Beginning ~ at a funeral

Beginning (Chapter 1)

Maisie Dobbs glanced around, taking account of the congregation gathered in Chelstone's ancient parish church.  She was sure not one more person could be squeezed into the edifice.  Every single pew was packed with villagers and visitors who had traveled from far and wide to pay their respects to the deceased.

The Comfort of Ghosts (Book #18 in the Maisie Dobbs Series) ~ by Jacqueline Winspear, 2024, historical mystery, 360 pages

London, 1945:  Four adolescent orphans with a dark wartime history are squatting in a vacant Belgravia mansion — the owners having fled London under heavy Luftwaffe bombing.  Psychologist and Investigator Maisie Dobbs visits the mansion on behalf of the owners and discovers that a demobilized soldier, gravely ill and reeling from his experiences overseas, has taken shelter with the group.

Maisie’s quest to bring comfort to the youngsters and the ailing soldier brings to light a decades-old mystery concerning Maisie’s first husband, James Compton, who was killed while piloting an experimental fighter aircraft.  As Maisie unravels the threads of her dead husband’s life, she is forced to examine her own painful past and question beliefs she has always accepted as true.

The award-winning Maisie Dobbs series has garnered hundreds of thousands of followers, readers drawn to a woman who is of her time, yet familiar in ours — and who inspires with her resilience and capacity for endurance.  This final assignment of her own choosing not only opens a new future for Maisie and her family, but serves as a  fascinating portrayal of the challenges facing the people of Britain at the close of the Second World War.

Thursday Thoughts

The Soul of a Woman ~ by Isabel Allende, 2021, memoir, 192 pages

"When I say that I was a feminist in kindergarten, I am not exaggerating," Isabel Allende begins this book.  As a child, she watched her mother, abandoned by her husband, prvide for her three small children witout "resources or voice."  Isabel became a fierce and defiant little girl, determined to fight for the life her mother couldn't have.

As a young woman coming of age in the late 1960s, she rode the second wave of feminism.  Among a tribe of like-minded female journalists, Allende for the first time felt comfortable in her own skin, as they wrote "with a knife between our teeth" about women's issues.  She has seen hat the movement has accomplished in the course of her lifetime.  And over the course of three passionate marriages, she has learned how to grow as a woman while having a partner, when to step away, and the rewards of embracing one's sexuality.

So what feeds the soul of feminists -- and all women -- today?  To be safe, to be valued, to live in peace, to have their own resources, to be connected, to have control over their bodies and lives, and above all, to be loved.  On all these fronts, there is much work yet to be done, and this book, Allende hopes, will "light the torches of our daughters and granddaughters with mine.  They will have to live for us, as we lived for our mothers, and carry on with the work still left to be finished."

Recommended by a friend I've known over 70 years

Theo of Golden ~ by Allen Levi, 2025, literary fiction, 400 pages

One spring morning, a stranger named Theo arrives in the small Southern city of Golden.  He doesn’t explain much about where he came from or why he’s there — but when he visits the local coffeehouse, where pencil portraits of the people of Golden hang on the walls, he begins purchasing them, one at a time, and giving each portrait to the person depicted.  In exchange, he asks only for the person’s story.  

And so portrait by portrait, person by person, secrets are revealed, regrets are shared, and ordinary lives are profoundly altered.  This is a story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen,  Theo of Golden is an unforgettable novel about the power of generosity, the importance of connection, and the miracles that happen quietly when we choose kindness and wonder.

September 6 is a day for book lovers

Hey, we have a National Day for bookies like me.  National Read a Book Day isn't news for those of you who've been reading this blog for a long time.  HERE is what I posted about it in 2019, for example, with a photo I took that shows some of my friends in the Crown Center's little library.

Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything ~ by Viktor E. Frankl, 2019, history of Judaism and existential psychology, 136 pages

Find hope even in these dark times with this rediscovered masterpiece, a companion to his international bestseller Man’s Search for Meaning.  Eleven months after he was liberated from the Nazi concentration camps, Viktor E. Frankl held a series of public lectures in Vienna.  The psychiatrist, who would soon become world famous, explained his central thoughts on meaning, resilience, and the importance of embracing life even in the face of great adversity.

Published here for the very first time in English, Frankl’s words resonate as strongly then — when the world was facing a coronavirus pandemic, social isolation, and great economic uncertainty — as they did in 1946. He offers an insightful exploration of the maxim “Live as if you were living for the second time,” and he unfolds his basic conviction that every crisis contains opportunity.  Despite the unspeakable horrors of the camps, Frankl learned from the strength of his fellow inmates that it is always pos-sible to “say yes to life” — a profound and timeless lesson for us all.

Week in Review

• My Wednesday Word was "never," HERE.
• Friday's book beginning, HERE, was from The Personal Librarian.
• On Saturday, my new cat resumed the Caturday posts, HERE.

Hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz,

we bloggers gather at separate computers in different time

zones to share what we have been doing during the week.

Cat chat on Caturday

Bonnie says her last two cats blogged on Saturday and called it Caturday.  Did they not know how to spell?  Or did they think they were being cute?  Whatever.  Sure, I'd love to share things with all the cats of the world.  If there are any other blogging cats "out there" reading this, let me know so we can all chat.  Like someone getting married, I have gotten a new name.  Sheila named me "Jake," but for some reason Bonnie doesn't seem to want to call me that.  So she tried Jackie because it has a similar sound.  Judy often called me "Jakey," and that sounds a lot like "Jackie," so good enough, I guess.  Just so long as she calls me to come eat.  Wait, now Bonnie's trying "Joy," saying that is her favorite word.  She has that name already outside her door, and at least it does start with a "J."  If you are curious about what I look like, that's my picture at the top (or HERE).

Beginning ~ on November 28, 1905

Beginning

The Old North bell tolls the hour, and I realize that I'll be late.  I long to break into a sprint, my voluminous skirts lifted, my legs flying along the Princeton University pathways.  But just as I gather the heavy material, I hear Mama's voice:  Belle, be a lady at all times.  I sigh; a lady would never run.

The Personal Librarian ~ by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, 2021, biographical historical fiction (New Jersey), 341 pages

A remarkable novel about J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white in order to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation, from New York Times bestselling authors Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.

In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library.  Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection.

But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs.  She was born not Belle da Costa Greene but Belle Marion Greener.  She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality.  Belle’s complexion isn’t dark because of her alleged Portuguese heritage that lets her pass as white —  her complexion is dark because she is African American.

The Personal Librarian tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style, and wit, and shares the lengths she must go to — for the protection of her family and her legacy — to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.

How long is "never"?

The word "never" is an adverb that means "at no time, on no occasion, or in no circumstance."  But how many times have you said, "Never again!" or "I will never..." and it didn't even last until the very next day?  Okay, maybe the quote above from Horace (that "a word once uttered can never be recalled") is an exception, but our resolve (especially when uttered in frustration) doesn't always mean forever.  For example, think about when you've said, "I will never speak to him (or her) again."  Did that really happen?  Or were you soon on speaking terms again?