Book Review: Conversion by Katherine Howe

 

Conversion

by Katherine Howe

Did you know that Danvers, Massachusetts is the village once known as Salem Village?  Salem Village, the site of the Salem witch trials and executions, was renamed Danvers in 1757.

For all of the witchy history, there is very little that seems supernatural in this story until very late in the book. Until then, it is a young adult historical fiction told from the perspective of Colleen, a senior student at the Catholic St. Joan’s school. Interspersed are chapters told from the perspective of Ann Putnam, about ten years after the Salem witch trials, as she confesses to a preacher her part in creating the hysteria by falsely accusing women, caught up in the mania.

I found some parallels between the historical story line and the modern story line, but not as many as I would have liked to see. I think it would have been stronger if she tied the two together a bit more.

It’s an intriguing read. Some of the characterization was good, but some of Colleen’s friends, and her classmates, were a bit one dimensional. The history is the strong point, definitely. For all that happens and how it draws you along, it’s a bit of a slow book. There were some scenes that could have been eliminated to tighten up the pace.

Over all, I enjoyed this book, particularly the dramatized audio reading, but I would say I have liked the other books by this author more. If you’re going to start with something by this author, I would head straight for The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane or the YA The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen.

Book Review: Some Things I Still Can't Tell You: Poems by Misha Collins

 

Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You: Poems

by Misha Collins

 

There is something very intimate about this collection of poems. The moments captured and shared are sometimes very personal, important to the poet. Presumably, that is what made them worth preserving. Others are more universal, and yet still strangely intimate. The back of the book speaks of his trademark “piercing vulnerability.” I think vulnerability is a very apt phrase for this collection.

There are moments in our lives that are important only to us, we all have them. Translating them into something worth pondering for others takes interpretation. I found an exploration of the world and life as a theme that I could very much relate to.

I tend toward eschewing rules when it comes to poetry so I couldn’t tell you if Collins breaks them. I’m unsure of many rules when it comes to poetry. (For example, I’ve received a critique that I rhyme when I shouldn’t, though I don’t set out to rhyme.) I understand meter but have much more trouble recognizing stress and unstressed syllables. I prefer to punctuate and capitalize as if writing a sentence, but Collins capitalizes each line. I found that mildly annoying at first but, much like reading the lack of punctuation in Kent Haruf’s writing, I soon adapted to it.

Collins covers a lot of ground, grouped into poems on Love / Hope, joy, running & other good things / Longing, sadness, running & foreboding / My people (& other people) / The parents /  The kids. But the poems often feel incredibly disparate, snapshots, rather than a running continuity as some collections do. They cover a wide span of years, with a sort of timelessness that leaves the reader wondering when something occurred in his life.

The cover is a lovely eagle’s eye view of a city scape at night, the points of light between the lighter and deeper blue of the sky, and the dark of the foreground below. The words are given an ombré effect as they fade a little into the city scape. A lovely cover.

I was surprised that the author worked in the White House and at NPR headquarters before beginning his acting career, which is where I knew him from best, for his role as the Angel Castiel in Supernatural.

A very enjoyable collection to ponder over a cup of coffee.

Book Review: Princess Elizabeth’s Spy: A Maggie Hope Mystery by Susan Elia MacNeal

 

Princess Elizabeth’s Spy: A Maggie Hope Mystery

by Susan Elia MacNeal

I chose this book because our book club theme this month is espionage, because I wanted something from our digital collection to read on my ereader, and because the cover appealed to me. I know, I know, but an appealing cover is a factor when I’m deciding, I admit it.

The main character is Maggie Hope, a plucky secretary to Churchill who grew up in America and becomes a British spy. She is sent undercover as a math tutor to Windsor Castle during World War II, when a plot to kidnap or kill the princesses is suspected.

This was a pleasant mystery, as much as anything that involves murder and World War II can be. The descriptions of unpleasant things are kept rather matter of fact, giving it more of a cozy mystery feel than a gritty realistic one.

I would consider this a formula mystery with some good historical trappings. I enjoyed the characters, particularly the sweet characterizations of the two young princesses, though everything was somewhat one dimensional. There was a bit of a romance, but rather perfunctory of the No, no, we mustn’t variety.

It was a bit simplistic at times, some of the thoughts and actions of the main character didn’t quite make sense, they seemed there to serve the plot without being true to the character. Maggie leaps to conclusions regarding her father that are clearly not warranted. Her father sends her a book with a message and she’s not even curious about it, even though she recently found a secret message in another book. Then, when she’s angry at him, sure she knows he’s done something awful, she picks it up to read just to distract herself. Most people wouldn’t touch it at that point. 

The historical trappings are interesting, though the author goes pretty far afield from what actually happened. They mentioned Operation Edelweiss several times but never really went into what it was. At one point, I thought it was a plan to kidnap Princess Elizabeth, but on looking it up, I discovered it was much more complicated and had nothing to do with the book I was reading. It was just a point of historical reference.

Would probably appeal to fans of Jacqueline Winspear. A relaxing type of murder mystery with just enough intrigue to draw me on throughout the book, but not enough to convince me that I want to read the rest of the series.

In conclusion, meh, it was okay. A good series to buy for your grandmother to read, or if you are looking to just relax.

Book Review: The Spy - A Novel of Mata Hari by Paolo Coehlo

 

The Spy – A Novel of Mata Hari

by Paolo Coehlo

Our thematic book club chose the theme of “espionage” for November and I went looking in our digital catalog for books about spies. This led me to The Spy by Paolo Coehlo, translated from the Portugese. I’ve heard many good things about his writing but never read one of his books before. I’m on the bandwagon now and will be reading more by him.

It was a fascinating read, though I think it would have been a trifle easier to follow if I’d gotten the ebook instead of the audiobook. After getting a look at the ebook, it appears that there was some physical formatting that didn’t translate well into the audio. Nevertheless, it was a very interesting listen.

I can’t remember when I first heard of Mata Hari, but I’d always thought of her a spy who was duly executed, but Coehlo paints a rather different picture. He begins with her execution, but then he takes the reader back in time, to when she was known simply as Margaretha Zelle, a Dutch girl.

In her teen years, Margaretha was sexually abused by the principal of her school but afraid to speak up for fear of being sent home. Her parents died when she was just fifteen and she answered an advertisement for a mail order bride, but the man she married turned out to be just as abusive as her former principal. There was also the tragedy of her murdered son.

Things changed when she saw another officer’s wife choose to commit suicide rather than endure the broken marriage. She decided to take her life into her own hands. She became Mata Hari.

Coehlo appears to have done a good bit of research for the book. He presents Mata Hari as someone who traded gossip, not really state secrets. It is offered that she went to the French authorities when the Germans approached her but, in the end, she scape goated over a failed military operation.

Though, of course, there will always be some question of how events really occurred so long ago, I found the way the story was presented singularly effective. I definitely want to read more by Coehlo now.