Blossoming Almond Branch in a Glass with a Book, Vincent van Gogh,1888, oil on canvas, Arles, France.
It’s the end of September and time to review the current reads. I slowed way down and finished only two books this month, but I certainly enjoyed them. I hope they sound interesting to you and you give them a try. I’m nearly half way through the last book mentioned and its been good too.
These books all take place in the 1930’s and 40’s in America.
West With Giraffes
West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge, 2021, 356 pages
Woodrow Wilson Nickel at age 105, sits down with pencil and notebook to recall an unforgettable trip he took in his teens.
In 1938 the Depression still lingered in the United States. Newspaper headlines tell of Hitler’s threat to Europe. And Americans find hope in the story of two giraffes who miraculously survived a hurricane in the Atlantic. Woody happens to see them unloaded at the dock and follows them, hoping for what he doesn’t even know.
But he is available when the driver of the makeshift truck abandons his job, and a twelve day trip hauling two giraffes from New York to San Diego Zoo follows.
Filled with flashfloods, guns, dust storms, fast-paced travel and high stakes, I would call this a literary thriller. It was balanced with beauty—the giraffes were delightful characters, a murmuration that followed them, a girl he called Red, and lessons learned in love and tenderness.
There was more bad language than I usually tolerate, but not all of it was spelled out. There are a lot of Biblical references, similar to the quote below. There was more trouble with bad guys and bad weather than seems necessary, but I think that was the thriller element. The character of Red is so tragic, and so is Woody, for that matter. The traumas he deals with are real and are not resolved simply. But there were also many moments of pure joy.
The author has a way with words, putting common things uniquely and poetically, adding to my pleasure in reading it. There really were two giraffes driven across country in 1938 and chapters open with news clippings and telegrams, but Woody’s story is a recreation of how the author imagined their travel.
West With Giraffes begins in late September, involves adventure and a road trip for some lovely autumnal energy and atmosphere. This book has been on my bookshelf for several months and I’m glad I read it.
So. There I was—Woody Nickel—driving giraffes with a freckled, red-headed beauty hot on my trail. Since every dog has its day, maybe it was just that my stray-dog-boy day had come. God knows I was due a little Light Shining on me from Above, whether I believed in such things or not. Like most people, denying it never got in the way of relying on it.
The Woman Who Smashed Codes
The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone, 2018, 464 pages, non-fiction
This is the forgotten story of Elizebeth Smith Freidman, cryptoanalyst to the Coast Guard during two world wars.
At the height of World War I, Elizabeth Smith was looking for work in Chicago. After an unsuccessful day, she visited the public library to look at a rare book recently acquired, a first folio of Shakespeare. After asking to see the Shakespeare book, Elizebeth mentioned to the librarian that she was looking for work. The librarian called George Fabyan and he arrived in his luxury car and invited her to spend the night at his estate outside Chicago. He needed help with his Shakespeare research.
Not of impulsive nature and slightly put off by the man’s exuberance, Elizebeth said she had not come prepared to spend the night. Mr Fabyan convinced her to at least come look at his project. An so she arrived at Riverbank, a country estate that was a queer combination of mad scientist lab and legitimate research.
Elizebeth was put to work on Shakespeare, trying to read the secret codes George believed was hidden in the text. She soon realized it was only one of his pet schemes and he would not listen to reason. There were no secret codes.
Mr. Fabyan had connections in government and he also put Elizebeth to work breaking codes, where she learned quickly from her fellow cryptanalyst, William Friedman.
This code breaking duo went on to break the codes of rum runners, gangsters and smugglers, going on to read Nazi messages that helped give the Allies the advantage in World War II. Elizebeth and William were a pairthat did more together than either could have done alone.
Jason Fagone has a talent for making history come alive. The story rarely slowed. I was amazed at Elizebeth’s talent and luck in reading codes. I enjoyed this true story.
For all the harmless innocence conjurred by the word ‘library’, the Friedman’s knew the truth: a library, properly maintained, could save the world or burn it down…William made his own children sign a checkout slip if they wanted to carry a bookfrom one floor of the house to another.
Jewel
Jewel by Brett Lott, 1991, literary fiction, 358 pages
From the back of the book:
In the backwoods of Mississippi, a land of honeysuckle and grapevine, Jewel and her husband, Leston, are truly blessed; they have five fine children. When Brenda Kay is born in 1943, Jewel gives thanks for a healthy baby, last-born and most welcome. Yet how quickly life can change; how, like lightning, an unforeseen event can set us on a course without reason or compass. In this story of a woman’s devotion to the child who is both her burden and God’s singular way of smiling on her, Bret Lott has created a mother-daughter relationship of matchless intensity and beauty, and one of the finest, most indomitable heroines in contemporary American fiction.
I am well into this book and enjoying the family life, the difficult choices created by the latest addition to the family and the relationship between Jewel and her husband. It is very realistic, and creates a thankfulness in me for the advances in medicine and tolerance.
–Liz
