Hello everyone. I hope all of you are enjoying my blog. My birthday is this Saturday, March 2nd (mark it in your calendars). I plan on having a subdued celebration. Yes, books will be involved, and probably Chinese food. And this blog will also be on my mind. I have a lot of book and blog goodness in store for March, including revisiting an author who’s first book was made into a very popular TV show, a reading to reels post, and a retro review. I am just so excited for this blog. Thanks for your continuous support. I love it more than I can say.
Anne Montgomery, whose book Wild Horses on the Salt I reviewed in late 2020, is back with her latest novel, Wolf Catcher. And it’s quite the adventure.
In 1939, archeologists discovered something spectacular and mysterious in a place called Ridge Ruin in Arizona. They found a long-deceased man from centuries ago. This ancient man was outfitted in turquoise and beaded jewelry. He was also surrounded by intricately-carved swords made of wood. Some of those on this archeological dig, the Hopi workers, just knew these swords meant something. This ancient man was a magician. Yet, something about this man was different. After close examination, it appeared that this magician had European features and physical build. How could this be? Europeans hadn’t discovered the North American continent until several centuries later, right?
Back in the 12th century, an active volcano altered the landscape causing the local residents to move away and find a new home with different tribal members. Some of the new members were able to fit it, but others, alas, weren’t so fortunate.
Now let’s fast forward to the modern day. Meet Kate Butler. Kate used to work as a television reporter but that career is in the past. Now she is working as a freelance journalist using her well-honed investigative skills and experience to write articles. Kate finds out about this man, this magician, and learning he was quite different from a majority of the people who lived in the area at the time, she knew she must know more about him. Adventure awaits…and danger. Poachers are now ransacking this ancient ruin and trying to sell its antiquities on the black market.
Kate is not daunted. She is fearless. And she must get the story behind the story. Who is this mysterious man of a bygone time discovered in 1939? Where did he come from? Why was he so different from the others? And was he welcomed into the local tribe? It appears so.
But Wolf Catcher is not just a story about Kate and her fellow adventurers who guide and help her along this trek. Wolf Catcher also goes back in time to the 12th century, where we learn more about the Magician, and those who make up his world, especially a young woman named Kaya who was welcomed into the tribe, and now acts as a healer offering her loving and knowledgeable act of wellness to the tribe. When she meets the Magician she can’t help but be drawn to him. The Magician is so different that the rest of the tribe, much do to his physicality. And in kind, he is drawn to her. Together they learn from each other, and share their well-honed wisdom. And slowly, but surely, we learn more about The Magician and how he ended up at Ridge Ruin living amongst the tribe.
In the modern day, Kate is learning so much about this mysterious man and the world that surrounded him. She also makes the quick realization that some nefarious activity is going on when it comes to the antiquities that have been discovered through the archeological dig from the thirties. And soon she’s going to find out that someone she knows is involved with these sleazy shenanigans. Is her life in danger? Will she make it out alive to tell the story of the Magician?
Wolf Catcher seamlessly weaves the story of the Magician and Kate Butler going back and forth from the 12th century to today. There are a lot of twists, turns, and suspenseful moments, and also a lot of surprises. The Magician is one quite compelling fellow, and both Kate and Kaya are fully-dimensional women characters. Plus, there is so much to learn in this book. Montgomery clearly put her reporting skills to work, and thoroughly did her research to give us such a compelling book. If you want to be educated as well as entertained, I highly recommend Wolf Catcher.
With her star-making turn as a cast member of the iconic late night television comedy sketch show “Saturday Night Live,” and her recent hilarious stint as a guest host of “The Daily Show,” Leslie Jones a comedic force of nature. It seems like she came out of nowhere, and was an overnight success. But this overnight success of Ms. Jones was decades in the making. And Jones discusses everything from her childhood, to getting into comedy as a college student, to her success today in her honest and funny memoir, Leslie “F*cking Jones.
After a brief foreward by Jones’ fellow stand up comic and friend, Chris Rock. Jones gets down to business by first going down memory lane, and talking about her childhood. Leslies Jones was born Annette Leslie Jones in 1967. It wasn’t long before she abandoned her given first name and decided to go by her middle name, Leslie. She was a military brat, who along with her parents, and her younger brother, moved around the country.
Growing up wasn’t exactly a day in the park for the young Jones. She was picked on for being black, tall, and often, the new kid in town. She often dealt with abuse at home. She recalls kicking a puppy outside of a trailer when she was a little girl, and in hindsight, Jones believes this vicious act (which now horrifies her) was in reaction to feeling powerless. She had to dominate something, so she dominated this puppy in a brutal way.
But Jones did have something going for her. She excelled at basketball (it helps she’s six feet tall). This got her a college scholarship, but basketball and getting involved with a much older man was more important than going to class and acing her exams. However, it was in college, where Jones discovered comedy. She always had the ability to make people laugh, and being on stage was electrifying. It was from that moment, Jones knew she wanted to make comedy her career.
Of course, this comedy career didn’t exactly take off right away, and Jones dealt with a lot of struggles. She had to hold a regular job (not exactly easy or fun) while trying to get comedy gigs. Audiences could be welcoming or they could be brutal. She dealt with a lot of crooked managers, and didn’t always get paid properly for her performances. There is also a lot of animosity from some comics, but Jones also came close to some of them who showed her a lot of support and encouraged her to keep developing her comedy style and performance.
Jones also had to deal with family strife. Her parents had a less than happy marriage, and both suffered from severe health issues. Her mother was in a hospital from the time, Jones was a teenager. And both of them died when Jones was a barely an adult. It must have shaken Jones to lose parents when she was still so young. And her younger brother got seriously messed up and was dealing drugs. This lifestyle caught up to him and he died in 2009. Jones also dealt with shitty jobs, money woes, bad roommates, and even worse boyfriends. She also had a run in with the law.
It seemed to take forever, but Jones finally grabbed the gold ring of comedic success when she was hired by Saturday Night Live. She first started out as a writer, but was later made a cast member. She was funny and loud, and brought a new voice to the show. She also was cast in the all-female remake of Ghostbusters, and she is brutally honest about the horrific sexism the cast faced, and all the racism that was thrown at her.
Leslie F*cking Jones is raw and deeply candid. Jones never shies away from the rough stuff of growing up, being a black woman in comedy, and the ups and downs of her career. She’s made a name for herself in a business that is extremely tough. And love how much she appreciates all the people who have helped her along the way, and the friendships she still holds dear (her and Kate McKinnon are total besties.
Whether you’re a fan of Leslie Jones, or just want to know what it’s like to be a woman of color in comedy and show business, you can’t go wrong with reading Leslie F*cking Jones.
The novel, Rebecca, Not Becky by Christine Platt and Catherine Wigginton Greene is the tale of two Millennial age women, one white and one Black, as they navigate raising children, taking care of elderly relatives, managing their marriages, and dealing with the thorny topic of race, bigotry, and race relations.
Meet De’Andrea Whitman. She just left her successful career as a lawyer, and not by chance, and is now settled in Rolling Hills, Virginia with her husband Malik and their little girl, Nina. The Whitmans have moved to Rolling Hills to be closer to Malik’s mother who has dementia and is living in a care facility called Memory Village. The Whitmans used to live in Atlanta and found a sense of place within the Black community. De’Andrea stays in touch with her old Atlanta friends and doesn’t know if she can find a home in the very white Rolling Hills.
Now meet Rebecca Myland. She used to go by Becky, but with the name Becky being used as a euphemism for clueless basic white bitches. Rebecca is a stay at home mom who lives with her husband Todd and their two daughters Lyla and Isabella in Rolling Hills. And like De’Andrea, she also has a mother in law at Memory Village.
Rebecca is thrilled when she finds out a Black family has moved to Rolling Hills. She hopes to befriend the Whitmans, which will allow her to use all the knowledge she has gained when it comes to race as a diversity leader at her daughters’ school and as a member of an anti-racist book club. And it does come across like Rebecca might treat this black family as an experiment instead of seeming them as unique individuals.
De’Andrea is feeling adrift and depressed in Rolling Hills. She’s dealing with the heavy burden of running a household, raising Nina, and being there for Malike’s mother. De’Andrea feels useless without her law career and she misses her friends in Atlanta. Is she going to find a sense of community in the white bread enclave of Rolling Hills?
De’Andrea’s therapist comes up with an assignment. De’Andrea should try to befriend a white woman. Not surprisingly, De’Andrea is a bit apprehensive. She doesn’t want to have a friendship that feels forced. And can she really fit in with the privileged white ladies of Rolling HIlls?
But then De’Andrea’s daughter Nina becomes besties with Rebecca’s daughter Isabella. The two little girls have bonded in their kindergarten class. This means De’Andrea has to deal with Rebecca at school drop offs and pick ups, various school functions, and at play dates for Nina and Isabella.
At first, De’Andrea tries to keep Rebecca at arms length. But begrudgingly, she begins to get involved with some of Rebecca’s social activities and social circle. Rebecca can be a bit too much when it comes to being the “white savior.” And to be honest, De’Andrea comes a across as a bit stand-offish and narrowminded. But at times, it is quite understandable why she would question the motives of a privileged white woman like Rebecca.
But De’Andrea and Rebecca soon bond over similar life experiences. Both are dealing with raising children and elder care issues. Both are trying to keep their marriages strong. And both are trying to navigate the racial and social issues that affect Rolling Hills.
Then De’Andrea and Rebecca join forces to bring down a Confederate soldier’s statue in Rolling Hills. A lot of the town’s people also want to bring the offending statue down. But due to a place like Rolling Hills being in the deep South plenty of the town’s citizens want to keep the offensive statue up because or “heritage” or “history” or some rot. De’Andrea and Rebecca learn through all of this that people are stronger when they work together.
Rebecca, Not Becky, in the hands of better writers, could have really been a fantastic read. It covers many of the current issues we face today-race, bigotry, and social changes. It also covers the everyday issues so many women face-raising children, running a household, elder care, and trying to make their marriages thrive. But in the less capable writing talents of Platt and Wigginton Greene, these issues and situations never go very deep. Plus, when Rebecca, Not Becky goes into some intriguing story lines, the writing just putters out. It’s quite disappointing.
And there’s the two main characters, De’Andrea and Rebecca. I don’t expect characters to be flawless, but both ladies are not likable. Both of them come across as conceited and full of themselves. There’s a lot of name-dropping, slang that won’t age well, and vapid texts in place of decent dialogue. It’s as if both of these women were the real housewives of Rolling Hills rather than fully fleshed out characters who are compelling.
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