Eleanor of Aquitane

Was reading the "Mistress of the Art of Death" series set in Henry II's England, so wanted to digress for a time with Alison Weir's excellent biography about his dynamic wife. Legends abound about the famous Eleanor, but as usual, Weir gets to the crux, with real historical documents by the subject and contemporary historical accounts. Somehow, Weir always finds a way to make her research into a compelling story about a misunderstood figure. I don't know how she does this in biography after biography, but she should accept the title "Mistress of the Art of Biography". Concerning Eleanor, there are many colorful stories about her, but you have to take them all with many grains of salt considering her many enemies and shifting loyalties amongst her husband and children through her turbulent life as Duchess and Queen. Her most famous children, Richard I (Lionheart) and John (Softsword), were made who they were by Eleanor's tutelage and character, but you certainly can't understand them without the context either. For movie portrayals, check out Becket, with Richard Burton as Henry II's "turbulent priest" and The Lion in Winter, the latter with the incomparable Katherine Hepburn as the Duchess herself.

The Serpent's Tale

The next book in the Mistress of the Art of Death series is another great medieval crime tale of Sicilian doctor Adelia Aguilar and her on-again, off-again beau Rowley, now the powerful Bishop of Saint Albans. Henry II (Plantagenet), King of England and his obstinate wife, Eleanor of Aquitane, are warring again. Henry calls in his special investigator Adelia to solve the murder (by Death Cap mushroom) of his lover, Rosamund, in her tower. The obvious suspect is the Queen herself, retaliating against a royal lover. The unlikely medical investigator Adelia enters a world of double-crossing lords, Catholic backlash against the killing of Thomas a Becket, unfaithful sons, and mercenaries to apply her scientific knowledge in a baffling case. With her faithful friend Gyltha, and her baby daughter Allie (is it Rowley's?), Adelia again risks her safety and reputation as a healer to get mixed up in royal intrigue. A fascinating character in a historical context I love!

Ron Santo: A Perfect 10

OK, if you are not a Chicago Cubs fan, stop reading here. Or maybe not? This story of Ron Santo, baseball player, broadcaster, humanitarian, whom we lost to cancer this winter, is certainly a sweet story for Cub Fans. But it is also a story of a man who overcame diabetes, diagnosed at age 18, to play professional baseball. A story of a man who eventually lost both lower legs to diabetes, but continued to travel with the team to broadcast what he hoped (year after year) would be a World Series season. A story of a man who endured countless laser eye surgeries, heart surgeries, and cancer treatments brought on by diabetes, but still hosted and promoted countless fundraisers for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund (JDRF) in communities around the Chicagoland area to make treatments better for children and adults, and make the devastating disease a little less devastating to those afflicted. He wasn't a complicated man. He wasn't a egotistical professional athlete (although famously vain about his personal appearance). He didn't have a clothing or shoe line. He didn't host a TV program on any "Decision". He didn't disgrace his sport by betting on it. He just used his gifts and fame to help others in a very simple, American way. For this he should not just be in the Baseball Hall of Fame...he should be in the American Hall of Fame. Read it, laugh, cry, smile.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Like women sleuths? This book introduces a fascinating character, Lisbeth Salander, a Swedish computer geek or as she would rather put it, "researcher", with a crazy 20-something life. She's teamed with a financial journalist, Mikael Blomkvist who is hired to dig into the mixed-up family of Henrik Vanger, a captain of Swedish industry. If it weren't for the raunchy crimes involved in both Lisbeth's current life and the disappearance of Henrik's niece, Harriet, this would be a super cliff-hanger with an unlikely pair of mystery-solvers. I loved the characters. Hated the raunchiness. If that doesn't bother you, go for it. I won't be reading the two sequels to this book, unfortunately. I'll miss following more adventures of Lisbeth, but I won't miss the graphic scenes describing unspeakable crimes against women.

The Paris Wife

Hadley Richardson, 28, has all but given up on love until she meets the fascinating Ernest Hemingway at an Oak Park party. What follows is a whirlwind courtship and marriage, and shortly after, a move to 1920s Paris to follow the writers' scene. This fictional look at Hemingway's early years is a tangled story of the chaos that comes with genius. Hadley fits in quickly to the Paris vibe, parties, cafes, more parties, odd writer friends, parties. Hem's career begins in fits and starts, as his memories of World War I haunt his dreams. Trips to Spain to view the running of the bulls and bullfighting play a key role in his later endeavors. But Hadley's dreams and Hem's do not mesh, and as many couples find, their relationship drifts away slowly. This portrayal of the early years of one of the 20th century's greatest American writers is fresh, but there is something very attainable and familiar about it. It could as well be the story of your neighbors down the block. I recommend it!

Hope Dies Last

Studs Terkel was a Chicago icon who championed the "common man" during his long literary, radio and television career. Hope Dies Last: Keeping the Faith in Troubled Times is a series of interviews chronicling the lives of common people living their hope through labor organizing, civil rights advocacy and social justice protesting. I wonder whether mainstream white Americans have lost their connections with the causes that seemed so important in the 1960s and 70s? Were they only a fad? Have these causes been left to minorities alone to promote them? Have birthers, 2nd Amendment advocates and "Tea Partiers" replaced the young whites of the sit-in, side by side with their minority brothers and sisters? Do we still even consider each other brother and sister Americans any more? Where have all the civil "disobediencers" gone? They are still out there, and you can read about them in this book. Time will tell if this book is a museum piece or a clarion call.

Time and Again

WOW! It's been a long time since I finished a book. This one starts a little slow in exposition of characters and setting, but once it gets going, it really rocks! Commercial illustrator Si Morley is recruited into a secret government project involving hypnosis and time travel. His target: New York City of the 1880's. Can Si travel to this historical world and back again to solve his girlfriend's family mystery? Will he violate the "prime directive" and avoid influencing events to an extent in which people of either time are put in danger? Can he return to the present at all? Historical New York is fascinating--imagine seeing the disembodied arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty in the local park, waiting to be assembled to its body, horse-drawn wagons and coaches, elevated trains that are, well, TRAINS. This is a great read for those who like history and/or government secret projects. :)