The Bird King by G. WIllow Wilson

I spend through G. Willow Wilson's The Bird King in a few days, enchanted by its exotic setting and well-drawn characters.

Fatima was one of the least powerful in the Sultan's household, a slave whose beauty made her a favorite concubine. Fatima lived a life of luxury, dining on sweetmeats and dressing in the finest clothes, always indoors and barefoot, even while outside the palace walls the Moorish Empire was falling to the Catholic Spanish army. What she lacked was self-determination and the power to say no to authority.

Her childhood friend is the slave Hassam whose red hair spoke of his Breton ancestry. The royal mapmaker, Hassam has the ability to create maps that alter reality. And while devote, Hassam's sexual preference is against religious law. They have shared secret trists, embroidering the story of the Bird King, whose story they learned from a partial manuscript.

The once great Moorish empire on the Iberian Penninsula is vanquished. The victor Spain is willing to be magnanimous, as long as the Sultan agrees to its terms: hand over the sorcerer Hassam to be made an example. Convert to Catholicism. And the Moors will be allowed to live, subjects of Spain.

The love Fatima holds for her only friend emboldens her; she will not lose the one person who loves her and not her beauty. She insists that Hassam flees for his life. With the help of a jinn, pursued by the army of the Holy Order, these naive and unprepared refugees discover that freedom has its costs.

Fatima's love and faith, and her willingness to lose what had once been her one power--beauty--supports this unlikely heroine as she seeks to find the Bird King's realm, where she hopes to find a refuge for her and Hassam.

Themes touched on are relevant: the nature and responsibility of power, the cost of freedom, true faith versus religious power, refugees seeking their place in the world.

I received an ARC from through Bookist First in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The Bird King
by G. Willow Wilson
Grove Atlantic
Pub: March 12, 2019
$26
ISBN: 978-0-8021-2903-1

from the publisher:
Set in 1491 during the reign of the last sultanate in the Iberian peninsula, The Bird King is the story of Fatima, the only remaining Circassian concubine to the sultan, and her dearest friend Hassan, the palace mapmaker. Hassan has a secret—he can make maps of places he’s never seen and bend the shape of reality with his pen and paper. His magical gift has proven useful to the sultan’s armies in wartime and entertained a bored Fatima who has never stepped foot outside the palace walls.

When a party representing the newly formed Spanish monarchy arrives to negotiate the terms of the sultan’s surrender, Fatima befriends one of the women, little realizing that her new friend Luz represents the Inquisition, and will see Hassan’s gift as sorcery, and a threat to Christian Spanish rule. With everything on the line, what will Fatima risk to save Hassan, and taste the freedom she has never known?

Fatima and Hassan traverse Iberia to the port, helped along the way by a jinn who has taken a liking to them—Vikram the Vampire, who readers may remember from Alif the Unseen. Pursued all the while by Luz, who somehow always seems to know where they will end up, they narrowly escape from her generals by commandeering a ship, and accidentally also the snoozing Breton monk belowdecks. Though they are unsure whether to trust him, because he is a member of the very same faith they are running from, they nevertheless set about learning from him how to crew a ship. And as it becomes clearer both that there is no place on the mainland that they will be safe, and that the three of them are destined to stay together, they set out to do something they never thought possible—to find the mysterious, possibly mythic island of The Bird King, whose shifting boundaries will hopefully keep them safe.

An epic adventure to find safety in a mythical realm, The Bird King challenges us to consider what true love is and the price of freedom at a time when the West and the Muslim world were not yet separate.

Overrun: Dispatches from the Asian Carp Crisis

This isn’t a book about fish, though they play a leading role: it’s a book about us and our reaction to the latest invasive species threatening to become a permanent fixture of the landscape. It’s a book about what winning and losing looks like in the uphill struggle to manage invasive species. And it’s a book about how a fish’s extraordinary jumping ability propelled it onto the nightly news and the nation’s Most Wanted list. Andrew Reeves on Overrun

My brother, who enjoys kayaking, told me about a video showing a man in a boat armed with a baseball bat, ready to strike the giant leaping fish that fly out of the water. We may laugh, but the reality isn't funny. Those fish are foreign species from Asia. And they are taking over.

We Michiganders fear those fish as the next wave of invasive species ready to decimate our already degraded Great Lakes ecosystems. That crystal clear Lake Michigan water? It isn't a good sign, even if vacationers think it is great. It is the sign of a dying lake, with already nothing much left for the fish to eat. 

And Asian carp are really, really good at eating microscopic organisms, thus competing with native fish. Plus, their waste promotes the growth of toxic algae, already a problem in Lake Erie thanks to farm fertilizer runoff--and the destruction of the wetlands that once filtered the water.

If--or rather, when--the carp reach the Great Lakes, we expect a further decline in sport fish, boaters attacked by leaping fish, and an increase in water toxicity. Goodbye, recreational and fishing industries--and pure drinking water. 

How and why bighead carp were introduced in 1955 and the consequences are presented in the highly readable Overrun. 

Environmental journalist Andrew Reeves takes readers on a journey, beginning with the first person to explore the use of Asian carp as a natural and non-chemical way to control aquatic weeds, part of the reaction to Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring warning of the harm from pesticides. 

I read Carson in the 1960s. I remember the first Earth Day. I was a senior in high school when I bought a"Give Earth a Chance" pin.  I took ecology in college. I learned organic gardening. Sure, I too would have supported a natural control over chemicals. I am all in for anything that limits the chemical profusion that once seemed the panacea for all our ills before it was revealed as a source of new ills. 

Asian carp, the aquatic-weed-eater par excellence, was introduced to clogged waterways in the South as a natural alternative to pesticides. It seemed like a great idea.

One thing we humans are good at is forgetting that when we tweak an ecosystem there are consequences. As the carp found their way into the environment the consequences became manifest. Such as competing with native species. 

Reeves visited the people who think that we should sterilize the carp to limit their population, and the people who think barriers will keep the carp where we want them, and those who believe closing down the Chicago Canal will stop them, and the people who think that fishing the carp (and introducing them to the American dinner plate) will control their numbers.  Reeves discovered that the political and environmental realities are so complex there is no easy answer. 

There is no way we are going to stop the carp. Decisions made generations ago set up a domino effect that we can't stop.

Can we restore the Great Lakes--America's--ecosystems? If the will is there, perhaps a whole-ecosystem approach can make a difference. 

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

Overrun: Dispatches from the Asian Carp Crisis

by Andrew Reeves

ECW Press

Pub Date 12 Mar 2019  

Paperback $22.95 (CAD)

ISBN: 9781770414761

Helen Korngold Diary: March 3-9, 1919

This year I am sharing the 1919 diary of Helen Korngold of St. Louis, MO. Helen was a student teacher at Washington University.

Helen Korngold, Dec. 1919, New York City

March
Monday 3
School good. Downtown to look for suit, but didn’t find any. Home—studied.

Tuesday 4
Hard day—class from 10:30 – 3:15 without intermission. Basket Ball—Seniors beat Juniors 10-5. Home. Lecture by Fairchild on “Hamlet.” Good. Summer came. He was so sleepy poor kid. Home in rain! Wrote notices for Junior Council. Bed at 12 bells.

Wednesday 5
Taught at Wellston all day—awfully tired.

Thursday 6
School—2 hrs geol. McCourt is so fascinating. Seniors vs. juniors—our team won! First game of championship. Home.

Friday 7
School—Ed. bores me. Home. Herman Heyerman and I went to Bernice Young’s. Had a dandy time. Pretty nice crowd. Clara Marx wasn’t so gay. Dan was cute—so too was Summer. Home at 1:30 a.m.

Saturday 8
Slept till 9 A.M. School. Rained & snowed. Home—wrote Shakespeare theme. Varsity vs. Mizzo—35-26 favor Mizzo. Bad luck—ran out of gas but hit a lucky station. Home—wrote letter to Jul.

Sunday 9
Study—washed hair—had company.

Notes:

March 2

Temple Social Society was related to the Korngold family’s synagogue.

March 3

Six-Barr advertisement for spring suits, March 1919

March 4

Professor H.R. Fairchild of the University of Missouri

March 7

Bernice Emily Young was born in 1899 to Oscar S. and Emily Young and at 1900 lived at Windsor Place with a servant. Other daughters included Audrey and Dorothy and they had a son Emerson.

Herman Heyerman appears in the 1917 St. Louis City Directory working as a clerk.

March 8

The basketball game was between MIZZO is Missouri State University in St. Louis and Washington University.

Camelot's End by Jon Ward: Kennedy vs Carter and the Fight that Broke the Democratic Party

Two flawed men.

Kennedy, carrying the heavy legacy of his patriot martyred brothers, a narcissist womanizer and drunkard yet developing into the 'conscious of his party." And Carter, a devout Christian, a political maverick, a man whose wide grin disguised a bulldog tenacity.

I could see it coming. As author Jon Ward unfolded the story of the 1980 presidential election campaign, I got to the 'ah ha' point of understanding the inevitability of the Democrats losing to the Republican candidate Ronald Reagan.

Incumbent President Carter had lost credibility. He was unable to end crippling inflation--do I remember that inflation! 15 1/2% interest rate on our first house! He had done nothing to end high unemployment. The Iran hostage crisis just went on and on. The punitive oil prices caused shortages and the shortages led to riots and violence. Carter had believed that politics could be used for Christian purposes to alleviate suffering. But he never played well with others--Hunter S. Thompson declared him 'one of the three meanest men' he had ever met.

Teddy Kennedy hoped to 'save the soul' of the Democratic party. A deeply troubled man burdened by the Kennedy legacy, the last son standing, he felt he had to run. But he was haunted by one night, a car, a bridge, and a dead woman at Chappaquiddick. Kennedy did the unthinkable, challenging an incumbent president from his own party. He wanted national health care, a stimulation bill, to end the arms race.

Reagan, sixty-nine-years-old, a conservative who had provided Hollywood names to the House UnAmerican Committee, declared for states rights. Carter misjudged him as a lightweight. But Reagan had ease and charm where Carter looked like a coiled snake ready to bite.

Third-party candidate John Anderson had also thrown his hat into the ring.

The working people abandoned the Democratic Party. Carter's own church, the Southern Baptists, abandoned the Democratic Party. The Republicans had found the golden ticket: attracting working-class white Christian voters into the party of rich businessmen. Carter had lackluster support, and even after the convention, Teddy was getting cheers.

Even after Carter won his party's nomination, Kennedy didn't give him his wholehearted support.

The failed president later won the Nobel Peace Prize and his work with Habitat for Humanity is a mene going around social media as an example of presidential values. At the senator's death, Carter admitted Kennedy was one of the "best senators." They redeemed themselves in later life, becoming better people. But in 1980, they managed to cost the Democrats the White House.

Ward's book was a revealing, engrossing read. I ended up taking copious notes. I enjoyed the book on many levels: recalling the social and political climate in the lates 70s and how it affected me; as portraits of two Democratic icons; as a step-by-step retelling of a pivotal political contest; and for addressing the political issues that are still relevant today.

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

CAMELOT'S END: Kennedy vs. Carter and the Fight that Broke the Democratic Party
by Jon Ward
12 Books/Grand Central Publishing
ISBN-13: 9781455591374
Price: $14.99 / $18.99 (CAD)

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See is the story of a girlhood friendship crushed and buckled by shifting political and cultural sands.

Set on a small volcanic island in Korea, and spanning from colonialism under the Japanese through the post-WWII division of the country and the resulting purge of Communist sympathizers in the South, the novel is a dazzling exploration of a little-known culture.

And it is also a testament to the strength of women.

In the 1930s, orphaned Mi-ja, daughter of a Korean who collaborated with the Japanese under colonialism, was sent to live with her aunt and uncle on the island of Jeju. Young-sook, a daughter descended from generations of haenyeo women who support their families by free diving to harvest the seas, befriends Mi-ja. Young-sook's mother teaches Mi-ja and Young-sook the traditional skills to become a haenyeo. 

The women led hard lives of toil, but were proud of their work and contribution. While the sea women culled their "ocean fields" and tended their "dry fields" of sweet potatoes, the menfolk watched the kids and prepared the evening meal, spending their free time in talk. Life was a simple cycle. The girls embrace this life and future.

But the life the girls hope for is under duress. During WWII the resources of Jeju are confiscated for the Japanese war effort, resulting in starvation. Mi-ja is forced into marriage with a collaborator with the Japanese, while Young-sook remains in her village, married to a childhood friend. The women drift apart as truths remain unspoken and assumptions lead to prejudice and bitterness that lasts Young-sook's lifetime--until Mi-ja's granddaughter arrives, determined to tell Mi-ja's story to Young-sook.

What I loved about this novel is what I love about the best Historical Fiction: through sympathetic characters and an engaging storyline, history comes alive and I gain insight into the past.

I had little knowledge of the history of Korea. My birth prevented my father's induction during the Korean War; he was already supporting his mother and sister and wife. The Korea of the television series MASH offered little insight. I kinda knew about colonization under the Japanese, and I knew about the devastation of WWII and how impoverished the country was, thanks to my investigation into a handkerchief that led me to Father Al Schwartz and his Korea Relief work. (read about it here.)

But I didn't realize that after WWII, with Korea divided against its will, the Soviets in the North, and America in the South, each led by puppet presidents, resulted in such horrible violence that was unchecked by America. There are scenes in the book that rivals any horrors I have read in history. 

The statistics, presented in the Acknowledgments, are staggering.

See informs us that Jeju's population of 300,000 was decimated by about 10%, with another 80,000 become refugees. Hundreds of villages disappeared. Talk about this dark time was banned for fifty years.

Under See's capable hands, the story is not weighed down by her research into her subject. She weaves the facts and history through the action.

See has a huge following and I expect The Island of Sea Women to become as popular as her earlier novels. It would be an excellent book club pick.

Read about her last novel The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane here.

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

The Island of Sea Women
by Lisa See
Scribner
March 5, 2019
ISBN 9781501154850, 1501154850
Hardcover $27.00 USD, $36.00 CAD

The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books: Young Columbus and the Search for a Universal Library

In the tradition of Stephen Greenblatt’s The Swerve and Dava Sobel’s Galileo’s Daughter, a vividly rendered account of the forgotten quest by Christopher Columbus’s son to create the greatest library in the world—“a perfectly pitched poetic drama” (Financial Times) and an amazing tour through 16th century Europe.

I was intrigued--Columbus had a son who created the world's greatest library? Why hadn't we heard about him? What happened to all the books? How did he even embark on such a quest? I had to read this book.

Hernando may have been an illegitimate son but in 1502 his father Christopher Columbus took the thirteen-year-old along on his fourth voyage to the New World. Hernando started his life familiar with lands and cultures that most of the world didn't even know existed.

The book recounts Columbus's discoveries and his struggle to maintain his status and share of New World wealth for his heirs.

The Admiral of the Ocean reigned as the greatest explorer for only a short time before he was dethroned.  He became old news as successive explorers stole attention and acclaim. Spain sought to discredit Columbus as the first to discover the New World, desirous of keeping all the New World wealth. Hernando determined to return and solidify his father's status by writing a book about his father's life--essentially the first biography.

The other part of the book is Hernando's thirst for knowledge, his obsession with collecting books of every kind, in every language--even if he couldn't read them. He collected prints and maps and art and ephemera gleaned from small booksellers.

He kept lists of his books and when he lost over a thousand books in a shipwreck he knew which ones he needed to replace. He developed methods to catalog and organize the books and to retrieve the information in the books.

Hernando was called upon to create a definitive map of the New World so that Spain and Portugal could finalize their territorial rights. He began an exhaustive dictionary but abandoned it knowing he could never finish it.

As he traveled across Europe, Hernando came into contact with all the great thinkers whose ideas were rocking the world: Erasmus, Luther, Rabelais, Thomas More. During Hernando's lifetime, Henry was looking to divorce Catherine, Suleiman was conquering the Eastern reaches of Europe, and the Holy Roman Emperor was crowned as the head of church and state. Luther's teaching had fueled the Peasant's Revolt and the anti-authoritarian Anabaptist movement arose.

In his later life, Hernando settled down and built his house and perfected his library. His garden was an arboretum containing plants and trees from across the world.

Hernando's achievement was remarkable. His goal to order all human knowledge for accessible retrieval was monumental. But after his death, most of his work and library were lost to neglect and time.

Through the life of one man, The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books gave me a panoramic view of the 16th c., an overview of the life and achievements of Christopher Columbus, and a biography of his son Hernando.

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

The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books: Christopher Columbus, His Son, and the Quest to Build the World's Greatest Library
By Edward Wilson-Lee
Publication March 12, 2019
LIST PRICE $30.00
ISBN 9781982111397

Helen Korngold Diary: February 24-March 2

Helen Korngold, Dec. 1919, New York City

This year I am sharing the 1919 diary of Helen Korngold of St. Louis, MO.

February

Monday 24

School. Basket Ball. Home Tired. Paul Cary home.

Tuesday 25

School. Paul & I fooled around. Home. Going to lecture this evening. Piette & her mother came to lecture. So did Summer. Karol went to a wedding, so S. took me home. We had lots of fun. He came into the kitchen & together we made some cocoa and toast. Tasted good.

Wednesday 26

School in Wellston. Substituted all day. Hard work. Went back to Washington to attend Stunt rehearsals. Good. Home & to bed. Letter from J. Koloditsky.

Thursday 27

School, classes interesting. McCourt & Usher & even Wells! Study—Home—Saw Pauline Carp. It's 9:10 and all I’ve done is practice a while. Must get busy. Heard an Indian girl speak at Y.W. today.

Friday 28

Class—Dancing—Out with Dan in the evening. Had a good time at Corrine Wolf’s house. Home at 12 P.M.

March

Saturday 1

Studied for Well’s exam. Not so bad. Had a delightful discussion on religion in Dr. McCourt’s class. After Usher’s class we went to Junior Council Kid Party. I put on my 1 act comedy. Came off fine. Whole party was successful. Paul managed games.

Sunday 2

Practiced with Corrine in morning—fooled around in afternoon & went to Temple Social society with Ed Siff. Karol was elected president. We had a lovely time.

Notes:

February 24

Paul Max Cary’s WWI draft registration shows he was working as a private secretary at the National Bank of Commerce in St Louis. He was of medium height and weight with brown eyes and light brown hair. He was born in Oklahoma on October 3, 1895. The document was signed June 25, 1917. He died on December 24, 1960. His widow applied for a military headstone. He was a Field Clerk AGD in WWI. Another military document shows he won a Purple Heart, and was an adjutant Generals Dept AEF. He served from November 27, 1917 to June 20, 1919. He appears on the 1930 Oklahoma State census as married to Gladys, with two children, and working as a bank clerk. It is possible he is on the 1910 Oklahoma census with father Mort, who was a farmer, and mother Delilah.


February 25

Mr. Albert Kelsey spoke on “Four Adventures in the Realm of Art.” The 1878 St. Louis City Directory shows he was a writer.

February 27

Young Women’s Hebrew Society

Pauline Carp was the daughter of Max and Yetta Carp. Max was a merchant who owned a general store in 1920 and Pauline was a saleslady. By the 1920 census Max had passed and neither Yetta nor Pauline was employed. The 1940 census finds Pauline and her sister Queen in Los Angeles, CA where Queen was a weightmaster. It appears Pauline married a Mr. Levy for in 1961 an obituary for a Pauline S. Carp Levy was recorded in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Y.W. Either the Y.W.C.A. or The Young Woman’s Hebrew Organization was organized in 1902 in New York City.

February 28

Corrine Wolf appears on the 1920 St. Louis Census working as a stenographer, age 19 and living with her parents Jacob and Nellie (Lillie Cohn) and siblings Paul and Sidney. Jacob was of Jewish Bohemian heritage and worked in “Lace and Embroidery”. Sidney worked in “White Goods”. A June 1925 marriage certificate shows Corrine Wolf, age 25, marring Leon Loeb, age 45. The 1910 St. Louis Census shows Jacob was a salesman for an importing company.

March 1
Article from the Jewish Voice

March 2

Ed Stiff was born Feb 1, 1895 in St Louis, MO. His WWI draft registration shows he was a medical student at St. Louis University. He was of medium height and slender with light hair and brown eyes. His parents were Aaron and Frieda, Yiddish/Russian immigrants. In 1910 their eldest son Charles supported the family as a druggist and Ed was a newspaper carrier. In 1900 the eldest son Harry supported the family as a shoemaker.