Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

I am a Social Science major and I had never heard of these women!  That is disgraceful. Katherine Johnson even grew up in West Virginia, my home state and still I heard and learned nothing of her contributions to the space race. My interest in the seeing the movie led me to read the book first. I know myself well enough that if I see the movie first, I am less likely to read the book.

Whenever I hear Langley, I think CIA, not NASA.  The book is well written. I will admit that much of the technical and math stuff I did not comprehend as fully as someone who is good in those areas might. I enjoyed the book from the personal aspects it includes which allows the reader to get to know these ladies better.  Most women would have given up but not these ladies.  I also found it interesting that they were referred to as computers. John Glenn and others relied on their computations to get them into orbit and back home.  Even after the computers we know today began to appear, the human computers were considered more trustworthy. It was also fascinating that the men working in the field did not trust the women until they proved themselves smarter than they were! 

I can not imagine being told not to go into a field simply because I was a woman, let alone having to do it as a person of color.  Their fortitude in following their dreams is amazing. The family sacrifices are extreme.  The lack of equal pay and access unfortunately was the norm then. I enjoyed reading that these women stood up for themselves in days when that could have made their lives more difficult.

Other things I enjoyed about the book include learning about the community development of the Hampton Roads area.  I wonder what these neighborhoods look like today? My guess is that most are still well kept middle class communities. 

Since reading the book I have seen the movie and also watched the interview between Barbara Harris and Katherine Johnson. At 99, Mrs. Johnson is still sharp as a tack and can calculate math with the best of them.  She cleared up a couple of things about the movie that had been added for theatrical effect such as bathrooms in separate buildings and who made the coffee.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

As life changes one must always remember that life has purpose.  Ove thought his life was over and he had no reason to continue. Enter so many characters who need him! First the cat, then the new neighbors, then folks from the neighborhood. Each new person brings consternation and rebirth to Ove.

Ove wants to die. However, Ove is a meticulous person so everything has to be done just right.  He has routines. He is the self-proclaimed neighborhood watch for the community.  Not a man of many words, he still offers assistance to anyone who needs it, all the while continuing his curmudgeonly ways. He goes to his wife’s grave to visit and talks with her about all the things going on and how awful things are. She “tells” him how to continue living.

Ove is a man who has always done the right thing and helping others is the right thing. I love how he offers to teach Parvaneh to drive, help Patrick fix things, works with Jimmy to get him some exercise, helps Anita and Rune stay together in the house and restores the relationship between Mirsad and his father.  And the cat!  He hates the cat but feeds it because Sonya would want him to do so. He and the cat become inseparable. 

Each new person and each new day brings more and more reasons why Ove needs to live.  Just like for most of us, we need to know that we matter. We need to have someone who needs us. He becomes Granddad to Patrick and Parvaneh’s children.  Children often bring out the best in someone and this is true here. 

I love the community that exists here.  Everyone relies on each other and looks out for each other.  In the end, folks were still doing things their way despite his instructions to the contrary. The fact that so many pay their respects to the old, “bitter” man is a testament to the life he lived and the value he had. A true feel good story!

The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore

This historic novel tells the story of the conflict and competition between Nikola Tesla, George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison.  It does not make Edison look good! It is based on the actual legal battles between Westinghouse and Edison.  It is from the perspective of Westinghouse’s attorney, Paul Cravath. It has a bit of everything from espionage to attempted murder and one is always guessing who is responsible for each.

Tesla is at the center of all things. His work with electricity and the light bulb are central to the conflict. Edison was the first to patent the light bulb but according to the story actually got the patent prior to completing his light bulb. Tesla could care less about the patent as he was much more interested in creating a better product. Westinghouse wanted the patent for the better light bulb and was willing to go to great lengths to get it. Edison was backed by JP Morgan and benefited greatly for that relationship.

There was a court case over the patent of the light bulb and Westinghouse eventually won the right to produce his own light bulb without having to pay Edison for each one he produced.  Tesla would go on the produce many electrical improvements. Those are facts and the book makes the facts come alive by adding the elements of legal competition to the story.  Cravath has to run back and forth between Pittsburgh and New York to serve his client.  He focuses on his one client while letting other things slide and is taken advantage of in the process. His relationships with colleagues, with his socialite girlfriend and others have many ups and downs giving the reader a reason to continue.

I liked the book and feel it was even more interesting than The Sherlockain we read earlier by Graham Moore. 

Straight Man by Richard Russo

I am not sure I understand the title as I do not think it applies to the main character.  William Henry Devereaux, Jr. seemed anything but straight. He liked to think of his wife having affairs, had sexual thoughts about his secretary and a grad student. Maybe the fact that he thought without acting made him the straight man.  He also was not the best liked person on the campus.  His department seemed to relish filing grievances against him. This being said, I went on line to see why the book was so well received.

A straight man is the person who gives insight into a comedy. Having read that I can see the title has relevance.  The life WHD, Jr lived was a comedy, or so he thought. He might simply have been trying to rationalize his complacency in living on the reputation built by his first, and only, novel.  One might psychoanalyze him as being another man trying to live up to and make amends for the mistakes his father had.  While he had thoughts about other women and never acted upon them, his father seemed to go after many women, switching one for the next until he finally returned home to his first wife and the mother of his child when he was ill.

One thing I did like about the book was when he learned that his father was not the great teacher he though. Dad got stage fright.  WHD, Jr was surprised by this.

The relationships with his own daughters seemed to reflect the relationship he had with his own parents. Everyone in the book is flawed.  Some drink too much, some spend too much. Others are hanging on in jobs they should give up. 

As strange as I found the book, I did recognize a lot of educational politics in the book.  That made it a bit more real for me.

As this is presented as a comedy I will admit that I found the parts with the duck/goose hilarious!

The Storied Life of A J Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

This summer I have read two books about bookstore owners and each was interesting and different. This story is heartwarming as well as fun to read.  I enjoyed the way the author began each chapter with a portion of another’s short story. It was like a prelude to what was to follow.  Every life has a story and how we tell it is unique.  AJ Fikry’s life was that at well.

He is essentially a loner. He lives on an island. His wife has died and he has no interest in pursuing anyone else.  However, when he finds a baby left in his bookstore he changes.  He recognizes that the idea of keeping the child by himself is crazy but cannot let her go into foster care.  I think he might not have been the loner he thought!  Maya brought a different story to his life and filled him with love and hope.

This book has many twists and turns.  People are not who they are first introduced as being. The policeman, Lambiase, is not a reader but reads a lot. He makes excuses to come the store so he can help with the child. He gets AJ to buy books his co-workers would read, begins book clubs and eventually takes over the bookstore. Leon Friedman is supposedly the author that brought Amelia and AJ together but when he is introduced we see that he not only could not have written the book but probably would not have written anything!  Leonora Ferris has her own reasons for writing under a pseudonym but probably because she thought no one would take her seriously. I think this is the author’s story becoming intertwined in the book.

One twist I enjoyed was finding out that Maya was Daniel Parrish’s daughter. Ismay was furious with him, a notorious womanizer, for denying her the child she so wanted.  I did not see her killing him though. Technically, it was an automobile accident but, he still died.  Doubt he would ever have changed despite his vow to do so.

I also enjoyed that Ismay and Lambiase take over the bookstore after AJ’s death.  Many believe the print book is dying but I still love to wonder the aisles of a bookstore and actually prefer reading paper over e-readers.  I wonder if having AJ die was alluding to the death of the bookstore?

There is much more to like in this book and I look forward to our discussions.

Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

This is actually two stories in one.  Bruce read the book years ago so I was familiar with it but had not read it.  We have over the last 25 years spent a lot of time in Chicago because our friend Michael lived there.  The last time we were there was summer of 2012 shortly before his illness and subsequent death. We went to the Chicago Historical Society and enjoyed the exhibit about the World’s Fair.  I was particularly interested in the Ferris Wheel replica they had on display. I thought of that as I read just what was entailed in the creation of the ride.  Wow!  I think I would be more afraid of getting on the original than I am the improved models! I fear being stuck on the top with a cousin who likes to rock the boat. (Read that as the voice of experience!)

About all that remains of the original buildings is the Palace of Arts which is now the Museum of Science and Industry where you can see a captured German U-boat.  The back of the building is what was the front and is on Jackson Lagoon.  There is also an amusement park at the Navy Pier where the original Ferris Wheel once stood.  You can really get a good view of it all from atop the Willis (originally known as the Sears) tower.  I found the description of all that went into getting the fair off the ground and running even more entertaining that the murder mystery surrounding the disappearance of all the women!  HH Holmes was hardly a commonly known criminal until Larson’s book. 

Personally, I think Holmes was as successful as he was because people could not conceive of anyone like that in existence then. Today, we suspect the worst of everyone and are surprised by little.  Then he was a nice looking young man who seemed to exude charm. Reminds me of an earlier Ted Bundy!

I was never lucky enough to attend any of the world’s fairs. I think I would have loved them. I always enjoy the Folk Life Festivals on the mall which I consider a smaller scale world exposition. Reading about all that went into creating one from the beginning to end makes me realize that little has changed in America. If someone has an idea and it committed to seeing it achieved, it can be done. Along the way, that same idea will be scrutinized to death, altered to fit the egos of anyone who believes they thought of it to begin with and if lucky come to fruition somewhere near on schedule! 

I enjoyed the book. Thanks for suggesting it.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Delightful!  One precocious eleven-year-old who has an active imagination, above average curiosity and intelligence finds a dying man and sets about solving his murder.  There are many things to enjoy in the book.

I like that the girl is interested in science, not afraid of much and spends lots of time trying to make life miserable for her sisters.  As a child I loved reading the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series and this is of the same genre in my mind. Bright young people often overlooked by adults who can find solutions to things often missed by those same adults make this a great novel for all ages. Flavia de Luce is entertaining, logical, impulsive, determined and honest.

Flavia has a great way of describing those around her. While she thinks her sister Ophelia is an excellent pianist she will never tell her any more than letting Daphne know the books she reads aloud are interesting. Affection between family members is strained at best.  Father is suffering from either extreme sorrow over the loss of Harriet, his wife and mother of Flavia, or from PTSD—possibly a combination of both. Folks in the house seem to go their own ways without paying much attention to the young girl unless she is being a pest.  She takes being a pest to new heights. In many ways this seems to be a bit of a characterization of the aristocracy as Father stays to himself in his rooms while the servants look after the children. 

Her vocabulary is something that most parents would appreciate if a child today knew even half those words.  No texting shorthand in that generation! Her descriptions of everyone from the cook to the librarian to the man servant are vibrant. I could almost smell the custard pie warming on the sill and unlike Flavia, I love custard pie.  Mrs. Mullet’s ?  Flavia brings Miss Mountjoy alive and it did not surprise me to learn that she was the town busybody who informed Dr. Kissing of all the comings and goings of Bishop’s Lacey. I was surprised to hear that Dr. Kissing was still alive.  I was more surprised that he set fire to the Ulster Avenger but is retrospect this was fitting given the way the whole story of the stamp began.

It really was not a surprise that Pemberton and Stanley were one and the same. Flavia deduced early that Twining had not committed suicide but the author did not confirm this until much later.  Once Father told his story to Flavia much began to make sense.  Once a cad and a crook, always one. I doubt anyone would feel sad to see either Boneypenny or Stanley go down. 

I also enjoyed the stamp mystery.  I used to collect stamps as a child and still love the uniqueness of the older stamps.  A little search found that these are real stamps and were the first adhesive stamps created.  The Ulster Avenger seems to be just a matter of fiction created by the author though!