Chasing Vermeer (2004) by Blue Baillett

 

👨🏻‍🎨 First of all, I was quite surprised by the mixed reviews this book gets on Goodreads. There are many two stars, but also four stars. I always liked books where people either love or hate. This book has average stars of 3.72, not that bad. So, why not? Thought I. In the end, I'm glad I have decided to read it. It was an entertaining story about art theft (Vermeer's A Lady Writing painting) and coincidences, full of puzzles and codes, and some suspenseful actions; not mentioning the history of art (particularly Vermeer), that this story induces to middle grader. What not to enjoy?

A Lady Writing by Johannes Vermeer

👨🏻‍🎨 Calder and Petra, who live in London, are ordinary high school students, but with intelligent and extraordinary passions. Calder is obsessed with pentominoes that he always keeps in his pockets. Pentomino is a polygon in the plane made of 5 equal-sized squares connected edge to edge [wikipedia]. Whenever he is unsure about something, he would pull one block from his pocket, and the letter it represents would be his "guidance" to what he should do next. He and his friend Tommy even created a code using all letters from pentominoes. Petra, on the other hand, is an imaginative girl, who, at present, is obsessed with a book titled Lo, written by Charles Fort, who believes that life is not a series of coincidences but is an interconnecting web of patterns.

The Pentominoes

👨🏻‍🎨 Their class assignment required Calder and Petra to write their interpretation of art - what-makes-an-object-art kind of thing. Calder found out that the painting on the curio box he owns, was none other than Johannes Vermeer's The Geographer. He found that out when delivering books order of to a Mrs. Sharpe's house, and saw the painting. Curiously, Mrs. Sharpe is the previous owner of the book Lo, which Petra has taken from a giveaway box outside a bookstore. Stranger still, an unknown woman in lemon yellow jacket with ribbons on her hair, has appeared in her dream, asked to be rescued. Who is she?

The Geographer by Johannes Vermeer

👨🏻‍🎨 Meanwhile, more strange things are happening. Three persons in London have received a mysterious anonymous letters asking for their helps to solve an art mystery. On the other hand, a valuable painting of Vermeer, A Lady Writing, has been stolen when in transit between the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, and The Art Institute of Chicago, where it would be exhibited. An equally strange advertisement has been published in newspapers, apparently from the thieve, claiming that he/she had stolen it for a good cause: to raise awareness that someone else painted some of what we believe are Vermeer's works. From so many coincidences - or are they 'interconnecting patterns' in Charles Fort's theory? - Calder and Petra believe it is they who must solve the mystery, and find the stolen painting. Can they do that, while FBI has failed?

👨🏻‍🎨 Needless to say, this was an exciting read for me. I always love books with art theme, especially paintings. And Vermeer is one of painters I always admire (Girl with A Pearl Earring is my favorite by Vermeer). Apart from the far-fetched dream of Petra (the Lady asked for help and guided Petra to her location), this is an educational and entertaining read for middle grader. Just as common people who don't have interest in art before, become art connoisseur, thanks to the thief's challenge, so do middle graders who read this would have been interested more in Vermeer and his works. Such a good idea from the writer! I also love the coincidence, or strange phenomenon topic in Charles Fort's book Lo, which does really exist. Is coincident real? I believe so, co-incident means more than one incidents that occur at the same time, concerning one particular object, right? So, if two people with some interest gather forces in one project, they would be focusing in the same field, and so, there's bound to be many such co-incidents happening all around them. Charles Fort's Lo also taught us to be more open minded to strange occurrences - that we cannot fathom what's happening, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

What an entertaining, educational, and inspirational this book proved to be!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

My Year in Nonfiction #NonficNov25 Week 1

The yearly Nonfiction November is one of annual bookish events I'm looking forward to this year. It's currently hosted (or co-hosted) by these five wonderful women: Heather, Frances, Liz, Rebekah, and Deb. They would alternately host each week from 27 October to 30 November 2025.

To kick Nonfiction November 2025 off, here's the first week prompt (hosted by Heather):

My Year in Nonfiction

I'm not an avid nonfiction reader; fiction always has more appeal to me, as it enables me to be immersed into another universe. So for me, #NonficNov25 is a good opportunity to explore more of non fiction.

What books have you read?

I haven't read many nonfiction this year, because I keep most of it for #NonficNov25 😁. The two books I have managed to read were all for #ParisInJuly2025:

A Year in Provence

by Peter Mayle

Peter Mayle is perhaps the pioneer of the sub genre of foreigner-falls-in-love-and-moves-to France. There are so many similar kind of memoirs out there nowadays. A Year in Provence is the first of a series. It's quite entertaining; I rather liked Mayle's dry humor. But one thing's for sure, I won't read any of this genre again for the time being; one or two is enough, they are all almost the same in gist.

Garlic, Mint, and Sweet Basil

by Jean-Claude Izzo

It's an essay on Jean-Claude Izzo's (a native Marseilles poet and noir novel writer) love for Marseilles: its sea, its cuisine, its people and culture; and the subject that made him famous: Mediterranean Noir. It's probably the most charming nonfiction I've read lately.

What was your favorite?

I must say Garlic, Mint, and Sweet Basil. Izzo wrote it so passionately, that it's impossible not to fall in love a little with Marseilles!

Have you had a favorite topic?

Isn't it obvious that everything about France, I would devour with gusto? 😃

Is there a topic you want to read about more?

Birds and Nature are two subjects which I am interested right now, besides traveling. But the latter is probably limited to countries or regions that I really want to explore.

What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?

To induce myself to the love of nonfiction, of course. Also to find more interesting nonfiction from other participants, to wider my choices.

@@@@@

Would you participate in #NonFicNov25 too?

Up the Down Staircase (1965) by Bel Kaufman

👩🏼‍🏫 Sylvia Barrett is an English teacher with idealistic hope of inducing her pupils to the love of writing, and of Chaucer. However, teaching at a minority high school like Calvin Coolidge High, opens her eyes that nurturing and shaping young minds is not a simple task. This book is a parody of American public school system, particularly in the 1960s when this book was published (I have no idea how relevant it is today). 👩🏼‍🏫 The book is structured as a compilation of memos and circulars from the office or the authority, inter-classrooms notes between teachers, fragment of discarded notes dropped in the trashcan, essays to be graded, Sylvia's letters to her best friend out of school, and one of my favorites: notes from the students dropped in the class suggestion box. Through all the entangled communication, readers would catch the frustrating degree of bureaucracy which involved in a teacher's daily task (when the teachers complained, the answer will be: "Let it be a challenge"). I was wondering how Sylvia could manage to divide her time between reading all those instructions and whatnots, actually teaching a subject, and reading and writing notes to her best pal teacher Bea Schachter (how they exchange notes during school hours, I wonder? Do they use students for courier? This was 1965, before internet era, anyway). 

👩🏼‍🏫 And the students. I have left talking about them for last, because they are the best part of this book. I believe that one can value a teacher from his/her students. That is, a good teacher would reflect his/her influence on the student's improvement. And by reading all those notes from the suggestion box, I could surmise that Sylvia is a dedicated and affectionate teacher. The suggestion box is a brilliant idea from Sylvia (the school ought to adapt that to their system). Basically, it's a box where any student could drop notes, whether signed or anonymous, usually on a particular subject. But sometimes, even students from other classroom dropped notes to say something to Sylvia. This is a good idea, because the students could express their honest views on things without being afraid of punishment or judgement. From that notes, Sylvia could gather how the students gained from her teaching, and what were their problems.

👩🏼‍🏫 There are students who signed their names - usually those who approved of her, or loved her teaching. But the anonymous letters are the most interesting; these were from students who, at first, hated her, or disapproved of her teaching. There's one who signed as "The Hawk", complete with a doodle, who always end his notes with 'this is the last time I'm writing to you' or something like that. However, The Hawk would always write again everytime Sylvia asked their opinion or suggestion, and always with the same ending, haha! I think Sylvia's success with her pupils is, first of all, because she listens to them. These students, who come from low social background with all the problematic nature, often need to be listened, understood, and appreciated.

👩🏼‍🏫 Amidst these chaotic life Sylvia must endure everyday, she received an offer from a private school who'd give her position of English teacher with comparatively free reign; less students, focusing on the teaching, free subjects and less clerical duties, and she could even have a seminar on Chaucer - the topic she loves. Moreover, the building offers comfort, not like the public school's with its broken doors or windows, and lacking of... well... almost everything needed to teach, as Sylvia put it in one of her letters to her friend:

We have keys but no locks (except in lavatories), blackboards but no chalk, students but no seats, teachers but no time to teach.

The question is, will Sylvia accept the offer and have her own ideal of teaching? Or will she remain at Calvin Coolidge and face the same chaos and frustration everyday?

👩🏼‍🏫 This was not a very comfortable read for me. I skipped almost all the official memos - I didn't understand half of it anyway - and only read the more interesting communications of human beings (internal memos to other teachers, or the students'). Nevertheless, this is a touching story of dedicated teachers who fought alongside their pupils against poverty and hierarchy, to obtain a better life for future generations.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Crocodile on the Sand Bank (1975) by Elizabeth Peters

🌵 First of all, there are no crocodile involved in this light mystery, set in Victorian era. 'Crocodile on the sand bank' was a jargon used by Egyptian locals to indicate that a problem is underfoot. When thirty something spinster of Amelia Peabody - an unorthodox English woman, intelligent, and independent - decided to have a long journey to Cairo, she's never expected that any 'crocodile' would be on her sand bank. It all began when she rescued a typical Victorian girl - beautiful, soft, feminine, who blushes and fainted a lot, you know the type - in Rome, named Evelyn. Evelyn is a granddaughter of a wealthy old man, who disinherited her after her elopement with a scoundrel called Alberto, whom, then abandoned her altogether. Now alone and poor, Evelyn was 'recruited' then and there as Amelia Peabody's companion. And so, the two ladies departed together to Cairo.

🌵 Then entered Radcliffe and Walter Emerson - the archeologist brothers - whom Amelia and Evelyn met at a museum in Cairo. Emerson (means Radcliffe, the old brother) is of Amelia's age, coarse, cynical, and swears a lot, but he's a good archeologist. While Walter, is more soft spoken, and is an expert in hieroglyphics. He's fallen in love with Evelyn at once, and she also reciprocated his feeling, though her ruin complicated things (on the girl's side). The four unexpected acquaintances parted ways, only to meet again at an archeological site in Armana, where the Emersons were excavating a newly found royal tomb. Amelia is interested in archeology, so she's having a good time, amidst Emerson's rudeness and bickering. Then, the mummy they had just found was missing from the tomb. Moreover, the mummy had been seen walking around the site at night! The superstitious local crew thought it was a curse, but the Europeans knew better that it's a disguise of someone with bad intention. What was the aim, though? To get them out of the site? Or to harm Evelyn, as it has seemed to be? And whodunnit?

🌵 Overall, I think this book is intended partly to be a parody of Victorian era's stereotypes. The wandering mummy was hilarious, rather than eerie in Gothic way. And the way Amelia entangled in her own skirt everytime she needed to run away fast in critical moments, was a comical way to criticize how women were barred from many active involvement. The infamous smelling salt made its appearance too, but its apply beyond waking the fainting damsel-in-distress, made me choking in laughter. Other than that, the archeological theme is interesting and educational, it made me think how Agatha Christie would approve of this book. Finally, it's an entertaining read, even if the mystery felt rather dull. Perhaps the most satisfying aspect of this read is that I've listened to the audiobook, narrated by the inimitable Barbara Rosenblat, who also narrated Mrs. Pollifax series. She's just become my new favorite narrator!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The House Without a Key (1925) by Earl Derr Biggers #1925Club

🏄🏻‍♂️ The 1925 Club is here! Thanks to Simon and Karen for hosting these events for a decade now. Unfortunately, this book would be my only contribution for #1925Club. Since the last club in April, I've been looking for amusing books published in 1925, preferably from authors I have not read before. I gathered half a dozen, but only this one is available at this moment, and I was excited to read it. This is the first book of Charlie Chan series. He's probably the most exotic detective you'd ever read about; a Honolulu police detective, who is a Chinese-Hawaiian. Charlie Chan is portrayed as intelligent and honorable. His eagerness to learn English through poems shaped his way of talking, always polite and with admirable choices of words. It's one of the amusements this book provides, besides, of course, the mystery.

🏄🏻‍♂️ John Quincy Winterslip, a twenty nine Bostonian stock trader, was sent by his family to sail to Hawaii and 'retrieve' his aunt, Minerva Winterslip, from the 'semi-barbaric' Pacific Islands. The aunt had been staying for holiday too long in Hawaii, but she can't help it. Winterslips are known for their gypsy-streak, and maybe this is the problem. But not young John Quincy, he's on the puritan side of the Winterslips. It's evidently true, considering how miserable he was during his first days on board the ship. But an encounter with a pretty Hawaiian girl who's coming home to her dear father, would change everything.

🏄🏻‍♂️ It was at Dan Winterslip's house that 'the boy' - as the writer always calls him - would stay. But just before his arrival, Dan Winterslip was murdered. But that's not all. While on transit in San Francisco, staying at his other uncle, he was instructed by Dan via telegram, to retrieve an old box from his cottage, and to throw overboard from the ship. But he was attacked while doing so, and the box was stolen. What was in the box? He learned later on from his aunt Minerva, that Dan was a notorious man with a dark past. And now that past is catching up with him, and eventually, he'd have to pay a just retribution.

🏄🏻‍♂️ John Quincy, as representative of the family, was involved in the investigation - reluctantly at first (his inclination was to go home to his fiancé asap) - but, whether it's the Hawaiian air, or his hitherto hidden gypsy-streak, John Quincy's slowly enjoying his role as a sleuth. Along with Charlie Chan, whom became his best friend, John Quincy was nearer to the truth everyday. He loved actions, and welcomed, even, dangerous adventures. But I think what he loved most is the presence of two pretty girls: Barbara Winterslip (his distant cousin), and Carlota Egan (the girl he met on the ship, whose father was entangled into the case, and one of police's prime suspects). Boston and his fiancé became farther and farther away in John Quincy's heart. Would John Quincy be able to catch the murderer? And equally important is which girl he would marry, and where would he spend his future? Boston, San Francisco, Honolulu?

🏄🏻‍♂️ All in all, it was a charming and exciting mystery. It has the right composition between the investigation, the action, and love interests. Charlie Chan's character brings a refreshing change to the mystery; his oriental background and European culture made him a unique detective - a far cry from any others we used to read. The era which the story is set (1925), and the Hawaiian background (history, culture, landscape) add a unique charm to it. Both the denouement and the love-story ending are perfectly satisfying: sophisticated but light, sweet and exhilarating.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

The 1925 Club

hosted by Simon and Karen

The Ruby in the Smoke (1985) by Philip Pullman

♦️ This story set in the 19th century of London. Mr. Lockhart, the co-owner of Lockhart & Selby, a shipping firm, was drowned with the ship he was on board. He left an only child, a girl of sixteen, Sally Lockhart. She received a mysterious letter, the content and source of which, she had no idea. It warned her of "the Seven Blessings" - what on earth was that? And for her to contact a Mr. Marchbanks. Puzzled, Sally visited Mr. Selby at Lockhart & Selby office to inquire around his father's death. But when she mentioned "The Seven Blessings", Sally, unknowingly, had started a chain of events. 

♦️ And that's how the story started, and after that, it unfolded in a very fast pace, that I soon forgot who's who. This is the kind of book that's best to be read in one sitting. Anyway, Sally was soon chased by a Mrs. Holland, a powerful villain who owned a lodging house in the London slump around the wharf, and was feared throughout the slump community. Luckily, Sally met two young men who would be her main allies and friends; they're a photographer called Frederick Garland, and Jim, an office boy at Lockhart & Selby. Between the three - and a handful of secondary characters - they swirled around the hunt of ruby from a maharajah from Agrapur, India, opium smuggling, Chinese secret society, along with puzzles over the cause of Mr. Lockhart's death.

♦️ Comments on Goodreads told me that this isn't Pullman's best, and I quite agree. The opening is quite promising: “Her name was Sally Lockhart, and within fifteen minutes, she was going to kill a man.” That sounds like a good mystery, and Sally is a perfect character for it, a highly intelligent girl, who had been taught of independence by her father, and has aptitude in business. A villain was provided, as well as two prospects of allies (and perhaps a love interest). Fine! But then, the opium factor came in - the "smoke" in the title, and the story suddenly switched into a strange one. Apparently Sally had been exposed to opium, unknowingly, before, and now she has this recurrent nightmares about her father. She was told that opium could restore one's memory, and so she tried a dose to reveal the mystery surround her father's death. And... tada... she suddenly knows everything, or most of the mystery at least, after "waking up" from the dream, . Well, that's not how you do a mystery, Mr. Pullman! I was disappointed at this point. ♦️ I felt that, as a heroine, Sally did not do much in this case, neither solving the mystery (it's Jim who solved the puzzle around the ruby's hiding place), nor showing courage to save a friend from the enemy (Jim and Fred took the brunt of Mrs. Holland's thug). No, she's safe at home, taking opium. Yes, she later on confronted Mrs. Holland, and even the guy of the Seven Blessings (who was supposed to be the most dangerous man at that time), yet it felt underwhelming. Like I said, it's definitely not Pullman's best work, despite of the promising opening.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Airs Above the Ground (1965) by Mary Stewart

🐎 My second read of Mary Stewart brought me to Austria, to the circus and dancing Lippizaner stallions. The heroine is Vanessa March, a young wife, whose salesman husband is supposed to be on business trip to Stockholm, but she saw his glimpse on a newsreel, during a big fire in a circus in Austria! And moreover, with a young blonde on his side. So, when a friend asked her to chaperone a seventeen year boy who will be on a flight to his estranged father in Austria, well... how can Vanessa resist the trip? After some awkward moments, the young wife and the teenage boy open up to each other about their real intentions. Vanessa isn't coming to join her husband on holiday, and Timothy, the teenage boy, isn't to see his father. Tim is obsessed with horses, and intends to seek a job in the Spanish Riding School.

🐎 After the confessions, so to speak, they immediately become close friends and partner-in-crime. They soon found two things. That the blonde from the newsreel is Annalisa Wagner, the daughter of the circus owner, who performs with the dancing horses; and that Lee Elliot, who'd been helping in the circus, is none other than Lewis March, Vanessa's husband, and whose real job is not salesman, but a secret service agent! He is meeting his colleague, who was found dead during the circus fire, together with Annalisa's Uncle Franzl. Naturally, Timothy and Vanessa - who would have been a veterinarian had she not married - are delighted that Lewis asked them to loiter and look around for anything suspicious. What they find in the circus stable is Old Piebald - Franzl's old horse with a swollen leg (hematoma) during the fire. Vanessa operated the leg, and thus, bind a relationship with the old white horse.

🐎 The circus was a lovely addition to this book's charm. That, and the dancing horses. 'Airs above the ground' are the beautiful, traditional dance moves that the trained Lippizaner stallions do, including the levade, where the horse rears up and holds his pose.

The best part of the book is when Vanessa brought Old Piebald to graze on a patch of grass outside the circus tents, one evening. His leg was still a bit lame. It was during the show; Tim was watching, and Vanessa and Old Piebald were alone. Then suddenly, tuning in with the music, the horse slowly danced along. The rest is one magical moment that would carved itself into my memory deeper than the story itself.

In the distance the music changed: the Lipizzaner down in the ring would be rising into the levade, the first of the airs above the ground'. And in the high Alpine meadow, with only me for audience, old Piebald settled his hind hooves, arched his crest and tail, and, lame forefoot clear of the ground, lifted into and held the same royal and beautiful levade.

The moonlight flooded the meadow, blanching all colours to its own ghostly silver. The pines were very black. As the stallion rose in the last magnificent rear of the levade, the moonlight poured over him bleaching his hide so that for perhaps five or six seconds he reared against the black background, a white horse dappled with shadows, no longer an old broken-down gypsy's piebald, but a haute école stallion, of the oldest line in Europe.

🐎 All in all, this is a suspense novel with idyllic Austrian landscape as a background, and dancing Lipizzaners as a center point; spiced with some car chases and few actions. The heroine is a married woman, so you would find no romance here, as is usual with Mary Stewart's. But I think, I prefer it like this. Timothy stole my heart from the beginning, when he comforted Vanessa during the flight, as she dreaded the forthcoming landing, he said something like, I can hold your hand during the landing if you like... or something like that. And that's a gentleman on the making, Timothy Lacy! Then later on, when Lewis March appeared on the scene - and the show begins, because the suspense started with him - it is clear that Timothy adored Vanessa's husband. The villain (someone from the circus) had hit Vanessa earlier, so that she met Lewis with bruises on her face. When Lewis confronted the villain, he 'punished' him for ever laying hand onto his wife. And here, Timothy showed his admiration, which also showed his views of men hurting women. Bravo, Tim! 

* Originally I would have rated this one four stars, but the 'airs above the ground' scene of Old Piebald - his real name is Neapolitano Petra, by the way - and the ending, definitely deserved another star!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐