures in the 70s. Midday and evening walks have been tough. The last two days we've driven to Mathews Park and walked from there on the NRVT to Oyster Shell Park. I can't imagine walking up hospital hill in this weather. Besides the high temperature, the air quality has been bad.

I'm packing a lot of things for our New Jersey vacation. We'll be away for a week, and we're driving. I prefer to be prepared. Once we made our final decision of where to stay, I was psyched. We'll be in two different towns. In one town, we'll be visiting with family. In another, it will be the three of us.

Looking forward to a vacation; it's been a long time. 

Monday Miscellanea and Vacation Plans

I didn't feel well for part of last week, but I was feeling progressively better. Until today, that is. So, I'll see my doctor on Wednesday.

We're heading into a heat wave. Summer is officially here on Thursday, but I still feel that this is too soon for a heatwave. 

We're going to the Jersey Shore next Sunday. When we recently went to the shore overnight, we learned that other cousins (all from my dad's side of the family) would be visiting next week. Jeff and I booked an airbnb for three nights in Seaside Park.

After that, we're heading to another cousin's (from my mother's side of the family) in Sea Isle City, about an hour south of Seaside Park. We'll probably stay three days, but we're not definite.

This is our first time staying in an airbnb, and we're finally using the gift certificate we got a few Christmases ago. I've started putting things together. I'll probably overpack since we are driving--even though we'll have access to washing machines in both locations. 

Thinking about the trip in terms of frugality a la the frugal girl. Our stay in Seaside Park is pricey. That's one reason we normally wait until September for our vacations. But the cousins won't be visiting in September. Luckily the Sea Isle City place is free. Can't be frugaller than that. 

Book 10: Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog with Richard Erdoes

Last year I was discussing the book Killers of the Flower Moon with a friend. She mentioned that it was written by a white man and not from the Osage Indian point of view. I thought of that conversation when I saw this book at a recent book sale and bought it. 

Mary grew up in poverty on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. But she says that she and her siblings did not suffer from being poor because they weren't aware of it. It was only when she was sent to a Catholic mission school that she suffered from efforts to make her more "white." Rules were strict; food was bad; punishment was harsh. After she left school Mary spent her time as the other teens on the reservation did, drinking, doing drugs, driving recklessly, and fighting. 

As she described it, 

"The little settlements we lived in...were places without hope where bodies and souls were being destroyed bit by bit. Schools left many of us almost illiterate. We were not taught any skills. The land was leased to white ranchers. Jobs were almost nonexistent on the reservation, and outside the res whites did not hire Indians if they could help it."

Mary found meaning when she learned about the American Indian Movement (AIM.) She later joined the group and participated in the 1972 occupation of the Washington, DC office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs as well as the 1973 Wounded Knee Occupation. In fact, Mary gave birth to her first child at Wounded Knee during a firefight. After Wounded Knee, she married AIM's spiritual leader Leonard Crow Dog.

I have to admit I had a bad feeling about that marriage. Mary wasn't interested in Leonard originally. He seemed to pressure her into marriage. Mary was still a teenager with a newborn and took on caring for stepchildren, and all the visitors that flocked to Leonard as a medicine man and civil rights leader. Mary wrote that she loved him but they later divorced.

Mary was only six months older than I. For women living at the same time and in the same country, the gulf between us is unfathomable (thanks to Katie Maloney of Vanderpump Rules for re-acquainting me with that word.) I feel naive for not realizing how extreme prejudice against the Indians continued into my lifetime.

I'm glad I read this book. 

A Photo Post

I haven't done one of these for awhile. Here goes.

First, I saw this pink dumpster walking Jace. When did we move to Barbieland?

Here are some recent photos of Jace. It's tough to get a good picture of him. He won't cooperate. 

This is from a Saturday afternoon at the 314 Beer Garden in South Norwalk. It may be blurry, but you can see that he's happy. 

I recently looked through a thumb drive that had photos from one of my old phones. Here's a great photo of Spike from the old Burger Bar.Talk about happy!

And just because I like this photo from September 2013.

Book Nine: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

I was surprised by how slim this volume was, but it's not the full story of Douglass's life. He describes very little of his actual escape from slavery in order to shield those who may have helped him and to keep slaveowners from knowing possible escape routes. The book stops just as Douglass is beginning to work in the anti-slavery movement. Apparently, Douglass wrote two additional autobiographies (I found this by doing a little online research.)

Douglass is an excellent writer, all the more impressive because he had to teach himself to read and write over a process of several years. He had a well-deserved reputation for eloquence

Here's his description of how slavery corrupted the wife of one of his masters:

When I went there, she was a pious, warm, and tender-hearted woman. There was no sorrow or suffering for which she had not a tear. She had bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came within her reach. Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities. Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamb-like disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness. 

I'd love to read more about his work with women's movement.

Book Eight: A Light in the Storm The Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin by Karen Hesse

As I previously mentioned, I bought this children's book believing it was an authentic diary. Instead, it's an entry in the Dear America series of American history. The series features girls' diaries of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, slavery, westward expansion, Titanic, immigration, and Native American life. 

Amelia Martin is a teenager who helps her father, the Assistant Lightkeeper at the Fenwick Island, Delaware Lighthouse. In 1860, Amelia's Uncle Edward gives her a diary for Christmas present for her long nights on watch. Here Amelia records weather information as well as her daily activities and her concerns.

Hesse based Amelia Martin on Ida Lewis. Lewis worked at the Lime Rock Light off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island during and after the Civil War, taking over her father's duties when he became ill. Lewis saved twenty-two people from deadly storms during her career. 

By placing Amelia in Delaware, Hesse plays with the contradiction of Delaware being a slave state that did not join the Confederacy. Hesse uses the conflicts between the northern and southern areas of Delaware to mirror the conflicts between the north and south of the country as a whole. Hesse also describes the northern/southern conflict between Amelia's parents 

The language in A Light in the Storm reflects its narrator but is not overly simplistic. However, much of the Historical Note section is. 

Browsing the Book Sales

I've always loved browsing in bookstores and libraries. A recent variation is browsing at library book sales. I've been to two spring sales recently. 

I made it to the last day of the Wilton Library sale, when a bag of books went for $5. I did surprisingly well, getting five books. 

1. A Light in the Storm The Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin.by Karen Hesse. Okay, I knew this was a child's diary based on the cover illustration. I thought it was a real--not fictional--diary. Oh well, I'll read it anyway.

2. Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog. 

3. Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir.

4. The Autobiography of Henry VIII With Notes by his fool, Will Somers by Margaret George

5. Voyager by Diana Gabaldon.

6. The Curse of Oak Island The Story of the World's Longest Treasure Hunt by Randall Sullivan. I picked this up for my brother who watches the TV show. 

My latest book sale was at the Westport Library. Here are my purchases.

1. The Shipping News by E.Annie Proulx.

2. Narrrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave Written by Himself

3. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth.

I've been joking that I can't go to any more book sales because I have so many books to read: A nice problem to have. 

Book Seven: Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

Voyager is the third book in the Outlander series of nine published novels with one more planned. It corresponds to the third season of the TV show. Claire's husband Frank dies in the 1960s and Claire learns that her husband Jamie survived the battle of Culloden in 1746 and lived as a printer named Alexander Malcolm in Edinburgh. She decides to rejoin him in the past. 

I read this book at a faster pace than I read The Blind Assassin. For one thing, Gabaldon is a great storyteller, but not as gifted a writer as Atwood. For another, since Jeff and I watch Outlander, I was familiar with the story. For the most part, the show followed the book. I appreciated what the show left out especially Claire being sliced up by a pirate, a murder at the governor's reception, and a serial killer. 

I also preferred the way the show handled the Margaret Campbell and Yi Tien Cho aka Mr. Willoughby storylines; they got a happy ending.

I have a few quibbles: I got tired of Jamie and Claire's sex scenes, especially Claire's rapturous descriptions of Jamie's red hair. Just too much.