I'm amazed that January is almost over! Only one dental appointment left in what has been a tough month for my health, and a cold month of freezing rain, some snow and mudslides and windy ice storms. Hopefully, that kind of weather is on the wane, and spring will be just around the corner. Meanwhile, here's the scoop on some books that I've read this past week, and a book that I hope to read one day. I love feminist history, and the drive to bring forth women's stories that have been erased or hidden during the past centuries.
Doesn't this book sound delicious?
Book Review: Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths
Classicist Natalie Haynes (The Furies) brings her prodigious expertise to Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths, a thorough consideration of the perspectives, reputations and visibility of some of ancient Greece's most famous female characters.
The title refers to the first correction Haynes offers: rather than the mythic Pandora's box, Pandora in the original Greek opened a jar, which is only the first of several misconceptions. Not that there will ever be an authoritative version: even Homer, Haynes reminds us, drew on earlier sources. Myths "operate in at least two timelines: the one in which they are ostensibly set, and the one in which any particular version is written," and Haynes has a firm grasp of numerous iterations. In her capable hands, Pandora and others appear as multifaceted, complex characters, even across conflicting accounts. Best of all, despite its impressive depth of research, Pandora's Jar is never dry, and frequently great fun.
After the opening chapter's title character, Haynes introduces readers to Jocasta, Helen, Medusa, the Amazons, Clytemnestra, Eurydice, Phaedra, Medea and finally Penelope. Readers unfamiliar with their stories are guided through the relevant versions. These myths involve traumas of marriage, motherhood, rape and betrayal; their themes are serious and unforgiving. Perhaps surprisingly, some of the misogyny and erasure that Pandora, the Amazons, Eurydice and others have experienced have surprisingly modern origins. "Not for the first time, we see that an accurate translation has been sacrificed in the pursuit of making women less alarming (and less impressive) in English than they were in Greek."
Among Haynes's subjects, "some have been painted as villains (Clytemnestra, Medea), some as victims (Eurydice, Penelope), some have been literally monstered (Medusa)," but each contains depths: "Medusa is--and always has been--the monster who would save us."
Haynes's authorial voice is remarkable: expressive, nuanced, impassioned. Her tone is absolutely accessible, even conversational, and often laugh-out-loud hilarious. Haynes (also a stand-up comic) is as well versed in the modern world and its concerns as in the ancients. The book opens with 1981's Clash of the Titans, and refers to Beyonce and Wonder Woman with the same ease and mastery as it does Homer, Ovid, Euripides, Aristotle, Aeschylus and many more ancients and more recent writers. Haynes's assessments of the visual arts (from ancient pottery through Renaissance paintings to modern television and movies) offer another dimension in this meticulous study.
The classics are as relevant, subversive and entertaining as ever in this brilliant piece of work. Clever, moving, expert, Pandora's Jar is a gem, equally for the serious fan or scholar of Greek myth, for the feminist or for the reader simply absorbed by fine storytelling across time and geography. --Julia Kastner , librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia
The last time I was in Iowa my dad took me to Beaverdale books, which was a nice little bookstore that now has a new co-owner.
New Co-owner for Beaverdale Books in Des Moines, Iowa
Hunter Gillum has become a co-owner of Beaverdale Books https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50928770 in Des Moines, Iowa, joining Alice Meyer, who founded the bookshop in 2006. The Register reported that regular customers "will likely already recognize the local bookshop's new co-owner... who not only worked at the store for years but has his own book club." Gillum became store manager in 2017 and was officially instated in his new role effective January 1.
Born in nearby Indianola, Gillum "moved to Iowa City for college before graduating in 2015 and making his way back to central Iowa, where he eventually began working at the local bookstore," the Register noted.
"I was a book person before coming here, and it's just like... kind of a book person's dream, doing all this stuff, like reorganizing your books, or sorting your books and stuff like that, stuff that I would be doing at my home," Gillum said.
Meyer recalled that sometime last year Gillum "took over the buying for the store. Because at the time, I think I was doing the buying, the events and the accounting. He just developed great relationships with our sales representatives, and just really amped up the titles that we carried in the store just by virtue of being able to meet with them and increase our inventory."
The ownership transition had been in the works for some time. "I always had a time frame for me," Meyer said, "and just recognizing that (Hunter) is the right person for the job.... We actually were aiming to do it last fall, but things were still kind of crazy and it just didn't get done.... I think that the first thing I always look for when hiring somebody is their reading habits. I knew that that was there. And he's so good with the customers and people rely on him for recommendations... and (him) taking over the buying was a godsend for me."
The Raven Spell by Luanne G Smith was an inexpensive ebook that looked interesting, but that I didn't necessarily have high hopes for...I am always glad when I'm wrong, and a book turns out to be well written and engrossing. I'd read the Vine Witch and it's sequels, so I was familiar with the author. Smith brings some magic and mystery to this novel, where myths like Corvids (Ravens and Crows) being shapeshifter/magical birds who carry the souls of the dead is mingled with a Victorian penny dreadful vibe and a smidge of Discovery of Witches to create a rich novel with a rounded view of magic as not being necessarily good or evil, but being reliant on the person wielding it for it's effects. Here's the blurb:
I think that I knew early on that one of the sisters was not as she appeared, so that was satisfying, to see that particular plot point come to a head. I did feel that there was a melancholy, relentless darkness to this novel that borders on horror fiction, but just manages to skirt the line with verbal dexterity. The prose is brooding and evocative, while the plot, though full of twists and turns, still manages to be clear and evenly paced. I'd give this book a solid B+, and recommend it to those who like darkly rebooted fairy tales.
The Halo Effect by MJ Rose is a psychological romantic thriller with horror overtones, meaning that there's plenty of blood to satisfy even the most dedicated Stephen King fans, or CSI converts. Here's the blurb:
Dr. Morgan Snow is a well-known sex therapist with a prestigious clinic devoted to the psychology of sex. One of her patients, Cleo, is a beautiful, cultured prostitute who runs her own call-girl business. Cleo has been coming to Dr. Snow because she's fallen in love, but is unable to have a healthy sexual relationship. One day, Cleo arrives with a manuscript for a tell-all book....and then disappears. A serial killer has been at work in the city, and Detective Noah Jordan turns to Morgan Snow to find out more about the psychology of a sexual murderer. Both Morgan and Noah suspect there is a link between the serial killer and Cleo's sudden disappearance, and work together to find her - before it is too late. From Publisher's Weekly:The mutilated body of a prostitute in a nun's habit, her pubic hair shaved into a cross, appears on page one of this suspense thriller, making it plain that Rose's latest (after Sheet Music) is not for the squeamish. The novel is the first in a new series featuring the Butterfield Institute, a Manhattan sex therapy clinic employing psychiatrist Dr. Morgan Snow. One of Morgan's patients, the clever and selective call girl Cleo Thane, has written a memoir full of thinly disguised portraits of her clients, powerful men with odd fantasies and fetishes. She leaves this potentially explosive manuscript with Dr. Snow and then misses several appointments, causing Morgan to suspect foul play. Yet NYPD Det. Noah Jordain and his team, diligently pursuing leads in what's become a gory, ritualistic series of prostitute murders, have no evidence that Cleo, whose clientele puts her in a class by herself, might be a victim. Noah and Morgan are drawn to each other, but when Morgan can't persuade Noah to devote more effort to the search for Cleo, she determines to go undercover and meet Cleo's principal clients herself. Ill-equipped for this masquerade, Morgan is soon in over her head and in peril. The mystery takes second place to the catalogue of sexual eccentricities, but Cleo is an engaging guide to the world of dysfunction Rose painstakingly constructs.
I have no idea where the line above came from or how to delete it, so sorry about that. Anyway, I agree with the above review that there are many places in this book where the sexual fantasies and fetishes are written in excruciating detail, and the murders are given just as much time and almost loving description of the blood, gore, wounds and placement of the women's bodies. It goes well beyond fascinating into nauseating, and I wasn't titillated as much as horrified and disgusted by the way women and sexuality are treated in this book, as if consent is never really an issue, and men are nearly all perverted in their desires to be dominated or to dominate in bizarre sexual ways. Even Dr Morgan allows the detective she's working with to basically force sex on her because she has become "frigid" since her divorce, which is baloney, honestly, and what men often think of women who don't have active sex lives but do have successful careers. It's just another way for the misogyny of the patriarchy to try and show that women are really only happy or fulfilled if they are sexy heterosexual beings, there to please and placate and mother/take care of men. Women who are happy being single and having a career and don't want children are seen as an unnatural aberration, when that couldn't be farther from the truth. So I became frustrated with the overt sexism in the novel, and I also felt there was way too much attention paid to the gory details. I also didn't like the pushy Detective Jordain, nor did I like any of the men presented in the novel. Still, it was well plotted and certainly moved along at a clip. I'd give it a B, and recommend it to anyone who finds blood, gore, sexual perverts and serial killers riveting reading.
A Night's Tale by Sofie Kelly is a "Magical Cats Mystery" that is full of fun and romance and intrigue. The prose is charming and the characters (including the cats) delightful, while the plot is straightforward and strong. Here's the blurb: In the charming town of Mayville Heights, librarian Kathleen
Paulson and her two cats pounce on clues to catch a killer, in the
eleventh installment of this New York Times bestselling series.
Spring
is coming to Mayville Heights, and Kathleen’s brother, Ethan, has
arrived in town with his band, The Flaming Gerbils. But not everything
goes as scheduled when one of Ethan’s bandmates gets into a fight with a
man interested in investing in the town. When the businessman’s body is
later found, Ethan’s friend is implicated in the crime.
Kathleen
wants to help her brother by solving the case, but she has no shortage
of suspects from which to choose. Prior to his death, the investor was
fighting like cats and dogs with lots of people. If this librarian wants
more than a whisker’s chance of solving the case, she will need to rely
on her trusty feline sidekicks, Owen and Hercules.
I enjoyed this cozy mystery, and I liked that Marcus and Kathleen were becoming a real item, because I always like a bit of romance in my novels, to keep things spicy. Although Kathleen's brother Ethan is a big baby and a real jerk a lot of the time, I appreciated Kathleen's commitment to helping him keep his friends out of jail by solving the case. In the end, I had a feeling the guy who actually committed the murder was the one, but the author keeps the clues close to her chest, so the full view of what happened is still somewhat surprising by the final chapter. BTW, I had to laugh at the band name of The Flaming Gerbils...nicely done, Ms Kelly! I'd give this book an A-, and recommend it to anyone looking for an engrossing, light mystery that involves magical cats who can disappear...but as a former cat owner, I can tell you that this isn't too far-fetched an idea for most cat people.
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