July Reading Wrap Up (Second Half)

 Before I get to my 2nd half reading wrap up, I wanted to give an update on our electric company saga. Yesterday I got a corrected bill, which stated that it was replacing the previous bill. The correct bill is €113 lower than the incorrect one. Glad that's sorted. Now on to the books! My reading wrap up for the first half of the month is here.

Shockwave: The Countdown to Hiroshima by Stephen Walker (library book)

Here's how this books begins:

" For the rest of his life, Sumao Tsubori would never forget how beautiful the garden looked that night. The trees, the lake, the little rainbow bridge, the ancient wooden teahouses dotting the banks, the smell of fresh pine, the white heron sleeping on the rock. The perfect stillness of it all. Outside beyond the garden walls, the city slept in the darkness. In the blackout, it was almost possible to believe there was no city out there at all, no houses, no army, no war. As if he and Reiko, lying together under the stars, were the only people alive in the world. That is how he remembered it the night before the bomb." (p3)

This was quite a read. It does exactly what the subtitle says--looks at the weeks leading up to the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima from a few weeks before when the bomb was tested, through to the aftermath and the next bomb drop on Nagasaki. The author concludes with a chapter on the men involved in the years after the war and what they thought of their part in this horrific episode. There were many ways in which I found this narrative chilling as well as heartbreaking. The people going about their lives as best as they could under the circumstances couldn't possibly imagine the horror that was heading their way. As I was reading, I kept thinking about how incredibly stupid war is and how we know this and keep on doing it anyway. I understand that the Japanese military people were incredibly brutal--not just at this time in history, either. I don't know whether dropping the bombs was justified. I'm glad I will never have to make such a decision. In the end, had they listened to one advisor in particular, they could have gotten the same terms of surrender before the bombs were dropped. It's also true that if the US hadn't dropped the bomb, then another country would have at some point. What was not ambiguous at all to me was some of the attitudes on the part of the (very unlikable) US military guys involved, who expressed no remorse and in one case, even celebrated this catastrophe decades later, when he reproduced the flight and the bomb drop at a Texas air show. That is obscene. You can have no regrets for your actions, be convinced that you did the right thing, and still recognize that it was horrific, even if you think it was justified. I don't think the slaughter of all those people is cause for celebration or entertainment, war or no war. As you can probably tell, this was a powerful book that will stay with me.

Death of a Bookseller by Bernard J. Farmer (library book)

This was the 100th title published in the British Library Crime Classics series. It's a fun read, which is set in the world of secondhand book dealing in London in the 1950s. In the book, Sergeant Wigan escorts a drunk man home, befriends him, and becomes interested in the man's trade, which is secondhand books. Some of these books are quite rare and the dealers and runners can be quite competitive. Still, Wigan's new friend begins teaching him about books and how to find desirable ones. They visit one another regularly. But one day, the book dealer is found dead. Wigan sets out to find the murderer of his friend with help from various others. The author had a foot in both worlds as he was a police officer and a book person, so he was able to bring that world to life. As I was reading, I was thinking about the book Jane Austen's Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney, who is a rare book dealer herself and includes a lot about the book trade of the present day. In both cases, this adds a lot to the books.

Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie (Serial Reader)

I've been enjoying reading some of Agatha Christie's early work again via the Serial Reader app. In the case of this book, although I read it before, I had no recollection of it at all and in fact, I think I thought the plot was different than it actually was. It was like reading it for the first time again. It's not one of Christie's best works, but reading it little by little was a fun experience nonetheless. In the book, Anne Beddingfield has come of age running her father's household after the death of her mother. When her father dies, she learns that he left many debts, so house and possessions are sold off to pay them, leaving her about £87. She goes to stay with a family friend while she tries to find work. One day, while on the platform at the train station, she looks up to see a man near the edge. Suddenly a look of horror comes over his face. He takes a step backwards and falls. Anne finds a piece of paper with some numbers on it. What do they mean? And what is the ticket to go view a house all about? What's the connection to the dead body that was found there? Anne decides to investigate and with her £87, which is just enough to buy a ticket for a boat to South Africa, she begins her adventure. 

Abortion: A History by Mary Fissell (library book)

The title tells you what this is about. It's a very interesting look at how attitudes to abortion changed in different places at different times, going from a commonplace medical procedure that was accepted and not considered anyone's business but the pregnant woman's, to a punishable offence when both women and fetuses were considered male property. Older women explained to younger ones what herbs/plants they could use to encourage miscarriage. Hot baths, jumping up and down, and other physical things were also advised. Then, when women and fetuses were considered property of men, miscarrying was considered a theft of property. Surveillance was common (sound familiar?). Nonetheless, whatever the laws and attitudes at any particular time, women have always and will always find ways to have abortions. 

The Death of Mr Dodsley by John Ferguson (library book)

Another secondhand bookshop! This one is located in the Charing Cross Road and is owned by Mr. Dodsley. One night, he is found murdered in his office. The scene looks remarkably like the cover of a newly published mystery novel written by the estranged daughter of an MP. Is there a connection? Turns out that the owner had called in a private detective to look into another matter shortly before his death. He continues his investigation, expanding it to include the murder. Scotland Yard is pursuing their own investigation and there are some amusing conversations within the police hierarchy. I enjoyed this book, but didn't think it was as good as Death of a Bookseller above. That said, it was a classic mystery (first published in 1937) and books are central to the plot, so it was still a good read. And there was some lovely writing, such as this sentence, " Envy is not a soil on which love thrives." (p 66)

The Waves by Virginia Woolf (my copy)

Well, this was one of the strangest books I've ever read. I'm not really sure whether I liked it or not. At the moment, I can't see myself re-reading it, but I'm going to keep it, so you never know. The 'plot' involves the lives of 6 friends as they grow up, enter adulthood, become middle-aged, and grow old. There is a 7th friend, but he is only talked about, and we never hear from him directly. This is in contrast to the others--the entire book is a sort of stream of consciousness moving between one and the next. These inner monologues are interspersed with a poetic story about the sun rising over the waves and shining through the day until it sets again. It took me a while to get into the flow of the narrative as there are no breaks between one character's thoughts and the next one--as I read, I was trying to keep up with quick jumps between 'Susan said' and 'Louis said' and on and on. The exception to this jumping around was near the end, when Bernard 'says' for many, many pages. After a while, I could see who was speaking/thinking, but it did take a while. These were sometimes profound thoughts and sometimes observations of the surroundings, for example (not actual quotes, because I am too lazy to get the book from the bottom of my Woolf pile, but sentences like this): 'The crumbs are on the table. Soon, I will push my glass away.' The style was such that at first it wasn't clear to be that these were thoughts left unspoken--I mean, I do not think this way. But it was a different time and Woolf was trying to create a work of art, so that is perhaps not so important here.

The Mysterious Mr. Badman by W.F. Harvey (library book)

This is another bibliomystery--my third and most favorite one of the month. This one is set in Yorkshire and is quite amusing. Mr. Athelstan Digby is a delightful character. He is staying in a village near where his nephew, Dr. Jim Pickering, may take over the local medical practice. They plan to go hiking. Mr. Digby offers to watch the bookstore owned by the person he's staying with as he and his wife have somewhere to go. Mr. Digby is astonished when three very different people show up looking for a book by Bunyan--The Mysterious Mr. Badman. He's even more astonished when a young lad comes in to sell him some books and that very title is included. Why do people want that book? When someone takes the book from Mr Digby's possession, it's clear something weird is going on. Mr Digby and Jim decide to find out what. This was a fun read--quite an amusing caper, full of implausible episodes. I learned that the author published a book of interconnected short stories featuring Athelstan Digby, but the library system doesn't have it and it's not on Project Gutenberg. Maybe one day I'll find it. I'd definitely love to read it.

So that's it for July reading. I hope you had an excellent reading month, too. Here's hoping for more wonderful books in August!

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