To counter reading the serious book, Resisting Throwaway Culture, I was concurrently reading Beauvallet by Georgette Heyer. This has got to be one of Heyer's fluffier concoctions. The whole time I was reading it, I was picturing Errol Flynn in the lead role as the swashbuckling pirate Beauvallet who is at his cockiest when things are most dangerous.
The novel is set during Elizabethan times. Beauvallet is a pirate who is constantly harrassing the Spanish. He's good friends with Sir Francis Drake and Queen Elizabeth herself is quite fond of him. One day while in Spanish waters, he takes as prisoner the ex-governor of some Spanish colonial territory in the New World (I can't recall exactly) and his beautiful daughter. The great Beauvallet falls for her hard. He sets her down in Spain in deference to her father's ill health, but he's wooed her enough to promise that he'll return to whisk her away to be his bride. But how can the famous pirate sneak into Spain to accomplish this task?
Lots of derring do, plot twists, sword fights, and breathless escapes. Heyer of course is British all the way, so those dastardly papish Spaniards are pretty much all dolts who are nothing against the noble and brave Brits. She gets in some jabs at Catholicism. Her characterization of King Philip was interesting.
This was a fun read mostly because Heyer is so good at incorporating so many lines and expressions from Shakespeare into the way she writes and the way people talk. It's really a fun romp through Shakespearean language! Beauvallet's valet, Joshua, is an amusing character as well. But the book doesn't have the depth of some of her other books. I believe she wrote it in 1929, so the author was young and doesn't present some of the more nuanced themes her other works can possess.
Two thumbs up if you can't find a good Errol Flynn film to watch and want that kind of diversion. For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Resisting Throwaway Culture; How a Consistent Life Ethic Can Unite a Fractured People by Charles Camosy is a powerful read. Camosy is a professor of ethics at Fordham University. In this book he lays out the logic of the Consistent Life Ethic which he defines (I am paraphrasing!) as the Christian principle of encounter and hospitality in responding to political and cultural attacks on the sanctity of life. These issues range from abortion, reproductive technology such as surrogacy, how we treat the poor, lack of humane treatment of animals, euthanasia and assisted suicide, the death penalty, nuclear arms and unjust war.
He deliberately dances around policy because he doesn't want to get dragged down into the quagmire of political polarization. Instead, he tries his best to keep things on the level of applying principles to situations, which leaves room for a variety of policy approaches.
There were many wise words and convincing arguments in this book I really enjoyed Camosy's calm and reasonable way of presenting the material. He is thorough and magnanimous. He doesn't want to engage in anything divisive. He wants to state the truth in a loving way and engage in true dialogue with those who disagree. He ends each chapter in an Thomistic way by stating the strongest arguments against his approach and then meeting each objective with a counter argument.
This book really clarified for me my own position on these various issues. I especially was edified by his exploration of what our consumer culture is doing to us morally, how it demeans and diminishes us.
I liked this book so much I just bought 5 copies to give to my kids for Christmas. I don't have time or the concentration right now to delve in deeper (I am currently watching a 3 year old boy!) but this book would serve well as fodder for group discussion for a church or civic group book club.
I do not care for the artwork on this cover. Who is that man? It's like they didn't actually read the book but just went from the title. The 'man' of the family is a boy during his 11th to 13th year. Also the artwork is really bleak, whereas the story is full of warmth, humor and strong family ties.
Man of the Family is the second book in the Little Britches series by Ralph Moody. It's 1910 in Littleton, CO. Ralph's father died tragically at the end of the first book (spoiler!). Now his mother, his older sister Grace, his little sister and brother, Muriel and Hal, all have to survive somehow. Ralph is a scrappy hardworking 11 year old, He's used to the hardscrabble life and has been working to bring in money since he was nine. He loves horses and the ranching life, but the family had to move to town just before the father died. Their ranch couldn't make it. They were at the end of a long irrigation ditch and the people closer to the river kept diverting more water for themselves.
The family works hard just to make it. Ralph collects coal from along the railroad to keep the stove going at home. He asks the railroad overseer if he can gather the grass growing on their property to use as hay to feed his cow and horse. He figures out how to make money from helping the cowboys get their huge herds through the streets of Littleton by hiring his fellow school children to keep the strays from running down the side streets. His mother begins cooking New England specialties and desserts for the neighbors which Ralph and his sister deliver by wagon. Then we realize Mrs. Moody is pregnant! She never tells her kids until right up until she goes into labor. She has a little girl, Elizabeth. The strength of that woman is amazing. Her reliance on her faith is admirable.
However, bad luck follows the family. The kids come down with the measles and can't work for over a month. That means no income. The mother in desperation remembers how she once saw people repairing lace. She gets the idea of going to a hotel in Denver and offering to care for their lace curtains. The whole family is involved in this endeavor. Ralph figures out how to build a stretching frame, Grace and mother use their exquisite needlework skills to repair the lace. This turns into steady income for them.
Ralph is a natural with horses. He loves helping out with this cowboy friend, Hi, and working on ranches. When he's 13 he's in charge of bringing a bunch of pregnant cows 20 miles from winter pasture to spring. However the cows start having babies before he can get home and he literally has to go without food for a couple days. It's an amazing story! Ralph is also a natural jockey and he earns money by racing, to his mother's chagrin.
The story ends poignantly with the family suddenly having to abandon Colorado, a place they've come to love and where their beloved father is buried, to go back to New England.
I enjoyed this story so much. I was completely immersed in Ralph's world. I look forward to reading the next installment. Two thumbs up!
Tulsi Gabbard first came to my attention through Catholic media. At judiciary hearings people like Kamala Harris were openly acting unconstitutional by questioning nominees' religion. Harris was so stupid she thought the Knights of Columbus was some kind of right wing cult or something. Flagrantly violating our first amendment. Don't want her to be president. She'd just continue the same divisiveness and undermining of the Constitution that Trump is doing. Flipside of the same coin.
Tulsi Gabbard came out in defense of freedom of religion and she called Harris and Hawai'i's senator out on their violation. Wow, I thought! A Democrat who still believes in the Bill of Rights???
So she stood out to me.
Then I heard her talking about ending regime change wars. I've never liked how much our government sees itself as policeman to the world. I've never liked how much we interfere with other countries often to the detriment of that country and eventually our own self-interest. It does not behoove us to get involved in long dragged out local disputes. It tends to escalate them and our own sons and daughter pay the price. Many of them our poor who turn to the military because we really haven't developed a strong path for those who aren't college bound. The military industrial complex exploits the poor and it builds up wealth for the already wealthy. I live in the 1% bubble that is the DC metro area where most people are employed by the government. It is bloated and self-serving in many ways.
So I'm all for ending regime change war involvement. I'm also all for focusing in a more diplomatic and serious way on the new nuclear arms race. Let's bring that money back so we can spend it on our own citizens. This to me is how to make America great again. If our economy crumbles it will bring the whole world down with it. We have to be more fiscally responsible. People act like debt or the deficit doesn't matter. That's ludicrous! So we have to cut somewhere. Let's stop funding wars that aren't our business.
I have always thought it was a good idea for our commander in chief to have a little military experience under their belt. I'm tired of draft evaders running the White House, from Clinton to Bush Jr. to Trump. I really like that Tulsi Gabbard can bring that kind of experience to the Oval Office.
I really like that Tulsi Gabbard is truly into the environment. All these other Democratic candidates seem to me to just be pandering. I love that she is the only candidate who went to Standing Rock! She's been consistently pro-environment since the get to. When she talks about environmental issues, you can tell she really knows what she's talking about. She's not in the pocket of big business at all.
I really like that Tulsi appeals to conservatives or at least some conservatives and many independents. She really isn't partisan She just called out the Democratic governor of Puerto Rico for being corrupt. She didn't care that he was also a Democrat. She rises about party politics, way more than any other candidate. I love that she resigned from the DNC when she saw the corruption that shut out Sanders and pushed Hillary on unwilling voters.
She's a breath of fresh air. She seems so intelligent, wise, confident, respectful. I feel she truly believes in the integrity of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. She never name calls.
Are there things I disagree with? You bet! I am pro-life and she is not! BUT she never makes abortion an issue. She just doesn't talk about it. And she really seems like she would respect religious people who disagree on abortion. She wouldn't force nuns to pay for birth control and that sort of thing, which was a completely unnecessary aggressive ideological push from Obama. I just don't see her playing politics that way. I could be wrong but that's my impression. And no one else gives me that impression. I think with Trump appointing justices that will give Roe v. Wade a fair constitutional scrutiny at some point, I feel more comfortable about not making abortion the only factor. But if other Democrats get the nomination I think we will have an oppressive backlash and just as racism is being ginned up now under Trump, anti-religious fervor will be ginned up under any other Democrat. Either way someone will get persecuted. I don't see that happening under Tulsi.
I don't know how I feel about recreational pot. Well, I do know. I don't agree. I think it should be decriminalized in that people who smoke don't go to jail, but then I think only violent offenders should go to jail. I think all non-violent offenders should do home arrest, community service, pay fines and gets lots of support to leave their criminal lifestyle. I believe in rehabilitation not retribution for non-violent crimes. And I think the violent criminals in prison should get tons of help too with our express purpose being to help them turn their lives around and not just warehouse them in inhumane conditions.
I know I can't vote for Trump. He's a horrendous leader. He's so scary, so divisive. People on both sides of the aisle have Trump Derangement Syndrome. Those on the left are hysterics who don't know fact from fiction. He's awful enough without deliberately and hysterically propagandizing against him. The nay sayers are truly as deceptive and inflammatory as he is. But then you have Trump supports in whose eyes no matter how egregious his actions and words are, they defend him. They have turned him into a idol. Good Catholics I formerly respected have just succumbed to this temptation. It's terrible to see. And the bishops are so weak right now because of their horrible performance as church leaders over the last 50 years and their evil corruption. They have weakened themselves so that we are on the verge of schism.
Here's a statement Tulsi made about Trump's racist comments. What other candidate has the courage to directly address Trump supporters? She's remarkable! This week she just got some endorsements from the CEO of Twitter and some singer named Cardi B. I know B listens to her. I don't know her but I hope her influence helps voters wake up to the fact that Tulsi Gabbard can bring this country together again. She's smart, competent, her own woman who thinks for herself and she loves our country and the principles it stands for more than she loves bickering party power politics.
Well, I did it! I read all of Georgette Heyer's mysteries! I read them in the order given at this cozy mysteries site.
Penhallow is considered the last of Heyer's mysteries, though it isn't actually a mystery! At first I didn't like the book. The first half is a story of unrelenting grimness. Adam Penhallow is a tyrannical lord of the manor. He psychologically abuses and browbeats his clan. As he is bedridden and getting sicker, he gets worse and worse so that he seems almost insane. He has 7 sons and one daughter. The oldest is Raymond, tough, taciturn, a workaholic who has always felt rejected by his father and jealous of the brother just younger than him. He is a great estate manager though and keeps things afloat and his great passion is breeding horses. All the Penhallow men are rough, tough and completely absorbed by sport and hunting. Ingram is the son who seems more favored. He escaped the manor to fight in WWI where he injured his leg. He also met and married Myra. Eugene somehow escaped for a few years, earned some living as a writer, met and married Vivian. But Eugene got sick, returned home, and is now incapable of leaving his father's sphere. Vivian passionately devotes herself to her husband but hates living at Penhallow.
Bart and Conrad are twins that live at home. Bart is definitely the best of the lot, the most human and least warped by his father's toxicity but still he has a violent temper. He still has the Penhallow character flaws. His twin is consumed with jealousy because Bart has fallen in love with their butler's niece, Loveday, who is the personal maid and companion to their stepmother.
Aubrey has moved away from home but has gotten into debt. Penhallow is threatening to bring him home. He wants all his sons under his control so he can lord over them. But Aubrey is gay and much prefers living in London and living a wastrel life. He is effeminate, manipulative and cattily cruel. He's really just as abusive as his father. No one else in the family can stand him. Though they all fight among themselves constantly, there is a familial and filial bond underneath all the ugly sibling infighting.
Charmaine is the only daughter. She is manly and openly lesbian. She is the only one who is independent financially from her father. She had an aunt who felt sorry for her being the only girl in a family of brutes, so she left her money. It's enough to live fairly simply in London.
The youngest son is Clay. He is the only child of Penhallow's second wife, Faith. Faith is 22 years younger than her husband. She can never live down Rachel, the first wife. She is a timid creature who has been chafing under her husband's brutality for 20 years. She is desperate to keep her only son from his influence.
Once I realized this was going to be a completely different Heyer book, I let go of my expectations. The book is really grim and there is no satisfying moral catharsis. Evil begets evil and those caught in the trap are pretty much helpless. However the book is extremely well written and realistic. I found that I could really appreciate the story and the character development.
I'm glad I read it. It gives a lot of food for thought.
Next to last in my Georgette Heyer murder mystery marathon, The Unfinished Clue was superbly typical Heyer. She really hit the right note throughout!
Nasty but wealthy General Arthur Billington-Smith gets it in the neck and everyone who happens to be staying in the house has a reason to murder him. Was it his long suffering wife who is in love with another man, or the husband of the shallow beauty the General has been flirting with? Or could it be his son whom he despises and threatens to cut out of his will? Or maybe his nephew who needs money? We see the story unfold from Dinah's perspective. She's the wife's younger sister. We also see it unfold from Inspector Harding of Scotland Yard's view point. Lots of interesting characters and, of course, a love story. I completely didn't figure out who did it in this one.
This one would be great made into a movie. But I will say that I do get a bit tired of the occasional antisemitism that was so prevalent in British writing in the 1930s. Also, she always has something unkind to portray about 'foreigners.' Heyer was a great writer but of her time. She definitely was a classist bigot too, unfortunately. So one does have work around that little foible. But other than that, a really fun read.
I assume this is a Vauxhall, car from Britain in the 1930s?
I'm on vacation at the beach. I spent a day sitting under a beach umbrella reading Footsteps in the Dark, not realizing that UV rays bounce off the sand and get you even if you are completely in the shade! Got really bad sunburn on my legs. So yesterday I spent most of the day recuperating in bed and lapped up Why Shoot a Butler? in a day!
This is a reread for me and I remembered the main character pretty well. This book, unlike Footsteps in the Dark, was typical Heyer all the way. Our hero, Frank Amberley, is typical of Heyer, smarter than anyone in the room, jaded and arrogant, he's also brave, witty, and has almost super powers when it comes to sleuthing out the bad guys. This story just rockets along with lots of twists and turns, fun characters, witty dialogue, and simply wonderful wordsmithing.
Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer was the earliest mystery she wrote. It was published in 1932. It is different in tone from her other stories, much lighter and frothier. Three siblings, Peter, Margaret and Celia, inherit a haunted priory. Along with Celia's husband, Charles (who is the wittiest character and gets the best lines) and their redoubtable, but partially deaf, widowed aunt, they decide to go live there, before really knowing its reputation. Lots of fun, Gothic, spooky stuff happens but there's a murder as well and a budding romance between Margaret and the strange Michael Strange who seems pretty suspiciously involved in the hauntings.
I enjoyed the book very much It makes a perfect vacation read.
