The Short Reign of Pippin IV, by John Steinbeck. Viking, 1957

In this short piece of political satire, the French government decides to bring the monarchy back. They settle on Pippin Heristal, an amateur astronomer who lives on the income from some vineyards. As a constitutional monarch, there isn’t really much useful he can do, and he finds himself obliged to live uncomfortably in a palace, and put up with an infinite number of hangers-on, all who have inherited positions that suddenly are providing them with money. He just wishes to go back to his old life. His practical wife, Marie, figures that running a country should be like running a household, and her best friend, a nun who was formerly a show girl, gives sage advice. As does an old man who lives by a lake, who Pippin meets on one of his escapes from the palace, which he manages disguised as a common man, riding a motor scooter. It goes to his feminist, politically active daughter’s head and she instantly turns into a Disney princess.

While written in 1957, a good lot of the satire is still relatable today. People and politics really haven’t changed much. The book pokes fun at America just as much as at France, and it’s a quick, sort of fun read if you’re a Steinbeck fan- although it’s very different from any of his other books. Four stars.   

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Confessions of the Fox, by Jordy Rosenberg. One World, 2018

There are a lot of layers going on in this book, so many that I suspect I’m not educated enough to even notice. It’s a story within a story; it’s a wild adventure story and also a statement about how people of color, the queer and the trans people have been erased from history. It also mentions colonialism, privacy issues, Marxism, women’s rights, and I’m sure lots of other things that I missed.

The first narrative is that of Dr. R. Voth, a transman in academia who comes across an old manuscript at the university library’s used book sale. When he reads it, he discovers it’s the biography of Jack Sheppard, who was a real historical person who attained legendary status. The date on the manuscript is 1724, and as Voth reads and transcribes it, he puts numerous footnotes in it. Some are just to let us know what the antique slang means, but as the story goes on, the footnotes take on a more autobiographical status and tells us Voth’s own story, which is even more convoluted and much more depressing. They also become very political in nature.

Jack’s story starts with him as P, a young girl sold into slavery to a furniture maker. Shackled to their bed at night, Jack learns to pick locks with ease, and by his teens is using his nights to explore London. Wearing male clothing and tightly binding his breasts, he escapes his owner and lands in the room- and the arms- of Bess Khan, an Asian sex worker. His adventures include running from both the police and the local crime boss, avoiding the plague, and a truly horrifying gender confirmation surgery. Despite the odds against them, Jack and Bess determine to be together. Despite all the other reviewers calling Jack ‘trans’, I swear he is intersex, identifying as male. This group of people seem even less understood than trans people.

There are so many characters that at times I couldn’t keep track of who was who- this wasn’t helped by having the two narratives weaving in and out of each other. Did I enjoy the book? Yes, a great deal. But a lot of the political references seemed grafted crudely on, rather than being a smooth part of the story, and that made them rather jolting- and not in the mind-opening, good way. It felt at times like I was reading an early draft, rather than a polished product. Because of that, I can only give it four stars. 

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I received this book free from the Amazon Vine program in return for an unbiased review. 

Neither of these things influenced my review. 

The Gannet’s Gastronomic Miscellany, by Killian Fox. Hachette Book Group, 2018

This is an enjoyable little book about food. It’s trivia that spans the millenniums as well as the world. There is no organization (and no table of contents or index); you can open it anywhere and read a bit anywhere. It’s just little tidbits of info. A great bathroom/waiting room/guest room book. It is mostly a nice presentation- nice cover, sewn in bookmark- but the paper is very thin and cheap looking! It would still make a decent little hostess gift, though. Four stars out of five. 

The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something- anything- from Amazon they will give me a few cents. 

I received this book from the Amazon Vine program in return for an unbiased review.

Neither of these things influenced my review. 

Design for Life, from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Rizzoli International Publications, 1997

The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum houses a huge collection of objects, and this book features photos of 500 of them, from typewriters to wallpaper, luggage tags to stage designs, and dinner plates to toilets. Everything humans make has design, be it good, bad, or indifferent, but we don’t normally think about it. Does the design of the object serve its purpose, or is it clumsy to use? Is it beautiful as well as practical? Whether the item is primarily designed by an artist or by an engineer, it’s all designed by the human imagination. I loved looking through this book and seeing examples of jewelry, clothing, furniture, cars, tableware, houses, advertising graphics, and more. Short on text but long on pictures, it’s an easy read as an introduction to design. Five stars. 

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This did not affect my review.

The Mirage Factory: Illusion, Imagination, and the Invention of Los Angeles, by Gary Krist. Crown, 2018

I’ve read a good bit about the early days of Los Angeles, so there were parts of this book that had me wondering if I’d read this one before. Obviously, no. But there are just only so many ways of describing an event.

Krist tells LA’s story by focusing on three people who were important in shaping the development of old LA: William Mulholland, D.W. Griffith, and Aimee Semple McPherson. Mulholland was the engineer who found a (temporary) solution to Los Angeles’s lack of water: drain the Owens Valley of what they thought was ample water. It was him that allowed the green lawns and lush gardens that existed for decades, before water restrictions hit. D.W. Griffith was a director working during the birth of motion pictures, who made movies an art instead of hamminess - and also made one of the most racist movies ever, The Birth of a Nation. McPherson was an evangelist who moved from the mid-west to LA to found a church that is still going- and created a space for non-mainline religions in the city. All three shaped LA; all three ended up more or less in disgrace.

What makes this book different from the other “Old LA” books I’ve read is the amount of detail Krist has put into it. He’s dug a lot deeper than most others. Even though I knew the stories of Mulholland and Griffith, their stories held my attention- especially the part about the St. Francis dam failure that killed 400 people- I had never heard of that event! The chapters alternate between the three main characters; they never weave together even though they all were working during the same era. Enjoyable to read and full of facts. Four stars. 

The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something- anything- from Amazon, they will give me a few cents. 

I received my copy of this book free from Net Galley in return for an honest review. 

Neither of these things influenced my review.