Indolence

Indolence by Eugene Sue
I downloaded a digital version of this title which was published in English translation in 1899 as part of a five volume set entitled The Seven Cardinal Sins in the same volume with Envy. The series was first published in France between 1847 and 1849 with each story in the series using dramatic fiction to explore and illustrate the impact of a specific cardinal sin on individuals and society. This novel is much shorter than the first two in the series, Pride and Envy. It tells the stories of a woman and a man whose indolence is a matter of pride to themselves, but disruptive to those closest to them. They enjoy the pleasure of sitting in one place with nothing to worry about, but the woman married a man who wanted a traveling companion to take with him as he explores the world. But hee cannot convince to even take a ride in a carriage around Paris. She, in turn, admires the life of the man who spends his days sitting in his garden outside her bedroom window.

Envy by Eugene Sue

Envy by Eugene Sue
I downloaded a digital version of this title which was published in English translation in 1899 as part of a five volume set entitled The Seven Cardinal Sins in the same volume with Indolence (or Sloth). The series was first published in France between 1847 and 1849 with each story in the series using dramatic fiction to explore and illustrate the destructive impact of a specific cardinal sin on individuals and society.
The book tells the story of Marie Bastien, 31 years old, and her 16 year old son Frederick, who live estranged from her businessman husband on a small farm in rural France near the Loire River. As the story opens, Marie has converted an abandoned farm into a little Paradise where she is raising her son to appreciate the beauties of Life while living off the meager allowance her husband sends her.
Offered a chance to tour Chateau de Pont Brillant, which has been renovated to make it the home the palatial estate, before the Marquis de Pont Brillant arrives, Marie and Frederick who are poor are overwhelmed by the splendour and looked down upon by the staff of the Chateau. This being Frederick's first encounter with the opulence of the rich, he is filled with envy that the Marquis who is the same age has so much when the people around him have so little. His outlook on life changes completely as he is consumed with envy over this imbalance.
The envy turns to hatred and he plots the murder of the Marquis in scenes that sound reminiscent of teenage mass school shootings today. Marie, who has lived her life only to support the happiness of her son is in a quandry over Frederick's change of mood. When Henri David, a friend of the local doctor, offers to become the boy's tutor, she accepts and he moves into the loft of the farmhouse.
Can Marie and M. David find a way to reach Frederick and divert him from his self-destructive course? Read this novel that still raises important moral questions for modern readers.

Pride: One of the Seven Cardinal Sins

Pride: One of the Seven Cardinal Sins by Eugene Sue This book is the first of a seven volume series where each volume has as its theme one of the cardinal sins:

1. Pride
2. Envy
3. Wrath
4. Lust
5. Sloth
6. Avarive
7. Gluttony

This work explores the destructive nature of hubris, entitlement, and rigid social structures. It follows characters across different levels of Parisian society highlighting how personal vanity and class prejudice are manifested in different ways.
A poor retired Naval Commander living on his pension with his housekeeper is getting extra financial help from his nephew who is working odd jobs while he is on leave from the army.
The richest woman in France who is terminally ill has a sixteen year old daughter who will inherit her wealth and become sought after by countless men who want to share her inheritance through marriage. But this woman also has a secret illegitemate daughter no one knows about. When she dies the intrigues begin.

A Brief History of a Long War: Ukraine's Fight Against Russian Domination

A Brief History of a Long War: Ukraine's Fight Against Russian Domination by Mariam Naiem This is a non-fiction graphic novel history of Ukraine’s centuries-long struggle against Russian domination, from the Middle Ages to the current war told in two alternating forms. Mariam Naiem narrates her daily life enduring the bombardment of Kyiv in segments called "Living Through War for Dummies". These alternate with Historic explanations of the long fight to fend off Russian aggression including a chapter called "What is Genocide?" about Stalin's genocidal starvation of Ukraine in the 1930s. The book ends with the events leading up to and since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, along with the Ukrainian pleas for support from the West. While the history is complex and unfamiliar to most Western readers, this book provides a good starting point for developing an understanding of the background and the current situation.The illustrations by Yulia Vus and Ivan Kypibida bring the details to life and enhance the text.

Finding Dorothy

Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts
Maud Gage Baum was the daughter of one of the most famous and most radical of the 19th century suffragettes, Matilda Joslyn Gage, the author of Woman, Church, and State, a book that argued the church was responsible for women's oppression throughout history. As such Maud grew up to be a free thinker. Yet today she is most famous for being the wife of L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. While several books have been written about her mother and her husband, this novel is the first to explore Maud's life. Alternating chapters of her life from 1871 when she is 10 to the publication of Baum's first Oz book in 1900, with chapters covering her attempts to influence the filming of MGM's Wizard of Oz in 1938 and 1939, this book paints a portait of Maud that I, as a fan of Oz literature, enjoyed. The reader gets to see the hardships of her life and her faith in the potential of Frank Baum before the success of the Oz books, as well as the author's take on a meeting between Maud and Judy Garland at MGM during the filming. As the title suggests, the book also tells you who she thinks was the inspiration for the character Dorothy. An enjoyable book that brings to life a woman who has been overshadowed by her famous relatives until now.

The Conspiracies of the Empire: A Judge Dee Investigation

The Conspiracies of the Empire: A Judge Dee Investigation by Qiu Xiaolong
The Conspiracies of the Empire is a detective story featuring the legendary Tang Dynasty Chinese detective Judge Dee Renjie. Written in 2024 by Chinese American mystery writer Qiu Xiaolong, The Conspiracies of the Empire tells about Judge Dee's search for the missing poet Luo Binwang whom the Empress Wu asks Judge Dee to find. The poet had written "A Call to Arms" a poem very critical of the Empress and an influential document of a failed uprising. Luo either died or disappeared in the final failed battle of the uprising and the Empress wants Dee to find out what happened to Luo.
Dee Renjie was a Tang Dynasty politician born in 630 about whom an 18th century Ming Dynasty author wrote a mystery novel that was discovered and translated from the Chinese in the early 20th century by Robert van Gulik, a Dutch orientalist. Van Gulik and others have since written other novels featuring Judge Dee. The Shadow of the Empire is the first of two such novels written by Qiu Xiaolong. There are also Judge Dee TV series, movies and a video game.
This volume includes an appendix of poems from some of China’s finest Tang dynasty poets, newly translated by the author, who is an award-wining poet and critic in his own right.

A Cardinal Sin

A Cardinal Sin by Eugene Sue

Eugene Sue's A Cardinal Sin, translation of Les Sept Péchés capitaux--L'avarice, was translated by Alexina Loranger and published in 1892 by W. B. Conkey Company in Chicago. This book is sometimes called Avarice: The Millionaires. My copy is part of The Perfect Library's Works of Eugène Sue, a collection of 31 his works.
The story revolves around Mariette, a young girl facing poverty and hardship as she tries to care for her ailing godmother while dreaming of a life filled with love and happiness. The opening portion introduces Mariette as she visits a public scribe to have a letter written to her beloved Louis. She is unaware that the scribe is Louis' miserly father who tries to derail their relationship because he wants Louis to marry another woman for her father's money.
In 1829 Eugene Sue's father's death left him with a sizable fortune. Sue was strongly affected by the socialist ideas of his day and this novel explores how wealth can be shared and used to alleviate the suffering of the poor and working class, a theme common to many of his works. This book is one title in Sue's series Les Sept pêchés capitaux (The 7 Deadly Sins written between 1847 and 1849.

The Shadow of the Empire

The Shadow of the Empire by Qiu Xiaolong

The Shadow of the Empire is a detective story featuring the legendary Tang Dynasty Chinese detective Judge Dee Renjie. Written in 2021 by Chinese American mystery writer Qiu Xiaolong, The Shadow of the Empire is about a murder case involving a famous poetess and courtesan Xuanji who is accused of killing her maidservant and burying her in the back of the nunnery where she lives. Her simple confession, retrieved by torture, seems to be fabricated and may be a cover up. Judge Dee is asked to look into the real story behind the murder without raising any suspicion. He tells people he is gathering information to publish a book of Xuanji's poetry and that is the reason for his interest.
Di Renjie was a Tang Dynasty politician born in 630 about whom an 18th century Ming Dynasty author wrote a mystery novel that was discovered and translated from the Chinese in the early 20th century by Robert van Gulik, a Dutch orientalist. Van Gulik and others have since written other novels featuring Judge Dee. The Shadow of the Empire is the first of two such novels written by Qiu Xiaolong. There are also Judge Dee TV series, movies and a video game.

Pride & Prejudice

Pride & Prejudice by Nancy Butler & Hugo Petrus

Pride & Prejudice adapted from the novel by Jane Austen is a Marvel Comics graphic novel version written by Nancy Butler and illustrated by Hugo Petrus. This is a very enjoyable version with great period illustrations and a very readable dialog.

American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

This graphic novel relates the difficulties Jin Wang, an American born child of Chinese immigrant parents, faces in a majority White cultural environment - a public school. Alongside Jin's story the author portrays a Chinese tale of the thousand year old monkey king who wants to take a place in Heaven with the immortal gods but is not allowed no matter how hard he tries.

Hanging Mary: A Reimagining of Lincoln's Assassination

Hanging Mary: A Reimagining of Lincoln's Assassination by Susan Higginbotham

After John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Licoln, Mary Surratt, who owned a boarding house in Washington, was arrested as one of the members of the conspiracy. After a military trial she was found guilty, and was the first woman to be hanged by the federal government. This book takes a sympathetic look at the events surrounding the assassination from Mary Surratt's point of view. Staying true to the historical facts as revealed in the court testamony, the author builds Mary's story of the events leading up to the assassination and the resulting investigation, trial, and death that followed.

Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts

Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall

Dr. Rebecca Hall, the granddaughter of slaves, is a historian and is sensitive to the legacy of slavery that still surrounds us. Her research on women-led slave revolts is brought to life for the non-academic reader in graphic novel form describing her pioneering historical research into the women who took part in and led slave revolts. She also shares the obstacles she faced doing her research in the wake of the institutionalized racism of our society.

Heartthrob Vol. 1: Never Going Back Again

Heartthrob Vol. 1: Never Going Back Again by Christopher Sebela, Robert Wilson IV, & Nick Filardi

This graphic novel tells the story of a young woman born with a weak heart, leading a sheltered life and waiting for a heart transplant that will give her maybe five years of normal life at most before it too wears out. When she gets the transplant the donor's name and situation are kept secret but she begins to believe he was a master thief and his heart comes with more than just renewed health.

Before Dorothy

Before Dorothy by Hazel Gaynor

In the Wizard of Oz genre Dorothy Gale lives with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry on their farm in Kansas. Not much else is known about her life before her visit to Oz via a tornado. Hazel Gaynor provides a back story with this book about Emily Gale, her two sisters, and her life in Chicago before she met Henry Gale and moved to Kansas. When Emily's sister Ann and her husband John Gale die their orphan daughter Dorothy is taken in by Emily and Henry. Set in Roaring 20's Chicago and 1930s Dustbowl Kansas, we learn about their life on the prairie which is filled with foreshadowings of Dorothy's time in Oz.
As a long time Oz fan this book was a joy for me to read, and would be good for anyone who knows about Dorothy and Oz.

Ali and Ramazan

Ali and Ramazan by Perihan Mağden

Perihan Mağden is a Turkish writer born in 1960 in Istanbul. Her latest novel Ali and Ramazan was published in 2010 in Turkish and has been available in English since 2012. tells the story of two teenager gay boys, one shy and withdrawn, the other outgoing and popular, who are drawn to each other, forming an intense friendship in a male-dominated, materialistic, and oppressive situation. when they turn 18, they're released onto Istanbul's mean streets. Life is difficult for them, and all they have is their intense devotion to each other.

The Lost King of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson

The Lost King of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson

The Lost King of Oz (1925) is the nineteenth in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the fifth written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. It was Illustrated by John R. Neill.
Old Mombi, formerly the Wicked Witch of the North, is now stripped of all her magic and working as a cook in the land of Kimbaloo. One day she comes across Pajuka, the former prime minister of Oz, transformed by Mombi into a goose years before. She sets out with Pajuka and a boy named Snip to find Pastoria, the former king of Oz, whom she also enchanted in the past.
I read the Project Gutenberg edition of The Lost King of Oz to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its publication in 1925.

Martin's Father

Martin's Father by Margrit Eichler

Martin's Father is a 1971 childrens book published by Lollipop Power in Chapel Hill, NC. They were a feminist collective that published books to counteract sex-stereotyped behavior and role-models. The author, Margrit Eichler, was a professor in the Sociology Department at the University of Toronto; her research areas included non-sexist research methods, new reproductive technologies, contemporary families, and related issues. She wrote and published extensively on these subjects, as well as authored the children’s book, Martin's Father, while she was working on her PhD at Duke University.
The book portrays a typical day in the life of a single parent father and his son Martin. The father cooks breakfast, they play, do laundry together, go for a walk in the park, feed pigeons, and eat lunch. In the evening his father bathes Martin, puts him to bed, and plays him a song. Martin believes he has the best father in the world.
This book was very popular with my children when they were young and is still a powerful memory for them as adults. It is a simple yet powerful statement about single parent father families.

Tear Soup: A Recipe for Healing After Loss

Tear Soup: A Recipe for Healing After Loss by Pat Schwiebert and Chuck DeKlyen

Tear Soup is a large format illustrated children's book that is well suited to reading aloud and, despite its childrens format, is suitable for all ages. It is a guidebook in story form for dealing with grief. Illustrated with color drawings by Taylor Bills, it tells the story of how Grandy deals with a crippling loss by making tear soup from the tears she has cried. As she makes the soup, she flavors it with memories and the caring thoughts of friends and relatives, mapping out ways to deal with grief on every page. After the story ends, there is a list of "Cooking Tips" and two pages of Real Life resources for "Where to find help."

The Messenger Boy Murders

The Messenger Boy Murders by Perihan Mağden

Returning home from his travels, Stravrogin is asked by the local book store owner to investigate a disturbing string of messenger boy murders that has recently plagued the city. As he unwillingly takes up the case of the mysterious deaths, he is met at every turn with unusual people and circumstances. It is like an adult fairy tale where the rules of life are gently suspended and you are immersed in a strangely mysterious, yet logically consistent, place and time. I was enthralled and look forward to reading more by Perihan Mağden.

Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians

Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

On his 13th birthday Alcatraz Smedry received his inheritance, a bag of sand sent to him by the father he has never seen. He thought the sand was a strange joke until the evil Librarians came to steal it.
We all know that Librarians are nice people who recommend good books, but in this book meant for young children, that’s just what they want you to think! In this book they’re actually dangerous. In this book they are a cult of evil librarians keeping people from the truth and secretly ruling the world. They control what gets read, what gets seen, and what gets learned, and because of that they have power over everyone. In the world the author has created most governments don't even know that they're being manipulated by these evil librarians. Alcatraz was fooled like everyone else until his Grandpa Smedry shows up and talks Alcatraz to go with him to the main public library to retrieve the stolen bag of special sand before the librarians can melt the sand down and turn it into a glass lens of power. I don't like that the author portrays librarians as evil, deceitful, and cruel to young children who probably will come in contact with this book in their local public library. These days librarians are being attacked by small minded adults who do not want any views but their own to be available to the public, but to turn that story around and blame librarians for preventing freedom of information rather than championing it seems sinister. Do a little mental exercise and change the librarians in the story to priests and ministers, and imagine what kind of reaction this book would get.