The Stellar Debut of Galactica MacFee, by Alexander McCall Smith (fiction). Oh, goodie! That’s all readers can say about the new book available from Alexander McCall Smith. Now we can catch up on our old friends at 44 Scotland Street (book No. 17 in this series).
There’s little Bertie Pollock, age 7, who is faced with the return of his mother, the domineering Irene, who ran off with his psychiatrist. Bertie has more immediate problems with the introduction of Galactica MacFee in his classroom. Galactica appears to be the mini version of his mother, bossy and pushing marriage with hapless Bertie.
And there’s Angus Lordie and his wife Domenica MacDonald, cultural intellects and artists, purveyors of the political and intellectual scene. Angus’s dog Cyril is back with his famous gold tooth and his sweet tooth for ankles.
Narcissist Bruce returns with his new personality, an epiphany brought about by a lightning strike.
Fat Bob, the recent husband of Big Lou, owner of a coffee house where nudists meet, decides he doesn’t want to be “fat” Bob anymore. Diet and exercise machines become his short-lived routine.
Here’s the truth: All of Smith’s characters are delightful versions of Smith at various ages, in various guises, in various settings. Because Smith is so completely interesting, informative, philosophical, well-read, artistic, humorous – he gets away with it. Bertie can sound like an adult in child’s costume. Angus and Domenica can share sweet somethings as they survey the universe. Even Cyril can have important ideas.
It’s fun to cuddle up with these people.
The Insect Crisis by Oliver Milman (non-fiction). People think they are observant because they have five senses and a brain. But most of us haven’t noticed – or even thought about – the disappearance of bugs. Bugs no longer splat on our windshields. The birds that eat bugs are not sitting by the hundreds on overhead wires. Rabbits, tarantulas, snakes, lizards, frogs are disappearing. What’s going on here?
It’s an insect crisis, according to journalist Oliver Milman, who describes in edge-of-seat detail the disappearance of millions of insect species because of climate change, poisons and urban sprawl.
Insects are “icky.” We stomp on them, spray them with Roundup, remove weeds, pave over everything for houses, roads and shopping centers, all without a mention of insect habitat at planning commission meetings.
Wouldn’t we be better off without bugs? Not if we want to find apples, broccoli and almonds on supermarket shelves. Any food or flower that relies on pollination requires insects. If we want to preserve animals, birds and reptiles, the chain of life starts in the ground.
Milman believes the insect Armageddon will be worse than climate warming. The entire food chain depends on those noshing little critters. Even the cleanup of dog poop and dead bodies requires flies and maggots.
How many flies have you seen this year?
“The Insect Crisis” makes the reader wonder why no one is making a big sting about this. Occasionally a media story will surface about the bee-shortage problem. But then we forget and continue sweetening our tea with honey. This book should be required reading in every high school biology class.
The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator by Timothy C. Winegard (non-fiction). On the other hand . . . there’s the mosquito. In themselves, mosquitoes are not deadly. Parasites make them deadly. Parasites use mosquitoes in their own life cycles. When a person or an animal gets bitten by a mosquito, the parasites enter the victim’s blood stream. What results are some of the deadliest diseases known to man: yellow fever, dengue, malaria.
Over 830,000 people per year are killed by mosquito infections. In history, mosquitoes have conquered countries, changed the course of wars, killed off more soldiers than weapons. Even Alexander the Great died from a mosquito bite.
Winegard states that mosquitoes are a major factor in countries near the equator remaining at the bottom in economics and innovation. When a high percentage of the population faces disease and death from hordes of mosquitoes, simple survival takes priority. Deaths among children under 5 is common from mosquito-borne diseases, including infant diarrhea.
Interesting side note: Evolution produced people in Africa whose blood cells developed a 90% resistance to malaria. Sickle cells. Sickle-cell inheritors skirt malaria, but sickle cells die early and can create a shortage of red blood cells, resulting in pain, fatigue, oxygen shortage and early death, especially in high altitudes.
What to do about mosquitoes? Difficult question. Scientists are working on ways to “sterilize” their bites. Eliminating mosquitoes altogether seems counter-productive because of the fish and birds that depend on them for food. Making it impossible for parasites to use them as vectors seems to be the only sensible answer.
This is another good book for high school biology classes.
The Inevitable by Katie Engelhart (non-fiction). What is inevitable? Death. And taxes. Katie Engelhart’s book is not about taxes.
“The Inevitable” follows several real-life stories about people who are suffering and want “death with dignity.” The stories are not maudlin; they are honest. In spite of the hype about vitamins, exercise, lotions and potions, etc., we all know that dying is the hardest thing human beings have to do. This book tells it like it is and researches the question of why we consider it a good deed to put down a suffering dog or cat but unethical to ease a human being out of life with medical supervision.
For people whose religious faith prevents them from considering euthanasia, the negative answer is simple: God forbids it. But more and more people are asking “why would a loving God force us to suffer?” For people who do not share a strict religious answer, the politics of death is daunting. Engelhart shows how the freedom to choose “suicide” helps people who are suffering. Knowing they can get out makes them stay on, and they often die naturally.
I found “The Inevitable” liberating. It helps to know that other people are fearful and attempting to address the “death problem.” It may change one’s politics, too. Abortion is about the freedom to choose. Euthanasia is about the freedom to choose. Alpha and Omega.
My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing (fiction). How do people even dream up plots like this? That was my incredulous response to Samantha Downing’s page-turner.
Everything is here: complex characters, good literary presentation, amazing twists, an ending that leaves the reader stupefied.
The narrator is never named. He’s a devoted father, teaches tennis at a posh club, is married to a wife who sells high-end real estate, has two teen-age children. But the two kids are the least of the trouble.
Without giving anything away, I can say that the plot involves this weird twist: the couple is sexually turned on by planning and executing the deaths of other women. To all outward appearances, even to their children, they are a model couple: good parents, hard workers, organic food buffs, politically and ethically conservative. But underneath? Wow! How to explain this? Downing does a good job of showing, not telling. The mystery is how they get away with it.
For Your Own Good by Samantha Downing (fiction). Another mind-boggling group of characters. The teen-agers are typical, but the adults are weird in lethal ways. The title comes from the English teacher at a respected, private high school, who thinks his grumpy, overbearing, often-unfair teaching style is for his students’ “own good.”
Like “My Lovely Wife,” the reader has to wade through a number of chapters for the action to begin. It’s worth the wait. This is a story about a series of poisonings at an academy for Yale-bound rich kids. Who dunnit? I’m not going to spoil the fun.
Endings tend to be weak points in a lot of books, but Downing knows how to write an ending!
Rabbits for Food by Binnie Kirshenbaum (fiction). With a title like “Rabbits for Food,” nothing can go wrong. The main character has a depressive episode that sends her to the looney bin (her characterization). Her reflection on her fellow travelers is a humorous commentary on modern life: Who are the lunatics – the people “inside,” or the people “outside?” It’s not hard to guess.
The humorous insights in “Rabbits for Food” will have you chuckle and laugh out loud. LOL. So true. So true!
