Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini

Well.  I really, really wanted to like this book and for the most part I did.  I guess I am just not a historical fiction genre lover.  It is well written, well reviewed and well researched but it just sort of drug for me.  That being said, here is an overview ~

The main character, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley was born a slave who earned her freedom by working as a dressmaker in Missouri.  She makes her way to Washington DC and by her exceptional talents, becomes the dressmaker for Mary Todd Lincoln.  As the years pass she becomes a treasured friend and confidant as well.  Elizabeth also works as a seamstress for Washington's finest including Mrs. Jefferson Davis and Mrs. Robert E. Lee.  These relationships draw Elizabeth into the intimate life of the cities elite and an eye witness within the private quarters of the White House.  Not only was Elizabeth a sought after seamstress but also the founder of the Contraband Relief Association which was organized to bring relief to the tens of thousands of former slaves as they sought refuge in Washington.

Although this is a fictional work, the events and people are very real.  Elizabeth published a book called, "Behind the Scenes.  Or Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House" which was intended to tell her story and also clear the misconceptions of Mrs. Lincoln.  However, it brought nothing but scandal and heartbreak thanks to a less than honest publisher. 

I think if you like historical fiction, you will like this book.  I am glad I read it, but am glad to move on.

350 pages

The Signal and the Noise

"The Signal and the Noise: Why Most Predictions Fail, but Some Don't", by Nate Silver, is a study on how people make predictions in a wide variety of fields, and why they are wrong most of the time. Silver is the author of the 538 Blog, which gained a bunch of Fame over the last two election cycles for very accurately predicting congressional and state presidential elections. In this book, he explains how people in everything from baseball to earthquakes predict things in their fields and why they seem to do so poorly most of the time (it is normally for one of a few reasons - their models are wrong, they have an agenda besides correctness, or they don't know how to account for rare events). He does love weathermen though - on average, their prediction accuracy had increased significantly even over the last 20 years. Their predictions are good because they make a ton of them, it is easy to see if their predictions are right, and they improve their models when they fail.

Overall, I liked this book, but it felt like a collection of essays rather than a coherent whole. It took me a looooong time to get through it, but that is probably because it is so densely packed with interesting information. An interesting read.

I finally figured out how to post and am going crazy this morning! 

I recently listened to Jody Picoult's latest novel.  Her last couple books have left me unimpressed so I approached this one with caution and prepared to quit if it wasn't keeping my interest.  Well, she must have heard me complaining and got her mojo back. 

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult follows an academic study through the eyes of a family.  The main character is working on her own study when she is recruited to do some interviews of German's who lived during WW2 but were not involved in the military: people who lived in Germany through the war.   A elderly (of course) man volunteers to tell his story to her and the book takes off. 

I was fascinated by the stories of the death camps seen through the eyes of a novel being written in a young girls head.  She told this story each evening to her fellow prisoners.  So in essence you not only read the novel you purchased but you are reading the novel being written within the book.  There are brutal parts, a love story and redemption of evil...everything a good novel could ask for. 

Lisa also listened to this book and several of my friends read it.  I must say it was chilling to hear the words of this elderly man with that flat German voice say the things he did in the war.  Very well done and a good read.  I've heard nothing but good reviews from friends on this one.

Linda

I recommend Before I go to Sleep: A Novel by S. J. Watson.  Seems I have been reading books about brain function lately.  This one was terrifying and also extremely hard to put down.  Amazing plot and very well put together. 

This woman has a brain injury, wakes up in the hospital and can't remember anything at all.  She gathers information but when she sleeps she loses it all and must start over.  Her husband is very helpful in helping her adjust to her new life...and she starts to keep a journal so she can read what she has learned each morning and not have to start fresh.  The plot thickens!!!

A great read for summer...or on an airplane as there are no airplane crashes in the thing at all! 

Just for enjoyment...
Linda

John and I recently read The Power of Habit: Why we do what we do in Life and Business  by Heather Barbieri.  It was a book club selection for me this past month.  We both really enjoyed reading this non-fiction book.  That is saying something for me - a true fiction lover. 

The author covers the brain functions that promote habits and why they are so hard to break.  She gives strategies to change habits in our lives.  She does not claim this is easy!  She explains quite clearly why it is so hard.  Citing that even in people with severe brain damage or Alzheimers there is "muscle" memory that allows them to catch a ball or play ping pong.  And that by training a person in a new habit even after severe injury they can assume a "normal" life.

It was also interesting reading about cultural habits and in particular corporate habits.  I recommend this book to all.

Linda

Behind the Beautiful Forevers - Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo

What a book!  As you know, I love just about all things India so this book was an instant draw for me.  There has been what I believe to be, some "romanticizing" about the life in the slums as a result of the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" but this book will surely knock that idea out of your head.  The author spent three years reporting, documenting, photographing and researching in order to pass on her story of what makes the world of the slumdweller tick.  She does so with intelligence, respect and deep insight.

Annawadi is a makeshift settlement of 90,000 families on less than an acre in the shadows of luxury hotels near Mumbai airport.  As India starts to prosper, the residents of the slum start to get their hopes up that tomorrow will be a better day, a better time, a better life.  But of course the airport wants to reclaim the land from these squatters as it would be extremely valuable in vertical space.  So even at the outset without even taking account of the human cost, there is conflict and tension,  Much of the story follows Abdul, a young teenager who picks and sorts garbage to support his family.  Then there is Asha, a very clever woman who recognizes the way to middle class is through political corruption.  And you have Kalu, one of the poorest of the poor who is a scrap-metal thief.  The story winds through and intertwines the lives of several families - through false accusations of murder, tensions from religion, caste, sex and power.  It is a revealing look into a world that I can't in my craziest thoughts imagine ever surviving let alone thriving.

I think you would really enjoy this book.  The characters are real and their names are unchanged.  They are as the author states, "neither mythic nor pathetic and certainly not passive."  And they still linger in my thoughts...

254 pages