Transcription by Kate Atkinson

Hitler was collecting countries like stamps. How long before he had the full set? Transcription by Kate Atkinson

I was swept into Transcription, enthralled with Kate Atkinson's atmospheric and witty writing, the recreation of England during the rise of Hitler, and the espionage ring with its vivid characters and uncertain alliances.

The novel opens in 1950 with twenty-eight-year-old Juliet working in post-war London for the BBC.

"There was a better life somewhere, Juliet supposed, if only she could be bothered to find it." Transcription by Kate Atkinson

Julie fingers her necklace of pearls, which she admits she took off a dead woman who was heavier to lift than she looked. We learn that Julie tells lies to strangers. She sees a man she used to know by two names, who tells her "I think you have confused me with someone else." And in a local cafe, a strange man observes her "in a way that was extremely disconcerting." Julie reflects on her time with MI5 during the war ten years previous, when she was a transcriptionist typing recordings of traitorous conversations.

Juliet's life working for MI5 alternates between boredom and mystery. She is never completely filled in on the operations, merely does as she is told. She drifts along with whatever comes, even into a mock engagement with a coworker who shows no physical interest in her. She is given a fake identity as part of a sting operation. She is a natural liar and playactor.

The future of England at stake, with Fascists sympathizers and Communist sympathizers and loyal royalists endeavoring for the prize.

This England, is it worth fighting for? Transcription by Kate Atkinson

The novel ends with unexpected turns of events. 

"It was all such a waste of breath. War and peace. Peace and war. It would go on forever without end." Transcription by Kate Atkinson

I am so happy to have finally read Atkinson. I can't wait to get a hold of her previous books.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Transcription
by Kate Atkinson
Little, Brown and Company
Pub Date 25 Sep 2018
ISBN 9780316176637
PRICE $28.00 (USD)

Mini Reviews: Renowned British Women

Imagining Shakespeare's Wife considers how we have used Anne Hathaway as a lens for understanding William Shakespeare.

I read halfway through Imagining Shakespeare's Wife and elected to not finish it. 

The research is amazing and the author covers every imaginable aspect of Anne Hathaway, from the scanty historical records to the many ways she has been portrayed over time. 

This scholarly work will be of interest to serious researchers but is not for the general reader. 

I sincerely thank the publisher for allowing me access to the book.

Imagining Shakespeare's Wife: The Afterlife of Anne Hathaway

by Katherine West Scheil

Cambridge University Press

Pub Date 24 Sep 2018 

ISBN 9781108241724

PRICE $24.99 (USD)

For those who are very interested in everything Royal, and especially Queen Elizabeth, this book focusing on her childhood and younger years will satisfy. How the princess was raised, the people in her early life and their stories, and more than I ever wanted to know is presented. 

It is a bit overwhelming to me, such minute detail! I am more into Queen Victoria than the modern royals, although I have watched The Crown and such. And the book opens with Elizabeth learning of her father's death, just like in The Crown.

It was interesting to learn how Elizabeth was raised and the values she inherited.  

I received a free ebook from Thistle Publishing.

Princess: The Early Life of Queen Elizabeth II

Jane Dismore

Thistle Publishing

Publication July 2018

Laurentian Divide by Sarah Stonich

When I read the opening pages of Sarah Stonich's novel Laurentian Divide was I quite taken by the people in Hatchet Inlet.

"The topic over at Pavola's was death," the novel begins, not the weekly sort occurring at the Senior Cedars or the tragic kind after two local girls were killed in a "drunken swerve", but the "theoretical"--Rauri Paar has not shown up in town since the spring ice break. The customers at Pavola's are concerned and postulating the various ways Rauri may have kicked the bucket.

We meet Pete and his father Alpo, and sisters Laurie and Sissy who run the cafe, and various locals, most all with Finnish names and demonstrating their independent and stubborn heritage. Pete gratefully thinks, "I've never known a Finn to do things the easy way. Thank God, I'm half Irish. Thanks, Mom."

Sissy runs the cafe and is engaged to the widower Alpo, twenty years her senior. Early onset Alzheimers runs in Sissy's family, so their risk is mutual. Pete lost his wife and children to his alcoholism but is seven months sober. His backstory is heartbreaking, hinting at a shattered childhood that Alpo is unaware of.

Rauri wandered into town decades ago after the war and took up his isolated residence. When the land became a preserve he won a lifetime right to live there. If he leaves for over two months, he loses his protection and land. He had to be on the island. Someone should go check on him. It takes three hours and several portages to reach Rauri's home, not a trip for the fainthearted.

The Laurentian Divide in Minnesota is a continental divide which determines which direction and to what sea water flows. It seems an apt symbol. Love requited or unrequited, careers, sobriety or escape, community or isolation--the decisions the characters make determine if they are swept into the killing frigid Arctic or swim into the warmth of Equatorial waters.

But as Sissy remembers,"Cathy says life isn't something that happens to you--how you choose to react to what happens is life."

I received a free ebook from Bookish First in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The town and characters appeared in Stonich's previous book Vacationland.

The Laurentian Divide
Sarah Stonich
University of Minnesota Press
$22.95
ISBN 9781517905620

Surrendering My Ordination: Standing Up for Gay and Lesbian Inclusivity in the United Methodist Church

In 2017, Philip J. Wogaman surrendered his ordination after serving for 60 years as a United Methodist Church (UMC) pastor and educator. This book is his apology--a reasoned argument in justification of his action.

When Wogaman saw an outstanding candidate for ordination denied a hearing because she was married to another woman he could no longer "remain inside the association of clergy when someone like her must remain outside and even be stigmatized."

Over my husband's entire career as an ordained UMC minister, spanning from 1972 when he was a seminary student to his retirement in 2014, the UMC has struggled to agree on key social issues.

My husband was in seminary when the first Social Principles was created by the UMC church. It included the statement that "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" were excluded from candidacy for ordination. Homosexuality was described as "incompatible with Christian teaching." A friend left seminary knowing his sexual orientation meant he would not be accepted for ordination.

The world has changed in its understanding of human sexuality--even Wogaman admits his understanding has grown. But the UMC, unlike other mainline denominations, remains entrenched in excluding homosexuals. (And yet there is nothing in the principles regarding other sexual orientations such as bisexual or transgender persons!)

There is no reference to the specific teaching the principle is based on, so it appears to represent the kind of societal prejudice that influenced church polity to segregate African Americans.

Wogaman considers the theological, ethical, and pastoral meaning of ordination and describes the high standards of qualifying for ordination in the UMC.

Ordination candidates are asked a series of questions including if they are "going on to perfection"--which Wogaman understands as 'perfection in love.' Pastoral ministry is essentially comforting the afflicted, being present in times of need, reminding that God and his people care. Ordination makes one a representative of the entire church, called to love and care in the name of the church, the hands and heart of Jesus and God in action. Pastoral ministry as spiritual leadership brings God's love to the individual and to the entire community.

Wogaman identifies racism as heresy and condemns the construction of barriers to God as collective sin. For example, barring women from ordination was based on cultural bias and not a theological principle.

He affirms that God's creation is inherently good and that all human life is a gift from God and that we are all equal in value. He identifies sin as putting one's self-interest first, self-centeredness instead of God-centeredness. But grace is always there to be claimed, not earned and never denied.

"...being secure in God's love, we can act not out of fear but out of love. We are free to be what God intends us to be. We are not slaves to divine or human law but free and responsible human beings who can act lovingly and creatively."

The church is a human institution and clergy are flawed human beings. Consequently, decisions made by the institution must be challenged when legalism is protected and are not grounded in the law of love.

Biblical literalism and proof-texting (the quotation of scripture out of context) leads to bad theology and bad church law.

"...we are driven, in our uses of Scripture and tradition, to distinguish those aspects of the writing that are basic to our faith from other aspects that are limited by cultural views and historical conditions."

A story about John Wesley who founded the movement called Methodism patterns disobedience to human law in light of the call to share God's love.

Wesley was an Anglican priest who went to the people, preaching in the fields. A Bishop told Wesley he was not commissioned to preach in his diocese. Wesley "replied that he must preach 'the gospel wherever I am in the habitable world,'" a "priest of the Church Universal." Would he break the law? And Wesley replied, "Shall I obey God or man?"

The book is like a crash-course in Christian theology: grace vs legalism; the Book of Discipline wielded as law and limiting the outreach of God's grace and love; spiritual piety being manifested in love of neighbor and a passion for justice; free will; sin; the heresy of excluding groups as outside of God's love.

In the second part, Wogaman shares his personal journey and what led him to his decision, including the theological, ethical, and pastoral considerations.

A life-long United Methodist, Wogaman earned his Ph.D. degree in social ethics, taught at seminaries, became a Social Justice activist, and served as pastor at Foundry UMC where he was the pastor to President Clinton. He was elected to the General Conference four times, part of the world-wide group that sets the agenda and standards for the denomination.

In 2017 the Judicial Council had to rule if Karen J. Oliveto's election to bishop by the Western Jurisdiction was legal considering she was in a same-gender marriage. The church law that excludes "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" as clergy created a "don't ask, don't tell" environment and unless a pastor admitted they were a "practicing homosexual" involved with "physical acts" it was assumed the pastor was in compliance with church law. In 2017 the Judicial Council declared that being in a same-gender marriage was an admission of being a "practicing homosexual." Read my review of her book Together at the Table here.

Wogaman was alarmed by the reiteration of the undefined clause, "incompatible with Christian teaching." He knew it was time for action and not just talk.

"...I must acknowledge that there are times when pastoral responsibility must preempt church law..."

Finally, Wogaman addresses "A Way Forward" considering the divided church options and shares the 2019 General Conference proposal for resolving the issue.

Wogaman's book was an interesting read. I was thankful that I audited seminary courses and could keep up with the theological arguments. I saw one reviewer comment they were disappointed in a lack of scriptural arguments, but I disagree. Wogaman does not 'proof text' but shows a deep understanding of scripture.

As a clergy wife, I did not shrink from answering questions on homosexuality, even writing a response to a local newspaper editorial. My husband's ministry was focused on the pastoral, but as a lectionary preacher, he raised up the importance of social piety and the law of love. His favorite scripture was Micah 6:8--"And what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

What is just and kind? I think of our seminary friend who dropped out. We did not know then the reason behind his decision. We three spent many evenings together, drinking teas and listening to records. He was sad, we knew, but not the real reason. The church he loved had made it clear he was excluded, rejected, anathema.

In 2019 the denomination has a decision to make. The UMC is a worldwide organization and some countries will reject inclusion of homosexuals as clergy. Will the split finally be realized? Can we agree to disagree, and build on the pivotal beliefs of our faith and move forward together?

I received a free ebook from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Surrendering My Ordination
J. Philip Wogaman
Westminster/John Knox Press
ISBN 9780664264178
PRICE $15.00 (USD)

Vintage Sheet Music: Romance Under the Trees

Decades before the WWII hit song Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree with Anyone Else But Me, trees figured in courtship songs. Gardens and orchards and the great outdoors were places where lovers could coo in sweet privacy. Love and Gardens have associated with love since Adam and Eve.

Is There Still Room For Me Neath the Old Apple Tree by Edgar Leslie, Lew Brown and Maurie Abrahams, 1915, has a man telephoning his sweetheart back home. The recording even includes a ringing phone! Hear a Victor recording performed by the Peerless Quartet here.

Hello there long distance, please don't make me wait in vain
I asked you to connect me with a homestead down in Maine
I hate to hold the wire, don't get mad if I complain
I long to hear my sweetheart's voice again
Oh, hello dear, yes, this is me, I'm many miles away
I'm lonesome and I just called up to say

Is there still room for me
'Neath the old apple tree
Where there once was a bench for two
Oh, that bench wasn't long
And you know it wasn't strong
When I sat there with you

I've got fare back to Maine
And I'll jump on a train
If your heart beats as fond and as true
Is there still room for me
'Neath the old apple tree
If there is I'll come back to you

Listen operator, what's the matter with this phone
It seems to me you never had a sweetheart of your own
You say there's wire trouble and you've got the numbers mixed
Well, hurry up and get the wires fixed
Is that you dear? Yes I can hear, they cut us off somehow
I'm waiting and I want your answer now

Is there still room for me
'Neath the old apple tree
Where there once was a bench for two
Oh, that bench wasn't long
And you know it wasn't strong
When I sat there with you

I've got fare back to Maine
And I'll jump on a train
If your heart beats as fond and as true
Is there still room for me
'Neath the old apple tree
If there is I'll come back to you

***

After their hit In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree, Williams & Van Alstyne gave us Neath the Old Cherry Tree Sweet Marie by Williams & Van Alstyne, 1907, performed by Josephine Gassman,  Hear it here.

Gassman (1882-1962) was a "coon shouter" who performed "coon songs" with African American children, the act known as Josephine Gassman and her Pickaninnies. They toured from 1898 to 1906 across America and the world, playing the Orpheum with Will Rogers. One notice mentioned the "pickanninies" antics and their cake walk as well received. Acts with female singers and African American children were popular and included Louise Dresser and her Picks.

The drowsy robin to his mate was calling,

The sun was slowly sinking in the West,

The creeping shadows to the East were falling,

'was then I felt a throb within my breast,

For it was with you I used to wander,

And court you in the good old fashioned way,

But now I sit alone at night and ponder,

And wonder if we'll meet another day.

'Neath the old cherry tree, sweet Marie,

Where you first gave your heart, love, to me,

Not a word did you say,

But as you turned away 

I could see, sweet Marie, I could see,

Though your lips were as still and as red

As the cherries that hung over head,

Both your eyes told me well,

What your lips dared not tell,

'Neath the old cherry tree, sweet Marie.

In loneliness I turn the picture over,

And in my mind I see you painted there,

As fresh tonight as were the stems of clover

I wove in to the tangle of your hair

Perhaps another sits beneath the tree, dear,

Perhaps you're telling him you love him too,

Or maybe you have saved a thought of me, dear,

And dreamed I might again be there with you. (chorus)

***

The hit song Take Me Back to the Garden of Love by E. Ray Goetz and Nat. Osborne, 1911, performed by Cario Portello, says his sweetheart's love is a garden in itself. Hear it sung by Walter Von Brunt here.

Sweet thoughts of first love are filling me,

With joy but once we feel;

While thoughts of fear are thrilling me,

Its joy may prove unreal.

Often ‘twould seem love is luring me,

To find that you’re untrue;

To have, you reassure me,

In hope I long for you.

[Chorus]

Take me back to your Garden of Love, dear,

Once again let me bloom in your heart,

Take me back to the beautiful spring time,

Where sunshine and love never part.

To the rose in my heart that is dying,

You are just like the dew from above,

I need you, I want you, I love you,

Take me back to your Garden of Love.

If in your heart you regret me not,

Renew each vow to me;

Just like a sweet forget-me-not,

Once more each word will be.

If in your dreams you could understand,

Your love’s a fragrant bow’r;

Your heart’s my key to wonderland,

Come claim this fading flow’r. (chorus)

***

Continuing the fruit tree theme, here is When It's Apple Blossom Time in Normandie by Mellor Gifford and Trevor, 1912, sung by Kathleen Clifford, Hear an instrumental recording here and a vocal recording here.

On a farm in Normandy,

There resided Rose Marie,

She was the pride of the country side,

Fair as a maid could be.

Came a lover bold one day,

When a most persuasive lay,

Tho’ she was grieving, when he was leaving,

He consol’d her in this way.

Chorus

When it’s apple blossom time in Normandy!

I want to be in Normandy,

By that dear old wishing well,

With you, Marie!

When it’s apple blossom time in Normandy,

I’m coming back to woo,

And the spring will bring a wedding ring,

Little sweetheart to you!

Said Marie “It’s clear to me,

Tho’ sincere you seem to be,

I am afraid of the promise made;

You may not come back to me.

By the wishing well today,

I shall wish that you will stay”

Said he despairing, “Love, I’m declaring,

I’m in earnest, when I say. (chorus)

Apple blossom time soon came,

Rose Marie then chang’d her name,

For with the spring he had brought the ring,

His loving bride to claim.

By the wishing well they stray,

Happiness is theirs today,

‘Mid blossoms falling, he is recalling,

What he fondly used to say. (chorus)

***

Another Andrew B. Stirling and Harry Von Tilzer hit was Under the Yum Yum Tree, 1910. Hear an Edison recording here by Collins & Harlan, complete with a spoken interlude of stereotyped African Americans. Even in these love songs, racism was a sad source of humor.

There's a place to go where the breezes blow
And the hum of the bumble bee
As he buzzes by 'Neath a tinted sky
Is a sweet honeyed melody
Take your sweet heart true to this place with you
There's a spot where no one can see,
You can lovey, lovey, love
With your dovey, dovey, dove
Under the Yum Yum tree.

Chorus
Under the Yum Yum tree
That's the Yummiest place to be
When you take your baby by the hand
There'll be something doing down in Yum Yum land;
That is the place to play,
With your honey, and kiss all day,
When you're all by your lonely,
You and your only Yum! Yum! 
Yummy Yummy Yum under the Yum Yum tree.

Yum Yum tree just grew, in the land of "Coo"
It was planted by old King "Spoon"
Even birds that fly, in it's branches high,
Sing a soft little loving tune,
Cupid and his band haunt that goo goo land
And a dart in your heart there'll be
If you spoony, spoony spoon
'Neath the moony, moony, moon,
Under the Yum Yum tree. (chorus)

***

There may not be a tree mentioned, but there is a garden in When it's Ringtime in Springtime Then I'll Bring a Ring to You by Wm. Tracey and Ernest Breuer, performed by Bonita of Bonita and Lew Hern, 1917. I can find nothing about this song. 

Pauline De Landes (b. 1886)  married Lew Hern (b. 1882 in Poland, d. 1965) and between 1904 and 1914 they performed together in vaudeville.

Dearie, Springtime is falling 
I hear you calling too,
Sunshine and flow'rs,
Brighten the hours,
I'll soon be spending with you.

Chorus
When its ringtime in Springtime,
And the birds in the trees hum sweet melodies of love,
To a lonesome heart I'll be returning,
If that little spark of love's still burning,
Yearning, in the gloaming,
oh, my darling Love Ties we'll renew,
When it's ringtime in Springtime
Then I'll bring a ring to you.

Dearie, I know you're lonesome
I'm getting lonesome too,
Don't worry dear 
Soon you will hear,
Wedding bells ringing for you. (chorus)

***

The Garden of Beauty Waltzes by Carl Loveland (the pseudonym of Harry L Lincoln) is a piano solo published in 1913. I liked the segue from trees to garden, and had to share this lovely cover. Not the man waiting on the other side of the pond.

Hard Cider

At age fifty-four, Abbie Rose decides its time to follow her long-held dream: to produce hard apple cider on the Leelanau Peninsula in Michigan where her family has vacationed for over twenty years.

Situated on Lake Michigan's sand dunes, the family cottage had been their escape from the high-pressure life of Ann Arbor, Michigan where Abbie taught and her husband Steve had a law practice. With a windfall of money, Abbie has purchased a farmhouse and outbuildings and is ready to learn the skills needed--business and professional--to create a quality product.

Abbie's dream is not Steve's dream. He not only has no interest in her plan, he thinks it is a bad decision. He likes Ann Arbor life.

Their marriage has been challenged before. First, battling infertility and through failed treatments and in-vitro fertilization and grappling with the decision of surrogacy vs. adoption. And secondly, when their house burned down right after Abbie finally gave birth to a son after adopting two other boys.

As Abbie forges ahead with her plans, living Up North while Steve stays in the city, her attention is further divided by her boys' personal problems and challenges. Then a young woman, Julia, arrives in Northport whose secret will bring further turmoil and tension in Abbie's life and marriage.

Barbara Stark-Nemon's novel Hard Cider has a distinct Michigan flavor, reflecting her life in Ann Arbor and Northport.

Apples from the trees in my backyard

Michigan ranks as the second or third state in apple production and has more farm and fruit stands than any other state.

And where there are apples, there is apple cider!

Hard Apple Cider is a leader in the craft brew industry, especially in Michigan. Michigan is already fifth in the nation for its number of breweries, microbreweries, and brewpubs.

So, Steve's objections aside, Abbie is onto something. And she needs the challenge and she needs to at least try and make her lifetime dream come true.

Readers who are not interested in Michigan and our apples will find their interest perk up when Julia comes on the scene. Abbie must juggle the needs of her sons and husband and the secret she discovers while holding fast to her dream.

Fans of women's fiction will enjoy Hard Cider.

Oh, and there is knitting.

I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Hard Cider: A Novel
by Barbara Stark-Nemon
She Writes Press
Pub Date 18 Sep 2018
PRICE $16.95 (USD)
ISBN 9781631524752

*****

My one complaint is: Abbie, you must be CRAZY to love to walk along the Lake Michigan beach in WINTER. I did that for ten minutes ONCE in October and that was brutal! At least in winter, perhaps you don't get sand in your nose.

Lake Michigan at Pentwater during Hurricane Sandy

Winter in Pentwater is not for the faint-hearted. Which is why we only lasted one winter...

The bars were at least open.

We had to dig the mailbox out every day.

Perhaps Abbie benefited because Northport is on the 'sunrise side' of the Leelanau Peninsula...and protected from the Lake Michigan gales that assaulted our house.

So, I'll give Abbie the benefit of doubt regarding her sanity for leaving Ann Arbor to go Up North in winter.

Except.. the driving on the west side of Michigan downstate can also be brutal...

Christmas Day, 2013 driving from Lake Michigan to Grand Rapids...

The Ancient Nine by Ian Smith

The Ancient Nine by Ian K. Smith is a book for people who like to work out puzzles and mysteries.

A poor black kid from south side Chicago, Spenser Collins worked for academic excellence, supported by his single mom. He is also a talented basketball player. His acceptance by Harvard University starts him on his way to medical school so he can pay his mom back and support her in style.

If getting into Harvard seemed like a stretch, receiving an invitation from an exclusive final club, the Gas, totally puts Spenser outside of his comfort zone. His friend Dalton, whose family has deep Boston and Harvard roots, encourages him to go for it. There is a mystery behind the Gas involving a secret chamber and a dead student in 1951. Dalton encourages Spenser that from inside the club he can solve the mystery of what really happened in 1951.

Elaborate parties with endless drinks and gourmet food, and sometimes even 'provided' women, is the social norm for the Gas. While the other boys overindulge, Spenser stays dry and trim for basketball.

Spenser and Dalton go on a chase that involves day jaunts to talk to elderly Gas members and hours spent in dusty libraries. They create a patchwork quilt of evidence, but none of it adds up.

Meanwhile, Spenser has met the love of his life, a townie who doesn't date Harvard men. She is also from a poor single mom and smart and determined to get an education.

I knew nothing about Harvard or final clubs or Cambridge. It all sounded pretty over the top to me, but a Goggle search confirmed these clubs are elite, with the 1% of the wealthiest and most prestigious families being members. The parties at mansions, the money, the exclusiveness, the white male predominance-- it's all real. I sure hope the bussed in women for the parties are not real, but I likely am hoping in vain.

The story dragged about mid-way. I was getting tired of late nights at libraries. The mystery involves King James I and puritanical writings and Knights of the Garter protecting the reputation of the King. It's all about libraries and books and a coverup.

For all the tension over perceived threats, it was all talk and little action. There is a revelation about corrupt money and power and Spenser learns about his family history.

One aspect of the story I liked was how it addressed the African American experience in this nearly all-white exclusive world of movers and shakers.

Overall, The Ancient Nine was an entertaining light read.

The Ancient Nine
by Ian Smith, M.D.
St. Martin's Press
Pub Date 18 Sep 2018
ISBN 9781250182395
PRICE $27.99 (USD)

Guilty Thing: A Life of Thomas De Quincy by Frances Wilson

Thomas De Quincy is generally remembered for his Diary Of an English Opium Eater. I once had a 19th c copy of that book and read it, or rather read at it. As far as the Romantic Era in literature, I knew a little Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge from college days.

Then a few years ago, I read Charlotte Gordon's Romantic Outlaws, a marvelous book on Mary Shelly and her mother Mary Wollstonecraft. Mary Godwin Shelly heard Coleridge recite his famous poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner one night when she was supposed to be in bed. I learned about Percy Bysshe Shelly and Lord Byron.

This whole, crazy, pre-Victorian wild world was a marvel. Why didn't my teachers tell us these things back in the 60's? Surely we would have understood the Romantic counter-culture as similar to the world we were growing up in!

My interest piqued, I finally was able to pick up this biography of De Quincy and through his life learned about William Wordsworth and Coleridge and the movement they founded, which had lured De Quincy to them like a moth to a flame, sure he had found his true home in their philosophy.

What an interesting life! De Quincy was well-read and had a capacious memory. He thought that school had nothing to teach him and he dropped out just before gaining his degree. He lived on the street, sharing any good fortune with a young prostitute. Coming of age, he inherited wealth, then squandered it.

Wilson describes this diminutive man, shy and uncertain, his brain packed with learning and books, standing on the path to Wordsworth's cottage with fear and trembling, then running away, gathering his courage to approach again several years later. First, he introduced himself to Wordsworth's special friend, Coleridge.

Finally meeting, De Quincy, an ardent apostle, was taken in by William and his sister Dorothy Wordsworth. William was distant but Dorothy became close to the younger De Quincy. And over the years, a disappointed De Quincy broke away from Wordsworth the man while still admiring his literary oeuvre.

Familiarity breeds contempt is one lesson from De Quincy's life.

Another lesson is that opium was perceived as a creative aid, but in reality, destroyed the body and pocketbook. And kept De Quincy from achieving the success that seemed to drop into Wordsworth's lap. The Romantic Era turned to sensibility, deeply felt emotions, in a pendulum swing away from the Age of Reason. Just as in the 1960s, drugs were believed to open the mind. 

De Quincy was not alone in his opium use; along with Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelly, we can add Branwell Bronte, the brilliant and doomed brother of his more illustrious sisters, who appeared at De Quincy's door in homage. De Quincy, avidly avoiding his creditors, did not answer. The drug was easily obtained because it was standard pharmaceutical fare. And John Jacob Aster made a fortune by shipping it to England.

De Quincy loved children, including his own, but was a lousy provider and part-time family man. Well, who can write at home surrounded by kids and wife and debt collectors? No, De Quincy needed a little open space amidst his piles of papers and tens of thousands of books. He was the original hoarder except he only hoarded the printed word.

I enjoyed Guilty Thing as a biography of De Quincy and as a colorful and delightful study of his world.

(What amazes me is that during this same time period Jane Austen was writing her comedies of manners, showing us the failings of Marianne's sensibility and Catherine's Gothic imaginings!)

I won this book from the publisher from a Goodreads Giveaway.

Guilty Thing: A Life of Thomas De Quincy
by Frances Wilson
Farrar Straus Giroux
ISBN: 978-0-374-16730-1
$30 hardcover; $9.99 ebook

Vintage Sheet Music: Nostalgia

Looking backward is part of the human condition, and we as we age we can feel that our best days are behind us. It is no wonder so many songs have been written about earlier times.

The Good Old Days usually referred to an idealized rural life.

On a Good Old Fashioned Straw Ride is a novelty song by Dave Reed and George Christie from 1912,  performed by the musical marriage team of Maud Lambert and Ernest R. Ball,  Apple jack and hugging and kissing seem to be the main attraction of the straw ride experience. Along with playing on folk's nostalgia, there is a hefty dose of stereotyping the lingo of rural folk and a surprising amount of gol'darn cuss words. 

Listen to it here.

Folks are congregatin' from a far and wide,
Everybod's waitin' for the old straw ride
Every one's excited, Every one's delighted,
Every fellow's got a lady by his side;
Look at all the farmers in their right red hose!
Gals a galivantin' in their Sunday clothes!
Beautiful night time, 
That is the right time,
Time to forget your woes;
We'll dance all night, till broad daylight,
And wake up the goldarn town:
I'll hop around the fiddle, like a chicken on a griddle,
Till they have to take a rope and tie me down!

Under the glimmer of a great big moonbeam rollin' a long,
While we're all sing' a song,
It's great to cuddle and kiss some fair little Miss;
Then back to the pumpkin and the squash, by gosh, we'll merrily glide,
If you ain't huggin' and kissin', there's somethin' you're missin',
on a good old time straw ride.

'Tildy, hurry up and don't you stop to fuss!
Howdy, Zaccaria! Is there room for us?
Who is that a crushin' What's the use of rushin'?
Hiram, quit your ticklin', yer a gosh darn cuss,
Pass around the apple jack agin', by heck!

Who is that a droppin' peanuts down my neck?
This is the game, boys, I'm glad I came boys,
Ain't gonter cost one speck;
Say look here, Zeke, why don't you speak?
And don't look so goldern black!
Well, I recon, Mister Smarty, I'm a bustin' up yer party,
But to tell the truth, I'm sittin' on a tack! (chorus)

***

1905 Beaux Arts Edition piano solo of Home Sweet Home

Many nostalgia songs are about missing home, the most famous of course being Home, Sweet Home. Songs were written about other 'homes' as well. Here is Susquehanna Home by Dave Ringle published in 1924. Listen to an instrumental Victor recording here. It is a surprisingly upbeat tune.

Why did I stray, wanter away

Fool I was to ever roam

Cows in the corn,mooin' at dawn,

call me back to my old home

Like all rollin' stones I'm blue my roamin' days are thru'

Susquehanna Home, Land of honeycomb,

Like the pine trees I am pinin'

Like an old stray dog I'm whinin'

Longing to sneak home under cover

To my gray haird pal I love her, 

Moon a shinin' high 

Can't you hear me cry,

Old shack layin' back on the hill

I'll be comin' back for a thrill

Susquehanna home.

Stars twinkle bright all thru' the night

O'er the fields of silv'ry dew

Clouds floatin' by sure make me sigh

soon I will be floatin' too

Back to those I long to see where my heart will always be. (chorus)

***

As the last song shows, nostalgia for home is basically missing Mom. There are numerous songs idealizing mothers. Here are a few.

Mother Dear by J. A. Pedersen and Ted. S. Barron, 1914, is one example.

The shadows are softly falling,
I sit and dream alone.
On fond mem'ry's ship I take a trip
ack to my dear old home.
Back to those happy childhood days,
The dearest days of all;
I long to be back there again
In those days beyond recall.

I long to nestle in your arms again, Mother dear,
For in my dream your sweet voice still I hear,
your face I seem to see,
I hear you calling me,
Back to dear old home sweet home and mother dear.

In memory I am longing 
To be a child once more, 
To roam once again 'mid scenes of youth,
With loved ones I adore.
My thoughts are all of mother dear,
Tho' I am far away,
My heart is filled with longing
Just to be back home some day. (chorus)

***

Another mother song, Mother of Mine, by George A. Little and J. D. Stanley, 1913, is one of many with the same title and the least well known. 

There is one that I'll love when the seas restless wave

Will not beat on the sandy shore,

There is one name I'll breath

When the Father who gave

Tells me that my life's work is o'er.

Mother of mine, mother of mine,

Seems that you're always beside me,

Your eyes divine ever will shine,

Through all my sorrow you guide me.

When on the day I pass away,

to that new land of sunshine,

Again on your breast I'll find sweet rest,

Mother, O, mother of mine!

When the light silver hair first grew into the gold,

And the smile sweet to see passed away,

When the light in her eyes

Father Time's story told

Then I knew all I lost that sad day. (chorus)

The lyrics recalling mother may seem saccharine to us today, and a stereotype of an idealized mother. Behind them lurks the sad reality of how short a woman's life was, how many lost their mothers early in life. Childbearing, disease, overwork taxed a woman's health. If one considers that the son's memories of his mother are from his childhood and that perhaps he lost her early in life, we see the song in a different light.

***

Mother was a standard by which all girls were measured. Men wanted to marry their mother. Or at least a gal who reminded him of dear old Mom.

Just As Your Mother Was by Andrew B. Sterling and by Harry Von Tilzer, 1917, is a good example of what men wanted in a wife...Well. Some men. Listen to it here.

Wedding bells are ringing,
Choir sweetly singing,
Soon the happy bride will ride away.
As she whispers “Good-bye, Daddy,”
To her father old and gray.
Tenderly he holds her;
Tears are in his eyes.
“Listen, child,” he whispers fond and low.
“Your mother was an angel,
and you’re an angel, too,
For you look just like your mother, long ago.

You’ve got the same eyes of blue,
You’ve got the same sweet smile, too,
And may the angels up above you
Watch and love you all life through.
You’ve got the same loving way,
And ev’ry night I’ll kneel and pray
That you’ll be through life,
a good true wife, dear,
Just as your mother was.”

“Just a simple story;
Love in all its glory—
Sun or storm your mother’s love was true.
But the angels came and took her
On the day they left me you.
Tenderly I watched you
Growing day by day;
Now the time to part is drawing near.
Remember that your mother
was steadfast, staunch, and true,
And I know you’ll always be like her, my dear.

***

The times were changing fast. But some were holding steadfastly to the old ways. 

I can't find anything on An Old Fashioned Girlie by James O'Dea and Sam S. Krams and Jack Von Tilzer from 1914! James O'Dea (1870-1914) married Lyricist and Songwriter Hall of Fame star Anne Caldwell in August 1904 and they had two children.

They wandered where this City meets the town,

The girl was dressed in simple gingham gown,

The boy who came to woo as sweethearts often do,

Gazed lovingly into the eyes of brown

"I don't see what you see in me," she said,

"Old fashioned as I am, and country bred."

The boy said with a smile,

"I like a girl of style 

But believe me, dear, I'd rather have instead,

An old fashioned girlie in an old-fashioned frock

An old fashioned candlelight a glow,

An old fashioned sofa and an old fashioned clock

That's just about a half hour slow.

And old fashioned courtship with a wedding feast and then

A joy to last our whole lives through,

That's an old fashioned heaven with a bunch of six or seven

Old fashioned kids like you.

The maiden blushed and turned her head away,

She knew not what to do or what to say

The boy as you can guess,

with lover like caress, 

Said "dearest won't you name the wedding day,"

The birds were singing sweetly overhead,

The lily nodded to the roses red,

Two eyes with tears were wet,

To lips in kisses met

As once more the youthful lover fondly said, (chorus)

Ahab's Return: The Last Voyage by Jeffrey Ford

Ahab's back, looking for his wife and son.

Yes, that Ahab, the crazed captain who went down with the White Whale.

He miraculously survived and has finally made his way home. He turns up at the Gorgon's Mirror, a New York City tabloid newspaper, looking for Ishmael, the writer who killed Ahab off in his novelization of their adventures. Ishmael is gone but hack writer Harrow sees dollar signs behind Ahab's improbable story.

All Ahab wants now is to find his beautiful wife and teenage son.

Harrow gets his boss to fund the quest and he and Ahab go on an adventure into the heart of New York City's Five Points, encountering a drug cartel protected by juvenile addicts and the manticore, a mythological creature (pictured on the book cover). They are joined by Ahab's harpooner Madi, stylized as Daggoo by Ishmael, the staunch street urchin Marvis, and a patchwork-coat wearing female writer and opium-eater, Arabella.

Harrow is in over his head, plunged into a world of ghoulish murders perpetrated by Malbaster and attacked by his zombie-like creature Bartleby. Harrow admits that, in a gunfight, he is as "useless as Millard Fillmore." Luckily, he has the African Madi and the plucky women to protect him.

Ahab's Return by Jeffry Ford reminded me of Terry Pratchett's Dodger, a fun blend of fantasy and literary personages in a historical fantasy. And also Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next novels in which literary characters exist in an alternative world.

John Jacob Aster's opium shipping empire, a forgotten multi-racial and multi-cultural village torn down to make Central Park, the Know Nothing anti-immigrant nativist movement, all figure into the story.

The plot hinges on an interesting concept of fictioneers writing plotlines that become reality.

"I am a devotee of the works of Emerson and believe he's professing that the mind is a reailty engine--it creates reality or at least in some part it helps to create reality." Arabella in Ahab's Return

I enjoyed the novel as great escapist fun. I received a free book from the publisher through a LibraryThing giveaway.

Ahab's Return or, The Last Voyage
by Jeffrey Ford
William Morrow
ISBN: 9780062679000
ISBN 10: 0062679007

Jeffrey Ford is the author of the novels The Physiognomy, Memoranda, The Beyond, The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque, the Edgar Award–winning The Girl in the Glass, The Cosmology of the Wider World, The Shadow Year, and The Twilight Pariah, and his collections include The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant, The Empire of Ice Cream, The Drowned Life, Crackpot Palace, and A Natural History of Hell. He lives near Columbus, Ohio, and teaches writing at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Frank & Al: FDR, Al Smith, and the Unlikely Alliance That Created the Modern Democratic Party

Common goals bring people together; alliances are made between unlikely people. Friendships are forged, but sometimes the friends become alienated, their relationships shifting with the loss or gain of political power.

Reading biographies on President Franklin D. Roosevelt I learned about Al Smith, the New York City politician who failed to gain the presidential nomination because of his Catholic Faith. I knew that FDR's 1928 presidential nomination speech for Al Smith marked FDR's political comeback after polio. I was curious to learn more about Al and requested the galley for Frank & Al by Terry Golway.

Right away I fell under Al's spell. He had charisma and personality and a commitment to helping the 'little man' with a progressive agenda. He knew the challenges they faced first-hand., for Al had to leave school and work in the Fulton Fish Market after the death of his father. His mother took a factory job. Tammany Hall promoted his political rise to Albany. Realizing how unprepared he was, Al committed to studying until he had a command of the issues and laws. He became a popular and beloved New York State governor.

FDR and Smith political handkerchiefs. From the collection of Nancy A. Bekofske

No one could have been more different from Al than FDR with his long family history of status and wealth. FDR was a Harvard man. He was also seen as a lightweight, but he supported Al all the way.

How these two men changed the Democratic party is the core of the book. The history of their friendship recalls Adams and Jefferson--allies turned foes who embrace reconciliation later in life.

I was actually thrilled while reading the narratives about the conventions! Al's Catholicism was a huge issue. The KKK came out in full force to wield its influence. The Democrats had to choose to condemn the KKK as an Anti-American terrorist group and risk splitting the party or water the platform down to condemning any secret society. The clan gathered in New Jersey to burn an effigy of Al Smith. Protestant preachers across Middle America turned Al into a Papal pawn and denounced his opposition to Prohibition.

Al Smith political handkerchief. From the collection of Nancy A. Bekofske

Al was hugely popular in the East and among city folk but could not win rural WASP America. After Hoover's failure to address the Depression, FDR was successful in his presidential bid...and the rest is history. Al, though, did not take his losses well and was critical of FDR's policies.

The Democratic party was transfigured by Al's agenda which was continued by FDR on the national level; the president admitted he was following the agenda set by Al many years ago in New York State. The two men had some form of reconciliation and worked together but the warm friendship was never regained.

FDR campaign handkerchief. From the collection of Nancy A. Bekofske

It always strikes me when I read history how human nature does not change. Al and Frank, or John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, politics power disrupts friendships. Xenophobia rears its ugly head again and again. Where once the Catholics were feared as puppets of the Pope, now we fear Muslims. Every history I read is relevant to the issues we face today.

Golway has written a wonderful book that brings these men and the times to life in a thrilling narrative history.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Frank and Al: FDR, Al Smith, and the Unlikely Alliance That Created the Modern Democratic Party
by Terry Golway
St. Martin's Press
Publication Date 11 Sep 2018
PRICE: $29.99 (USD)
ISBN: 9781250089649

Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris

After reading an excerpt from Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris my interest was caught and I requested the ARC. First, there was the setting, 1931 Philadelphia. The main characters work for a Philadelphia newspaper. And most of all, that opening scene when Ellis Reed notices the sign "2 children for sale" next to young brothers.

With vivid descriptions and great characterization, the story takes readers into the harsh realities of the Depression, a time when a widowed and ailing mother is pushed to a desperate choice, hoping to provide for her children.

The story is a heart-breaker, with a touch of romance and a threat of prohibition era gangsters, and a whole lotta of reclamation for Ellis and Lily. I enjoyed this historical fiction read not only for its storytelling but also for its relevance to issues that we still face today: poverty, lack of affordable medical care, separation of families, human trafficking, mental illness, and journalistic standards.

McMorris was inspired by an actual 1948 photograph and the story of what happened to the children in the photo. Learn more about the book, read an interview with the author, and find a book club kit at the author's website here.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

from the publisher:
Philadelphia, 1931. A young, ambitious reporter named Ellis Reed photographs a pair of young siblings on the front porch of a farmhouse next to a sign: “2 children for sale.”

With the help of newspaper secretary Lily Palmer, Ellis writes an article to accompany the photo. Capturing the hardships of American families during the Great Depression, the feature story generates national attention and Ellis’s career skyrockets.

But the photograph also leads to consequences more devastating than ever imagined—and it will take jeopardizing everything Ellis and Lily value to unravel the mystery and set things right.

Inspired by an actual newspaper photo that stunned readers throughout the country, Sold on a Monday is a powerful novel of ambition, redemption, love, and family.

Sold on a Monday: A Novel
by Kristina McMorris
SOURCEBOOKS/Landmark
Pub Date 28 Aug 2018
ISBN 9781492663997
PRICE $15.99 (USD)

Further Reading:
In the story, Ellis learns about Breaker Boys work in the coal mines. To learn more, read Coal River by Ellen Marie Wiseman, reviewed here.