What Angels Fear (#1 of Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery)
Carrying wounds from the war and returning
to England as a lovelorn, Sebastian was created by the author, C. S. Harris, as
a wastrel to his aristocratic father, but a hero to the depraved woman who had
broken his heart six years ago. England was at war with Napoleon for 20 years;
hence, is ripe for conspiracy, in favor of the French, to destabilize the
Regency. Under this backstory, Sebastian was dragged into a murder case, thus
he had to do a wide trawl to find the real killer.
I am impressed by the writing of the characters from the police force.
Lovejoy, a chief magistrate for Westminster, had a heart for justice. On the
other hand, Lord Jarvis was his dubious superior, concerning more of averting
the Revolution flame than of finding the truth. Lovejoy, coming from a
tradesman family, diligent at work, had a conviction that “a childless man
ought to leave something worthwhile behind him, some contribution to society.”
In contrast, Lord Jarvis often accompanied the buffoon Prince on comic scenes with
a determination to keep Tory in power. It was heartrending to see Lovejoy, in
the middle of reasoning about a case, consulted his wife as if she had still
lived. On the contrary, Lord Jarvis was surrounded by women of three
generations, with whom he was so satisfied as to the point of annoyance. Among
them, his daughter, Hero, caused him most grief for her interest in books,
especially from the authors promoting women's rights. Oh! It’s so much fun to
read about Jarvis’ mindset. The author must develop the character, Hero, in the
next book of the series, otherwise I would be disappointed.
I benefit from the splendid language of the book at the same time
writing my own murder mystery. Following the instruction of an online course, I
have produced one chapter each weak, reaching three so far by the end of July.
We really have to keep in mind about what makes a joyful life. One of the
things is creation. There are so many areas of our mind not yet explored, and
God always give us chances to resume what we have started and not given up.
A Feather on the Breath of God
Reading at the beginning of the book, I thought
this novel was dull- too much depiction of a half Chinese half Panamanian
father, who was mostly dumb, and did not get along with both his wife and daughter.
His wife of German origin turned my spirit up though. She was a woman that
loved literature, the woman without love but said “one husband is enough”, the
woman, utmost conservative but made her daughter’s clothes so glamorous that
embarrassed her daughter at school.
To the middle of the story, my eyes
brightened with the narrator‘s story of learning ballet. I had never imagined a
ballerina should endure so much pain. But she reflected “In dance, pain is
often inseparable from desirable feelings… I would have forgone many pleasures
to feel the pain of being a dancer again.” Later in her life, she discovered
that "it was men who invented
ballet – and the ballerina. It is men who put her feet in those shoes and take
food out of her mouth,” and the shocking discovery of ballet is its metaphor of
crotch and penis.
The
last part is most astonishing, about an affair with a Russian immigrant,
nicknamed “Count Dracula” by the narrator’s friends. He was compulsive and
dashing with an air of knightly bravery. He had belonged to the class of street
gang in Odessa, but talked about his stories with no shame. The man seemed to
me that he had only known harsh life but no love before he met the narrator.
Could he have been in love with the narrator the first time in life? But surely
he wasn’t aware. He pitied the narrator for he knew that she would grow old staying
as a spinster. On the contrary, she wasn’t in love with him, for she knew, as
clever as she was, that she was infatuated with a fatherly figure that she had
never had. As the narrator put it, “I think he was a good father to his
daughter.”
The
whole book carries a consistent pain with the shadow of having, in reality, and
not having a father, in spirit. she wanted to be as light as a feather, because
she felt as light as a feather as if God has destined her life so little to
desire that she had no where to stand on. She held tight of ballet and a
patriarchal lover, for the reason to find a ground. She found “a moment of
completely magic; a sudden sense of weightlessness, of the world pulling back;
the conviction of some great and wonderful thing was coming toward me.” Unlike
her mother, she was brave, that she didn’t ask her love object to be someone
else. She accepted him completely. Though she knew she was not in love. She
only lived under God’s breath.
I
love this quote from the book, “human beings are capable of passions that human
experiences can never live up to.” – T. S. Eliot
Light a Penny Candle
This is a book defining friendship, love,
and loss. Out of so many good points in the 592-page
novel, I would say that transcendence outshines all.
The first slump in Elizabeth’s life was her
mother’s walking away with another man. She could not understand and was in a
rage. After a few years, she fell in love with a charming man, Johnny, and made
the decisions that seemed foolish to other people, but she was faithful to her
feelings. Then she could understand her mother. In desperation, she was offered
another chance to fulfill her life, and she made a decision to leave Johnny.
Many sad events would still to happen and turn her life in turmoil, but she
would be able to cope with.
Reading about her life was like reviewing
my own life again. At every period of time, happiness was short and sorrow
seems forever. However, we have to remember to move on, with a belief that we
will get over the obstacles as long as we take a step back from the situation
and never lose heart.
Maeve Binchy (1939-2012) published 16
novels (1982-2012). All of them are over 500 pages. Like some people from the
internet, I intend to read them in order. It will take 8 years perhaps.
After the Eclipse
I
was immediately attracted by some website‘s introduction of the memoir when I
read it . What a terrible thing for the author, Sarah Perry, to be the witness
of her mother’s murder when she was only 12 years old! And how courageous to
write about her mother's love life with enquiry and honesty. That means she
totally accepts who her mother was, without judgement and not afraid to be
judged. Through her mother's life story, she questions the common expectation
of women, that is, a woman needs a man. After the murder, all the men, her ex
husband, boyfriends, and fiance became suspects. Almost all of them were
violence-prone. What a satire that a vibrant woman with a never-give-up heart to
seek happiness for her and her daughter, should have found her destination an
early death. As a hard working shoe sewer, she had been capable of buying a
small house, therefore, she was financially sustainable without a man. All her
shouting and depressing years with the men she had been with were
heart-wrenching to read.
The
genre of this book is memoir combined with mystery. Generally, a memoir is the
author's intimate voice; It should be
valued. However, the drawback of a memoir is that the audience does not
necessarily relate to the author. For example, how many people feel like to
know about a small town murder？In order to draw a larger audience, it is better to have a mystery
to solve in a memoir. The single mother, Crystal, could be so capable of
providing financial and emotional security for her child, but why should she
lost control when it came to men? People are generally curious. Curiosity is
considered a virtue, because by finding the truth, we may have to change our
mindset rather than succumb to rigidity. The author had intended to explore
deeper into this issue; therefore the readers who take this in can benefit from
changing their world view about marriage and single parenting.
Murder on St. Mark’s Street (#2 of
Gaslight Mystery)
I’m completely mesmerized by the Gaslight
Mystery. I have just finished the second book, Murder on St. Mark’s Place. It’s
amazing to see how the author reshaped the period of New York one hundred years
ago. The issues at that time, domestic violence, the education for the
disabled, immigration, poverty, are actually the issues now. The author
seriously did research for the era, but wrote the stories full of humor and
fun.
The
characters are carved in a way as if you know them, or you actually identify
with one. Besides wonderfully delineating the protagonists Sarah and Frank, for
smaller roles, numerous occasions were specially intelligently written. For
example, Sarah’s mother were always obedient but decided to disagree with her
stubborn husband. “Her father looked as surprised as if the chair has spoken.”
However, the crisis between Sarah and her father was dissolved. Then comes with
Sarah’s inner thought, feeling sorry for her former judgement on her mother,
“She has judged her by the wrong standards, … Had she been a man, she might
have pursued a successful career in diplomacy, if her work here today was any
indication of her abilities.” Another example, poor Agnes frantically denied
that she was bitten by her husband, proclaiming she would be a better wife.
Sarah felt a heartache, “Not only did their husband injured their bodies, they
also injured their minds, twisting them until they actually believed they
deserved the beatings they received.” I personally met women like this. One of
my friends has suffered from her disloyal husband’s violence, not actually to
her body, but by means of smashing household items to scare her in case of
arguments. It’s long running for 20 years. During the time I acquainted with
her, she has come up with the statement again and again, “my husband is an
intelligent man.” Every time it appalled me, wondering if she implied that
because he was intelligent, in her own opinion anyway, he had the right to
treat her like that. Believe or not, she has received higher education and been
successful in career.
Victoria Thompson’s English style is
ingeniously friendly; therefore the series’ language level is suitable for
Taiwanese college students. Right now we are boosting dual-language education
so reading interesting and meaningful books like hers is like finding treasures
. The series will help students to understand timeless social issues concerning
not only New Yorkers but surely also Taiwanese.
Lab Girl
In the beginning, enchanted by the book
reviews, I was still unsure whether to order the book Lab Girl, for I had not
had lab experiences, which may render me difficult to understand the book.
However, this book turned out to be a page turner, giving me a penetrating feel
of joy and awe.
I
usually mention an author by her last name; but this time is different.
Activating a remote part of my soul, Hope seemed to share a very core of my
self, unsure about self as a boyish teenager, relating to having no intimate
relationship with Mom. At about her age meeting Bill, I came across a man I
assumed as a soulmate, but I was not as lucky as Hope. Into the middle of the
book, I anticipated a romantic ending of them two. However, real life is more
complicated than I had imagined. Just as she said in the book, “When something
just won’t work, moving heaven and earth often won’t make it work – and similarly,
there are some things that you just can’t screw up.” Suddenly my disappointment
turns to relief. Yes, along the life span, we met people we imagined would fit
into our ideal relationship; perhaps he was funny, intelligent, or anything
else we valued. However, things didn’t work, and there is no reason we should
take it too hard.
I
love Hope’s many deep reflections. Such as “the realization that I could do
good science was accompanied by the knowledge that I had formally and
terminally missed my chance to become like any of the women that I had ever
known.” Accepting myself is something I had leaned along my life journey; I had
thought about the similar passage though it was not about science. On another
occasion, after a conversation with Bill, Hope said “I accepted him for what he
was, instead of for what he wished he could be. The potency of my acceptance
made me wonder, just a little, if I could turn it inward and accept myself.”
How much acceptance is how much love there is. Hope is such an amazingly loving
person! I feel I should reread this book every year to remind me of following
her path of accepting and loving people.
Without Reservation
I felt strongly related to the author when I first read the book Without
Reservations. I was at the hospital waiting for my test result to come out.
Knowing I would have a boring time, I had had put the new book in my bag. When
I turned the first few pages, I felt a jumping delight. Her nostalgic tone,
thinking about her late mother, considering breaking away her present life,
which label her as a journalist for the past 20 years, all kindle light on the
dull environment I was at. Somehow it reminds me of releasing from my work
tense.
The book is much more than a travel memoir.
When I was almost through the book, I suddenly realized the the book title had
not meant that she traveled without booking in advance; it actually tried to
tell readers she did not reserve any inner thought, either her weakness or her
hope, either her feeling of loneliness or her reluctance to compromise. She
tried to be honest not only to her self, but also to her unknown readers. I
found out she had passed away in 2012, and felt a loss. It's a timeless memoir.
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