First Lines: January 2026 edition

I would have to say, looking back over the month’s reading, that there is a thread running through most of these six books: patriarchy.  

Dearest Blog Reader, in the likely event that you do not read any of my blathering below, I will ask you now – what’s in your book stack these days?

Book 1

Cordelia

I didn’t know how long I sat cross-legged in the snow, waiting for the dead man crumpled on the ground in front of my building to wake up. 

 

 

Book 2

I’m here because two people broke a promise to God.

 

 

Book 3

Scene - Dr Stockmann’s sitting room.  It is evening.  The room is plainly but neatly appointed and furnished.

 

 

Book 4

At the Window with Binoculars

Standing at her kitchen window, Domenica Macdonald, cultural anthropologist, denizen of Scotland Street, citizen of Edinburgh, lowered the binoculars that for the last fifteen minutes she had trained on the street below.

 

Book 5

This is what happened in Faha over the Christmas of 1962, in what became known in the parish as the time of the child. 

 

Book 6

The Door to Hell

I am lost. The flames in the crater have erased the stars and then drained all the shadows of light.

 

 

The titles and authors revealed:

 

 

Book 1

A New Lease on Death (The Ruby and Cordelia Mysteries #1)

By Olivia Blacke

325 pages • first pub 2024 

fiction fantasy mystery

Recommended through Mel W’s blog

 

The premise is that one of the detectives has already met her demise.  !  I enjoyed the characters and the setting.  Sometimes the prose was a bit repetitive.  Ends on a big reveal which will obviously require the reading of the next book to resolve.  And that is somewhat annoying, but I would like to read it.

 

Book 2

Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds

John Fugelsang

304 pages • first pub 2025

nonfiction politics religion 

Instructive, amusing in parts, and infuriating in others.  I was astonished to hear the Catholic Church’s actual practice on birth control in one place described.  I was already aware of many of the theological interpretations of the Bible verses, but I still found it interesting.  And we all know there is plenty of patriarchy to be found in both fundamentalism and fascism.

 

 

Book 3

An Enemy of the People - the play by Henrik Ibsen

164 pages • first pub 1882.   

Although this play was written in 1882, the issues treated are relevant today.  It was an easy read, and was available to buy for Kindle for very little $ being passed on to J.B., the King of Amazon*.  I read it for book club, and then we are going to see an interpretation of the play next month.  

Themes: environment, male hubris, crowd mentality, economics, family dynamics, reasons for compromising one’s values, the price to pay for not compromising one’s values.

 

Book 4

A Promise of Ankles: (44 Scotland Street #14)

By Alexander McCall Smith

320 pages • first pub 2020

fiction contemporary

I could only get this book from the library on audio.  Curses on my need to read series in order!  I managed to finish, but it was a struggle.  I liked the narrator's voice, and judging by his name, Robert Ian Mackenzie, he seems the perfect choice to narrate a book that is set in Scotland.  I have no idea if he is Scottish.

Includes some amusing plot developments about a human skull and, separately, language dominance.

Re patriarchy:  McCall Smith’s characters often express views about how they feel females or males should live.  It’s maybe not patriarchy per se, but I can’t remember any instance where the characters in the Scotland Street series show wide variance from what I will call traditional societal gender norms.  However, to me, there is an overall feeling of acceptance of others’ differences in his books.  It’s just that the differences portrayed are not too far from “center”.

 

 

Book 5

Time of the Child By Niall Williams

304 pages • first pub 2024

fiction literary

Recommended by Stephen Colbert and S. K.

A story ultimately of hope, in a slow but enjoyable read.  It takes place at Christmas-time in a small town in Ireland in 1962. The characters are quite appealing.  Loads of mentions of tea, but often it’s an offer of tea, only to be refused.  The patriarchy is inherent in the setting (a small Catholic town in 1962); the plot ultimately pushes gently against that patriarchy. 

The prose varies from delicious to a bit convoluted, but it’s mostly lovely.  I recommend it, but it’s best to read during a long snowy winter, with a cup of hot tea at hand and the news turned off.

 

Book 6

Sovietistan - a travel diary of going through former Soviet Republics.  

By Erika Fatland with Kari Dickson (Translator)

470 pages • first pub 2014 

nonfiction history travel

“A good mix of humor and despotism” – Older Daughter

A fascinating description of the Norwegian author’s travels through the five Central Asian countries that used to be part of Russia/ Soviet Union.  Recommend, but best perhaps to read in periodic doses.

This book was highly recommended to me in 2023 by Older Daughter, who read it as part of her project to read books by continent.  I supposedly studied the Soviet Union in grad school, but learned next to nothing about the Central Asian SSRs (I am pretty sure this is my fault, not the school’s fault).  I started reading Sovietistan, gave up, bought the kindle version about 6 months ago*, then stopped again because of other reading assignments (book clubs) and despair at my own country’s descent toward autocracy.  

To encourage me to resume, she said that I should keep reading it because the book is “a good mix of humor and despotism”.  Which it is.  This book works well to read in chunks, with a section for each of the five countries.

That is the same daughter who in December exclaimed enthusiastically, “I finished the dictator book!”  

Me:  “THE dictator book?!”

Older Daughter: “There is a whole genre of books from Central America called the “dictator” genre. The title of the book I read is called I, the Supreme. Or in Spanish, Yo, El Supremo.  From the country of Paraguay.”

I will not be reading Yo, El Supremo anytime soon, but it could be fun to shout that phrase.

While reading Sovietistan I could read about the dictatorships without looking away – at their core, autocrats are ridiculous.  They insist on being called El Supremo. From afar, their narcissism is amusingly appalling.  But for some reason I balked at reading about girls/young women who were kidnapped and forced to marry the man who kidnapped them, often with the permission of the girl’s parents.  I skimmed those sections.  Patriarchy is prominent in these Central Asian countries.  (And, it seems now, plenty of other places too.)  

This book enlightened me on how those former Soviet republics have fared since the dissolution of the USSR.  I did not fact-check the history as presented in the book.  It should be no surprise that there is plenty of environmental disaster.

There is some description of the changing demographics of the countries. Since publication, there have been some changes in leadership for some of the countries.  

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* I despise any of my money going to Amazon but I simply must continue to read, which is easier for me on my kindle.  If I can’t get the kindle version through my library, I might buy it.  Reading helps fight the patriarchy.  In my opinion.