“Down and Out in Paris and London” ©1933 by George Orwell
A young English man, down on his luck in Paris, lives in poverty and finds a grueling job at a hotel restaurant. With the promise of a job in London, he moves back, only to find he has a month to wait before he can start his new job. He joins the hordes of homeless who walk all day doing various things for small money and stays at shelters at night.
The stories are interesting, if rather horrific. The author discusses causes and effects of extreme poverty as well as some ideas of how to make life better for at least some of these people.
“Treasure Island” ©1883 by Robert Louis Stevenson
Young Jim lives in England with his parents who own a boarding house and bar. A Pirate rents a room and soon he is followed by others who are looking for his treasure.
When the pirate dies, Jim finds his map and with the local Squire and Doctor plans to go to “Treasure Island” for the fortune.
Unfortunately, the Squire is duped into hiring mostly pirates led by Long John Silver who is posing as the ship’s cook.
All is well until they arrive at Treasure Island when mutiny breaks out and several battles occur between the now exposed pirates and the small group of others, one of whom is Jim. Jim helps defeat the pirates, save the ship and recover the treasure.
Fun adventure story!
“Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” ©2010 by Helen Simonson
A sweet story set in in a small village in England. Major Pettigrew in a widower in his 60’s. After his younger brother dies, he become friends with a shopkeeper, Mrs. Ali, who is a widow and Pakistani.
As these two older people find solace, comfort, friendship and love together, they also run into the younger generation who want to control their respective elders and cultural differences.
As the two navigate their families, Major Pettigrew rescues Mrs. Ali and her nephew and finds peace with his son. He lets go of old hurts and keeps good memories of his brother.
Solid story.
“Overture to Death” ©1939 by Ngaio Marsh
A small village group decides to put on a play as a fund-raiser for a new piano. Throw in a couple of gossipy spinster busybodies, a young couple in love, a sweet, but harried Rector, a new comer with her sights on the local doctor and you know trouble is brewing. On opening night, one of the spinsters is shot dead while playing the opening overture. It takes Inspector Alleyn to put all the varied pieces together in a very engaging and page turning way to solve the mystery.
“The Problem of Pain” ©1940 by C.S. Lewis
This was a book that introduced me to many new concepts. Or presented known concepts in a new way.
The gist of it, I think, is: God is Love and God is Omnipotent and God is Good. God gave his creatures (humans) free will. When we follow God’s perfect will and are one with him, that is when we are most free.
But humans like to be ‘in control’ and go our own way. Pain is one way God grabs our attention; often when we are miserable, we seek God, and in these moments of more pure submission to God’s will we are in relationship with Him. God does not take away our pain or suffering because by doing so our free will would also be taken away.
It was, at times, hard to understand and I’m not sure that I ‘got it’ completely or agree with everything C.S. Lewis was saying, but it was very thought provoking.
“Journey to the Hangman” ©1959 by Arthur W. Upfield
This book is one in a series featuring Detective-Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte (Bony). It is set in 1950’s Australia. I enjoyed the descriptions of the Australian outback very much.
Detective-Inspector Bony has been sent to a distant town to solve three murders. The mystery was nice and twisty and introduced the reader to many aborigine customs.
Somewhat slow paced, but I enjoyed it.