"Restless" by William Boyd ****

• Originally published in 2006
• Scottish author
• Epigraph:  "We may, indeed, say that the hour of death is uncertain, but when we say this we thing of that hour as situated in a vague and remote expanse of time; it does not occur to us that it can have any connection with the day that has already dawned and can mean that death may occur this very afternoon, so far from uncertain, this afternoon whose timetable, hour by hour, has been settled in advance.  One insists on one's daily outing, so that in a month's time one will have had the necessary ration of fresh air; one has hesitated over which coat to take, which cabman to call; one is in the cab, the whole day lies before one, short because one must be back home early, as a friend is coming to see one; one hopes it will be as fine again tomorrow; and one has no suspicion that death, which has been advancing within one on another plane, has chosen precisely this particular day to make its appearance in a few minutes' time....". - Marcel Proust, "The Guermantes Way" 

• Vocabulary:
• judder:  to vibrate violently.

• Quotes I Like:
• p. 73...."They never knew the consequences of their clever little fibs;  it was as if the individual members of this unit were players in an orchestra, sequestered in soundproof rooms - only Romer was able to make out the harmonies of the tune they were playing."
• p. 233..."Maybe all great schemes are like that,' he said.  'Happenstance intersecting with received wisdom produces something entirely new and significant.' "
• Review:  It's difficult to say if this is a really well written espionage novel, a very enjoyable WWII novel, or a very good novel about what it means to be human.  Of course it is all three, so I guess I am just saying to be careful not to pigeon-hole this novel in one category!  To share an illuminating quote from the book itself, "Maybe all great schemes are like that,' he said.  'Happenstance intersecting with received wisdom produces something entirely new and significant.' "  A mother and daughter are trying to find ways to live their lives in some sort of genuine manner, and yet they must face the fact that no one is completely known to us.  We all have secrets from one another.  Yet on we go, and that is the point!  Good read. I waver between three and four stars on this one......I think four because I definitely want to read more of Boyd's novels.

"Scandal" by Shusaku Endo *****

> 3rd novel so far in year long author read on LibraryThing.com
>Japanese author
> Originally published 1986

> Introduction:

• "This thing called old age is not a beautiful maturity but something loathsome and painful, with lots of ugly aspects to it.  If asked why it is loathsome and ugly, I would say that it is because it is a rite of passage, a preparation for going to the next world.  A rite of passage involves having to undergo ordeals.  That is one of the themes of the novel." - Endo
• "The city is like a human body, containing a multitude of different organs to cater for different functions and desires." - Damian Flanagan
• Novel is autobiographical per Endo himself

> Characters:  Seguro (65 year old author...Endo), Kobari (reporter who wants to topple him from pedestal), Mrs.Naruse (middle aged hospital volunteer and masochist

 > Quotes I Like:

• " As a novelist he could not bring himself to skirt over or ignore any of the components of a human being." - Seguro
• "He had the notion that a true religion should be able to respond to the dark melodies, the faulty and hideous sounds that echo from the hearts of men." - Seguro in answer to the question, "Why don't you write stories that are nicer, more beautiful" (as a Christian)
• "I feel as though our erotic behaviour expresses our profoundest secrets, the ones we ourselves aren't aware of." - Madame Naruse discussing sex with Seguro
• "Midway upon the journey of our life,  I found myself within the forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost."  - "The Divine Comedy"
• "Old age was something hidden from view for many years, only showing itself when it was fanned by the winds that blow from the pit of death."
• "This Jesus you believe in.....I wonder if he was murdered because he was too innocent....too pure"
• "I read somewhere that in our youth we live through our bodies; in our prime we live through our intellect; and in our old age we live through our minds as they prepare  for the journey to the next life."

> Vocabulary:

• biophilous:  a love of life and the living world; the affinity of human beings for other life forms
• doppelganger: ghost double

> Interesting Ideas:

• the author's study indicative of a desire to return to the womb
• Seguro's novels pair with Endo's....."The Voice of Silence"/"Silence",
• Group of young female artists seeking "beauty in ugliness.  an aesthetics of ugliness".....just like Endo's novels
• The psychology of sex "resembles the frame of mind in which one yearns for God.
• I wonder if many journalists feel an inner urge to "shake those who were secure loose from their moorings"....seems a trend in our current affairs
• Shadow self.......not a new concept, but really well written in this story 
• Mrs. Naruse's husbands story of the heart, with items in the storage at the bottom coming to life at night
• necrophilous v. biophilous writers
• strong human desire to return to an inanimate state......strongest in masochists.....masochism as a deformation of a natural instinct...interesting
• Seguro references the title for his next novel...."Scandal:  An Old Man's Prayer"

> Review:   I think this is a novel that took courage to write.  The author, Shusaku Endo, offers his own self-exploration up to the reader as a guide to accepting our own humanity, including the darkest aspects of self.  His protagonist, Seguro, is an author at the pinnacle of his career, at which moment he is confronted by his own doppelganger, or spirit double.  Thus begins a painful exploration of the aspects of self we try to hide from.  With references to "The Divine Comedy", Shakespeare's "King Lear" and other works used to emphasize the universality of Endo's beliefs, this book is uncomfortably marvelous to read.  Take a deep breath before diving in, because you will be a different person when you emerge at the end!

"Hell's Corner" by David Baldacci ***

> Audiobook
> #5 in Camel Club Series
> Originally published in 2011

> Review:  Pretty good Camel Club installment......nanobots are scary......would like to have seen more of the original Camel Club members!

"Haikus For Jews: For You, A Little Wisdom" by David M. Bader. ****

> originally published 1999 > review: Clever! Very funny!

"The Best Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis" by Caroline Kennedy ****

> Originally published 2001
> Collected and introduced by Caroline Kennedy

> Review:  Collected and Introduced by Caroline Kennedy, this is a lovely collection of poetry.  What makes the collection even more enjoyable to read are the tidbits of insight shared by Caroline about life with her oh so literate mother and father, from memorizing poems for their Daddy to Jacqueline's excitement in organizing an evening of poetry at the White House to the family tradition of writing or selecting a poem for their mother's birthday, Mother's Day, etc.  Some classics, some sonnets, some historic moments.  Very nice!

"Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy" by Caroline Kennedy & Michael Bechsloss ****

> Audiobook
> Book Club Selection April 2012

>Notes:

• Part of an oral history project, 1964 
• Interviewer:  Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr. (October 15, 1917 – February 28, 2007) was an American historian and social critic whose work explored the American liberalism of political leaders including Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy. A Pulitzer Prize winner, Schlesinger served as special assistant and "court historian"^[1] to President Kennedy from 1961 to 1963. He wrote a detailed account of the Kennedy Administration, from the transition period to the president's state funeral, titled A Thousand Days. In 1968, Schlesinger actively supported the presidential campaign of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, which ended with Kennedy's assassination in Los Angeles. Schlesinger wrote the biography Robert Kennedy and His Times several years later.
  He popularized the term "imperial presidency" during the Nixon administration by writing the book The Imperial Presidency. He also was an avid supporter of Harry Truman.
  
• Interviews were done four months after the President's assassination, then put in a vault, not to be released until the 50th anniversary of his death
• Caroline Kennedy's dilemma over publishing them edited a bit so as not to offend anyone or not...did not edit
• Jacqueline born 1929, died 1994
•  Raised  on Park Avenue and Long Island....surprised at her heavy accent
• Met JFK on a train, then later more formally, he was already a congressman
• Married in 1953
• Back surgery...later proved unnecessary....in 1955
• Wrote "Profiles in Courage" while mending from surgery, in order to have something to do
• Their life was "fast-paced", and they were "rarely alone"
• JFK described himself as "an idealist without illusions"....I really like that
• Tended to incite bitter jealousies among men who had not achieved as much by such a young age
• Conflict over "Profiles in Courage" authorship with Ted Sorenson, Jackie says he took some cast off pages with editorial comments on them, but JFK still had the original handwritten notes of his own, so proved his authorship, JFK gave all proceeds to Sorenson for his help, but Jackie says that was just his way...to reward Ted for very hard work......."Ted" Sorensen (May 8, 1928 – October 31, 2010) was an American presidential advisor, lawyer and writer, best known as President John F. Kennedy’s special counsel, adviser and legendary speechwriter. President Kennedy once called him his “intellectual blood bank.
• Jackie translated books from the French for JFK
• Wasn't considered "serious" to travel with your wife, so she did not generally travel abroad with him
• JFK was appalled and "deeply affected" by flip, insensitive comments of the rich about the poor
• Schlesinger, "He didn't wear his heart on his sleeve..."
• Jackie:  so important for JFK to get "out of Washington and see how much he was adored"
• JFK was "never one to run with a pack"
• Comparison of campaigning in Wisconsin v. West Virginia......"never met a person I liked in Wisconsin", "never met a person I didn't like in West Virginia", seen as "Papists"
• "All these Irish seem to have a peculiar sense of persecution"
• Senate wives rolled bandages on Tuesdays, vice president wife (Pat Nixon) wore nurse's uniform
• Dislike of LBJ, story of him sitting in Mr. Kennedy's chair on the Cape
• Jackie worried about life for JFK post white house...spoke to Bobby...he spoke to Ted who said he would bow out of the senate.....JFK found out, was angry and made her tell bobby to tell teddy no
• JFK's gift giving....brought in 30 gifts for her to choose from...she chose the one she could tell he wanted her to pick
• Story of not taking bathrobe to bathroom and then hiding in there because JFK and Salinger were meeting in the bedroom, and about bursting in with Truman one time
• Story of Robert Frost at inauguration being unable to see the words on his paper
• Like that JFK would call her a"Jack"
• she didn't know how to wave in the inauguration parade
• Sounds like she was exhausted quite a bit, was given Dexedrine in order to have the energy to get up and dressed for inaugural balls
• Described their relationship as "renewals of love after brief separations"
• Schlesinger indicated that his advisers felt they let JFK down re Bay of Pigs
• Khrushchev's daughter looked like a "Wehrmacht blonde who ran a concentration camp."
• Stayed on Onassis yacht in mid 1950s
• Got all her political ideas from her husband......felt it was a great thing
• "Power made him a better man"....a portrait painter said that to Jackie
• Day after Cuban missile crisis......JFK said if anyone is going to shoot me, this would be the day to do it......referring to his belief that Lincoln greatness was what it was because he died after abolishing slavery, but not being alive to deal with the no win situation of Reconstruction
• MLK Jr....Bobby told her of orgy tapes and that he had made fun of JFK's inauguration
• During Cuban missile crisis..."no day and night"
• JFK foresaw trouble with LBJ's presidency re:  southeast Asia
• Skyhook....extraction of agents 
• Jackie saw herself as a detriment to JFK's career until they got to the White House 

> Review:  I was 5 years old when President Kennedy was assassinated.  I have powerful visual memories of my mother weeping and watching the funeral on our black and white television.  As is true for most Americans I have the powerful iconic images from media of the Kennedy family, their tragedies and faux pas.   Hearing Jacqueline's voice, in its strong Long Island accent, has filled out my internal images of her tremendously.  She comes across as a smart, physically frail, classic 1950s wife, who seemed to adore her husband.  She tells tales from their married life, which was actually fairly brief.  She shares her opinions of many individuals she met over time.  All of this is done while the listener hears her take a puff on her cigarette and hears the clink of ice cubes in her glass.....even hearing the occasional pitter patter of her children running through the room.  She paints a picture of JFK as incredibly intelligent, hard-working, considerate, and completely dedicated individual. 

It is a wonderful experience to listen to these interviews

"The Madonnas of Leningrad" by Debra Dean ****

> Book Club selection, March 2012
> Debut by US author
> Originally published 2006

> Epigraph:  "But now I know, while beauty lives, So long will live my power to grieve." - Alexander Pushkin

> Quotes I Like:

• p. 3..."It is as though she has been transported into a two-dimensional world, a book perhaps, and she exists only on this page.  When the page turns, whatever was on the previous page disappears from her view."
•  p. 24..."Privacy is a conceit of degenerate societies."
• p.27..."Her uncle seemed not to notice what she saw--he droned on about acquisitions and restorations and who knows what else, while around them angels fluttered in turbulent skies and serene Madonnas gazed down as they passed.  And the landscapes, one after another shimmering with light, each frame a portal into a fresh world.".......Age 12, Marina's first impression of the Hermitage, yet also an apt description of her experience at the other end of her life as she flutters between the present and the past in her mind
• p. 119..."She is leaving him, not all at once, which would be painful enough, but n a wrenching succession of separations.  On moment she is here, and then she is gone again, and each journey takes her a little farther from his reach.  He cannot follow her, ad he wonders where she goes when she leaves him."......perspective of family
• p. 158..."Woe rides on woe and uses woe for a whip"
• p. 161..."What is heartbreaking is that there is still beauty in the world."....after the blanket bombing of Leningrad....juxtaposed to the epigraph by Pushkin.....wonder where the author falls on this question
• p. 203..."The future is always written with a pitchfork on the water."
• p. 206..."This slow erosion of self has its compensations.  Having forgotten whatever associations might dull her vision, she can look at a leaf and see it as if for the first time. Though reason suggests otherwise, she has never seen this green before.  It is wondrous.  Each day, the world is made fresh again, holy, and she takes it in, in all its raw intensity, like a young child.  She feels something bloom in her chest--joy or grief, eventually they are inseparable.  The world is so acutely beautiful, for all its horrors, that she will be sorry to leave it."

> Interesting Ideas:

• Sleep as a switch being flicked.....same as the switch which flicks Marina from past to present
• Absolutely loved the idea of building a "memory palace".....p.68

> Review:   This debut novel is the 2012 selection for "If All Rochester Reads.....", and the March 2012 selection for my book club. Consequently, I will have the opportunity to hear the author speak in Rochester this week. 

This story is a beautifully blended, historically interesting,poignant tale of the siege of Leningrad and its impact on the Hermitage, its artwork and staff, and it is also the story of what it might be like on the inside of Alzheimer's.  The author, Debra Dean, does an absolutely marvelous job of making the transitions between the past and the present, using events in either to trigger the mental shift from the past to the present of the protagonist, Marina.