Recommendation: Notes on a Foreign Country

I have not yet read this, but when I finish one of the 6 books I'm currently reading I intend to check out Suzy Hansen's Notes on a Foreign Country: An American Abroad in a Post-American World.
Hansen is a contributor to the Times Magazine and after the attacks of September 11th, she moved to Istanbul. She travels to Egypt, Greece, Afghanistan, Iran, and the Mississippi Delta. Using the complex histories and current situations in these places, Hansen interrogates her native country, the United States.

One of the major questions of Hansen's book, is the ways in which the United States fails to interrogate itself and its role in shaping the Middle East. Notes on a Foreign Country is an act of self-questioning and of grappling with the ways in which the United States perceives itself and the way the country actually is. For example, the United States doesn't consider itself and empire, but Hansen argues that it is.

I stumbled across Hansen's book in the New York Times Book Review and I've included the link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/books/review/notes-on-a-foreign-country-suzy-hansen.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fbook-review&action=click&contentCollection=review&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=13&pgtype=sectionfront

The Times Review' is much better than my brief synopsis.

Secret Journeys of a Lifetime

My latest book was a coffee table style travel book. National Geographic's Secret Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World's Best Hidden Travel Gems.

The 9 chapters are:

• The World At Your Feet: Stunning Views from the world's high points
• Last Wildernesses: Remote and wild places where nature exists in the raw
• Island Getaways: Idyllic hideaways, from the sunbathed tropics to the icebound poles.
• The Road Less Traveled: Classic road trips, quiet walks, and rugged overland expeditions.
• Secret History: Ancient sites off the beaten track
• Spiritual Havens: From Cathedrals, to mountaintop temples, to ancient tombs
• Hidden Treasures: Museums, houses, and castles tucked away in quiet corners
• Undiscovered Villages: Rural life, from the Indonesian jungle to the English countryside
• City Secrets: Hidden gardens and unspoiled quarters in the hearts of busy cities.

Each place is accompanied by a half or full page picture. There are also several Top-Ten lists (ex. Top Ten Markets, or Wildflower Displays, or Wine/Beer Festivals). 

Funerals Are Fatal

Funerals Are Fatal by Agatha Christie (1953)

The Abernathie family gathers at the family home, Enderby, for Richard Abernathie's funeral. Richard had died peacefully in his sleep. Flighty Aunt Cora remarked in her simple, childlike-way, that Richard had been murdered. The rest of the family laughed Cora's remark off; she often said outlandish things. But, Aunt Cora is found murdered several days later--stabbed in the back with hatchet while sleeping.

The family solicitor, Mr. Entwhistle, calls upon his longtime friend Hercule Poirot to investigate Richard's death and Cora's initial claim that he was murdered.

Poirot comes to Enderby pretending to be Mr. Pontelier, the head of U.N.A.R.C.O., an organization for refugees. Under this disguise he is able to study the members of the Abernathie family:

Mrs. Leo Abernathie (Helen): wife of Richard's deceased brother Leo.
Timothy Abernathie: Richard's invalid brother, who is not so helpless as one might think
Timothy's wife Maude: always there for Timothy, but absent on the day Cora died.
Richard's nieces and nephew:
George: loved horses and women and was unlucky with both. Also suspected of diverting company funds
Susan Banks: Richard's niece, the only one who inherited his brains. However, her chemist husband Gregory is not well-liked
Rosamund: Richard's other niece, an actress.
Michael Shane: Rosamund's husband: his adultery gave him an alibi.
Miss Gilchrist: Aunt Cora's companion and cook.

Le Road Trip

#74: Le Road Trip: A Traveler's Journal of Love and France by Vivian Swift

Le Road Trip is part journal, part guide book, and part reflection on the similarities between the stages of love and travel. Swift recounts her honeymoon road trip through France (Paris, Giverny, Bayeux, the beaches and cemeteries of Normandy, Cancale, Saint-Malo, Bordeaux, the Loire Valley...).

My favorite parts were about pastries and the cats that one encounters while traveling.

Regarding pastries:
La patisserie: "The cakes are small, just right for serving a private, individual indulgence. They are arranged in les vitrines that glisten like jewel cases. Each miniature creation is a wish-sized landscape, or an intimate still life of desire. Each name is like a French haiku.

Millefeuilles: the thousand-leaf layer cake.
Gateau opera: an aria of coffee butter cream and dark chocolate with sponge cake for tessitura.
Les eclairs: the lightning without the thunder (the zig-zag icing decoration gives the treat its name).
Les petits fours: the little fires, all unquenchable" (page 34)

When my husband and I were in France for our honeymoon, I loved looking around for local cats. We found one at La Roque Gageac (a fortress built into a cliff), Minou was the local cat that hung out in Meyrals where our rental house was. And then there was the mangy cat that I was not allowed to pet.I like befriending cats (or dogs) on trips because they remind me of home.

Vivian remarks during her stay in Soulac-sur-Mer "That's one of the most reliable things about a long road trip. There's always a cat, just when you need one"  (157). Vivian managed to befriend the proprietors' cat, Joy, at the local bed and breakfast. Joy apparently didn't like anybody. In Azay-le-Rideau, the proprietor of a local souvenir store says that Cat just showed up one day and moved in. Vivian photographed Cat "posing as the priceless object that he is" (171).

I loved the drawings that Vivian included; the book felt more like a scrapbook or almost like a graphic novel.

For example:

Here is a link to Vivian's blog and webpage: http://vivianswiftblog.com/

Reading this was a joy and really made me want to return to France and plan my own road trip. I was also reminded that THREE YEARS after the fact, I still need to finish my honeymoon scrapbook.

The Magnolia Story

Book 72 was The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines.

I love HGTV and Fixer Upper is one of my favorite shows. In The Magnolia Story, Chip and Joanna look back at how they met, starting a family, Chip's various business ventures (there were a lot), and how Fixer Upper came about. At times their story seems a little too perfect, everything always works out. But one of the things I like about the Gaines is that they are very positive and it's easy to relate to them.

Talking As Fast As I Can

A child-free day meant I could go to the library and browse the adult books. And what's more, come home and spend hours reading!

My latest read was Lauren Graham's Talking As Fast As I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (And Everything in Between). Lauren writes much like Lorelei talks-fast paced and somewhat randomly, but entertaining. She reminisces about Gilmore Girls, Parenthood, and other television roles she's played. She also shares stories from her childhood, early acting days, and lots of advice.

Dead Man's Folly and A Pocket Full of Rye

Numbers 69 and 70 are two more novels by Agatha Christie.

Dead Man's Folly:

Poirot's friend and mystery writer Ariadne Oliver is organizing a Murder Hunt as part of a Fete held at Nasse House in Devon.

Weapons for the hunt:

• small pistol
• a piece of lead pipe with a rusty stain on it
• a blue bottle labelled "Poison"
• a length of clothesline
• a hypodermic syringe

The Suspects in the murder hunt:

• Estelle Glynne: a beautiful and mysterious young woman, the guest of Colonel Blunt
• Colonel Blunt: the local squire
• Joan: The Colonel's daughter who is married to Peter Gaye
• Peter Gaye: a young Atom Scientist
• Miss Willing: a housekeeper
• Quiett: a butler
• Maya Stavinsky: a girl hiker
• Esteban Loyola: an uninvited guest

Ariadne Oliver summons Poirot to Nasse House prior to the Murder Hunt because  her womanly intuition tells her that something will go wrong with her fictional murder. As it happens, her intuition was right and Marlene, a local Girl Guide who was chosen to play the role of Maya Stavinsky, is found dead in the tennis pavillon during the Murder Hunt.  Miss Oliver and Poirot then go on a real murder hunt to find out who killed Marlene. 

A Pocket Full of Rye:

This is one of several Christie novels organized around a nursery rhyme*:

"Sing of song of sixpence, a  pocketful of rye,

Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie

When the pie was opened the birds began to sing.

Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?

The king was in his counting house, counting out his money

The queen was in the parlor eating bread and honey

The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,

When there came a little dickey bird and nipped off her nose" 

Rex Fortescue drinks a cup of tea in his office and dies shortly after, grains of rye are found in his pocket. A few days later, his late wife dies after having afternoon tea and cakes, and the housemaid Gladys Martin, is found strangled by the clothesline with a clothespin on her nose. 

Miss Marple is drawn to the case after reading about Gladys' death in the papers. Gladys was her former housemaid. I have noticed that a couple of Miss Marple's former maids (usually named Gladys) are either victims of crimes or involved in them. I don't know if this was intentional on Christie's part, but it is a little odd. 

Inspector Neele recognizes a valuable asset in Miss Marple. Together the two of them ferret out a particularly wicked killer targeting members of the Fortescue household. 

* A Pocketful of Rye, Hickory Dickory Death/Hickory Dickory Dock, And Then There Were None