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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.
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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.
10 comments:
You're right. Everything is patriarchy. Traditional gender roles are patriarchy. A woman reading is most definitely anti-patriarchy. I do Kindle too if I can't get it from the library. I support independent bookstores when I can, I'm not sure buying from Indigo is that much better than Amazon.
I don't ever remember learning anything about Central Asian SSRs, and should probably put this book on my list.
I guessed the author of the Alexander McCall Smith book. I keep meaning to read him but someone gave me books two three and four of the Precious Ramotswe series and I keep thinking I'll wait until I get number one and then not.
I read I The Supreme in fourth year undergrad, along with two other 'dictator' books. In one of them, the dictator had a herniated testicle, and I think that was supposed to contribute to his dictatoriness, which, what? I also read An Enemy of the People but I don't remember it well.
After grandly proclaiming that I would only read exciting worthwhile books this year and DNF anything that didn't measure up, I am now floundering a bit with what I should consider exciting and worthwhile. I am reading Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng and finding it interesting, and I had to return Terrestrial History by Joe Mungo Reed to the library but am going to re-request it.
If a book is old enough, sometimes Project Gutenberg has an ebook copy that works perfectly well on kindle. Fewer pennies to That Dude! (I have a kindle paperwhite given to me about a decade ago, but have not hooked it up to the internet/amazon; it just has hundreds of the public-domain-but-good books... okay, and also a solid stack of "look, it's trash, but it's *fun* trash" books, a la Miss Million's Maid)
But also yes, we're each figuring out the contours of how we're resisting, and reading is important! Just, if there's an old, cheap ebook for sale on Amazon, odds are non-zero that they grabbed the text from Project Gutenberg, *and* Project Gutenberg has kindle file formats available...
If you like the horror and thriller genres, you might find A. McCall Smith books too bland. But if you want to try one, I don't think you need to necessarily read the series in order, although I do find myself trying to do that (daughter of a chemical engineer and grandaughter of a train engineer).
Why read only "worthwhile" books? Surely any book that one can read is worthwhile is SOME way.
I have GOT to try getting classics from P. Gutenberg in kindle format. I, too, have an aged kindle paperwhite.
I have not read a lot lately. I am currently reading Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel about Our Changing Planet by Kate Marvel, and I like it a lot. I also downloaded the first Miss Marple mystery --I haven't read any of them in ages, and I've always loved them. They are comfort reads for me.
I enjoy Alexander McCall Smith books. My favorites are the Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency books. I find them very soothing to read, and they renew my belief in the kindness of humans.
Glad to hear you are enjoying reading about human nature and the planet. I'm feeling a certain despair about human nature, lately. Maybe it's time for another McCall Smith. The main characters mostly try to be kind.
I have been thinking that I should try re-reading Miss Marple and Nancy Drew.
John Fugelsang's book is on my to-read list, and I love that first line!
I recently read 2 books in a series by Roberta Kagan (The Last Lullaby, Until We Meet Again) that take place in the 1930s and 1940s and deal with patriarchy, Jewish people, and Nazis. It hasn't made for good dreams. I'm looking forward to Mel's new cozy mystery!
It's so true that it's almost impossible to avoid giving money to The Wrong People, but I try very hard anyway.
I'm reading Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocene for book club, Dark Renaissance by Stephen Greenblatt (a book about Christopher Marlowe), and I have two others on my TBR pile currently. And, as always, The New Yorker magazine, which I have a terrible time keeping up with.
@Karen I find it very difficult to read any books about WW2/ holocaust because, yeah, the dreams are not great. I sooooo much am looking forward to the next book in the Sister Bernie series!
@Nance Just you saying that has relieved some of my guilt for the times when my money ends up going to The Wrong People.
Our book club read Wharton's "A House of Mirth" a few years ago. It was NOT mirthful. I hope "The Age of Innocence" has some lighter moments, because we all need lighter moments.
It's super easy to pile up those weekly magazines! My uncle was a bit of a hoarder, and had years' worth of New Yorker magazines. When he died we went to help clean out his place, and I took home a lot of New Yorker magazines. I read all the cartoons. And then put the magazines in the recycle bin.
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