A Train to Potevka by Mike Ramsdell

 I went to some effort to get this book, published in 2006, and finally was able to borrow a copy from Karen, one of my friends in the Ridgeview Ward book club. I think we're calling ourselves the Dixie Book Club now, and I was committed to getting it and contributing to our next discussion because I really enjoy these women, and I've had to miss the last two meetings. 

Mike Ramsdell is a Bear River, Idaho native who wrote about his life and one of his very challenging adventures as a Russian spy. He claims it's fiction because there are laws about what ex-spies can share, but it feels authentic. Along the way we learn about his life growing up, his son Chris, and what it was like to be trained as a spy, to catch your best friend being a traitor, to starving on a train and then in a safe house in Siberia, and to finally reunite with your best friend in Germany and marry her. It held my interest all along the way.

I read for several hours at the Honda Service Center as our Honda had a fuel pump module recall repaired. The two hours flew by. In a lot of ways, it's a simple book, because he doesn't go into great detail about the espionage he's writing about. He outlines Russian history, and describes the Russian landscape and people very descriptively. It's also a fairly fast read and moves along at a good clip. The overwhelming poverty, starvation, alcoholism and constant cold are pervasive in the USSR and the hard life these people live is instructive. I knew a lot of this from my years in West Berlin, sometimes experiencing the Soviet way in East Berlin. The endless concrete block buildings, the pervasive grey of everything, the harshness of the soldiers, the high distrust of everyone because the KGB was everywhere. 

A charming aspect of this book was the author's illustrations. They are simple pen and ink drawings, but add a nice dimension to the book. Ramsdell is LDS but he's not a preacher in this book. He describes his own mission briefly, and his religion comes up when he attempts to buy two Elders dinner in Moscow, but there's no doctrine or Christian message beyond his love and longing for his family. 

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, Ramsdell is in Moscow and describes in great detail how difficult it was to find a restaurant that would serve him and two Elders he encountered at Gorky Park. They end up at the newly-completed McDonalds, but the line snakes outside and is over 2000 people long! It was fascinating to read about little boys who saved places in line, identified foreigners they could help, and then sold increasingly close places in line to the entrance of the restaurant. Capitalism beginning to grow in these young entrepreneurs! And then the disheartening revelation that most of their earnings would be collected nightly by the Russian Mafia.

I knew about the KGB, but was pretty clueless about the Russian Mafia. Both groups seem sinister and destructive to a struggling new government...Russian history is so fascinating and mysterious to me! This book added to the mystery and to my wondering...Is Russia forever destined to be run by corrupt people and is dishonesty still so pervasive? They, as a people, do seem markedly different than their western European neighbors...

Austen at Sea by Natalie Jenner

 I happened to pass this book when I was browsing at the Washington County Library downtown and recognized the author as someone who had written several Jane Austen spin off books that I enjoyed. I figured this one was worth a try.

At first, I couldn't get into it. It was bland, blah, and not even remotely witty. But the plot began to grow on me, and I persisted. It wasn't worth it. It was actually kind of puzzling the way the story unfolded and perhaps is rife with suffrage history, but I'm not sure if it's accurate or fictionalized. At any rate, the raving women intent on women's rights quickly marry and give up other rights. 

The circumstance that kept me reading was the fight over a Jane Austen letter that was given to one of the main characters after she had married. When her husband insisted she sell it, she bolted. This created a legal battle between London and Boston that had several interesting implications. Did she lose her American citizenship by marrying a Brit? This was just one of the thorny issues...

In the ship travel crossing back and forth across the Atlantic, we meet Louisa May Alcott and get to know other characters that were somewhat interesting. All in all, though the characters are likable and the extensive references to Jane Austen's work and life are occasionally insightful, this book is not worth the time. I'm kind of mad I didn't follow my earlier inclination to give it a miss in the first few pages. Oh, well, you never know if a book is going to come alive...This one didn't. 

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Volume 2, by Beth Brower

Oh my gosh, I love this Emma M. Lion, and smirk and smile and occasionally laugh out loud at her writing and her situations. I'm still frustrated that each book is so short and that there is such a long wait for each one at the library, but I love them so much I'm sticking with them. I heard somewhere that additional volumes are coming out beyond the seven that are out now, so I wonder if I should go ahead and just purchase the first group? THEY ARE THAT GOOD!

It's so refreshing to have comical and interesting characters and then to throw in some royalty and snobbery and some greed... Really, each page is delightful. In this volume, Emma begins her job as a foil to her cousin Arabella and attends all sorts of interesting social events. She gets to know her Tenant next door, and there is obviously some chemistry brewing. Then her childhood nemesis, Roland, also creates some love tension...and there is a duke in the neighborhood who stops in and is totally entertained by the unusual and unexpected antics of Emma. 

In this volume, Emma and her friend Mary's boyfriend, Jack, conspire to return to her boarding school to retrieve a three-volume set of Jane Eyre, spurred on by a meeting of "the Janes" in her Lapis Lazuli house. The Tenant asks to rent the salon for his studio, so that will probably heat up the action in the next volume. So fun! Such a relief to read funny, witty, and clean and clever fiction!!!

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult; 16 hours on Libby Audio

 My sister Ann told me they are reading this book next in her book club. I have been to several of their meetings, and I like these women, and I value their choices. And I thought it would be fun to talk to Ann about it when she reads it. When I found it on Libby, I thought I would give it a try.

I have read other Jodi Picoult books, but wasn't that impressed. Still, I thought this might be worth a try. It was! Sixteen hours flew by as I cleaned the house, walked, walked the mall, and mopped floors. At the end, I listened for almost four hours straight.

It's a compelling story of a nurse who is accused of murdering the baby of a white supremicist. The medical terminology and the legalese were both more than I could handle, but showed the author's rigorous research. Still, I could follow it in general terms. The way the characters took over the telling of the story, especially the trial, was riveting. 

I found the background information about the white supremicist fascinating. I thought the way Ruth, the black nurse, experienced racism was very realistic and not unknown to me. It was a good and poignant reminder, though, of my white privilege. The thorny issues are really well-developed in this no-win situation...especially the agony that ensues when Ruth is thrown into jail, and her son Edison is left on his own. It was a startling reality check to imagine being in jail like that...

There was harsh language and very harsh and violent scenes that were hard to listen to... Several times I wondered if I should continue. But by then I was pretty invested in Ruth and her life and her beautiful conflicted character. I especially valued the contrast between her and her darker-skinned sister. And the way Ruth had strived to live by the rules, to work harder, and to succeed despite rampant racism. And then to have "the system" attack her anyway was so heart-breaking, one could understand her sister's more militant anti-racist stance.

I liked how many stereotypes were addressed and explained. For one, how it is not black people's job to erducate whites on their injustices and the systemic injustices. It is white advocates' job to do that for each other, to defend and become advocates for blacks in all situations. I don't have many opportunities to do that, except occasionally I will hear someone say "woke" in a disparaging way, and I can address that better after reading this book. None of this was new to me, but it was set inside a compelling story which really held my interest. Bravo to this white author for taking on a hard topic and researching and presenting it well. 

The Immortals by Steven T. Collis

I was a little annoyed when Marsha Oshita, a friend in our ward, decided to start a new book club outside of Relief Society. It's not that she started a book club, but that she started one and promptly picked out all the books herself! I'm not sure that's what happened, and we haven''t met yet, but this is the first one picked. It's a military history and it was hard to read because of the cold, the desperateness of the men involved, and how it really only hinges on a half-hour at sea when the Dorchester gets torpedoed and sunk.

There were four chaplains aboard, and a cook on one of the accomanying ships who heroically helped save others and then succumbed themselves. It's a moving example of selflessness. But the author goes on and on and speculates so much about what the men were thinking and feeling that it felt like padding to make a book out of a short story. I thought the men's lives prior to the disaster were interesting to read about..but not particularly compelling. A lot of facts didn't lead anywhere.

I did bother to read the end notes, and this author did a lot of meticulous research from primary sources to tell this story. I learned a lot about how the chain of command works and doesn't work. There were other heroes besides these five that he writes about, and it's amazing to read of their selflessness.

The other thing I learned was that the military specifically sought out chaplains who could think larger than their own particular religion. They needed men who could minister to men with no faith and with a variety of faiths. This description of their qualifications as lovers of humanity was interesting. 

I guess one of the reasons to be in a book club is to read things I wouldn't normally read, and this one certainly qualifies. I would have put it down; no, I wouldn't have even picked it up because I like happier milieus, but I am glad I got rhrough it, and it will be interesting to hear what the other women in the group think about it next week. I fear it may veer into the political, so I hope I can stay appropriate, especially now that Trump is threatening to take over Greenland, and that connection may be brought out in a positive way at the discussion. Yikes, what will I say? We shall see! 

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1 by Beth Brower

 People who review books on Instagram keep mentioning this series, so I was intrigued. And it finally came through on my request at the library! Whohoo!! When I picked it up, the librarian asked me if it was my first time reading this series, and when I told her yes, she warned me that the first couple of books are a little slow and require patience, but that they get better as the series goes on. I believe there are seven books in the series, and I could buy the set on Amazon for $114.00, but don't plan on that at this juncture. 

However, I do have a problem because waiting so long between volumes is hard because I forget the characters and details...and won't have the former books to refer back to if I keep reading them as they become available at the library. What a problem, huh?!

BUT...this first book was so delightful, I'm tempted, sorely tempted to buy the series. Maybe I will. It's clean, it's very witty, and it has cute characters. I love the heroine and her attitude. Of course I love all things British...so this fits right in. And the time period, the late 1800s is a good one too...I may have to cave on this one. I would definitely go for it if it weren't such an obvious marketing ploy to have each book be so SHORT! The first volume was a little over a hundred pages and didn't even last me for two legs of my flights to Indiana! When I got there, Sierra told me she has listened to the series and really enjoyed it too. At the moment, I have a request in for Volume II at the Washington County Library so we'll see how long it takes for that to come in...

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

 I have been hearing all sorts of glowing reports about the goodness of this book, and I couldn't get it at the library, so I treated myself to it when I was in Granger, Indiana, looking after the grandkids. I went to Barnes and Noble, and sat by the fireplace and read a few pages to see if I liked it. I did! And then I saved it for my flights home.

I am so happy I had this book for my LONG travel day yesterday! I was hung up in Chicago, at O'Hare airport for more than six hours. I was able to actually enjoy that time...walking, and reading, reading and walking. I'm so grateful that it was engrossing, positive, intriguing, and really held my interest all day. By the time I landed in St. George, after a stop in Denver, I had finished it. It's not a short book, but what a joy it was to give the whole day to it! I think it also helped me feel so much gratitude as I reflected on my time in Indiana, my time with the grandkids, and my time in Laramie and Rapid City as we flew over them!

It is a delightful read with a rather blunt and violent ending, but it works out in a way that is instructive. I liked the subtle message of heaven and Christ woven throughout Theo's bestowal of gifts. In some ways, it's more overt than many "modern" readers would appreciate, but it's so solid and so heartening that I think it's hard to take offense at it. Christianity has taken a lot of hard knocks in our culture, and it's so popular to cry foul and list all the ways churches have failed us...So it was refreshing to read a book that extols Christian virtues in an unapologetic way. 

Theo reminded me of the Count in A Gentleman in Moscow. Both are cultured, older, refined, educated, and gracious gentlemen. They choose to see good and be good and encourage good in others. It was a sweet comparison to contemplate. I admire both characters sooooo much. I like books with great characters!

I especially liked the way Theo was able to articulate to people what he saw in their portraits and what he saw in THEM. This had a magic way of lifting their spirits and helping them see themselves in a more capable light, especially the homeless woman. It's a good model for what all of us could be doing more of... There were also many encouragements to enjoy nature, to enjoy the moment, and to really look people in the eye when we encounter them. So many good reminders! So refreshing...