The Last Lion?

Wow. What a great book for generating discussion. Karen and I have been reading The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932. And we've been discussing it, except I was way behind her. Then Adrian has strong feelings about Churchill, so he and I talk about him. Of course, I really only know stuff about him up to the point where I am in the book. Adrian has read a lot more about him AND he remembers everything that he reads. So, what do you think about Churchill? Here's a few words that have come up: Victorian, duplicitous, conservative, liberal, opinionated, great speaker, bad listener, 19th century man to the end (at least the end of this book.) Okay, the word that describes him the most is fascinating. He knew he would be Prime Minister at some point. Never a doubt. I'd heard bad things about his dad in the past. Two things were bad: he was a horrible, uninterested father and he died of syphilis. But he was also a powerful speaker and member of Parliament. I thought he was just a loser. Winston spent much of this book trying to live up to his father's ideals in Parliament.

His mother, Jenny Jerome, was a piece of work. Both she and her husband were so self-centered they left their son pretty much to himself. Jenny died in her 60's, running down stairs in fashionably high heels and falling. Got gangrene in her broken ankle, it spread, she died. Now you know why I am always careful going down stairs. William Manchester wrote this book. He is always interesting. Read this book.

The Keepsake is a nice little romantic thriller. I don't know if I've ever read Tess Gerritsen before. I will read another. This is about a woman and her daughter who are running from unknown things. We find out what these things are by the end of the book. What could be more satisfying?

Karen and Peter are flying to Virginia at this moment. They will be going to Philadelphia to see the Cezanne exhibit that Eric and I went to recently. Most important to us is that they will be visiting here on Sunday and then next Saturday. Next Saturday Adrian arrives. In between, I will be working my last week in this block of work. Hurray to all that.