The Daring Twins

The Daring Twins by L. Frank Baum (1911) from The Reilly & Britton

L. Frank Baum is best known for his series of books about Dorothy Gale and the magical land of Oz that portrayed a truly American fairy tale. He also wrote series of books, mostly under pseudonyms, for children based on growing up in America at the beginning of the 20th Century. The 1911 novel The Daring Twins is the first of two novels that he published under his own name featuring the adventures of Phoebe and Phil Daring the oldest of five children who, once wealthy, become orphaned and penniless when their father dies soon after his business fails.

Phoebe and Phil are seniors in high school when the story opens. They, their three younger siblings, and and their black mammy Aunt Hyacinth are living with their comatose grandfather, his maid Elaine Halliday, in the grandfather's house which is across the street from their own mansion that had to be sold to pay their father's debts. Their grandfather and their father had been successful well-off members of the community but both lost their wealth and the future seems bleak for the family. Reprinted in 2006 as The Secret of the Lost Fortune, the story revolves around the cleverness of the twins in unravelling the mystery of how the wealth disappeared.

The story opens with a classic representation of a mammy, a stereotype common in the U.S. South at the beginning of the 20th Century of a black woman who worked in a white family and nursed the family's children. Mammies were idealized figures of caregivers: amiable, loyal, maternal, non-threatening, obedient, and submissive, showing deference to white authority and devoted to her employers. The mammy figure is rooted in the history of slavery in the United States. Twenty two years after Baum wrote this book the United Daughters of the Confederacy proposed the erection of a mammy statue on the National Mall. The proposed statue would be dedicated to "The Black Mammy of the South".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammy_archetype_in_the_United_States

Such a woman is Aunt Hyacinth, spending her own savings to take care of the five orphans, caring for them when no one else would. She is contrasted by Grandpa Eliot's caretaker Miss Elaine Halliday, who is commanding, threatening, mean, selfish, and cruel. Yet both are working in the same household and neither is getting paid, loyal to those in their care.

This is a delightful mystery book for children, marred by the racial stereotypes of the time.

Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Dead Rabbits Society: The Lost Reminiscence of John H. Watson, M.D.

Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Dead Rabbits Society: The Lost Reminiscence of John H. Watson, M.D. by Philip J. Carraher

I have a fondness for Sherlock Holmes in all his manifestations from the original A. Conan Doyle stories through Holmesian novels and series by various writers, as well as movies and television series featuring Sherlock. So I enjoyed this "lost reminiscence" that relates a story set in 1893 New York City.

Holmes is living in a New York men's boarding house under an assumed name as he hides from Moriarty's gang when he agrees to help a man who seems to be pursued by a murderer intent on killing him. The man wants Holmes to discover if it is his brother who is responsible for the attacks, as he doesn't want to get the police involved if it is a family matter. What Holmes discovers is much more involved than a sibling rivalry.

The novel is presented to the readers by the author as a manuscript found in 1999 by the Watson family, purportedly written by Holmes' companion Dr.John Watson and never published, but rather hidden at the bottom of a steamer trunk. If you are a fan of Holmesiana like me, then you may enjoy this complicated mystery with a wonderfully Holmesian ending.

Unexpectedly Eighty: And Other Adaptations

Unexpectedly Eighty: And Other Adaptations by Judith Viorst

I have grown old reading Judith Viorst's poetry on aging, one book every ten years (more or less) starting with When Did I Stop Being Twenty in 1987. Fortunately for me, Judith is two decades ahead of me so I can normally get her book relevant to my situation on the discount shelf of my local used book store. This is where I got Unexpectedly Eighty, published in 2010. While I am not eighty yet, I couldn't pass up the chance to see what Life has in store for me if I survive the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The book starts off with a quote from songwriter Gordon Jenkins: "Lingering sunsets, stay a little longer." In her eighties, Judith can see the end of life looming on the horizon, but is still enjoying the simple pleasures available to octogenarians. Always with a bit of humor and nostalgia, she looks at the situation in which she finds herself at this point in time. Of course, it is an upper middle class heteronormative life that she lives filled with grandchildren, an irritating but lovable husband, and middle-aged children who have little need of her.
I think her books appeal to me because they seem like guidance from an idealized American mother that I never had. My mother was an immigrant from what is now Ukraine and her guidance, while equally funny and insightful, was quite different and not always relevant to my life.

The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 1: From Columbus to the U.S. Constitution

The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 1: From Columbus to the U.S. Constitution by Larry Gonick

For many years I have been a big fan of Larry Gonick's cartoon nonfiction history books and guides to scientific subjects, so it is with great pleasure that I read (re-read?) his Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 1. He has a great way of simplifying and finding humor in historic topics. While this book does suffer from being male-centric, it is a problem shared by many survey histories of this period. I did find his description of the European wars with all the changing leaders of states and shifting alliances somewhat confusing, but I think that is the nature of things rather than his fault. Not being a historian, I cannot verify the accuracy of his treatment, but it is good for quite a few laughs.

The Good Soldier Švejk

The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek

The Good Soldier Švejk is a satirical dark comedy of World War I that strongly reminded me of MASH and Catch 22 in their portrayal of the insanity and senselessness of war. Švejk is portrayed as a simple-minded but loyal Czech soldier who is always ready with a humorous anecdote, and the novel deals with his ineffectual attempts to get to the front without ever quite reaching it.
During World War I Austria-Hungary was a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual empire, and the novel is based on Hašek's service as a a Czech soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army.
Originally planned as a six volume work, Hašek died while writing the fourth volume. It is the most translated novel of Czech literature. The translation by Cecil Parrott is into British English and reminds me of English language war movies with Germans all speaking with English accents. The work is dated and has a translation that sounds off to an American reader.