I’ve been reading Lois McMaster Bujold’s short stories and novels for over 30 years. Bujold Is a born story-teller and her tales are clever and fun.

Miles, Mystery & Mayhem (2003) collects a variety of stories full of action and wit. Cetaganda (1996) takes Lieutenant Lord Miles Vorkosigan and his cousin Ivan to the home world of the Cetagandan Empire to represent Barrayar at the state funeral of the dowager Empress Lisbet, mother of the current emperor, the haut Fletchir Giaja. Miles and Ivan quickly become entangled in an internal Cetagandan plot when they arrive at a nearly deserted docking bay, much to their puzzlement. After a fight with a stranger, Miles and Ivan find a strange device.

Suspecting a political plot to implicate their home planet of Barrayar, Miles and Ivan conduct their own secret investigation. “I stopped the Cetagandian Empire from breaking up into eight aggressively expanding units. I derailed plans for a war by some of them with Barrayar. I survived an assassination attempt, and helped catch three high-ranking traitors.” (p. 245-246) That pretty much sums up the action in Cetaganda. GRADE: B

Ethan of Athos (1986) features  Dr. Ethan Urquhart, Chief of Biology at the Sevarin District Reproduction Centre on the planet Athos. When a medical shipment arrives in botched condition, Dr. Ethan is sent to find out what happened to the original shipment of vital ovarian tissue cultures. He encounters a twisty plot and plenty of mayhem! GRADE: B+

“Labyrinth” (1989) has Lord Miles Vorkosigan, (aka Admiral Naismith) traveling with Captain Bel Thorne in the Dendarii cruiser Ariel on a mission to Jackson’s Whole. They were ostensibly at Jackson’s Whole to buy weapons, but the actual purpose of the mission was to smuggle House Bharaputra‘s top geneticist, Dr. Hugh Canaba, away from his employer and into Barrayaran hands. But, of course, things go wrong… GRADE: B

“Author’s Afterword” (2001) presents Lois McMaster Bujold’s reflections on how she wrote the stories in this omnibus volume. If you’re interested in the background and Bujold’s writing method, this short essay is worth reading. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Cetaganda — 1

Ethan of Athos — 263

“Labyrinth” — 461

Author’s Afterword — 553

Vorkosigan Saga Timeline — 557

Yes, this is another Guy Ritchie project. The Fountain Of Youth blends aspects of a caper movie with a dollop of Indiana Jones. In this movie (2 hours, 5 minutes) there really is a Fountain of Youth, but it’s protected by a secret society called Protectors of the Path.

John Krasinski plays Luke Purdue, dealer in rare antiquities. Purdue’s little sister, Charlotte (played by Natalie Portman), is facing an acrimonious divorce and has settled into a routine as a mom and art curator. When Purdue shows up at her museum and steals a priceless Rembrandt, Charlotte finds herself dragged into trouble: losing her job and risking custody of her son Thomas (Benjamin Chivers).

To solve Charlotte’s problems, Purdue presents his sister with a billion-dollar solution: join him and their father’s team of researchers and explorers, and the group’s cancer-stricken, ultra-wealthy benefactor, Owen Carver (Domhnall Gleeson), who will bankroll her and any impending legal battle against her ex-husband. The only catch? Their task is to locate the legendary Fountain of Youth.

Silly and mildly entertaining. GRADE: C+

Marc Dunkelman, a fellow at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, attempts to explain why nothing works today. The United States started out as a republic with a small government. Over time, the Government grew and grew. And, as we all know, power tends to corrupt.

Trump and Elon Musk are busy slashing Government expenditures and the results are likely to be dismal. The American voter has come to rely on Social Security, Medicare, and all the other social programs that make up the “safety net.” Sure, there’s waste, fraud, and abuse in a Government that spent $6.8 trillion in 2024. But it’s just not the money, it’s the politics. Wait until current Medicaid recipients have their benefits cut or eliminated.

Dunkelman analyzes the affects of Thomas Jefferson’s notions of democracy with Alexander Hamilton’s economic plans for the new nation. That debate continues today between the Democrats and the Republicans. Right now, the GOP is winning but the consequences might show up in 2026 mid-term Elections.

The current system of Government is not sustainable over time. Social Security will run out of money in a decade. The soaring costs of Medicare and Medicaid will bankrupt us if not altered. The “kick the can down the road” political approach of both Parties has resulted in the monetary quagmire we’re in now. How are you coping with this mess? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION — 1

1. Servant or Master of the Public? — 25
2. The Price of Progress — 59
3. Bodies on the Machine — 93
4. Manacling the Octopus — 125
5. More Harm Than Good — 163
6. No Place to Call Home — 201
7. The Bridge to Nowhere — 239
8. A Tragedy of the Commons in Reverse — 279

CONCLUSION: Full-Circle Progressivism — 321

Acknowledgements — 335

Notes — 339

Index — 387

Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa had a grim message for her constituents furious over proposed cuts to Medicaid that could end health coverage for millions of Americans.

Over a chorus of groans from the crowd at a town hall in Butler County on Friday morning, Ernst said her Republican colleagues were making “corrections” to the federal healthcare program to stop “overpayments” and prevent “illegals” from receiving benefits.

“People are going to die,” one person shouted out.

“Well, we’re all going to die,” Ernst snarkily replied.

When she was greeted with a mixture of stunned groans and shout-backs, the senator exasperatedly added: “For heaven’s sakes, folks.”

Democratic officials and advocacy groups pounced on the moment, accusing Ernst of airing what the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee called a “stunningly callous” remark that points to a wider failure among Republican members of Congress to face criticism over threats to a program that supports millions of lower-income Americans.

“Joni Ernst said the quiet part out loud: Republicans don’t give a shit about whether their own constituents live or die as long as the richest few get richer,” according to Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin.

Patrick saw Operation Mincemeat–a musical based on the true story of a British deception operation during World War II–when he was in London earlier this year. He recommended we see it during the Mother’s Day Weekend trip. And, we did.

When Diane, Katie, and I saw the musical on Broadway a few weeks ago, it was already a hit after a successful rain in the West End of London. Operation Mincemeat has positive reviews for its humor and compelling story.  The musical is based on the 2011 film of the same name starring Colin Firth and Kelly Macdonald. 

The fun part of Operation Mincemeat for me is the caper aspects of the plot. “Operation Mincemeat was a World War II deception operation where British intelligence planted a corpse, dressed as a British officer, with false intelligence documents in Nazi territory to mislead German forces about the location of the planned Allied invasion of Sicily. The operation was successful in fooling the Germans into believing the Allies would invade Greece, allowing the actual invasion of Sicily to proceed without significant German resistance.”

Operation Mincemeat has been nominated for four Tony Awards:  Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical (David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts), Best Original Score (David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts), and Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (Jak Malone).  We loved it! GRADE: B+

“I think I might burn all these diaries. What if I died and people get hold of them and read them? Their endless self-obsession, anecdotes, self-exiles, rationalizations. Meanness about others.” (p. 412)

I’m usually not that attracted to reading diaries. But Helen Garner’s How to End a Story: Collected Diaries, 1978-1998 (2025) doesn’t sugar-coat Garner’s feelings and thoughts. Helen Garner is a successful Australian writer who has won the Melbourne Prize for Literature and the Windham Campbell Literature Prize for nonfiction. In 2019, Garner was honored with the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature.  She has written an intimate chronicle of life, love, family, and the frustrations of writing and aging.

Helen Garner’s collected diaries span 20 years, with the first volume beginning in the late 1970s just after the publication of her debut novel Monkey Grip. The second volume begins in 1987 as she embarks on an affair that she knows will be all-consuming (and possibly a huge mistake). The final volume begins in 1995, as she fights to hold on to a marriage that is disintegrating around her. Garner’s husband tells her he wants a “girl friend.” As you might suspect, this does not go well.

I found these diaries of the inner life of a woman in love and a great writer at work compelling reading. Helen Garner doesn’t cover up the messy, painful, dark side of love. She doesn’t hide the sheer force of her anger and her judgements of others. Here’s a couple of her judgements:

“Melvyn Bragg interviewed Saul Bellow on TV about The Dean’s December. Bellow grandly puts shit on sociologists, psychologists and criminologists for their failure to cure what’s wrong with society. …I am disappointed and say little. ‘I think,’ says V. ‘you weren’t very interested in what he was talking about.’ …So I say, ‘I’ll tell you what I think. I think he’s a windbag.” (p. 401)

“Read The Aspern Papers [Henry James] with joy. Its beauty, its drive, its seriousness but its lightness of touch.” (p. 452)

“Janet Malcolm has reviewed The First Stone [1995] in the New Yorker. Exhilarating, a critique by someone who wouldn’t know me from a bar of soap. …Then I felt thrilled to bits: she has read me. …(Also, she used the expression, ‘this extraordinary book’.) (p. 672)

Helen Garner is 82 years old now and writes little. But these diaries capture the energy, excitement, disappointments, heartbreak, and thrills of her active Life. It’s quite a roller-coaster ride! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Foreword by Leslie Jamison — ix

Yellow Notebook: Diaries Volume 1 1978-1987 — 1

One Day I’ll Remember This: Diaries Volume II 1987-1995 — 257

How to End a Story: Diaries Volume III 1995-1998 — 559

Last week, my selection of AM Gold 1977 (you can read my review here) ignited a “rosy glow of nostalgia” in Deb. I figured I might again light Deb’s fire with this AM Gold 1976 volume.

I’m a big fan of the Bay City Rollers’s “Saturday Night.” “Still the One” by Orleans still gets played at least once a week by Sirius/XM Radio when I’m listening in my car as I’m running errands. “Sara Smile” is one of my favorite Hall & Oates songs.

Here’s a breakdown of the top 10 best-selling singles of 1976, according to the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles chart: 

1. Silly Love Songs – Wings
2. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart – Elton John & Kiki Dee
3. Disco Lady – Johnnie Taylor
4. December 1963 (Oh, What a Night) – The Four Seasons
5. Afternoon Delight – Starland Vocal Band
6. Play That Funky Music – Wild Cherry
7. Kiss and Say Goodbye – The Manhattans
8. Love Machine – The Miracles
9. 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover – Paul Simon
10. A Fifth of Beethoven – Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band

“December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, “Afternoon Delight” by Starling Vocal Band, and “Kiss and Say Goodbye” by The Manhattans made it onto this disc. Do you remember these songs? Any favorites here? GRADE: B

TRACK LIST:

I’m a fan of Garth Nix’s fantasy novels. To Hold the Bridge (2015) collects several of Nix’s short fiction. “To Hold the Bridge: An Old Kingdom Story” isn’t so short. It’s a novella 50 pages long and tells the story of a poor boy who commits a heroic act. I also enjoyed the vampire stories included in this collection: “Vampire Weather” and “Infestation.”

“The Curious Case of the Moondawn Daffodils Murder: As Experienced by Sir Magnus Holmes and Almost-Doctor Susan Shrike ” introduces Magnus Holmes, the second cousin of the famous Sherlock Holmes.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

To Hold the Bridge: An Old Kingdom Story — 1

Creatures of Darkness and Light

Vampire Weather — 53

Strange Fishing in the Western Highlands — 69

Old Friends — 88

Standing Up: Coming-of-Age Stories

The Quiet Knight — 101

The Highest Justice — 113

A Handful of Ashes — 127

The Big Question — 163

Check Your Faint Heart at the Door: Combat and Struggle

Stop! — 172

Infestation — 191

The Heart of the City — 212

Ambrose and the Ancient Spirits of East and West — 235

Holly and Iron — 264

A Wink and a Nod: Lighthearted Tales

The Curious Case of the Moondawn Daffodils Murder: As Experienced by Sir Magnus Holmes and Almost-Doctor Susan Shrike — 307

An Unwelcome Guest — 324

A Sidekick of Mars — 336

Under Other Skies: Science Fiction

You Won’t Feel a Thing — 357

Peace in Our Time — 371

Master Haddad’s Holiday –381

“Previously slated to continue through August 17, the production’s final performance was May 18. At the time of closing, Redwood will have played 17 previews and 127 regular performances. The show was one of 13 productions left empty handed when nominations for this year’s Tony Awards were announced and becomes Broadway’s first casualty of bad luck with the honors.

Redwood explores themes of loss, grief, addiction, and finding strength and resilience. Jesse, a successful businesswoman, leaves her life behind and travels to the redwood forest after her son’s death, seeking solace and a new purpose. The score is by Kate Diaz, with lyrics by Diaz and Tina Landau. The music is a blend of cinematic orchestral scores and pop/rock songs.”

Diane, Katie, and I liked Redwood with Idina Menzel belting out songs while climbing a giant redwood tree while swinging around on ropes wrapped in climbing equipment.  While the special effects are impressive, the mawkish plot gets a little syrupy for my tastes. The performance we saw was a sell-out, but the rumors were already swirling that they were going to pull the plug if they didn’t get any Tony nominations. And…they didn’t.

Despite that decision, Irina Menzel says that Redwood was one of the highlights of her career. “Creating [Redwood] with Tina Landau and Kate Diaz has been my proudest professional accomplishment,” writes Menzel. “It is an all-female-led team, who are fearless risk-takers and gorgeous human beings. I will be eternally grateful to our stunning cast whom I love so friggin’ much. I’ll be singing Kate’s music for years and years to come. You are all my family. Making music and telling this beautiful story with you has been the highlight of my career. In fact, being back in NYC with the entire Broadway community at the Nederlander, of all places, is my ‘little Idina’s’ dream come true over and over again.”

Sometimes risky musicals just don’t succeed. GRADE: C