Review of "Observations by Gaslight: Stories From the World of Sherlock Holmes" by Lyndsay Faye

This addition to the Sherlock Holmes canon is based on the premise that some of Holmes' acquaintances and colleagues wrote stories about the detective in their letters, diaries, journals, and scrapbooks. Six of these stories have been found in a safe deposit box, and are being published in this book, edited by Lyndsay Faye.

"The Adventure of the Stopped Clocks"

Sherlock Holmes' former nemesis Irene Adler (now Irene Norton), whose opera performances are a hit on the stages of Vienna.....



.....is in London with her solicitor husband Godfrey.



Godfrey has been asked to help his brother Gilbert sell securities in exchange for shares of a peppercorn plantation in Sumatra.



The securities deal seems shady, and - on top of that - all of Gilbert's heirloom grandfather clocks have been stopped.



Needing help to figure out what's going on, Irene consults her frenemy Sherlock Holmes, who helps resolve the situation.



*****

"The Song of a Want"

Henry Wiggins, now a solicitor, was one of the Baker Street Irregulars when he was a boy.



In this story, Wiggins recalls the time he and his best friend Meggie were homeless waifs on the streets of London, pilfering to survive.



The children met a disoriented man with a violin, who turned out to be a young Sherlock Holmes.



The children assisted Holmes and Sherlock later returned the favor when Meggie fell into the clutches of a creep known as the Lullaby Doctor.

*****

"Our Common Correspondent"

Inspector Geoffrey Lestrade of Scotland Yard is put off by Sherlock Holmes, whom Lestrade views as a supercilious know-it-all.



However, when a spinster named Wilhemina Sparks moves out of her boarding house and disppears.....



.....Lestrade needs Holmes' assistance to find her.



It seems Miss Sparks had been corresponding with a gentleman for some time, and went off to marry him, but no one knows the man's name or location. (This is the late-1800s version of online dating.)

In this story we learn Lestrade feels compelled to help women in trouble because his sister was in an abusive marriage that ended tragically.

*****

"The River of Silence"

When a beautiful teak box containing a human arm is found in the Thames River.....



......Scotland Yard Detective Stanley Hopkins gets the case.



Hopkins admires Sherlock Holmes and is happy to have the consulting detective help look into the incident. Higgins and Holmes consider all possibilities, from medical student pranks to murder.



*****

"The Gospel of Sheba"

Mr. Arthur Davenport Lomax, a sub-librarian at the London Library, is always willing to help patrons with their inquries.





Mr. Theodore Grange consults Lomax on the subject of black magic, explaining that - for business reasons - he joined an occult group called The Brotherhood of Solomon. It seems the Brotherhood is falling apart because a grimoire owned by a member is making the other participants sick.



Events lead Lomax to consult Sherlock Holmes, who helps devine the problem.

*****

"A Live Well Lived"

Sherlock Holmes' landlady Martha Hudson thinks back on her long association with Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, who have rented rooms in her house for more than two decades.





Meanwhile, boxes from an unknown person keep appearing at Mrs. Hudson's door, which she brings to Holmes to investigate.



This is a fun story because Mrs. Hudson includes recipes for dishes she prepares for her her tenants, like batter fried oysters and bacon wrapped brisket of beef.





I've provided the bare outlines of the stories, which also delve into the lives of the characters, their observations about Sherlock Holmes, and the methods Holmes uses to solve mysteries.

I enjoyed the audiobook, narrated by Dan Calley and Polly Lee, and highly recommend it to Sherlock Holmes fans.

Thanks to Netgalley, Lyndsay Faye, and Highbridge Audio for a copy of the book.

Rating: 4 stars

Review of "Wish You Were Here: A Novel" by Jodi Picoult

In the Author's Note at the end of this book Jodi Picoult, who has asthma, describes her reaction to the Covid lockdown. She says, "I was at home, paralyzed with fear. I couldn't breathe well on a good day; I couldn't even imagine what Covid would do to my lungs.....I couldn't distract myself with my work. I couldn't write. I couldn't even read." When Picoult eventually broke her slump she decided to write a book to chronicle the pandemic: "To tell the tale of how the world shut down, and why, and what we learned." This is the book Jodi penned.

Author Jodi Picoult

*****

The story opens in March 2020, just before the coronavirus shuts down the world. Diana O'Toole - an art specialist at Sotheby's.....



.....and her boyfriend Finn Colson - a surgical resident at New York Presbyterian Hospital, are about to embark on a trip to the Galápagos Islands, where Diana expects Finn to propose.



Diana and Finn, who seem to be perfectly matched, have a long-term life plan that includes travel, marriage, children, excelling in their careers, having a beautiful home, etc.

On the eve of Diana and Finn's departure for the Galápagos, Covid patients start flooding the hospitals. Finn tells Diana he has to stay and tend to the sick, but suggests that Diana go on the trip anyway, since it's non-refundable.



Diana agrees and travels to the Galápagos by herself - a journey that involves several planes, a ferry, and a water taxi.



Diana arrives at her destination, Isabela Island, just as it's shutting down for two weeks because of the pandemic. Diana is dismayed to learn she can't leave the island and her hotel is closed. To top it off, Diana's luggage is lost and she can't communicate with the local people, who speak Spanish.



A kindly older woman, who calls herself Abuela, offers Diana a tiny apartment and Diana settles in as best she can.



After some missteps - including a bad experience with toxic apples - Diana becomes friendly with a former tour guide named Gabriel.....



.....and Gabriel's troubled teenage daughter Beatriz, both of whom speak English.



Diana is desperate to communicate with Finn, but it's very difficult. There's minimal Wi-Fi and phone calls don't go through. When Finn's emails do arrive they're filled with descriptions of people dying; his exhaustion; his fear of getting sick; the horrible situation in New York; etc.



Diana feels terrible for Finn, but she's in one of the most beautiful environments in the world, and she does some touristy things. Diana goes swimming in lagoons; walks around to look at the tortoises, iguanas, flamingos, penguins, sea lions, and other animals; enjoys the beautiful plants; and so on.







Abuela provides some delicious home-cooked meals; former tour guide Gabriel shows Diana his favorite spots on the island; and even teenage Beatrix warms up to Diana a bit.



It turns out both Diana and Beatriz have absentee mothers: Diana's mother was a world-famous photographer who traveled constantly and Beatriz's mother deserted the family.

As the two-week mark approaches, when the shutdown of Isabela Island is scheduled to end, Diana prepares to return to New York and Finn. However, the island closes indefinitely, and Diana is trapped for the foreseeable future.



The book explores the loneliness and isolation experienced by people in the midst of the pandemic - what they learn about themselves, and how it changes them.

For me, the situation of Finn and the other hospital workers is especially affecting since it highlights the plight of healthcare workers (including cleaners) who - before the vaccine was available - were in constant peril.



In current times, the predicament of healthcare personnel REALLY highlights the selfishness of people who refuse to get vaccinated. Refuseniks get sick and expect hospital staff to care for them. It's inexcusable. Even if healthcare workers are vaccinated, they can get breakthrough infections. As I'm writing this review the Omicron variant is running rampant, largely because unvaccinated people serve as incubators for the virus.

The book provides a close look at people affected by the Covid pandemic, and it's not a pretty picture. Thus I wouldn't recommend the novel to people sensitive about the subject.

Thanks to Netgalley, Jodi Picoult, and Ballantine Books for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery" by Barbara K. Lipska with Elaine McArdle

Barbara Lipska was born, raised, and educated in Poland before she immigrated to the United States in 1989 to do post-doctoral studies at Maryland's 'National Institute of Mental Health' (NIMH). In 2013 Lipska became 'Director of the Human Brain Collection Core' at NIMH, which secures post-mortem brains for research about the brain and behavior.

Barbara Lipska

Lipska's expertise helped her understand her symptoms when she developed metastatic brain cancer in 2015, at the age of 63. Lipska - who had previously been treated for breast cancer and melanoma (skin cancer) - realized something was wrong when she was preparing for 2015's 'Winter Conference on Brain Research' in Montana. Reaching out to turn on her computer, Lipska noticed that her hand 'disappeared' when she moved it to the right and 'reappeared' when she moved it to the left.

Lipska immediately thought 'brain tumor' - and an MRI confirmed her worst fears. The brain scan revealed three tumors in the scientist's head, one of which was bleeding.


Barbara Lipska had three brain tumors

Lipska is very fortunate to have a husband, Mirek, who's a cool-headed mathematician; a son, Witek, who's a neuroscientist; a daughter, Kasia, who's a physician; and a sister, Maria, who's a physicist and chief of therapy in the radiation oncology department at Boston's 'Brigham and Women's Hospital.'


Barbara Lipska with her husband Mirek

Lipska's family arranged for her to go to Brigham's, where the bleeding tumor was excised and the other tumors were treated with stereotactic radiosurgery - a procedure that focuses high doses of radiation onto individual tumors. Lipska was also given steroids, to reduce the swelling in her brain.




Barbara Lipska was treated at Brigham and Women's Hospital

Within months after her surgery, Lipska felt good enough to go skiing with her family and to resume her regular triathlon training, which includes swimming, cycling, and running.


Barbara Lipska (second from left) skiing with her family


Barbara Lipska cycling

The scientist knew, however, that she wasn't cured, and that new tumors were likely to appear. Lipska decided that her best chance of survival lay with an experimental immunotherapy procedure, which primes the body's immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells. Lipska got into an immunotherapy clinical trial at Georgetown University Hospital, and was periodically infused with powerful antibody drugs over a period of months.

The treatment helped to shrink Lipska's tumors, but also (temporarily) damaged her brain, and the scientist's behavior changed dramatically. Lipska says, "I was changing very gradually, from a loving mother, grandmother and wife, into a kind of a heartless monster. I was yelling at my loving husband. I was yelling at my beloved grandsons and my children. I was behaving like a 2-year-old with a tantrum — all the time." The scientist explains that parts of her brain - specifically areas of the frontal lobe and parietal lobe - were not working properly.


Parts of the brain

Lipska notes that, "Deep inside my brain, a full-scale war had erupted. The tumors that had been radiated were shedding dead cells and creating waste and dead tissue. Throughout my brain, the tissues were inflamed and swollen from the metastasis and the double assault of radiation and immunotherapy. What’s more, I had new tumors—more than a dozen. My blood-brain barrier…..had become disrupted.....and was leaking fluid. The fluids were pooling in my brain, irritating the tissue and causing it to swell."

Lipska's family was disturbed and worried by the changes in her demeanor, but Barbara herself didn't realize anything was wrong - even when her conduct became increasingly bizarre. Examples of changes in Barbara's behavior during cancer treatment include:
- becoming irrationally furious at Amtrak when her train was delayed, and talking about it for days, to everyone in sight.
- refusing to seek help for lymphedema (swelling) in her arm, then yelling at the therapist and storming out when she finally went for treatment.
- compulsively eating chocolates - though she normally avoided sweets.
- driving her car erratically.
- failing to recognize her regular exterminator and throwing him out of the house.
- losing her ability to do simple arithmetic.
- becoming infuriated when she 'lost' her husband after sending him to pick chanterelle mushrooms in the park.
- being unable to locate pots, pans, and utensils in her kitchen.
- forgetting how to cook (though she normally prepared dinner every night).
- and more.

Lipska explains that her symptoms mimicked those of people suffering from various kinds of mental illness, like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, and other dementias. Barbara emphasizes that these mental illnesses are brain diseases - not moral defects - and should be treated like any other disease....like disorders of the heart, liver, or kidney.

Lipska did recover, both from the cancer and the side effects, though she's aware the 'cure' might not last forever. Still, Barbara's at peace, and very grateful to her family - as well as the doctors and other medical professionals who treated her. She says "I'm feeling great, although I am not as powerful as I used to be — both in terms of my physical strengths and emotions. I went through so much. My brain was assaulted with drugs, with radiation. I lost my vision in the left eye.....I lost some balance. I am a little disoriented spatially, so I have sometimes trouble with maps and finding my places. But, you know what? I'm alive — and that's all that counts. And I'm happy!"


Barbara Lipska with her husband Mirek

The book is both informative and inspirational. Lipska provides a brief, but instructive description of the brain and how it works, with comparisons between experimental rats and humans. And it's heartening to see Barbara travel from health, to madness, and back again.


Barbara Lipska

I'd recommend the book to anyone interested in the brain and mental illness.

Thanks to Netgalley, the authors (Barbara Lipska and Elaine McArdle) and the publisher (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) for a copy of the book. 

Rating: 3.5 stars