I LOVED this book!I listened to it on audible and the narrator (Rob Shapiro) was fantastic, too.He brought ALL the characters so richly to life for me.
I had been wanting to read this book since I first caught sight of it, and had even nominated it for my Zoom Reading Circle, but it didn’t make the cut.That is too bad!This was a great book.An exciting storyline, interesting and well fleshed out characters, a glimpse into an historical time of great interest (the music scene, particularly the black music scene in the 1960’s)... all elements of a super engaging story.
Benny Lament is an Italian (Sicilian he corrects) musician trying to make a name for himself in New York City in 1960.He has a complicated relationship with his family, due in large part to the fact that they are “Family”, too...His Dad is an enforcer for the mafia with his Uncle Sal being a kingpin. As scenes from his past are slowly revealed we get insight into the many layers of his story.
It is his father who takes him to a bar to hear Esther Mine sing, encouraging Benny to work with her and ‘maybe write her a song’.Benny is blown away the very first time he hears Esther sing.Although he really doesn’t want to do anything his Dad suggests, and has questions about why he is suggesting, Benny finds himself longing to help her. They begin a collaboration that quickly puts them on a national stage where they receive accolades and also unwanted attention - their pairing as a white man and black woman adds to the latter, as does Esther’s determination to find out more about her family background and lineage, which the mob seems to not want her to discover.
I loved this book!I can also see it making a terrific movie - and I would love for someone to write music for the songs that we get to know so well... that are the backdrop for Benny and Esther’s romance and rise to stardom.Hopefully that will happen one of these days!
I listened to this one on audiobook and enjoyed it well enough.It was not a 5 star or maybe even 4 star book, but it was an enjoyable story nonetheless.I do love reading stories that fill in more information about a time or a place for me.This book definitely did that.It added new layers of history and understanding to the depression of the 1930’s and the pre-World War 2 times.Although the story is based on a true event, the story itself is fiction in that the author imagines the adventures and interactions during the cross country trek with the giraffes. It centers on a young orphan, only 17, named Woodrow Wilson Nickel who finds himself on the adventure of a lifetime - helping transport two African giraffes across country from New York to the (then new) San Diego Zoo.He drives the truck alongside the older giraffe caretaker and as they travel they begin to share parts of their stories with one another, as they encounter lots of people along the highways of America (some friendly, some not so much).Throw in a lady photographer who pursues them, and has plenty of her own story to share, and you have a threesome who develop bonds of friendship around their determination to get the giraffes safely across country and to their new home at the San Diego Zoo.
The audiobook version was fine, but the voice doing the narrating wasn’t my favorite.I do get that the story is narrated by Woodrow Wilson Nickel in his old age, but it just didn’t always sound right to have an old mans raspy voice telling all the adventures of the young 17 year old roustabout. I kind of wonder if I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read it instead of listened to it. That really may be the case because I know for many folks this was a 5 star read.
I’m glad I read this book, but also admit that I’m glad it wasn’t picked as a Zoom Reading Circle selection.Not sure all would have enjoyed it quite so much.I will rate it a 3.5.
Here is a fascinating account of the true story of transporting the two giraffes across country to the San Diego Zoo, complete with photographs.
I truly enjoyed this book!I laughed out loud at many parts and connected with the main character in so many ways.
The book tells the story of Elizabeth Zott, a female chemist in the 1960’s.Elizabeth Zott encounters all the things you might expect of a strong woman pressing outside the boundaries of what is ‘seemly’ in a male dominated field in the still male dominated 1960’s.We follow Elizabeth through her early years working in the science field, through her most successful period as the host of a cooking show on television called Supper at Six, where she teaches the ‘average woman’ how to use chemistry to improve their cooking.The show is phenomenally successful because Elizabeth Zott doesn't just teach her viewers how to make a perfect meatloaf, she empowers them with knowledge and the belief that they truly can do anything.
I loved all of that so much!The only thing I flinch at is the notion, in so many books (and in life) that religion and science cannot both be true.This book takes several hard swipes at religion as pure fantasy and idiocy.As a person with a deep faith who also deeply believes in and trusts science (my father was a chemist and my brother is in the scientific field) I know this is untrue.However, I also have to sadly understand that the current view of religion, especially in America, IS the antithesis to science.I have always hoped that we were working toward common ground and it appears that we are doomed to total polarization (like so much else in our country).So, I will not detract points for this stance.I get it, I just know that it doesn’t have to be that way.
Because I listened to this book I don’t have any underlines or notes to share.And that is too bad.There were so many good lines!I may have to go find some to add here... I also have read a few reviews, mainly from younger women, that really irk me (and again, make me sad).One stood out - the woman really didn’t like the book because she said it went ‘too far’ in its depiction of what it was like for a woman in the scientific workplace in the 1960’s.I hate to tell her, it probably didn’t go far enough!This book rang true especially on that front.I know the stories of my own dear Mama (who learned what all the fighter planes were and wanted to be a pilot, but was told she could only be a stewardess - and so many more stories like this) and other women - and frankly, I know my own stories!And I ‘came of age’ in the 80’s.Young women now really need to pay attention to the stories of how things were, even not so long ago.We have indeed come a long way, but it sure feels fragile and tenuous and this middle-aged lady does not take it for granted that it will stay that way.In fact, I think there is a real danger that it will NOT.I hope young women can be aware of all they have AND what they have to lose.
Excellent book - and I look forward to hearing what my Zoom Reading Circle friends think about it (a November 2023 book selection).
Note - I rated this book 4.5 stars. Reading Circle rated it 4.6.
Here are a few quotes I found from the book...
Your days are numbers. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun.
No surprise. Idiots make it into every company. They tend to interview well.
Whenever you start doubting yourself, whenever you feel afraid, just remember. Courage is the root of change - and change is what we're chemically designed to do.
Because while musical prodigies are always celebrated, early readers aren't. And that's because early readers are only good at something that others will eventually be good at, too. So being first isn't special, it's just annoying.
Every day she found parenthood like taking a test for which she had not studied. The questions were daunting and there wasn't nearly enough multiple choice.
Trailer for the AppleTV miniseries (which I have heard does not follow the book precisely... so read the book first!) :)
Bonnie Garmus on her ‘subversive’ novel Lessons in Chemistry
Article in Good Housekeeping about the Garmus family dog (named Friday)
A woman working in a rare bookshop in London in 1960 comes across a children’s storybook with illustrations that take her back to her childhood and the trauma of loss she experienced when her little sister was feared drowned in a river. Hazel Linden was only 14 years old when she and her 5 year old sister were evacuated to the English countryside during World War 2.Their experience there was mostly idyllic, until the day that Flora Lea Linden mysteriously disappeared.While it was assumed that Flora Lea had drowned that day in the River Thames, Hazel never gave up hope that she was alive and could be found. When Hazel discovers a storybook that hold details of a secret story she and Flora had shared about a place they called Whisperwood, she determines to track down the author and find out how she knows about stories that were shared only between Hazel and Flora.
This is a gentle story, even with a difficult storyline.I was rooting for Hazel (and Flora) throughout.The author was able to write about the real and human consequences of a life-long search for truth, and how the life we choose to live may not be the life we are meant to live. I should have seen part of the resolution coming, but missed it - probably because I felt mostly ‘along for the ride’ and wasn’t really putting too much thought into the storyline.Overall I enjoyed this story and I definitely liked the ending.
I rate this book a 4.the Zoom Reading Circle group rated it a 3.9.
Quotes from the book
Loss and gain.As nearly every myth told: birth, death, rebirth.One thing dying, another born.
Whisperwood belonged to her and her lost sister, Flora.It was a private realm that had sprung to life between them, a make-believe world to endure through the worst of the war, a place to find comfort where little existed.
Hazel was well attuned to disappointment in others.She picked up on any and all ways she didn’t please someone.
Despair leads us to stories, of course.We invent them so we can live in a world with meaning.
Bad things don’t always have a blaming place to land.
“But if you aren’t living your life, whose life are you living?”:Damn fine question,” said Kelty.
The best stories are soul-making.But stories we tell about ourselves, and even the harrowing ones told by others about us, can also be soul-destroying.We have to choose what is good and true, not what will destroy.
I listened to several in Donna Leon’s ‘Commissario Brunetti’ mystery series.I went from really enjoying them and thinking, wow, this is a series I want to go all the way through, to being too disturbed by her content.
Death at La Fenice - #1 - this was a good one. It set the stage for an interesting character in the Commissario and his family, plus it was a good mystery.Loved that Venice was not just the setting, but almost a character in itself.I do love that.The story is about a rather nasty conductor who is poisoned during intermission at the La Fenice opera house.I rated this one 4 stars.
Death in a Strange Country - #2 - This was pretty good, as well.It centered around the discovery of an apparent mugging victim in a canal... which led to a conspiracy between the mafia, the government of Italy, and even the US (the deadman was in the military, stationed at a nearby base).I appreciated the author’s take on environmental concerns, and Venice is certainly a good backdrop for some of those discussions.I rated this one 4 stars.
Dressed for Death - #3- Before Commissario Brunetti can join his wife and daughter on vacation in the mountains, he is called to a murder investigation of a man wearing red women's shoes and a red dress.This installment did a great job of highlighting what is so often the hypocrisy of some in a ‘morality league’ when they, themselves, are participating in the activities that most draw their public ire.I rated this one 4 stars.
Death and Judgement - #4 - This one bothered me.It was about immigrants who were snuck in to Italy then abused by their ‘coyotes’.Of course, the women were raped, prostituted, and sometimes killed. :( It was just too dark and the inclusion of the Commissario’s daughter in one revelation has haunted me still.I do realize that this is exactly the kind of thing that happens (horrifyingly so).But this book was so dark and shocking and without hope in many ways.That is not what I want or need in my reading time.So, if you were going through the series and are overly empathetic (as I am) I would suggest skipping this one altogether.:(I rated it 2 stars, just because I appreciate the author overall.I also have not picked up the series again since this one.Hopefully I will soon - and hopefully there won’t be any more as dark as this one was. Prior to this book, it was a series that I was quite enjoying.
Now this was a great book!This is the first in a series (currently there are only 2 but a 3rd is on the way soon, it appears) and I fell in love with the characters!It features a 77 year old lady named Judith who has long enjoyed living her life exactly as she pleases... with no apologies.She witnesses a murder (while night swimming in the Thames River - cause that is just the kind of cool lady she is!) and then sets out to solve it.Over the course of the book she is joined in this endeavor by two other women who have their own issues going on and realize they can, together, find the confidence to be exactly who they want to be.Great mystery, great story, wonderful characters that I want to read more of, and I do love when the protagonists are of a suitable age to have enjoyed a good life and experiences.:D Meaning, yes, older.:D
This was #7 in a series that I read the earlier books years ago.It was a pleasant diversion but nothing to write home about.Kind of like a McDonalds meal.Sometimes, though, that is just what you have a hankering for.:)I listened to this one and that was a good way to go - fast and easy.
Nice puzzle. Some of the pieces have splits and lift away but overall the quality is fine. This company has really strange shaped pieces. I don't think I have a strong feeling either way for that... but it is definitely a part of the puzzle and interesting. Challenging but not frustrating. Was listening to Marlow Murder Club audiobook while putting together a lot of this puzzle. Enjoying audiobooks paired with puzzles a lot lately. Pleasant puzzling experience and I do love the British puzzle company images. Looks like a pretty good life depicted here. :)
I feel like this artist, Tracy Hall, uses similar elements in other of her puzzles that I have seen (but do not yet own). I have spotted that lady in some, and have seen this room, although with slightly different variations of wallpaper, color of sofa, etc. But I am getting where I can spot a 'Tracy Hall' scene and have to wonder if this is based on real people (like her parents maybe?) or if, like an author, these are simply characters she has created and includes in many of her puzzles. Either way, they are comfortable and charming and I hope to get more puzzles with them. :)
Great puzzle! It really made me look closely at the turkey float and sure enough, Thanksgiving morning, I was watching the parade and it is exactly like this! Down to the outfits and pom-poms the girls and ladies have. And the clowns and bands looked similar around it, too. This year they had Snoopy instead of Clifford, but so many things look the same and it was really fun to make that connection. High quality White Mountain puzzle... lots of fun to put together. Challenging but not frustrating. Listened to The Songbook of Benny Lament while working this one and I think the two will be cemented together in my mind forever! (what a terrific book!)
Here is another Spilsbury winter image. We don't yet have snow on the ground here, but this puzzle felt cheery and so I did it anyway. Even with the snow on the ground in the puzzle, it was quite fun. :) Of course, I just had to work on that red truck first. Colorful and fun - lots of interest in this one. Another one-sitting puzzle - kind of fits my mood right now.
This was one of the first puzzles I bought way back when I started puzzling. Then I got a bit more experience and realized this might not be a fun puzzle - so much of the same type of colors and sky. But when I had first seen the image I was charmed. :) I re-sorted all my puzzles the other day and have only holiday/winter puzzles out now and this one fit that category well. I chose to do this one since I am not quite at the point of wanting Santa/Christmas puzzles... and this was a nice puzzle. Yes, it was a bit challenging, but at only 500 pieces, it was fun, not frustrating. Did it in one sitting while listening to an audiobook.... my current favorite thing. :)
