February Read/2019/4

Title: Messenger of Truth
Author:  Winspear, Jacqueline
Call Number: F
Book Description from amazon.com:

London, 1931. The night before an exhibition of his artwork opens at a famed Mayfair gallery, the controversial artist Nick Bassington-Hope falls to his death. The police rule it an accident, but Nick's twin sister, Georgina, a wartime journalist and a infamous figure in her own right, isn't convinced.

When the authorities refuse to consider her theory that Nick was murdered, Georgina seeks out a fellow graduate from Girton College, Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and investigator, for help. Nick was a veteran of World War I, and before long the case leads Maisie to the desolate beaches of Dungeness in Kent, and into the sinister underbelly of the city's art world.

In Messenger of Truth, Maisie once again uncovers the perilous legacy of the Great War in a society struggling to recollect itself. But to solve the mystery of Nick's death, Maisie will have to keep her head as the forces behind the artist's fall come out of the shadows to silence her.

Following on the bestselling Pardonable Lies, Jacqueline Winspear delivers another vivid, thrilling, and utterly unique episode in the life of Maisie Dobbs.

My Read:

Page 300--"She said nothing to Georgina about truth, about the instinct that had inspired her to seek Maisie's help. It was not the right moment to speak of the inner voice that instructs us to move in a given direction, even though we know--even though we know and might never admit to such intuition--that to continue on our path is to risk the happiness of those we hold dear."

Another good read in the series.

February Read/2019/3

Title: Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul
Author: Brown, Stuart L.
Call Number: 155 B879P 2009
Book Description from amazon.com:
We've all seen the happiness on the face of a child while playing in the school yard. Or the blissful abandon of a golden retriever racing across a lawn. This is the joy of play. By definition, play is purposeless, all-consuming, and fun. But as Dr. Stuart Brown illustrates, play is anything but trivial. It is a biological drive as integral to our health as sleep or nutrition. We are designed by nature to flourish through play. 

Dr. Brown has spent his career studying animal behavior and conducting more than six-thousand "play histories" of humans from all walks of life-from serial murderers to Nobel Prize winners. Backed by the latest research, Play (20,000 copies in print) explains why play is essential to our social skills, adaptability, intelligence, creativity, ability to problem solve and more. Particularly in tough times, we need to play more than ever, as it's the very means by which we prepare for the unexpected, search out new solutions, and remain optimistic. A fascinating blend of cutting-edge neuroscience, biology, psychology, social science, and inspiring human stories of the transformative power of play, this book proves why play just might be the most important work we can ever do.
My Read:
Page 185--"The hand and the brain need each other--the hand provides the means for interacting with the world and the brain provides method. Neurologically, "a hand is always in search of a brain and a brain is in search of a hand.""
Page 200--"The advantage that countries like the United States, Britain,, France, Germany, Scandinavian nations, and Japan retain is the ability to invent--to dream up solutions to problems that people may not yet even know they have. Nations that remain economically stronger are those that can create intellectual property--and the ability to innovate largely comes out of an ability to play."
Page 201--"A successful life is one in which we are able to fulfill our own basic needs and give or ourselves to others. We are happy when we can live an expansive life, one in which we are aware that we are actively participating in something greater than ourselves-- a part of a loving couple, a friendship, a family, an intellectual, social, or spiritual community."
Page 205--"Making all of life an act of play occurs when we recognize and accept that there may be some discomfort in play, and that every experience has both pleasure and pain."
According to the author, play comes in different ways: i.e. music, sports, art, exercise etc.

Polar bear and Hudson, the husky play

February Read/2019/2

Title: Pardonable Lies
Author: Winspear, Jacqueline
Call Number: F
Book Description from amazon.com:

In the third novel of this bestselling series, London investigator Maisie Dobbs faces grave danger as she returns to the site of her most painful WWI memories to resolve the mystery of a pilot's death.

A deathbed plea from his wife leads Sir Cecil Lawton to seek the aid of Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and investigator. As Maisie soon learns, Agnes Lawton never accepted that her aviator son was killed in the Great War, a torment that led her not only to the edge of madness but to the doors of those who practice the dark arts and commune with the spirit world. In accepting the assignment, Maisie finds her spiritual strength tested, as well as her regard for her mentor, Maurice Blanche. The mission also brings her together once again with her college friend Priscilla Evernden, who served in France and who lost three brothers to the war―one of whom, it turns out, had an intriguing connection to the missing Ralph Lawton.

My Read:

I like the following sentence found in the book:

Page 323--"I'll tell you on the way. I can make mistakes and I did--in not asking the right questions at the right time."

Page 335--"Maurice remained in London before returning to Chelstone, more from concern for Maisie's well-being than his own needs. They spent time together in quiet conversation, each working to repair the fabric of their friendship, so that the past might be remembered with warmth as they worked with the fresh canvas to create a bond for the future. They both knew that her trust in him remained compromised and understood that what had happened could not be undone, only accommodated. But the rupture had brought with it an unanticipated gift. Maisie now felt more independent of her teacher, better able to trust her instincts rather than harking back to her apprenticeship. Yet she knew, too, that to continue her recovery she would need his guidance. She was not out of the woods."

It's a good read and I enjoy the way the author intertwined different cases allowing readers' imagination to render clues. 

February Read/2019

Title: Birds of a Feather
Author: Winspear, Jacqueline
Call Number: F
Book description from amazon.com:
Jacqueline Winspear’s marvelous debut, Maisie Dobbs, won her fans from around the world and raised her intuitive, intelligent, and resourceful heroine to the ranks of literature’s favorite sleuths. Birds of a Feather, its follow-up, finds psychologist and private investigator Maisie Dobbs on another dangerously intriguing adventure in London “between the wars.” It is the spring of 1930, and Maisie has been hired to find a runaway heiress. But what seems a simple case at the outset soon becomes increasingly complicated when three of the heiress’s old friends are found dead. Is there a connection between the woman’s mysterious disappearance and the murders? Who would want to kill three seemingly respectable young women? As Maisie investigates, she discovers that the answers lie in the unforgettable agony of the Great War.
My read:
     Maisie Dobbs Mysteries Series is my friend, Mary's favorite. After Agatha Christie, I have been looking for fiction books to read. Last week I came across Ms. Winspear's novels and I checked out this book two( book one was not available) to begin with. And I love it!
     In the book, "aura," and "meditation" are mentioned many times. This further got me interested in reading more of this author's books. Followed are from pages I found useful for me:
Page 21--"an enclosed area encouraged an enclosed mind. Always take the person to be questioned to a place where there's space, or where they can see few boundaries. Space broadens the mine and gives the voice room to be heard."
Page 36--"One must know how to doubt."
Page 46--"Knowing that at that point Maurice might have cautioned her against anger directed at the self, Maisie quickly sat back in the chair with her eyes closed. She placed her left hand on her solar plexus to become centered, and her right hand across her heart to denote kindness."
Page 143--"Maisie allowed a silence to envelop them, a time in which she composed her body, cleared her thoughts and saw in her mind's eye a connection forming between herself and the man opposite her. She imagined a stream of light emanating from the center of her forehead just above her nose, a bright thread that flowed toward her subject and bathed him with a luminous glow."
Page 194--"I am not at all surprised. As I have said many times, my dear, each case has a way of shining  a light on something we need to know about ourselves."
Page 299--"What I mean is this: Resentment must give way to possibility, anger to acceptance, grief to compassion, disdain to respect--on both sides. I mean change, Mr. Waite. Change. You've remained a successful businessman by embracing change, by mastering it, even when circumstances were against you..."