Ponder: The Solitude of Prime Numbers

The Solitude of Prime Numbers, written by twenty-seven year old physicist Paolo Giordano, is the second book I have read by this author. It is copyrighted in 2008 in its original language of Italian and translated to English with a 2009 copyright. I was surprised with the eloquence of the language, not anticipating such verbal and emotional acuity from what I assumed to be a predominantly a left-brained author. It was hard to believe that the book had been translated from Italian to English. It exhibited a nuance of word choices that exquisitely drove home a sense of solitude that coexisted within the unique relationship between loners Alice and Mattia. Anyone with an ounce of nerdiness within his being can relate to parts of this book, at least to some "cringe" level. The description on the back cover drew me in.

The first two chapters of this book each deal with a trauma in the childhood of Alicia and Mattia. Alicia experiences a physical accident and Mattia experiences a loss of a family member. At this point I considered setting aside the book as too depressing, but instead I forged ahead. I wondered how these events would form the life attitudes and social adjustments of Alicia and Mattia. Alicia and Mattia met each other in their teen years at school. As I read further along though, I began to believe that their innate personalities, rather than early life traumas, determined who each was and how he/she reacted to social situations. The title of the book is explanatory, alluding to the lives of the two main characters, but this passage from chapter 21 fascinated me.

Prime numbers are divisible only by 1 and by themselves. They hold their place in an infinite series of natural numbers, squashed like all numbers, between two others, but one step further than the rest. They are suspicious, solitary numbers, which is why Mattia thought they were wonderful. Sometimes he thought that they had ended up in that sequence by mistake, that they'd been trapped, like pearls strung on a necklace. Other times he suspected that they too would have preferred to be like all the others, just ordinary numbers, but for some reason, they couldn't do it.   ... In his first year at university, Mattia had learned that, among prime numbers, there are some that are even more special. Mathematicians call them twin primes: pairs of prime numbers that are close to each other, almost neighbors, but between them there is always an even number that prevents them from truly touching. Numbers like 11 and 13, like 17 and 19, 41 and 43.   ...when you no longer have the desire to go on counting, you come across another pair of twins, clutching each other tightly. 

The Solitude of Prime Numbers is the debut novel of Paolo Giordano. I sought out this book after having read and being impressed with his essay-length non-fiction book, How Contagion Works. Giordano won the prestigious Italian literary award, the Strega Prize for The Solitude of Prime Numbers, impressively being the youngest author ever to do so. This author delivers a unique blend of science and relationships, in a style peppered with eloquent, yet precise, language that qualified the young author as a winner. The judging process for the award decision is described in the Wikipedia Strega Prize article

The Strega Prize (Italian: Premio Strega [ˈprɛːmjo ˈstreːɡa]) is the most prestigious Italian literary award. It has been awarded annually since 1947 for the best work of prose fiction written in the Italian language by an author of any nationality and first published between 1 May of the previous year and 30 April.

Giordano wrote How Contagion Works: Science, Awareness, and Community in Times of Global Crisis in 2020 when Italy was in the depths of suffering during the early learning stages of the COVID-19 epidemic. See my 4/24/20 post for my review of that book. It focused not just on the science of the world but on the humanity of the world.

In times of contagion, therefore, what we do or don’t do is no longer just about us. This is the one thing I wish for us never to forget, even after this is over.

I feel like this author is able to cross the divide that is sometimes perceived to exist between science and art, left-brain dominant people versus right-brain dominant people. I am reminded about a demonstration I once experienced in a lecture. A classic optical illusion was displayed, that of the Old Hag and the Fair Lady – which do you see? The audience was asked to stand initially, and then to sit down once they were able to see both images. Those that remained standing, fell either into the "old hag" or the "fair lady" camp. The audience was then told that further communication – and hypothetically, compromise – was bordering on futile, since each side could see only their own point of view. 

This author bridges the science/art chasm and speaks to each side, a rare talent indeed. I will be seeking out his other books; I really like his style and topics. I rate The Solitude of Prime Numbers five stars. ★★★★★  Great! Read it! 

Ponder: Bury Your Dead

Bury Your Dead ©2010 is the sixth book in the Chief Investigator Armande Gamache series by Louise Penny. This book had an interesting feature; it had three mysteries being investigated simultaneously. The three plots address: 

• a re-investigation of a previously closed murder case
• a hostage search and rescue operation
• the investigation of a third murder case involving Quebec history and archeological digs
  
  

The book opens with action-packed SWAT team maneuvers. This first story captured my interest immediately as the culmination, not the beginning, of this storyline. Chief Inspector Gamache's level-headed actions and demeanor in this time of crisis is phenomenal, showing a side of him beyond the cerebral, discerning, deliberate, unhurried inspector. 

The second story addressed the re-opening of a closed murder case in Three Pines, one from Penny's fifth novel The Brutal Telling. I have come to know well and become deeply invested in the cast of Three Pine residents from previous novels, so this story instantly gripped me as well. To divulge more would be a spoiler for those who have not read the fifth book The Brutal Telling.

The third plot was the primary plot of Bury Your Dead and is described succinctly on the back cover. It is rich in Quebec history and Canadian military battles, and assumes a minimal knowledge of Samuel de Champlain, father of Quebec. Although the author supplies some bare bones facts, I felt I would have enjoyed this strand more had I had some background knowledge of my own. My ignorance of Canadian history is non-negligible, so reading this book did give me greater insight into the friction between the English and the French in Quebec.

To enlighten the next reader here are a few facts about the Canadian hero from Wikipedia:

Samuel de Champlain was a French colonist, navigator, cartographer, draftsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He made between 21 and 29 trips across the Atlantic Ocean, and founded Quebec, and New France, on 3 July 1608. An important figure in Canadian history, Champlain created the first accurate coastal map during his explorations, and founded various colonial settlements.... Samuel de Champlain was temporarily buried in the church while a standalone chapel was built to hold his remains in the upper part of the city. Unfortunately, this small building, along with many others, was destroyed by a large fire in 1640. Though immediately rebuilt, no traces of it exist anymore: his exact burial site is still unknown, despite much research since about 1850, including several archaeological digs in the city.

I also checked out a children's book from the library after I'd read  Bury Your Dead and while writing this post. In simple terms, it gave me a much better appreciation of why the location of Samuel de Champlain's grave was of such interest, forming an ongoing mystery on yet another plane in this novel. The illustrations of Quebec in 1758, fifty years after the French colonists arrived there, were also to be appreciated.

One sensation strongly stressed throughout this third storyline is the absolute frigid temperature in Quebec. I wonder if this is to pay homage to the Champlain's colonizing Quebec in 1608 where less than 30% of the first settlers survived the winter. It is no wonder all the book covers have a similar theme of extreme cold.

 

Bury Your Dead uses a writing technique similar to dual timelines. Why do I say similar to dual and not use the word equivalent to three? Oddly enough, upon research, I learned that there is no such word! There is singular, dual, and quadral but the closest for a three equivalent is trial or treble. Trial in the United States has a more legal connotation and treble mean three identical items not three distinct but parallel items. Numeric accuracy set aside for now, a discussion I found on dual timelines postulated that to work well, an author should do the following:

1. Make both timelines equally interesting.
2. Balance the timelines.
3. Avoid “filler” scenes.
4. Double-check plot points.
5. Avoid confusing transitions.
6. Tighten timelines within the third act.

Louise Penny wrote admirably, meeting points two through six but falling short in making all timelines equally interesting for me, because I am not a history buff. In retrospect I mildly regret that I had not read the Wikipedia background information on Champlain beforehand. Unfortunately, this third timeline was the main one. For this reason, and this reason alone, I dropped my star rating down from five to four; even though I positively ate up the first two plots. As I researched the Champlain angle afterwards, I grew more and more appreciative of the intricacies in Louise Penny's plot. Comparatively here is how I have rated her other books along; the trailing dates are links to my review of each:

1. ★★★★☆ Still Life by Louise Penny ©2005 (2/28/20)
2. ★★★☆☆ A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny ©2006 (8/30/20)
3. ★★★★★ The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny ©2007 (10/16/20)
4. ★★★★★ A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny ©2008 (11/24/20)
5. ★★★★★ The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny ©2009 (12/23/20)
6. ★★★★☆ Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny ©2010 (this post)

My goal to read Louise Penny's murder mysteries in order has been repeatedly thwarted by the long wait list for her books at my local library. Louise Penny must be popular with a lot of folks other than me. I have checked sources other than the library, and neither Amazon nor eBay offer any decent prices on her books. Even bargain bundles are not inexpensive. When A Trick of the Light (#7) became available to check out of the library, buying #6 would enable me to move forward. I caved and bought Bury Your Dead (#6) from Amazon. After my long wait, I dove into Bury Your Dead book, finishing it within a couple days, Quebec City history and all. I will donate it to the library with a note that they need more copies of this book. I have also completed A Trick of the Light, but that is a topic for another review. 

I would still like to have read all seventeen of Louise Penny's novels by the end of 2021. One book a month is not too much to ask... right?

Outing with Fabric, Food, Railroads

I ordered two fabric panels online from Wooden Gate Quilts, a local quilt shop. Two days before Valentine's Day, Frank and I took a drive to get them from curbside pickup. The quilt shop is 20 miles away and would take about 25 minutes each way. At roughly 20 miles to a gallon and approximately $4 a gallon, we would be investing $8 to fetch $16 worth of fabric. But the day was gorgeous with blue skies, fluffy white clouds, blooming trees, and mild temperatures; we welcomed being out of the house, seeing different scenery.

I masked up when we arrived to get my pre-paid order waiting in a bin outside for me. The shop is tucked in at the far corner of the parking lot, the last in the line of gray stores with cute railway station style white trim. The shop's address is 125 Railroad Avenue, Danville, CA.

My package contained two panels. One can never have too many cute woodland creatures (unless they are the squirrels who totally ripped all the stuffing out of our outdoor swing and deck chair cushions). But these fabric critters were rabbits and I never tire of sewing bunny pillows for Alex. The animals on the other snowy panel would make up into whimsical Christmas pillows. Both these panels have mirror images so I can easily put front and backs together and only generate half the pillows. I must admit, you can have too many pillows and I suspect I am very close to that point. I already have too many quilts but I keep making them, too.

Across the parking lot, in similarly styled architecture, was a bakery & cafe. It was open but absolutely no one was there and it had outdoor seating. Frank and I were three weeks and two days beyond having gotten our first Moderna vaccine on January 21st, so we decide to be adventurous, treat ourselves, and eat out at the venue appropriately named Life is Sweet. We reasoned it could also be considered our earlyValentine's Day celebration. Our fare was simple – grilled cheese and cream of tomato soup – but it was gooood! We got two vanilla cupcakes boxed up to savor once we got home. The bakery is totally gluten free, an added bonus, but the taste was surely not compromised.

 

From our cafe table we saw a railway signal, so afterward, once we'd finished our meal we walked over to explore further.

Closer inspection of the writing cast into the side read U.S.& S. Co. Swissvale, PA.  I learned later from Wikipedia that U.S. & S. stands for Union Switch and Signal Company. Companies that use/have used US&S products worldwide include are listed in the second photo. We did not need to travel farther than our nearby town of Danville to learn a bit more of national train history.

Frank, standing next to the signal gives a sense of its scale. Just down Railroad Avenue a bit is the historic Danville railway station. Frank and I have visited there with Alex and we reminisced about our excursion there in 2016. See my blog post dated 9/27/16.

We were away from the house barely more than two hours, but felt refreshed and upbeat. Fabric. Food. Trains. Great Memories. Life really is sweet!