At the Mercy of Tiberius - Augusta Evans Wilson

This book was chosen randomly from a list of older fiction.

Beryl caves in to her mother's wishes to approach the father that disowned them many years ago and ask for his help. Beryl's mother is sick, and $100 will get her an operation that could save her. When Beryl arrives at her grandfather's home, she has to hear a lot of nasty things about her father, but she comes away with the needed money and some jewels. She makes her way back to the train station but leaves again to lay some flowers at her grandmother's grave, which causes her to miss her train.

That causes a series of events that will see Beryl accused of murder. It becomes clear to her early on that the real culprit is actually her brother, but she'll die before she sees him accused of the crime. Lennox Dunbar was a lawyer for the grandfather and saw Beryl on that fateful night. He starts the crusade to see her answer for the crime but eventually, with the help of his fiancé, Leo, comes to see that Beryl is actually innocent.

I hated almost every character in this book. Beryl had a superiority complex while appearing humble at the same time. Lennox starts this weird fascination with Beryl and pats himself on the back because "he acts honorably" with regards to Leo. I guess because he never says anything (out loud, but it's so obvious Beryl picks up on it), but the minute Leo hands him the ring, he immediately goes to the jail and worms his way in to see Beryl. At the 60% mark, I started skimming hard. I would've put it down, but I wanted to find out if they were going to find Bertie and what happened to his face. Both Beryl and Lennox would go on these long, passionate rants that were repetitive and boring. It felt like those two were "paid by the word."

The one character I did like was Leo. This young woman (with an unfortunate name) is the most wonderful character in the book. She is a friend to Beryl and believes her to be innocent. She loves Lennox with her whole heart, and when she figures out he's infatuated with Beryl, she sets him free. Lennox, jerk that he is, keeps trying to "explain himself" and make it about him. He can't just let her initiate the breakup and retain her dignity, he wants her to "understand." Go suck an egg, Lennox.

The way Beryl gets vindicated from the crime is impossible, and the role her brother plays in the book is disappointing. None of it makes any sense, but putting that aside, I just really didn't like this one. Coming in at over 600 pages, it already had the potential to be a slog, but with Beryl and Lennox being verbose, annoying characters, I just wanted it to end. On to the next one and hoping I enjoy it more!

Q: The Biography of Desmond Llewelyn - Sandy Hernu

Who is your favorite James Bond actor? I grew up watching James Bond films, but I've always had a soft spot for Q. I read a brief blurb about him and wanted to read his biography. I had to wait for this to make its way here from across the sea, but once it got here, I was happy to read it.

Desmond had a sheltered childhood and early on decided he wanted to be an actor. He tried to do other things, but they just didn't work out. He spent practically the entirety of WWII as a POW in a few different camps. At one time, he was part of an elaborate escape plan, but he was caught and after that dedicated himself to acting and assisting others in their attempts. Side note: I didn't realize the camps had "Escape Committees" that would evaluate escape plans for their potential.

Much of the book, of course, is dedicated to his life as Q, the briefly-on-screen Gadgetman of 007. He speaks of the various Bonds he worked with and how he would struggle with the gadgets and the technical speak associated with them. His life became one of being Q, and other jobs would be out of reach because he'd become somewhat pigeon-holed into the one role. In the early years of Bond, this was more of a detriment, and his wife wasn't keen on Bond. Later on, she would accompany him to various openings and things until her health began to fail.

Desmond seems to be one of those people that sees the happy side of life. He speaks well of people and doesn't say much about tragedies and unpleasant times in his life. He briefly spoke of starving while in the POW camp, but then he focused on the acting he got to do. He also was affected by his wife's Alzheimer's, but overall, he seemed to be a glass half full kind of person.

The beginning of the book was a back and forth between the author and Desmond, which I enjoyed. Later it was all the author with quotes from Desmond. I missed the longer paragraphs from Desmond, but it was still easy to read. There are plenty of pictures in the book, and the end has a list of all the gadgets from the Bond films up to The World is Not Enough (1999). 

Desmond died in a car accident in 1999, shortly after this book was published. He was willing to do more Bond, which I was surprised to discover. The final time we see him, he has an assistant, R, and he tells 007 to always have an escape plan as he slowly descends out of sight. When asked if he'd be in James Bond #20, he'd replied, "Of course, just so long as EON want me and The Almighty doesn't." I guess we know Who wanted him more. Good Book!

The Cricket on the Hearth - Charles Dickens

One of our holiday family traditions is to sit around and watch Christmas movies. One of them is Cricket on the Hearth (1967). We watch in wonder as strange events occur on the screen. And this year, I decided to go straight to the source and find out what inspired this Christmas classic.

I think I'm going to review both of these, and I'll start with the book. John is on his way home when he picks up an old man on the side of the road. Things start to get a little strange from then on. His wife starts to act odd, and it all seems to revolve around the upcoming wedding of the local toy merchant. I don't want to say too much in case someone wants to read the story. You can find it for free on Gutenberg.org.

With regards to the movie, I'm at a loss to figure out how the people that made it got from the story to the movie. It's like they took some of the characters, threw out most of the main ones and changed the story to the point where I don't understand what happened. They also added a bunch of random weirdness that is a little hard to understand where it came from. For instance, there's a singing number at the docks about fish and chips, and there is a murder off screen of three shady characters. As much as we love to sing the theme song of this movie, we really don't understand it. It doesn't diminish our enjoyment of the show at all, but this was an interesting experiment to give it some context.

Both of these stories have their own sort of charm. The original material is a nice story even if it doesn't make a ton of sense at times. The movie takes any strangeness and multiplies it by a factor of 100, so I can't complain too much. I refuse to choose one over the other because the two are so different that I feel confident liking both. Good Book and Fun Movie!

King Spruce - Holman Day

The fun thing about picking a random book from a list of old fiction is that you never know what you're going to get. I certainly wasn't prepared for the tale of King Spruce.

The story starts when the school principal, Dwight Wade, approaches the local timber baron, nicknamed King Spruce, to ask if he could take some kids up in the forest so they could learn about forestry. The meeting doesn't go the way he hopes, and the lumber baron soon discovers that the principal is in love with his daughter. That will never do.

King Spruce goes on a campaign to smear the principal and soon drives him out of town. Dwight soon ends up in the forest working for a logging camp. He doesn't know much about it but soon proves himself. He meets many interesting people along the way, some friends and others not so much. Each will play a part in the forest and what happens to Dwight's future.

I didn't think I was going to like this book. I have zero interest in logging. To be honest, I don't even like being outside if it's too hot or too cold. But if you take away the detailed descriptions of the logging process, it was an interesting story. I was worried the entire book was going to revolve around Dwight and his love of Elva, but there was so much more to it. I would have to say this is the most interesting book about logging I've ever read.

While I feel the book dragged on a bit too long, it was still well written and the flow of the story was good. I don't think I ever would've chosen this book on purpose, but I'm glad I read it (even though I didn't understand any of the super detailed logging parts). Good Book!

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave - Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was born sometime between 1817 and 1818 (by his own account) and died in 1895. He wrote this account in 1845, so this was before the Civil War. In this narrative, he describes his early life as a slave and how his mindset evolved to his decision to run away.

The way these people were treated was deplorable. I can't really say more than that. With each account, I just kept shaking my head in disgust. 

If you're looking for a detailed account of his escape, it isn't in here. He doesn't say anything about it because he doesn't want to alert masters how it could be done. Since this was written before the Civil War, and it makes sense to leave the details out. I was a bit surprised to read his thoughts on the Underground Railroad, though. He thought it was a bit too "out there" and too many people knew about it.

While reading this, I kept thinking back to the Holocaust. In both instances, I asked the question, "How can a group of people do those horrible things to other people?" And while I still don't understand it, I think it comes down being able to dehumanize people. I don't see slavery and the Holocaust as the same thing, but I see common elements if that makes sense. It just amazes me that so many people could look at a fellow human being and see nothing worthwhile there.

The part that got me the most was when he commented that he would rather be with a non-Christian master than a Christian one. The Appendix especially was jarring and well written. He knew more than the "religious" people around him when he stated we were "children of a common Father." For someone who was discouraged from learning to read and write, he did such an amazing job of expressing himself. 

I don't think "enjoy" is the right word for this book. It was an eye-opener, for sure. It's something I'm glad I read, and a book I recommend. Good Book!