By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult

Posted on August 21, 2024 by Carol Early Cooney

Dear Fellow Reader,

It is only mid to late August, but I can tell that fall is coming. Partly because it gets so much cooler at night. It is like the sun just can’t keep the warmth up all day and night anymore. That it is tired and just needs a break. I notice the mornings are quieter also. In the spring, the early mornings are alive with birds vying for notice. As we move into fall, they are much quieter. The garden gives off signals that different plants are starting to call it quits. Always sad to see but I must admit that I do like that little bite in the air. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of warm days left. I always think that it gets hot just as the kids go back to school. The little girls are dying to wear all those new back-to-school clothes, but it is just too hot for them.

By Any Other Name is the new novel by Jodi Picoult. I confess that, even though highly recommended, I have not read many books by Jodi Picoult. A quick lookup tells me that she had 28 books and novellas. I know that I have read at least one other. So, I want to say this is her first foray into historical fiction, but I am probably incorrect. This story is the story of two women separated in time. Emilia Bassano was born in 1569 and Melina Green was born around 1995.  

As the book opens, we meet Melina Green. She is a playwright who is a senior at Bard College and is urged by her professor to enter a Bard College-sponsored playwriting competition. The prize was a guaranteed slot at the Samuel French Off Off-Broadway Short Play Festival. Her professor repeats that while her writing is clear and compelling, it is emotionally sterile. He wants her to show more of herself in her work. She didn’t feel that anyone really wanted to know her. She writes a new play and enters it. Her play makes it to the final round of the competition. The final round has a surprise judge, the theater critic from the New York Times, Jasper Tolle. Her play does not win the competition, and she is humiliated by the criticism that was given to her by Jasper Tolle.

While she was writing the play, she received a letter from her father. Her father had gotten interested in genealogy and he was writing to tell her that she was related to the first published female poet in England, Emilia Bassano.

In the book, the story of Emilia Bassano starts in the year 1581, when she is 12 years old and an orphan. She learned that the countess, who had taken care of her, would be leaving. Emilia’s parents are dead but she still has cousins and other relatives who live in London. Emilia’s family were court musicians. Emilia had a full education with the countess, reading, writing, languages, and dancing. (She knew more about music than the countess.) Emilia would go weekly to London to visit her family, where they lived in the Italian community. Her family was Jewish, and this was the night that they celebrated with Shabbat dinner. Judaism was forbidden so they celebrated in secret.

Melina Green becomes fascinated by her relative and does more research about her. As the story progresses, Melina writes a play based on the life of Emilia. Through the play, she proposes a theory that Emilia wrote some the plays credited to Shakespeare. When the play is complete, Melina’s best friend, Andre drunkenly submits it to a competition under the name Mel Green.

The story progresses at a good pace. Both characters meet obstacles and conquer them; love, loss, success and failures are part of both lives.

It took me a little bit to get into the book but then I really enjoyed it. I think I was chafing against reading yet another book that has characters that take you back and forth in time. There is a lot of meat in this book. Lots of different things happen to the characters. The hardships do not seem contrived which makes it easier to read and enjoy the story. The book was interesting.

This is a definite “read it”. I think you will be happy that you did.

Here is a link to a TikTok of Jodi Picoult talking about Shakespeare and Emilia Bassano. https://www.tiktok.com/@jodipicoult/video/7374792241115598126.

Thanks for reading!

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Shock and Paw by Cate Conte

Posted on August 21, 2024 by Carol Early Cooney

Dear Fellow Readers,

Have you ever read a book and thought that the ending was a bit abrupt?  Like the author was only allowed so many words and when they came close to being used up the plot suddenly moved a the speed of light to the end?  That always really bothers me. 

Today’s book is Shock and Paw by Cate Conte.  This book is a cozy mystery with cat fur.  It is the eighth in the series by Cate Conte.  One would assume from that that the previous books have done well.  The first good thing that I can say about this book is that you would never know it was part of a series.  It could have been the first in the series.  I have no idea what the other books were about.  This book stands alone.  The next good thing I will say is that the characters are well-drawn.  There are lots of characters and I didn’t have any trouble keeping them separate. 

And then starts my complaint about the book.  We didn’t get to a murder until over halfway through the book.  Which means, as you can guess, that the murder was solved fairly rapidly. Also, there is a lot of information about cats in the book.  While it didn’t ruin it, I know nothing about “fancy cats”.  Part of the story of the book was about a catnapping ring and some of the types of cats were beyond me. 

This is probably a great book if you love and know cats. 

It is not my thing. While appreciated the book, I have read books that appeal more to me.  As I said, there were good, descriptive characters and lots of back stories to keep them separate from each other.  There was just a lot of cat information.  I would say that if you want a lot of character development and you like cats, this is the book for you. 

Thanks for reading.

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Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp by Michelle Moran

Posted on July 12, 2024 by Carol Early Cooney

Hello Fellow Reader,

How could I not read this book?  We have all been brought up with the von Trapp family, right?  Or does that just show my age?  Isn’t The Sound of Music a rite of passage? 

In Maria, the prologue is a letter from Maria to Oscar Hammerstein imploring him to make changes to The Sound of Music so that it accurately reflects their lives.  Maria von Trapp requests a meeting so that she can clear up misconceptions and she has suggestions for the script. She understands that the music for the play is not yet complete, and she feels that making the changes is imperative. 

We then meet Fran. Fran is part of the group that revolves around Oscar Hammerstein. She works in his office along with her boyfriend, Jack.  When she arrived at the office on Monday, Mr. Hammerstein asked her to meet with Maria and see what she had to say because he didn’t have time.  He is busy with the musical and trying to finish the last songs. 

Fran meets Maria and instead of brushing her off, she meets with her several times to find out about her life.  Maria explains just some of the basic differences between her true story and the story in the play.  The oldest of the von Trapp children was really a boy; they did escape but not by climbing over the Alps. Also, Maria and Captain von Trapp had three children together.   

Fran can do nothing to help Maria change the plot but she listens to her and writes all the information up for Mr. Hammerstein.  Fran learns the good and bad sides of Maria and her regrets.  At the same time, Fran has great news in her professional life. The great news brings about changes that she didn’t anticipate but seem to work out well.

The book is enjoyable.  I’m sure that if Sound of Music is really a generational thing those who have lived with it as part of their life will enjoy the book.  (Is it still on TV every Easter?) It is not a heavy read at all.  A great light beach read or summer mornings and evenings on the deck. 

Thanks for reading!

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The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan

Posted on June 27, 2024 by Carol Early Cooney

Hello Fellow Reader,

I find that once again my reading outstrips my book reviews. Not that I aspire to write about every book I read. There are things I read as just “palate cleansers” or what I have in the past called “popcorn” books. When things are going crazy around here, I just want to read something I will finish fast. Something quick and absorbing.

Like social media, this blog is a curated show of my reading. If you are wondering about the full picture, check out my Goodreads. I keep track of my full reading on there. I do that for two reasons. I like to see how many books I read in a year, and I sometimes need to go back and see if I have read a particular book.

Today’s book is not a palate cleanser. The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan has elements of a great beach read. The characters stick to you while you read the book and you can remember where you are in the story every time you pick it up.

Jane Flanagan is the lead character. Jane grew up on the coast of Maine. She is bright and as the book opens, she is invited to a summer program at Bates College. Despite her mother’s discouraging words she starts attending the program. She overhears one of the professors talking one day about how the program is to help disadvantaged students become the first in their families to go to college. While when she reflects on this statement, she finds it true, she is still bothered by it. After that day she does not return to the program, although she finishes all the program readings.

As a part-time job, Jane works for a boat tour company giving tours. During the course of giving the tours, she sees a derelict house up on a cliff. She finds her way over to the house and explores the land and part of the house. The house was left with everything in tact as it was many years before. There are clothes in the closets and paintings on the walls. This became Jane’s spot. She would go up to the house sit in the yard and read for the rest of the summer. One day her mother finds out that Jane has been going to the house and tells her to never go there again. Jane doesn’t understand or listen to her mother. She continues to go to the house until she goes to college and then forgets about it.

Jane did very well in school. She went to Wesleyan in Connecticut and then on to get a PhD at Yale. After several years, she was hired for her dream job at the Schlesinger Library at Harvard. Right before her 30th birthday, she met David. Her boss had set them up and they fell in love.

Then we move to 10 years in the future. Jane has disgraced herself and is living in her mother’s house. Her mother died, and she is living there to clean out the house. She takes a trip to see “her” house and finds that someone has bought the house and has transformed it.

 Genevieve lives in Beacon Hill and is used to living a life of social achievement. She talked her husband into buying the house (and they had to jump through hoops to do that) and now she and her son are living in the newly refurbished house for the summer. She worked so hard to get the house the way she wanted it but things kept going wrong. A freshly painted wall would crack, a brown spot on a bedroom ceiling, and scratching sounds inside the walls. Was the house haunting her for some reason?

It seems that both Genevieve and Jane have secrets.

I enjoyed the book. There were enough twists and turns to keep me wanting to read more to find out what happens to the characters. The characters have real-world flaws that they have to work through during the story. I recommend this book. Put it on your summer TBR (To Be Read) pile and escape to a place of flawed characters that you aren’t related to.

I was given a copy of this book for my unbiased review. The book will be published on July 2, 2024.

Thanks for reading!

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The Last Note of Warning by Katharine Schellman

Posted on June 3, 2024 by Carol Early Cooney

Dear Fellow Reader,

Happy June! For the first time in a while, it feels like we had Spring. Gardens were up and going earlier than normal and the lilacs are spent and back to being green bushes. It is always so great to go back to longer days. Remember when you were young and had to go to bed when it was still light out?

Bed in Summer

In winter I get up at night

And dress by yellow candle-light

In summer, quite the other way,

I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see

The birds still hopping on the tree,

Or hear the grown-up people’s feet

Still going past me in the street.

And does not seem hard to you,

When all the sky is clear and blue,

And I should like so much to play,

To have to go to bed by day?

Robert Louis Stevenson 1850-1894

Last July, I reviewed The Last Drop of Hemlock by Katherine Schellman. (https://cecooney.com/2023/07/10/the-last-drop-of-hemlock-by-katharine-schellman/)

It was the second book in a series that featured Vivian Kelly as the main character. (I still haven’t read the first book.) The books take place in Manhattan in 1925. Vivian works for a seamstress during the day making deliveries and then at night she works in a speakeasy.

In The Last Note of Warning, we meet Vivan as she is delivering a dress to Mrs. Buchanan. She is to deliver the dress and make sure the dress fits perfectly. When she arrives at the house, Mrs. Buchanan is not there so she is told to wait. While waiting she meets Mr. Buchanan. They exchange some pleasantries, and he gets Vivian a cup of coffee. He is then called to meet a guest in his office by a maid. Vivian is tired from her long nights at the Nightengale and while waiting falls asleep. She wakes and knows that she needs to get back to work. She goes in search of someone to say that she is leaving. She finds Mr. Buchanan dead in his study. The police come and she is blamed for his murder. She contacts Leo Green, her beau, to help her since his uncle is the Police Commissioner. The Commissioner tells her she has one week to find the murderer, or she will go to jail for the crime. Vivan goes back to the Nightingale to enlist Honor Huxley’s help. Honor owns the Nightengale and has connections that Vivian thinks can help her. Vivian turns her down and says that this time she can’t help. Vivian is hurt by this refusal, but the clock is ticking and she needs to find out why Mr. Buchanan was murdered and by whom? Was it his new wife? Her gambler son (from a previous marriage)? And who was slowly poisoning Mr. Buchanan? And why weren’t the cops looking for the maid that Vivian said came and got Mr. Buchanan for a meeting?

Nothing was falling into place. Vivian couldn’t run away – the commissioner told her he would go after her sister, Florence if she disappeared. It truly looked like she was going to go to jail.

I enjoyed this book. There are enough twists and turns to keep you trying to figure out how Vivian will be saved. And she has to be, right? I think it is a great addition to your TBR pile. And someday I will read the first book.

Thanks for reading!

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