Book 17 The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks fulfilled the “Book with More Than Twenty Letters in Its Title” category of the PopSugar 2020 Reading Challenge. In fact, it has fifty-one letters. And that’s the best thing I can say about the book.

We all know I’m not a huge non-fiction fan, though I love psychology. In my younger days, I read Sybil and then later the book that refuted Sybil, and other case study books about personality disorders. Not a ton, but enough. I prefer my non-fiction to be narrative. I had high hopes for this one—from its interesting title, the subject, the high rating on Goodreads, and all the praise showered on a thirty-five-year-old book. It took me six weeks to read the 233-page thing.

So, to stop focusing on the negative, there were many fascinating cases in the book, most dealing with right-brain injuries and the manifestation of symptoms that result. The memory loss section was interesting and sad, describing patients/clients who had lost their memories or time or sizable chunks of their lives. (I thought of 50 First Dates, which is awful because that movie played up taking advantage of a person with a brain injury, but I love Barrymore and Sandler together so…I’m a terrible person.) I can’t imagine waking up each day, each hour, not knowing where or when I was. Some of the patients lived for years with these conditions and suffered. Some made the most of it. I’m not sure I could handle it.

Another interesting section focused on talents someone with either autism or brain injury might have. It was not all cases of idiot savant, but these stories told of overcoming the assumed way of thinking about intelligence/gifts and finding joy and enjoyment. One young lady was a natural-born actress, another loved music. One of my favorite parts what the patient’s confession that he must have Bach in his life. I love that. The section tried to steer away from the “party trick” quality of the talent to the person.

My biggest criticism was the author failed to connect with the patients and connect us to them through his writing. The entire book was cold and distant. I understand as a doctor the need to keep back, but to engage the reader—make them feel—we needed to connect with the clients.

He also played up the psychobabble—over-using terms and referring to past neurologists and psychologists. The book seemed to be written for the Psych student, not the layman. His style lacked and he could have used a good editor. But its entry on Goodreads has a four-star rating. I’m confused.

      Anyway, I give The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales Three Hats

Book 16 The Host

The Host by Stephenie Meyer fulfills the “Book with a Main Character in their Twenties” category for the PopSugar 2020 Reading Challenge. Wanda, the symbiont, is well over a hundred, but the body she inhabits, Melanie, is twenty-one years old.

I’ve used quite a few Young Adult books on the blog. I’m sorry if that’s not your jam. But at least for this prompt, I needed a younger person, and it fit YA well. I have more non-fiction, mysteries, and romance in store for everyone. Lately, though, YA has been my refuge.

Please indulge me.

The Host is science fiction at its base. One might want to throw Ms. Meyer into paranormal because of the other series she penned. I don’t need to say it, right? (I liked the books for what they were, but I ain’t saying no more.) But this story is all aliens and other worlds. Ms. Meyer never clarifies the “how” of the science, and it works for the novel. Die-hard sci-fi fans might grumble that she does not explain how the symbiosis works or the medical advances or the ability to travel to multiple worlds. She brushes over it because the book is about the people, not the science.

In an interesting premise, the earth has been taken over by small centipede-like creatures who are highly intelligent. These Souls, as they are called, work as parasites/symbiotic beings and inhabit the body of sentient creatures. They live through that host, learning about aspects of the body, mind, and environment. Their minds are in charge. Souls are very peaceful beings and have lived on various plants with little resistance to their taking over. And since it’s always a non-violent takeover, they see no issues with colonizing these planets and taking over the individuals they inhabit.

Then they come to Earth and try to assimilate the humans. And y’all know how we’d react to that. It’s an old premise used in Star Trek, Marvel movies, and the like, how humans are resilient, resistant, and buck any attempt to be controlled. It’s a great trope, but a trope, none-the-less. No spoilers, but you can guess how the book proceeds with the humans versus aliens. The aware symbiont of Melanie/Wanda makes it interesting. We love them both. Does one have to die for the other to live? (Harry Potter much?) And Ms. Meyer finds a resolve that disappointed me. No spoilers.

The love triangle was another trope used in the book, very similar to her other series. The twist this time is one man loves the body, the other loves the symbiont. Neat. But some of the “heroine in distress” elements of the novel (much like her other books) took away from the story. Other characters carry Wanda around all the time. The people act for her, and she watches. She, like Bella, lets things happen to her. I hated that. And the decision made in the ending, no spoilers, puts this “helpless female” trope on a pedestal with glitter, sparkles, and a spotlight.

I liked the premise and most of the execution. I could have dealt without the teenage angst and oh, a better resolution.

      I give The Host by Stephenie Meyers Four Intelligent Centipedes.

Book 15 Howl’s Moving Castle

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones fulfills the category “Book with a Great First Line” in the PopSugar 2020 Reading Challenge. The first line of the novel is “In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three.” For a fantasy tale, I can’t imagine a better start.

Immediately with this first line, fairy tale elements have been invoked—the power of three and the destiny of children in families with more than one child. It seems no matter the number of children, the oldest gets the worst of it. Ms. Wynne Jones plays on this false belief for Sophie throughout the entire book. Sophie assumes she is doomed and accepts her “bad luck” readily. Also, using terms like “the land of…” and “seven-league boots,” the reader understands they are in another world, with magical items, that might engage other fairy tale rules.

Sophie is an ingenious character. I loved her from the start. She epitomized the eldest child, taking one for the team so her sisters could find their own way, staying at her father’s hat shop to help the family. Ms. Wynne Jones even gave us a semi-evil stepmother for Sophie to flee from. Small spoiler, Sophie does eventually leave her insignificant life and set out, with a black cloud (she made herself) about destiny. She does not go because she thinks she should. She is cursed by the Witch of the Waste—a powerful witch who scared the poop out of everyone, almost as much as the Wizard Howl, whose castle floats around the kingdom. Instead of staying home and hiding her curse, Sophie journeys out into the world and lands in Howl’s castle.

Her curse is another unique thing about the story. The Witch of the Waste turns Sophie into an old woman, and the girl embraces it. She stops hiding from the world, goes out and conquers it. I won’t spoil too much, but she is the hero of the tale. The curse allows her to throw off her worries. When she enters the Moving Castle, she bullies the fire, Calicfer, a fire demon, into letting her stay. She makes herself useful, needed, and loved in the castle. All on her own merits and despite being the eldest child. She embraces her “elderly,” and it’s perfect.

The plot becomes wonderfully complicated, with spells, poems, love tales, secrets, and doors into other realms. But the way Ms. Wynne Jones rolls the story out, none of the plots get tangled. Each runs through to its end like a tapestry. The tale could have gone horribly wrong if she hadn’t picked up each subplot thread and weaved it through. Don’t believe me? Watch the anime movie of the same title. The movie misses entire plot lines, and in the end, the tale is just a mess of threads with one big knot of Sophie in the middle.

I must spoil one thing. I listened to the tale on audio, as I do most of my books. (Reading on the run just works for my life. Audiobooks let me drive, exercise, and sew while getting my fill of stories.) Anyway, I was listening and had to stop the story. I called my husband over, excited that it included a Welsh accent. (It took me a minute to name it.) I read many books with British readers, some Scottish (David Tennant for example) but never Welsh. I was thrilled. And spoiler, Howl needed that accent and it made the novel even more perfect.

     If you can’t tell, I enjoyed Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. I give it Five Falling Stars.

Book 14 A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder

A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman fulfills the “Book that Won an Award in 2019” category of the PopSugar 2020 Reading Challenge. This story won an Agatha Award for Best First Novel in May 2019. The Agatha is an award for mysteries that fall under “cozy” guidelines—no sex, not much violence, and an amateur detective. Technically, I cannot discern if the book is the 2019 candidate or the 2018. The prize was awarded in 2019, so I’m saying it fits the slot.

Change my mind.

I must confess I already had a copy of this story on my Kindle before the awards were announced. The author and I are in a Facebook group together for authors that had debut books in 2018. Many of the authors in the group have launched amazing careers, not only Diane Freeman but also Helen Hoang (The Kiss Quotient) and Mike Chen (Here and Now and Then). I’m humbled to be in this company.

A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder puts the reader back in Victorian England with all the romance and glamor of the season and Jane Austen feelings all over (though she was regency, but you know what I mean). Our recently widowed heroine Frances Price Wynn, Countess of Harleigh, is tired of life with her in-laws and buys a new home for herself and her daughter in London. In that era, a woman making money decisions is reprehensible, not to mention she’s taking her American money away from her greedy, desperate in-laws.

Chaos ensues for the poor woman when her brother-in-law threatens to sue for her money from her father, her sister arrives to be introduced for the season, and most importantly, someone has suggested to the police that Frances killed her husband. She just wanted some space, but now she must deal with a lack of money, the police inquiries, and finding a suitable match for her little sister. Did I mention a thief has also targeted her in the middle of all the kerfuffle?

I know it sounds like a lot, but Ms. Freeman twists and winds these subplots beautifully. There’s even a small romantic arc (spoiler, unfinished). Each piece of the tale works well with the next creating a rich and adventurous story of a modern woman in Victorian times.

The characters were well formed, though I hated that Frances cried over her rotten dead husband of hers. She so deserved better, and that man didn’t deserve a tear. Ms. Freeman created a strong, independent woman in Frances and watching her suffer pulled at my heart. The suspects were plenty and all viable. Ms. Freeman’s descriptions were rich without being overbearing, and I fell a little in love with George Hazelton, the next-door-neighbor (as I was supposed to).

If you love an English cozy, go read the novel. Like right now.

      I give A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman, Five Stolen Bracelets.