C. J.

Endless whinging and self pity or long overly detailed military narratives

Revisado: 11-20-24

My beautiful older sister was constantly surrounded by suitors —she would often remark about this one or that one that they repeatedly told “I’m so great stories” and thus would get crossed off her list. I never fully understood what she was describing until listening to “Spare.”

Yet Harry’s heroic tales of daring are interspersed with repeated complaints about his implacable foe—the paparazzi and the popular press—as well as endless gripes about —and snipes at —his immediate family.

That Harry is deeply traumatized by his less elevated family status —his father and his brother are or will one day be kings—is understandable. Yet much of his huffy complaints feel familiar to me as the second of seven girls—always being (I felt) slighted in favor of my beautiful older sister—“who’s getting the bigger slice of the pie” is something many have experienced, whether you’re a prince or a pauper. Harry seems to think it’s unique to his situation given the kingship issue versus realizing that sibling rivalry is actually relatively universally felt.

I enjoyed the first third—the prologue is beautifully ghost -written by an established US author. Over time Harry’s voice began to grate. Then I had to start skipping all the military chapters—far too many of them in excruciating detail.

Lastly, his hatred of the paparazzi could have been mentioned in one single paragraph or a single page at most due to the chasing of Diana in Paris—completely understandable.

But to go on and on about his disdain and hatred of the press photographers—working class men and women trying to earn a living—as if they were the most horrible people on the planet—and all recounted in a voice of the permanently aggrieved—really becomes too much. Too arrogant. Too cold. Too snobby and self-centered. People have to earn a living Harry—hello? Shades of Prince Andrew’s self-important personality seem to echo in Harry.

One example—every single romantic breakup is a direct result in Harry’s view of the ravenous press and photographers descending like vultures on any given budding romance. Not actually believable Harry, sorry.

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Not as good as High Rising or Pomfret Towers

Revisado: 09-17-24

Wild Strawberries gets off to a slow start but improves after the first few chapters. The lead characters are too bland except for the matriarch who is a wonderful comic character. Bad boy flirt David is good but not hilarious. One of the best scenes is the London lunch where David treats two jealous girls— Mary and the BBC executive. The French family is boring and too much time is spent on them and the boring vicar. None of the servants are funny unlike High Rising. Mildly entertaining but not as engaging as her other two novels I’ve listened to so far. Lots of grief and melancholy throughout.

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Thirkell is a treasure trove!!!

Revisado: 09-15-24

Neo-Trollopian Thirkell’s Barchester series from the 1930s and 1940s provides some of the absolutely most enjoyable listening hours I’ve yet to encounter on Audible. Deeply witty and charming. Pomfret Towers is fantastic and is #6 in the series.

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Thoughtful and interesting a great listen for young women

Revisado: 09-03-24

A “Sex and the City” rewriting of Jack Kerouac’s “The Dharma Bums.” Much wisdom here for today’s young American women .

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Poignant Memoir of a Near-Fatal Attempted Murder: Do not listen while you are eating!

Revisado: 07-07-24

Poignant (no pun intended) blow-by-blow (no pun intended) journey into the physical and emotional repercussions of the horrific jihadist-inspired attack on the great Nobel Prize-winning Anglo-Indian writer Salman Rushdie. The fatwa was from Iran keep that in mind as Iran menaces the Near & Middle East with its attacks on Israel and Red Sea shipping as it continues to export terrorism.

Within the first 1/2 or 3/4 there are many gruesome physical discussions so if you feel things very viscerally while reading or especially listening as I do—proceed with caution.

Sir Salman reads his work aloud in the first person so the experience is one of sitting with this world famous writer as if he were a close friend as he pours out his heart to you.

My only disappointment is in his list and discussion of famous one-eyed characters or historical figures towards the book’s conclusion he omitted the Hollywood director Raoul Walsh whose leading man career ended when a jack rabbit crashed through his jeep’s windshield while location scouting in Utah in 1929—ending Walsh’s acting career but not his career as a director. I think Rushdie could have done a lot with the Walsh story in this memoir.

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Lincoln Bio vol 2 by M. Burlingame A Must Listen

Revisado: 11-19-23

Excellent in every way! Mary Todd Lincoln wins the crown for one of our worse First Ladies—a kleptomaniac, selfish, greedy, prone to public temper tantrums—akin to a recent ex-POTUS indicted for White House theft, Mary also looted the White House when she exited—but of silver, linens, china, etc.

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Must read/listen for Ellroy fans, curiosity seekers, and Noir genre enthusiasts

Revisado: 02-14-23

Steven Powell triumphs with this fascinating tour of the life, loves, art, and times of the ‘Demon Dawg” of LA Noir—James Ellroy. Like a rollercoaster ride—once you’re strapped in, there’s no exit.

Although not mentioned by Powell, his biography makes clear Ellroy’s line of literary descent from such “gonzo” writers as Henry Miller, Charles Bukowsky, and Hunter S. Thompson.

Ellroy’s public shock persona and dazzling terse “beat” prose style both attract and repel. Where “his-story” becomes “piss-story.” Where all that is gritty, grimy, seedy and slimy about historic L.A. is bodied forth in all of its smog-wrapped glory. Where Ellroy is still fighting the 1831 Battle of Cahuenga Pass— his pen as his sabre—the combatants now crooked cops and America’s flotsam and jetsam washed ashore at the continent’s edge.
Disclaimer: Ellroy’s mother was once married to my maternal grandfather Easton Ewing Spaulding. Catherine Nealy Judd

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Parkman is a master prose stylist and storyteller

Revisado: 01-06-23

If you like Cormac McCarthy, everything that is beautiful in McCarthy’s landscape-description prose and plot/character creation is a pale and direct imitation of Parkman.

A man of his time, Parkman displays the typical Euro-American contempt for indigenous Americans—this is the book’s greatest flaw.

It is offensive to those of us who feel deep solidarity with the US’s First People—and those of us with Native ancestors—however it is nonetheless worth reading or listening to Parkman’s Plains memoir—1846-1847 on the Platte and Arkansas rivers particularly.

Parkman was an absolute master and genius of prose narrative. Few U.S. writers of any generation can compete with Parkman as prose stylists.

Parkman’s misogyny is also on clear display—he would later campaign against voting rights for women. Parkman was most definitely a man of his time.

The non-fiction memoir is read wonderfully by the audio-book reader.

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Interesting for the first few chapters then tedious

Revisado: 12-26-22

I can only recommend listening for awhile. The novel then grows exceedingly tedious. I will listen to Copper’s Prairie Leatherstocking series novel but not certain I will read or listen to anymore Cooper after The Prairie.

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Must Read/Listen as Companion Post-“Rise and Fall”

Revisado: 06-05-21

Probably a bit confusing if you haven’t already read Shirer’s “Rise and Fall of 3rd Reich.” Read if AFTER Shirer’s master work “Rise and Fall.”
The title is a misnomer as Shirer is ALL over Europe including Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal—cities along with Berlin such as Paris, Geneva, London, Brussels—PLUS Berlin.
The book’s recent introduction opines incorrectly that Shirer was unfamiliar with Hitler’s “Mein K.” as it “had not yet been translated into English.” If “Berlin Diary” is any indication, Shirer was a polyglot—most comfortable speaking and reading in German and French—but also Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. As you listen, it becomes clear that Shirer read and knew Hitler’s best seller quite well in its original German—and also utilized the German-language books left behind by their owners in the various flats he rented in Berlin.
Some reviewers have criticized this book’s narrator—I found him absolutely wonderful—chacune a son gout.
To what extent was the brilliant Shirer *really* that prescient as he predicts correctly so much of Hitler’s and others’ moves, motivations, and trajectories? Was there post-war editing for accuracy—or was Shirer a military genius who should have been hired as DC’s foremost military analyst during WW2?

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