"Three To Get Deadly" by Janet Evanovich. ****

• #3 in the Stephanie Plum series
• Audiobook
• Mystery/Suspense
• Originally published 2011
• Review:  I'm not quite certain why I enjoy this series so much....oh...yes I do!  Characters, dialogue, characters, dialogue, characters, dialogue.  Any book that makes me chuckle repeatedly is a welcome read!  Stephanie Plum, her hamster, Morelli, Grandma, and others continue to entertain!

"The Sixth Man" by David Baldacci. ****

• Audiobook
• Mystery/suspense
• #5 in the Sean Maxwell series
• Originally published in 2011
• Review:  This was a good one!  I was engaged from start to finish.

"Pudd'nhead Wilson" by Mark Twain *****

• US author
• Originally published in 1964
• Funny bit:  Twain inserts a little comment about small town fire companies and their dedicated fervor for thier work, noting that"...citizens of that village as were of a thoughtful and judicious temperament did not insure against fire; they insured against the fire company."....still true today
• Quote:
• p.139...."A devil born to a young couple is measurably recognizable by them as a devil before long, but a devil adopted by an old couple is an angel to them, and remains so, through thick and thin."......good summary of the story
• Vocabulary:
• bradawls:  an awl for making small holes in wood for brads.
• labrick:  Labrick is substantially ass, a little enlarged & emphasized; let us say, labrick is a little stronger than ass, & not quite as strong as idiot.
• philopena:  a custom, presumably of German origin, in which two persons share the kernels of a nut and determine that one shall receive a forfeit from the other at a later time upon the saying of a certain word or the performance of a certain action
• Review:   This book had been sitting on my shelves for many, and I mean many, years.  I finally read it and what a pleasure!  I was gripped by this "prince and pauper" tale.  It is a gripping story with fantastic characters.  It addresses social issues (slavery), character flaws, family issues, and general difficulties faced by just being human.  Twain opens each chapter with a couple of so-called entries to Pudd'nhead's personal calendar which are pithy quips.  My two favorites appear at the beginning of the same chapter.  First, "He is useless on top of the ground; he ought to be under it, inspiring the cabbages".  Second, on April Fool's Day, "This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four".  Additionally, my Signet edition has an afterword by the author in which he explains the evolution of the novella from an idea, and it is worth just reading this alone.....almost. 

"The Moon Is Down" by John Steinbeck *****

• Originally published in 1942
• US author
• Quotes:
• p.22..."In marching, in mobs, in football games, and in war, outlines become vague; real things become unreal and a fog creeps over the mind."
• p.39...."Indeed, what for years had been considered simply a bad disposition was suddenly become a patriotic emotion." .......Annie, the cook/spy
• p.44...."That is a mystery that has disturbed rulers all over the world...how the people know.  It disturbs the invaders now, I am told, how news runs through censorships, how the truth of things fights free of control.  It is a great mystery."
• p.69..."Flies conquer the fly paper."
• p.107..."They think that just because they have only one leader and one head, we are all like that.  They know that ten heads lopped off will destroy them, but we are a free people; we have as many heads as we have people, and in a time of need leaders pop up among us like mushrooms."...the mayor just before execution
• p.108..."...a man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying;; he ought only to consider whether he is doing right or wrong."
• p.113..."I have no choice of living or dying, you see, sir, but--I do have a choice of how I do it."
• p.113...."Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat.  Herd men, followers of cannot do that, and so it is always the herd men who win battles and the free men who win wars.."
• Review:  A perfect novella!  The values addressed and the outcome are not surprising whatsoever.....oppressed and oppressor.  It is the writing that makes this so well worth the reading!  Steinbeck.....that is really all there is to say about this!

"The Fall" by Albert Camus *****

• French author
• Originally published in 1956
• Camus, a post-WWII existentialist
• Epigraph:  :"Some were dreadfully insulted, and quite seriously, to have held up as a model such an immoral character as "A Hero of Our Time"; others shrewdly noticed that the author had portrayed himself and his acquaintances...."A Hero Of Our Times", gentlemen, is in fact a portrait, but not of an individual; it is the aggregate of the vices of our whole generation in their fullest expression."......Lermontov
• Vocabulary:
• Sadducee:  a member of a Palestinian sect, consisting mainly of priests and aristocrats, that flourished from the 1st century b.c. to the 1st century a.d. and differed from the Pharisees chiefly in its literal interpretation of the Bible, rejection of oral laws and traditions, and denial of an afterlife and the coming of the Messiah. 

•  Quotes:  
• p.11..."When one has no character one has to have a method."
• p.32..."You see, I've heard of a man whose friend had been imprisoned and who slept on the floor of his room every night in order not to enjoy a comfort of which his friend had been deprived.  Who, cher monsieur, will sleep on the floor for us?"
• p.65..."The act of love, for instance, is a confession.  Selfishness screams aloud, vanity shows off, or else true generosity reveals itself."
• p.94..."In order to reveal to all eyes what I was made of, I wanted to break open the handsome wax-figure I presented everywhere."
• p.114..."But too many people now climb onto the cross merely to be seen from a greater distance, even if they have to trample somewhat on the one who has been there so long."
• p.140..."But at the same time the portrait I hold out to my contemporaries becomes a mirror."
• p.140..."The more I accuse myself, the more I have a right to judge you.  Even better, I provoke you into judging yourself, and this relieves me of that much of the burden."
• p.141..."The essential is being able to permit oneself everything, even if, from time to time, one has to profess vociferously one's own infamy."

• Review:   It is humbling to read anything by Camus.  In this novella, set up as a monologue by the narrator with an audience of a man he met in a bar, Camus, as usual, evokes self-examination.  The narrator has set himself up as a "judge-penitent" whose mission is to teach the truth that all people are responsible....guilty...and can only be set free by acknowledging this.  If you choose to read the novella, you will learn how the narrator "fell" from his prior life into his current one, and how civilization also "fell".  A powerful treatise of judgement, truth, and just being human.

"How To Be A Jewish Mother" by Dan Greenberg *****

• Originally published in 1964
• US author
• Review:  Hysterically funny!  Just read it!

"22 Britannia Road" by Amanda Hodgkinson ***

• Originally published 2011
• Audiobook
• US author
• Review:  This is a poignant story of a couple separated during WWII who try to put their relationship back together when reunited.  Each has experienced trauma and each has had to make difficult decisions to survive both physically and emotionally.  The prose is very nice and the protagonists evoke strong sympathy for their humanity.  Good read!

"Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure" by Michael Chabon *****

• Originally published 2007
• US author
• Epigraph #1:  "Despising all my glory, abandoning my high estate, leaving my family, I would go over mountains and hills, through seas and lands, till I should arrive at the place where my Lord the King resides, that I might see not only his glory and magnificence, and that of his servants and ministers, but also the tranquility of the Israelites.  On beholding this my eyes would brighten, my reins would exult, my lips would pour forth praises to God, who has not withdrawn his favor from his afflicted ones." - letter of Hasdai Ibn Shaprut, minister of the Caliph of Spain , to Joseph, ruler of Khazaria, circa 960
• Epigraph #2:  "From no on, I'll describe the cities to you,' the Khan had said, 'in your journeys you will see if they exist." - Italo Calvino, "Invisible Cities 
• Characters:  Zelikman (Jew with a sword), Amram (African with an axe), Filaq (you have to read to find out the truth of this character) ....the three lead "The Brotherhood of the Elephant"
• Tidbits:
• p.27...."Zelikman was alien to feelings of sympathy with young men in tears, having waked one morning, around the time of his fifteenth birthday, to find that by a mysterious process perhaps linked to his studies of human ailments and frailties as much as to the rape and murder of his mother and sister, his heart had turned to stone
• p.64..."It was the business of the world, Amram knew, to manufacture and consume orphans, and in that work fatherly love was mere dross to be burned away."
• p.70....".....Zelikman could hear the rumbling of the men's bellies and the grit in their eyelids and the hollowness of failure sounding in their chests."
• p.96...."All the evil in the world derives from the actions of men acting in a mass against other masses of men."
• p.103..." 'I don't save lives,' Zelikman said, 'I just prolong them."
• p.104..."When you get to be as old as I am, there's an appeal in the idea of seeing some business through from start to finish."
• Afterword by author......."It has been a very long time, after all, since Jews anywhere in the world routinely wore or wielded swords, so long that when paired with 'sword', the word 'Jews' clangs with anachronism, with humorous incongruity, like 'Samurai Tailor' or 'Santa Claus Conquers the Martians'.
• Review:   Swashbuckling Jews with swords?  Who knew?  Not many writers could pull this feat off, but Michael is definitely one of the few. Chabon's wit, memorable characters, and tale spinning come together in a great tale of "Gentlemen of the Road" who defend the weak, champion the intellect, and of course, revere elephants!  Just read it!  I couldn't put it down.