​“To be clear, impeachment is above all else a political act.”
—-S.E. Cupp


Election season is upon us, and here I sit writing at 5:00 A.M. I very rarely suffered a night of insomnia for the majority of my life, but that changed four years ago. The presidential campaign was so nasty that I began to fear for our country. The rhetoric that spewed every day brought to the forefront a hatred that had been hidden for many years. People who had been afraid to reveal their real feelings were suddenly feeling empowered, and I was feeling powerless.

Four tumultuous years have passed, and I find myself awake in the middle of the night once again. Our country has been torn apart in many ways, but that has happened before, and we survived. I don’t agree with many things that the current administration stands for, but I realize that a large contingency of Americans do agree with his policies.  We vote in a president every four years and then live with those results, so I can accept living the American way. I can even accept a president who does things that I disagree with most of the time, when we have the checks and balances that our forefathers attempted to build into our system.

What I can’t accept...what keeps me up at night...is one party hijacking that system for their personal benefit. During the Nixon debacle, the Republicans stood behind truth and told the President to resign or be impeached. Nixon had, in fact, done good things while in office, but when he allowed corruption to fester and helped cover it up, the Republican Party refused to stand behind him. Country came first!

Where is this proud party now? When the Senate Majority Leader announces that he will support The President during any preceding, he is slapping the faces of all who believe in checks and balances. He declared a verdict before he heard the first witness.  But wait...he has decided to block all witnesses. He has decided to block the search for truth, which is also a slap in the face of our President. He is telling the world that he fears the truth, instead of fairly listening to both sides in order to clear the President’s name.

Sadly, he does not stand alone. Very few in his party are willing to seek the truth because it might hurt them politically. If they truly believe that the impeachment is a sham, then hear all of the facts and vote it down as the Democrats did during the Clinton years. A majority of Americans want to hear the facts, and the Senators should be our representatives, so vote for transparency. Then listen to all of the facts carefully and vote with your conscience. In the same way that I don’t believe that the democrats should find our President guilty without hearing all of the facts, I believe the Republicans owe it to their constituents to hear everything offered on both sides of this issue.

Unfortunately, our current group of Republican Senators have proven time and again that they will do the politically expedient thing for their party and their political career rather than their country. In doing so they make a mockery of our system. In doing so they betray the American people. In doing so they harm the credibility of our President. He deserves better. We deserve better. History will not judge them well.

Speaking of legal messes, Flight Risk by Cara Putman is an exciting legal thriller that just might distract you from the legal thriller we are living every day.

As always a complete review of this book follows my blog.

Happy reading,

- Beverly

​Click on the book cover to order the title mentioned in today's blog

Genre: Legal Thriller/Romance

​Click book cover for Amazon.com

Some books are legal thrillers with a little romance written in, and the reader immediately gets pulled into the mystery. Some books are romance novels with a little mystery written in, and the reader is swept into the romance with little attention given to the mystery. Cara Putnam embraces both genres so completely in her newest novel, Flight Risk, that I have to list it in both genres.

Attorney Savannah Daniels has built a law practice that she is proud of, but her latest clients seem to be keeping something from her. Her family life is a bit troubled, with a sister, Stasi on drugs and a troubled niece, Addy, whom she adores. Her ex-husband, Dustin, betrayed her fifteen years ago and then had a daughter, Addy, with Stasi. Through it all, Savannah has been there for Addy and kept a rather cordial relationship with Dustin.

When he was a young boy, journalist Jett Glover’s dad killed himself over a false newspaper article that destroyed his reputation. Jett became a journalist to assure himself that the truth will always be told. After weeks of research, including trips to the Far East, Jett exposes an international sex trafficking ring that points the finger at a well known baseball player and three associates, one being Dustin who acted as his pilot.

When the story breaks, tragedy follows in the form of murder, a commercial airline crash and problems with Addy and Stasi. The author had me so engaged with her characters, and the plot flowed so well, that I hated to see the book end. She added a bit of romance between Savannah and Jett which lightened the story and gave the reader something to smile at when things around them got tense. I hope Author Putman considers bringing these two back in a follow-up to this book.

- Beverly

​Publisher - Thomas Nelson
Date of Publication - April 7, 2020

​“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
—-ERA Amendment

The Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced in Congress in 1923. It simply gave men and women equal rights. It wasn’t until 1946 that it finally went before Congress, and it failed to pass. There were 11 women in Congress that year - 2.1%.  The Senate finally approved it in 1972, and submitted to the state legislatures for ratification within seven years, but despite a deadline extension to June 1982, was not ratified by the requisite majority of 38 states.

The Article is a simple one:
“Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
"Sec. 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
"Sec. 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification."

In the seventies and eighties conservative religious and political groups fought loudly against it. Women were made to believe it might harm them. They feared that they would lose protections they enjoyed, such as exemption from military duty. They also feared that they might lose economic support from husbands.

I never understood what it was/is that conservative men feared/fear. This week the state of  Virginia became the 38th State to vote for ratification. Imagine...it took 97 years to get 38 out of 50 states to agree that women should be treated equally...but they did...finally. Now imagine this...there are still people trying to stop the ERA from being added to our constitution. Since it is well past the original seven year time frame and its extension, several conservative state officials and a conservative congress promise to block it.

I see the possible complications in an amendment that offers equality in this manner. There will be challenges galore, as there have been to each amendment, and our system will handle those challenges as they always have done. If we block everything that has the possibility of challenge then we will stifle all growth. Are women so very frightening to these men that the thought of facing them on an even playing field becomes impossible? Come on guys...you can do it. You don’t need to tie one arm behind our back to maintain an equal footing. Or do you?

I spent the week reading House on Fire by Joseph Finder and, as always, he didn’t disappoint. Finder is one of his genre’s best story tellers, and this book just helped prove that again.

As always a complete review of this book follows my blog.

Happy reading,

- Beverly

​Click on the book cover to order the title mentioned in today's blog

Genre: Thriller

​Click book cover for Amazon.com

Joseph Finder searches out the perfect story, and he tells it well. His ability to flesh out his characters is masterful, and his plots are captivating. In House on Fire he takes a most relevant topic and puts it into a story that we can’t put down.

Nick Heller is a reoccurring protagonist in several of Finder’s books. He is definitely the heroic figure, with a military background and a penchant for the moral high ground. This novel opens with the death of his good friend, Sean, a man who saved his life. Sean was killed by a drug overdose. He had been addicted to opioids after returning home wounded from war.

Nick is approached at the funeral by Sukie Kimball, daughter of a pharmaceutical kingpin,  whose company sells opioids even though her father is well aware of the dangers and buries the evidence. She hires Nick to find the evidence and help her expose her father and the company.
​
This is actually a bit of a family dynasty story as well as a thriller. There is the domineering father and his foreign fiancé and the spoiled children who are more interested in money than each other. Finding out who the “bad guy” really is puts Nick in constant danger, a place with which he is quite familiar, and his developing relationship with Sukie doesn’t make things easier.

House on Fire is a great read for the new year, and my only disappointment is having to wait another year for his next book.

- Beverly


Publisher - Dutton
Date of Publication - January 21, 2020

“You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.”

—-Brian Tracy



We at Madderlyreview wish everyone a very happy and healthy new year and an equally wonderful new decade. May we all handle whatever comes our way with the most positive of outlooks and most of all, may we always take the kinder paths.

We decided to be a little more adventurous this New Years Eve, and it turned out to be quite successful. For more years than I can remember Arthur and I join Judy and Allan for an afternoon movie followed by fast food or pizza take out. We learned early on that trying to eat in a nice restaurant on New Years Eve is usually an epic fail. We always finished the evening with a game or two and then watched the ball drop in Times Square.

Instead this year we each booked a room in the Hyatt Delray Beach. Down-town Delray closes off the streets to traffic for the evening and invites families of all ages to enjoy the fun. There are activities for kids, food trucks, entertainment at the various bandshells, thousands of people and fireworks exploding into the night. The Hyatt is right in the middle of all of the fun, so we parked early and spent a fine night walking, eating and participating in the excitement.

We had dinner reservations at Elisabetta’s, and we were pleasantly surprised. Although every seat was taken, the service was efficient and remarkably pleasant. The food was as amazing as it always is, and we never felt rushed. Arthur’s black pasta with shrimp was perfectly and yummily prepared, and Allan’s frutti di mare was chock full of succulent shellfish with a mouth tingling sauce. Judy and I had Corvina, a white, sweet fish, with a perfectly matched sauce that accented the taste of the sea. The pasta side that we opted for was simply prepared with evoo, garlic, Calabrian chili and black pepper, but we agreed it was the best rendition of a pasta side that we ever ate.

Being too full for immediate dessert, we wandered through the throngs of people until we came upon Proper Ice Cream. These people know how to turn out interesting flavors, and their portions are huge, but they are a bit pricey. It was fun running into people we knew in this enclave of celebration, but after the fireworks display we were ready to collapse, so we walked back to the hotel( yay...no dodging drunk drivers to get there) and watched the ball drop and a new decade begin.

There is no doubt that politics in the next year will bring out the worst in some people, and I am determined to rise above it. I will remind myself that everyone is entitled to his/her own opinions and try not to foist my thoughts upon my neighbors. I will continue hoping that kindness prevails, because if we can’t overcome the hatred that the last few years brought out, then we are doomed to an existence without joy. There will always be the haters, but if the rest of us speak a little louder and smile a little wider than maybe we can drown them out. I am up for the challenge...how about you?

Speaking about haters, I must say that the book that I read/reviewed last week, The Network by L.C. Shaw featured one of the most hateful characters I have come across since Hannibal Lecter. Shaw’s book had me going from page one. Definitely a book to read with the lights on.

As always a complete review of this book follows my blog.

Happy reading,

- Beverly

​Click on the book cover to order the title mentioned in today's blog

Genre: Thriller

​Click book cover for Amazon.com

L.C. Shaw’s book, The Network, was a great way to finish off my year of reading. It was well written, exciting and informative in many ways. My one complaint is that I believe the author spent too much time moralizing throughout the book. It was difficult to tell if the religion and moralizing were used to further a plot that centered on good versus evil, or it was Ms. Shaw  just using this book to further her own agenda. It did make me uncomfortable at times.

The story was an exciting one though, and the characters were well developed. The hero, journalist Jack Logan, is visited by a frantic Senator Malcolm Phillips who asks him to protect Taylor, who happens to be Phillips’ wife and Logan’s ex-girlfriend. Phillips is sure that he will soon be murdered and needs Jack to make things right. If the beginning seems a bite trite, fear not...there is nothing about this book that is humdrum.

The twists and turns take us through the past and the present, and the evil characters give new meaning to the term evil. Shaw helps us to understand how the antagonist became so hateful, but it is still difficult to accept that a human being can be so devoid of emotion and empathy.

There is a bit of Dan Brown in The Network, as the characters search for old coins purported to give them eternal life, and I enjoyed the little bit of history thrown in here and there. The obvious feelings between Jack and recently widowed Taylor seemed odd at times, but I am a sucker for a good love story.

All in all this was a good book, and I am looking forward to the next offering from L.C. Shaw. Hopefully the next book will be less moralistic and concentrate on the author's obvious ability to tell a good story.

- Beverly


Publisher - Harper Paperbacks
Date of Publication - December 17, 2019

The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation”
—-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


Last week I wrote about art, so I decided to connect it with my other love...literature. As a teacher I was determined to give each of my students a love of reading. That is not an easy task in high school, after habits have been ingrained, but my love of the written word has gotten me through so many tough times that I knew I had to pass it on to my students.

First of all I had to make them understand that reading was personal, and they didn’t have to like the same books I liked or the ones their family chose. They had to find the words that spoke to them. Those words could have been written by Shakespeare, Poe or Charles Schultz for all I cared, as long as those words spoke to the reader. It could have been in fiction, non-fiction, poetry or graphic novel format. The only rule was that it had to hit you on an emotional level and make you feel something.

Unfortunately, the very nature of our curriculum in high school English fed into the students’ fears of reading. We had to insist the students told us “what the author meant in this piece, “ or “ what would be a good title for this story.” The problem is that there is not one good title or just one interpretation of what the author means.
Let’s take one of my favorite poems, for example...

The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


As a young student I was sure Frost was happy with his choice. After all, it felt right...it has made all the difference. More recently I reread it for the millionth time and saw the words “I shall be telling this with a sigh,” and it hit me. A sigh. He regretted his choice...but wait...it could have been a sigh of contentment. Maybe I was right from the beginning. Since Robert Frost is long gone, it is difficult to really know what was in his mind when he wrote those words, but the curriculum insisted that my students pick the “correct” answer. My solution was to tell them what the teacher’s edition told me was the correct answer to put down on an exam but encourage them to think outside the box everywhere other than the test. Their creative answers during discussions were the true critical thinking moments that a teacher looks for, and no answer was ever wrong during discussion time.

The love of literature does more than entertain us. It strengthens our minds and lightens our souls. It takes us on adventures we could never experience otherwise, and it helps us to plan for those adventures that are actually within our reach. With all of the electronic competition that today’s youth is being introduced to, a simple book seems hardly worth the effort to them. They don’t realize just how much fun their imaginations can be after being spoon-fed their entertainment since their high chair days. It is time they realize the joy a book can bring.

The best way to teach your child to love literature is by example. Spend an hour reading with them instead of watching television or playing video cases. Have a family book club where you all read the same book and discuss it during family dinners. Extend their bed-times by a half hour if they spend the time reading. Buy them books, magazines, graphic novels...whatever it takes for them to wake up to the joy of reading.

Speaking of joy in reading, my review this week was a fun one. Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving by Mo Rocca was interesting and entertaining, giving us expanded information on people, places and things that we never knew we were lacking. Enjoy.

As always a complete review of this book follows my blog.

Happy reading,

- Beverly

​Click on the book cover to order the title mentioned in today's blog

Genre: Non-Fiction

Click book cover for Amazon.com

Mo Rocca is an author, a corespondent, a television host and an all around funny guy. Apparently he has a podcast entitled "Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving", and he decided to use his research to write a book of the same name. It is resplendent with historical facts, tidbits of gossip and lots of laughs. Rocca’s style is easy to read, and his information is of interest to us all.

In Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving he expands the obituaries of people such as Thomas Paine, whose funeral drew a mere six mourners, while his contributions to America were boundless. He imagines what Bill Cosby’s obituary will be like, and he is apparently fascinated by Audrey Hepburn.

It is not just people who tickle his fancy. He tells us about dragons, mermaids and unicorns. We learn about sports teams and sports figures, and we are told a bit about the station wagon. Even Frankenberry cereal gets a nod in Rocca’s book. Apparently when the cereal was first introduced, the dye in it turned children’s stools strawberry ice cream pink. Children loved it, parents were horrified and General Mills had to find a new dye.

On a personal note I enjoyed the stories he told about historical figures the most, but everything he wrote was interesting, and I learned more than I thought I would when I first picked up the book. In fact, I am going to search out that podcast later today.

- Beverly
​

Publisher - Simon & Schuster
Date of Publication - November 5, 2019

Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”
—-Cesar A. Cruz

Arthur and I have always loved art, and we are eclectic in our taste. I suppose if I was forced to chose, Impressionism would be my favorite, but each style is captivating in its own way. It fascinates me when five people look at the same painting, and everyone sees something totally different in it. As in most things in life, who we are interprets what we see, and this can lead to some very lively discussions around a museum offering.

Our taste in art can certainly change through the years, too. I never liked the pre-renaissance and renaissance section of any museum. I found them unbearably stuffy until I walked through the Uffizi Museum in Florence, Italy with a guide who truly loved his job. He made the paintings come alive and showed us what the artists were trying to convey behind the obvious fat cherubs and religious figures. While I wouldn’t chose to hang one in my home, my appreciation for Botticelli and his ilk has grown by leaps and bounds.

Then there is the abstract art of Jackson Pollack. I am still trying to get there with his designs. Don’t get me wrong, his method was fascinating. He would lay a canvas down and splash household paint onto the horizontal surface. This allowed him to view and painting from all angles. Maybe it was his color choices, but his work always looks like my counter after I attempt to polish my own fingernails with leftover polish. On the other hand, some people can stare at his work for hours.

That is the beauty of art. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, which brings me to Miami earlier this month. For art lovers, Miami is a dream city. The Art Deco style of South Beach, with its abundance of colors and architecture is an experience waiting to be explored. Meanwhile, the city of Miami offers so many little artistic enclaves where buildings act as canvases and artists express themselves for a waiting public.

Miami also attracts exhibitions several times a year, with the biggest event of all...Art Basel. For those who are unfamiliar, Art Basel presents in three locations throughout every year...Hong Kong, China, Basel, Switzerland, and Miami, Florida. According to their literature:
“In our American show, leading galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa show significant work from the masters of modern and contemporary art, as well as the new generation of emerging stars. Paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs, films, and editioned works of the highest quality are on display in the main exhibition hall.”

While Art Basel goes on each year in Miami, another well thought of exhibition of art takes place. Art Miami is populated with the works of amazing artists whose pieces are shown in various locations throughout the area. According to their literature:
“Art Miami maintains a preeminent position in America's modern and contemporary art fair market and is globally recognized as a primary destination for the acquisition of the most important works from the 20th and 21st centuries.”

We look forward to our art adventure in Miami each December and find new artists to follow each year. Unfortunately, we were unable to attend this year, but it apparently kept its reputation of presenting the extraordinary. As much as I believe that there is value in all art, I am wondering if Marizio Cattelan's "Comedian" is perhaps “The Emperor’s New Clothing” of the Art world. This artist, who often aims for a bit of shock value, sold several editions of this piece at Art Basel. “Comedian” is simply a ripe banana duct taped to the wall. Going price...$120,000. Yikes! The fact that the banana (purchased from a grocer in Miami) needs to be replaced every few days did not seem to deter the buyers.

Before you scoff and turn away, think about it. True art is meant to evoke our thoughts and conversation. Whether it is hanging in a museum in Paris or being sold on the street corner in Manhattan, if we are reflecting on its value as an art piece, than it is an art piece. Subversive street artist Banksy, whose art pieces are valued at tens of thousands of dollars set up a stand in NYC with many of his pieces. He priced them all at $60.00 and sat an anonymous gentleman next to the stand to sell his wares. No one realized that they were passing by original Banksy’s, and by the end of the day only three had sold. These same pieces in a museum would have been extolled as amazing art pieces.

Banksy’s pieces and Cattelan’s banana are as controversial in their way as Serrano’s Piss Christ was years ago. These pieces stimulated conversation. They angered some people and made others laugh. They were on display for our enjoyment and there to make us think. What better examples of art...something to be appreciated for its beauty or emotional power. Yep...for me Van Gogh delivers beauty and Cattelan delivers emotional power, and there is room enough in my world for both.

Words deliver emotional power too, and The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton will do just that for you. This is a perfect gift for the young women in your life.

As always a complete review of this book follows my blog.

Happy reading,

- Beverly

Click on the book cover to order the title mentioned in today's blog

​Genre: Non-Fiction

​Click book cover for Amazon.com

One can love Hillary Clinton or one can hate her, but no one can deny that she is a gutsy woman. She has always gone after what she wants with an unbroken focus, while always protecting those she loves. She shows the same courage and resilience that the women in this book do, and generations of girls will look up to her as they reach for the stars through the now broken glass ceiling.

Hillary and Chelsea realized the importance of having someone to look up to, and they realized that there aren’t enough books featuring women who have paved the way for us, our daughters and their daughters to follow. They decided to feature some of the strongest women in The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience, and I am learning so much as I read their stories.

Nancy Drew was my first hero, and although she was fictional, she demonstrated a strength that little girls needed to see. While other girls were simpering over their boyfriends, she was telling Ned what he needed to do to help her solve the cases she undertook. She taught me a great deal about being a strong woman, and I thank the Clintons for adding her to their collection.

Anne Sullivan, and her work with the indomitable Helen Keller made me realize the difference that a patient teacher can make in the lives of his/her students, and it was Annie, as much as my own mother (a college grad and teacher when most women were housewives) who sent me down my own path. When I lost patience in the classroom, I would think of Annie Sullivan and get my own act together. The Clintons addition of Helen and Annie was a no-brainer.

I like the way both women contributed throughout the book. Seeing things from both perspectives made for an interesting read. They chose women from all walks of life, some famous and some not, to show the reader the strength that women display. I enjoyed the quotes they presented from various women as each was introduced to us. It is so important for young girls to see role models that they can emulate. Astronaut Sally Ride’s quote, “you can’t be what you can’t see” is true for so many young people, even though many in this book broke ceiling after ceiling in their quest to the top.

This is a well written book that is fun to read. Unfortunately politics will stop some from purchasing this book, and that is a shame. My suggestion...a great book for every teen girl on your list.

- Beverly
​

Publisher - Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition
Date of Publication - ​October 1, 2019