Luisa “Lu” Brant is the newly elected state’s attorney representing suburban Maryland—including the famous planned community of Columbia, created to be a utopia of racial and economic equality. Prosecuting a controversial case involving a disturbed drifter accused of beating a woman to death, the fiercely ambitious Lu is determined to avoid the traps that have destroyed other competitive, successful women. She’s going to play it smart to win this case—and win big—cementing her political future.
But her intensive preparation for trial unexpectedly dredges up painful recollections of another crime—the night when her brother, AJ, saved his best friend at the cost of another man’s life. Only eighteen, AJ was cleared by a grand jury. Justice was done. Or was it? Did the events of 1980 happen as she remembers them? She was only a child then. What details didn’t she know?
As she plunges deeper into the past, Lu is forced to face a troubling reality. The legal system, the bedrock of her entire life, does not have all the answers. But what happens when she realizes that, for the first time, she doesn’t want to know the whole truth?
Laura Lippman writes the Tess Monaghan series but Wlilde Lake is an unrelated stand alone novel about new state’s attorney Lu Brandt. When a woman is found beaten to death in her apartment, Lu takes the case on herself, her first homicide case in her new position. She thinks she knows who the killer is and the greater question is what was his motivation? In flashbacks, Lu tells the reader about her childhood when her father was the state’s attorney.
Lippman uses first person narration when Lu is telling the reader about her childhood. However, present day events are told in third person. I liked this technique. It allowed foreshadowing and a great build up in suspense because first person Lu already knows what will happen to third person present day Lu. When we read what is happening with Lu in the present day, she has no knowledge of where her actions will eventually lead her.
Fans of Lippman’s should know that this book isn’t a typical crime novel or thriller like most of her other books. There is a murder but the book is about more than that so it doesn’t have the fast pace like you might expect. I think most of the critical reviews I’ve read of this book are because the reader’s expectations were not met. However, the pace quickens to a breakneck speed in the last few chapters and then there are so many surprise twists that my head was spinning. I enjoyed the slow burn of Wilde Lake. Lu was a well-developed, complex character and the story was layered as well. Nothing was as it seems. Highly recommended.
Hidden Figures is the movie based off of the book of the same name. But while the book is non-fiction, I would call the movie historical fiction. The basics of the book are there. It’s still the story of the black female mathematicians, or computers, as there were called, who worked for NASA – their trials and tribulations. It portrays their struggles to get an education. It portrays the racism and sexism present as NASA – getting passed over for promotion in favor of white men, getting paid less than white men and being excluded from important meetings that only white men were invited to.
However, some of the instances of overt racism were added for dramatic effect. The bathroom scene and the coffee pot scene never happened. Other events have also been embellished or dramatized, I think mainly to help the film flow more smoothly with a stronger narrative. Most of the men working in the film who worked at NASA were composite characters.
I actually didn’t mind all of the changes because I knew the true story going in. As I said in my review of the book, I found the book too slow and technical for my taste. I was hoping I would like the movie better than the book and I definitely did. And really, the important thing about the movie is that it is bringing awareness to the very existence of the black mathematicians who worked at NASA and most people will not pick up a semi-dry non-fiction book to learn more about them. I think the movie is a good thing. And it’s a good movie in and of itself – it was nominated for three Academy Awards. The acting is superb, especially Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monáe who play the three main characters. I know Octavia Spencer was the one nominated for the Oscar but Janelle Monáe and her character were my favorite. My BFF, Jim Parsons, plays one of the bad guys at NASA. It was hard to watch Sheldon being so mean!
Go see this movie if you haven’t already. It’s important, dramatic and fun. Just keep in mind, it’s based on historical events, not a re-telling of them.
Did you watch the Oscars last Sunday? What did you think of the snafu with the Best Picture Award? I’ve been a rabid fan of the Academy Awards for as long as I can remember and I have never seen anything like that before! And it was because the guy from PriceWaterhouseCoopers was too busy tweeting to pay attention to what he was doing. He’s a managing partner. As a person who used to work for a Big 6 (it was the olden days, now it’s the Big 4) accounting firm, I can tell you, that is a high level position – one of the highest. He’s not a naive little staff accountant. You would think he would be more professional than to be deliriously star-struck by Emma Stone.
Huge side note: I actually dreamed of working at Price Waterhouse solely because I wanted a shot at getting to count the Oscar ballots. Then in college, I discovered that I hated auditing and changed my focus to tax accounting. So my Oscar dreams were dashed.
In other news, I got my bi-monthly Stitch Fix box which is always fun. You can check it out on yesterday’s Stitch Fix Saturday post. There’s not much else to report. I spent much of the week up at the Mayo Clinic for my yearly check-up. Not exactly a dream vacation!
It’s been a while since I’ve posted about one of my Stitch Fix boxes. I’m still getting them every two months and loving it, I just haven’t taken the time to write up posts about them. A quick recap of how Stitch Fix works since it’s been a while:
Stitch Fix is a online personal shopping service. When you sign up, you fill out a detailed questionnaire with your sizes and style preferences. It even asks you which areas of your body you’d like to accent and which you don’t. New since the last time I posted about them is they now carry shoes, plus sizes, petite sizes and men’s clothing!
Then you schedule when you’d like your Stitch Fix box to arrive. You can either have it sent to you automatically every month or two or just request a Fix randomly whenever you’d like one. I love it because I love clothes but I’m not a good shopper and with three kids, I don’t make the time to shop very often. You can request things from your stylist to include in your Fix so you don’t have to go shopping. In the past, I have requested to be sent a few choices of dresses to wear to weddings I knew would be coming up. I also requested a Fix of all pants one time when I was desperate for some pants that weren’t jeans. And sometimes, I don’t request anything because I want to be surprised! I love that these items come right to my door. Most of the time, the items are things that I would have walked past in the store but end up looking great on me. Like I said, I’m not a good shopper!
Your Fix will include five items. You keep the ones you want and send the rest back in the convenient pre-paid envelope that they include. If you keep all five items, then you get a 25% discount. But don’t be disappointed if you don’t like every item. That’s only happened to me twice! Stitch Fix says their goal is that you’ll love 2-3 items. And as your stylist gets to know you better through the feedback you leave, your chances of getting more pieces that you love will increase. So on to what I got this time!
The first three items of this Fix were: 41 Hawthorn Meera Split Neck Top, Lila Ryan Liza Skinny Jean and Athena Alexander Allegro Square Ballet Flat:
I really like the top. I think the cut is flattering and I’ve been wanting to add a leopard print top to my wardrobe. KEEP
I also liked the jeans but I had bought a pair of white jeans just a couple of days before this Fix arrived! See, my stylist and I are so in sync – she knew I wanted white jeans and I didn’t even tell her. Unfortunately, I was one step ahead of her. RETURN
Here’s a close-up of the shoes:
I have been looking everywhere for the perfect pair of black flats. I requested a pair for this Fix and the one my stylist chose comes very close. I love everything about them except for the bows. Friends suggested I keep them and take the bows off but I was too scared that would ruin the shoes so RETURN
Next – Le Lis Grenaa Knit Blazer:
I don’t know if I can fully express how much I love this blazer. It’s the perfect fit, comfortable and so versatile – for starters it goes perfectly with the leopard top! KEEP
Last, but not least – Skies are Blue Avena Split Neck Top:
This top didn’t grab me. I already have a three plaid shirts and something about this one is just not my style. I think part of it is that the colors don’t look good on me. And it may be a bit boxy. RETURN
Here’s a peek at the style card that comes with each Fix. It gives both a casual and dressy option for styling the pieces in your Fix:
Even though I only kept two items from this Fix, I consider it a massive success. The two pieces I kept are practically perfect for me and I know I’ll wear them a lot. And honestly, it would blow my budget if I kept all five items every time! If you’d like to sign up for Stitch Fix, I’d love it if you’d use my referral link. Thanks!
Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.
Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to teaching math in the South’s segregated public schools, they were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II, when America’s aeronautics industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they answered Uncle Sam’s call, moving to Hampton, Virginia and the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory.
Even as Virginia’s Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley’s all-black “West Computing” group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens.
Starting in World War II and moving through to the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race, Hidden Figures follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden, four African American women who participated in some of NASA’s greatest successes. It chronicles their careers over nearly three decades they faced challenges, forged alliances and used their intellect to change their own lives, and their country’s future.
Hidden Figures is the story of the amazing and largely forgotten black female mathematicians, or computers, that worked for NACA (The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) and when it later became NASA. There, they faced both discrimination and sexism. They worked in the West Computing office, which was far from the East Computing building where the white computers worked. There was a separate table for the black people in the cafeteria and separate bathrooms as well. Both black and white women were passed over promotions, with the jobs being given to white men with less education and less experience.
However, the biggest struggle for the women came long before they started working at NACA. Trying to get an education in Virginia, one of the most racist states in America during that time, was extremely difficult. The schools for black people were run down and most didn’t even offer advanced courses. The governor refused to comply with Brown vs. The Board of Education, going so far as to chain the doors of Virginia schools that attempted to integrate.
I wouldn’t call this book a biography of the computers. The main focus is on their work lives at NASA, there isn’t much personal information about their private lives. There was too much technical math and space information in it for me – I thought it made the book move very slowly, especially the first few chapters. However, I’m sure a lot of people will appreciate having this information included. Even if not everyone reads the book, the publicity behind it and the movie are still bringing awareness to these women’s accomplishments. That said, Hidden Figures is an important story that needs to be told and I recommend reading it.
(I received a complementary copy of this book for review.)
Every Secret Thing by Emma Cole, pseudonym for Susanna Kearsley
Publisher: Audible Studios
Release Date: January 10, 2017
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Kate Murray is deeply troubled. In front of her lies a dead man, a stranger who only minutes before had spoken to her – about a mystery, a long-forgotten murder and, most worryingly, her grandmother. His story was old, he had told her, but still deserving of justice. Soon Kate is caught up in a dangerous whirlwind of events that takes her back into her grandmother’s mysterious war-time past and across the Atlantic as she tries to retrace the dead man’s footsteps. Finding out the truth is not so simple, however, as only a few people are still alive who know the story…and Kate soon realizes that her questions are putting their lives in danger. Stalked by an unknown and sinister enemy, she must use her tough journalistic instinct to find the answers from the past in order to have a future.
Every Secret Thing is a combination of a historical fiction and a modern day mystery novel. However, the pacing was to slow for a true mystery or thriller. I also thought the author spent too much telling and not enough showing. One character had a very long monologue with information that I thought could be handled better by putting the events in the action.
I had trouble keeping the characters straight but that happens to me sometimes when I listen to a mystery or thriller on audio. The print version may have helped me because I could have flipped back and forth.
I liked the love story between Deacon and Kate’s grandmother more than the murder plot line. I would have liked a romance novel just about the two of them. Deacon is a great character. I thought it was neat that the book TheLanguage of Flowers played a part in it, since I have read The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.
The narrator for Every Secret Thing, Katherine Kellgren, did a good job of having a different voice for every character. Even though she was a female, she was able to do realistic male voices. I liked the choice of using a different voice for Kate’s internal narrative and her dialogue. The narrator also brought excitement to the book in the dramatic way she read the exciting or surprising parts of the book.
This book has tons of five star reviews on Amazon so I am clearly in the minority of not loving it. If you like historical fiction about the intrigue associated with WWII, then you may very well enjoy this book.
(I received a complementary copy of this audiobook for review.)
“This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.”
In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?
Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way
Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote Between the World and Me as a letter to his fifteen year-old son. He is writing to tell his son about his personal experience as a black man in America today. His son is starting to get to a point in his life where he is confused and hurt by the way black people are treated.
Coates starts out by explaining that race is a social construct. He refers to black people as people with a black body and white people as people who need to believe they are white. I thought the way he laid it out was one of the best explanations of why humans are divided into races that I’ve heard. People who believe they are white divided people into different races because they wanted, needed to have power over other groups of people and skin color was the easiest way to make that division.
Coates attended Howard University, which he refers to as the Mecca. He talks about his friend Prince Jones, who even though he was a Howard student and raised in an affluent home, could not escape being the victim of violence because of his black body. He talks about how black people know from an early age that they have to work twice as hard and expect half as much.
This book isn’t meant lay a guilt trip on white people. I think it’s meant to give them insight into the black experience. In fact, people of all races can learn something from this book. I first read this book in print and then went back and listened to the whole thing on audiobook. I gained an even deeper understanding of what Coates is trying to impart on the second pass. Coates narrates the audiobook himself and the way he reads it makes it sound like poetry.
It’s hard for me to put into words the impact this book had on me. And I’m a person who has read many books on race and consider myself fairly educated on the subject. I agree with Toni Morrison, Between the World and Me should be required reading for everyone.
Time for Kids: Presidents of the United States is a brief look at all forty-five presidents of the United States of America. Each president gets a one or two page spread, depending on how major their presidency was, e.g. Jefferson and Lincoln each get two pages. We learn the birth and death date, wife and children’s names and a few tidbits of notable information about each one. There is also a time-line for events going on in technology or popular culture during that president’s time in office. The book does include information about our current president; however, it was written before the inauguration so there is no information about what his “accomplishments” are to date. The writers are probably thanking their lucky stars that they don’t have to try to write that up in an unbiased voice! It does say that during the campaign, “He made controversial remarks about several groups of people,” which I think is fair to say.
Speaking of bias, I think overall, the authors did a good job of presenting the information objectively or making sure they included the opinions on both sides of the issue, i.e. some people thought this, others thought that.
Also included in this book is a flow chart of what it takes to run for president and an explanation of the three branches of government. There is also some information on the more active first ladies.
I think this is a great book for middle-grade readers to get some concise information on each president. It’s very age-appropriate too. For instance, it says that Bill Clinton “faced charges of illegal behavior.” (That made me laugh.) I learned quite a bit from this book too, not being a big history buff myself. This book would be a great addition to a middle-graders library.
(I received a complementary copy of this book for review.)
For more reviews of books for children and teens, check out Booking Mama’s feature, Kid Konnection, posted on Saturdays. If you’d like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children’s books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, you can go to her site to leave a comment and your link .
Lianne Moriarty’s book Big Little Lies has been turned into a seven-episode limited series that premieres on HBO this Sunday, February 19th. It was adapted for the screen by David E. Kelley, who is probably best known as the creator of Ally McBeal. (You can read my review of the book here.) I was lucky enough to be invited to an advance screening of the first episode which was very exciting because I LOVED the book.
Big Little Lies opens with a murder. Not only don’t we know whodunit, we don’t know even know who was murdered – or why. First we have to get to know the moms of the first graders at a swanky public school in Monterey. (Yes, the setting has been moved from Australia to California but that didn’t really make a difference.) Madeline (Reese Witherspoon), mom to Chloe is a gregarious, bubbly woman who is also mom to sullen teen Abigail. Celeste (Nicole Kidman), mom to twins Max and Josh, is married to Perry (Alexander Skarsgård), a younger man who seems like the perfect father. She’s best friends with Madeline. Renata is a working mom seems to think she’s better than everyone else. Jane (Shaliene Woodley) is a young single mom to Ziggy and new to the area, making her an outsider.
Madeline quickly takes Jane under her wing. When Ziggy is accused of bullying Renata’s daughter Amabella, all of the moms at the school quickly choose up sides, leaving Madeline and Celeste the only ones in Jane’s corner.
Just like the book, snippets of police interviews with supporting characters about the murder are interspersed throughout the episode. They are darkly humorous and quite entertaining. I was hoping that they would keep them in because they were one of my favorite parts of the book.
The casting in this movie is spot-on. Reese Witherspoon is perfect as Madeline. She’s what I imagine her character in Legally Blonde would be like after she grew up and had children. In the book, Celeste is supposed to be almost otherworldly beautiful and Nicole Kidman certainly fits the bill as far as that goes. As the series goes on, her superior acting skills will definitely be utilized. I was a little concerned when I heard Shaliene Woodley was cast as Jane because I had only seen her play teenagers up to that point. I didn’t know if she would have the maturity to play a young mother. I needn’t have worried – she is up to the task, portraying Jane as a single mom with a mysterious past who loves her son with fierce emotion. And Alexander Skarsgård is as hot as ever. He could stand in the corner playing a potted plant for all I care, as long as I got to look at him.
I’m quite happy with how the first episode followed the book. I didn’t know if HBO would be able to get seven episodes out of one book. At the same time, the layered intricacies essential to building the inherent suspense of Big Little Lies would be difficult to condense into a two-hour movie. After viewing the pacing of the first episode, I don’t think there will be any problem stretching the story over seven episodes. The extra time will allow the characters to fully develop as they were in the book and make the suspense that much more tantalizing.
Even after watching just one episode, I’m confident that the HBO version of Big Little Lies will be at least as good as the book, maybe even better!
Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman
Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of Wilde Lake. Check out the other stops on the tour!
