Reading lots, just not always good books

I've been reading a lot of books, in fact I reached my goal for the year of reading 100 books. One recent book is called Frozen in Time which follows the epic rescue attempt for some flyers downed in Greenland. Another book is called The Lowland which follows two Indian brothers, first in India and then in America, and the powerful woman the first brother married and then when he died, the second brother married. The daughter of the first brother is raised by the second brother as his own child, although the daughter does not know her true parentage. It is a somewhat convoluted plot but very well written.

In the Shadow of the Banyan

Poignant tale of a young girl living as a refuge under the regime of the Khmer Rouge. My only problem with it is that sometimes the knowledge of the main character seemed beyond that of her age in the book. Beautifully written.

I just finished reading a beautiful novel, called, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. It tells of an older man who embarks on a journey of discovery and redemption. I've also finished reading another memorable book called, Forgotten Country. There are so many good books I've read this year, many of them debut novels that have been well reviewed. Some have even appeared on short lists for awards.

Mysteries

I guess I am really in the mood to read mysteries. I just finished two more, 61 Hours and Room No. 10. At least I am catching up on reading for my goal of 100 books this year. I've been way behind schedule.

I've been reading some mysteries lately, one called The Seventh Trumpet, the other called The Claws of the Cat. Both just okay. Starting my third mystery called Eva's Eye. A little bit of light reading for a change.

Those We Love Most

I have really mixed feelings about this story. In some ways, it seems so prosaic and predictable; even as it does have some memorable scenes and phrases. It is a very sad story, and I do not ultimately find it uplifting since I can't even begin to imagine the anguish expressed by the characters. The book has received many good reviews, and I can understand why even as I disagree.

I just finished reading The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, really enjoyed reading it but I actually liked the movie better. The two present quite different stories but the movie felt more credible and definitely more upbeat which I have to confess I liked.

I've been reading a lot, just not writing reviews. I think my brain has stopped working. My thoughts have dried up. Just finished a non-fiction title, Between Man and Beast. a book about an explorer of the Congo who wrote about the Lowland Gorilla, The book is set within the context of the discussion of the theory of evolution, Then I read a mystery called A Sunless Sea about the opium trade, specifically about the fortunes to be made by selling opium to an uninformed public.

The 100 YEAR Old Man Who Climbed Out The

Wonderfully humorous. Excellent.

Recent books read

I've been reading quite a bit lately without writing reviews. They were all good:
Tell the Wolves I'm home, The Garden of Evening Mists, The End of the Point, and Mary Coin, all good, although the first two listed are excellent.

Wild From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

The author of this book recounts vividly the astonishing tale of her solo hike of over eleven hundred miles on the Pacific Crest Trail.

The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

An excellent story.

The World is Made of Stories by David R. Loy

A font of wisdom from many different voices integrated around the meaning of life.

Lake in the Clouds by Sara Donati

This is a historical fiction about a fascinating time and place, and very strong characters. It is full of romance but also the other complexities of life and emotions. The author says in her acknowledgements that she hopes she has told a "whopping good story" and she has!

The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. Story of misapprehensions within the vicissitudes of life, as current now as ever.

The Midwife's Tale: An Oral History from Handywoman to Professional Midwife 
by Nicky Leap, Billie Hunter  This book is an interesting historical fiction based on a diary written by a midwife who lived in the late 1600's; and it covers the time when York, England was besieged by rebels fighting against the Royalists who supported King Charles. Historian Sam Thomas brings this time very much to life.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. Really enjoyed this book about the first wife of Ernest Hemingway. It gives a wonderful flavor of the times, the Bohemian life of writers and other famous people in 1920s Europe.

Wise Men by Stuart Nadler is a well-written book - a complex tale of love and redemption.

Just finished reading "Winter of the World" written by Ken Follett, 940 pages of it. Very good, actually fast to read. It follows the life of several main characters from England, Germany and the United States during the cataclysmic events of WWII.

A neat poem

Late summer on the river the sun and wind are mild
 the little birds below the eaves are grown
 sun-drenched butterflies dance among the flowers
 newly spun spiderwebs brighten every room
threadbare curtains invite the moon's reflection
a pillow made of clay echoes with the current
my long-graying temples recall the frost and snow
let me pass this life chopping wood and fishing

                          Chang Feng

The Dream of the Celt by Mario Vargas Llosa

Fascinating historical fiction about an Irishman who advocated for oppressed people in the Congo, Peru, and Ireland. There are some very brief descriptions of his homosexual interactions which I found uncomfortable to read but otherwise, the book is well-written.

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian- This fiction about the horrific Armenian genocide during WWI follows two survivors who meet in Allepo, Syria; It alternates between their voices telling about life in a war zone, and that of their grand-daughter who is researching and writing a novel about the insane days of 1915-1916. It is a haunting tale well worth reading.

Finished reading the book called, the life of objects. A young girl leaves Ireland for opportunity, and ends up spending years in Germany during WWII. This is a well-written book that tells a poignant story. Well worth reading.

Just finished reading the novel called, The Postmistress. This is an insightful story about three American women during WWII, and highlights the poignancy of making choices which often have unintended consequences.

I just found some of the postings from a blog I started in 2008. I thought I had deleted this when I was really sad. The link is: http://www.jacketflap.com/megablog/?blogid=1694 Who would have thought it! All this finding is helping jog my memory which is otherwise so poor after the ECT. I find it exciting to recover memories that I otherwise believed lost.

The Secret of the Nightingale Palace by Dana Sachs

Wonderful story about an older woman named Goldie and her granddaughter, Anna who take a two- week road trip together to San Francisco from New York. The story about Goldie’s earlier life in San Francisco, rich in detail, melds with Anna’s story; and this beautiful novel is told within the context of their brief rapprochement after a five- year long estrangement. This very poignant story is well written and a delight to read.

Deep River by Shusaku Endo is a thoughtful read about some pilgrims traveling to India, all having experienced different difficult times in their lives, and hoping to find some deeper meaning to their existence.  It is a very moving story!  Interestingly, a movie called “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” released in 2012 has a very similar premise; it is based on a book called “These Foolish Things” written by Deborah Moggach’ and published in 2004. To make things more complicated, Moggach seems to have been influenced by Endo’s work earlier published in 1994 so I would love to know the true origins of all three.   

                                     

"The world is a battleground between Good and Evil and it is the duty of everyone to foster good and fight evil". Zoroaster

            Song

An old song with new words,

a cup of wine,--

last year’s weather haunts

old towers and pavilions.

The sun sinks below the world.

Will it ever come back again?

Nothing can be done

to delay the flowers’ falling.

When swallows come

like old friends returning,

I pace the fragrant

narrow garden path alone.

             Yen Shu

                

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
Small towns, barely upon the map, live and breathe and then decline as larger towns grow. People settle in for the long term, and newcomers must prove themselves. A young man loses his parents, then the couple who had adopted him,he leaves town and then returns after twelve years away. This story follows his journey through the rhythm of both his life and that of the town, and spans the years both before WWII and after. Demonstrating the relationship between the pathos and strength of the human spirit, this poignant and poetically told story is a powerful read.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.  An incredible novel about a young man who fights in the Pacific Theater in WWII.  His survival story is both terrible and astounding.  This is an amazing read, every bit of it.

Galway Bay by  Mary Pat Kelly. A very moving chronicle of the terrible Irish potato famine, and the immigration of thousands of the Irish people to the United States.

The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff. Wow, is all I can say about this book. It raises some difficult issues around gender. It's worth the effort needed to read it.

Silence by Shusaku Endo is an impressive historical fiction by likely the most well-known Japanese author in the West. It tells of Christian missionaries who came to Japan to convert. Some people did convert; however, the nobility punished both converts and missionaries. There is a lot of pathos and food for thought in this well-written novel.

The world as it is would always be a reminder of the world that was, and of the world that is to come.
                                                                Wendell Berry from Jayber
As Thich Nhat Hanh wrote so wisely: Live in the moment.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

What a wonderful book, filled with discussions about current events of the late 1800's. The characters are well developed, if you can keep the names straight. I read this book in high school and delighted in the romance and problems therein but I missed out on the issues Tolstoy infused in this novel of manners and correct proprietaries. It takes the Austen's books a level higher.

Peace is Every Step

[

This book is both simple and powerful. It gives one example after another to credit mindfulness as an essential way to deal with all our problems and world problems by living in the moment and with awareness. One suggestion I found particularly healing was that we all need a Breathing Room, separate and sparsely filled with a few cushions, a beautiful sounding bell and a vase of flowers. "That little room should be regarded as an Embassy of the Kingdom of Peace. It should be respected, and not violated by anger, shouting or things like that." It's a room for "refuge".

The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau. 

I really enjoyed reading this historical fiction that takes place during the reign of Henry VIII.  It was written from the perspective of a novice nun who desperately wants to save her father who languishes in the Tower of London. To obtain his release, she embarks on a perilous search for a legendary crown. 

As a retired Librarian, I can pass on this wonderful description of a library from Wendell Berry's book JAYBER : "The library had beautiful rooms lined with books and tables for reading and writing. And there was a perfectly lovely room called the Browsing Room, with shelf upon shelf of books, and several tall windows looking out into the trees, and easy chairs with reading lamps, and sofas."

from Librarian's List

As I mentioned earlier, I am reading JAYBER, now I am sidetracked by reading Chinese poetry and I'm  reminded of the little gem: " Too many books, too little time" As I sit with the pupster's head resting on my leg, I marvel at the incredible array of written material to peruse. I own books I have not yet finished reading but the Library beckons.

from Chinese poems

Where a hermit lives, there's no need for companions
                       Meng Hao-jan

If I chance to meet another hermit in the woods,
We talk and laugh and never even think of home
                        Wang Wei

"At night, shut in my little room with all my worldly possessions, I  felt like a worm in an apple"
                                          Wendell Berry, from Jayber Crow

It is early morning. I am  sitting here gazing at Oak trees and beautiful Spring plants sprouting new leaves and flowers. The birds are awaking and alighting upon our bird feeder for their breakfast. I am indeed fortunate to live amidst the bounty of nature.

Some of the books I have enjoyed recently  include:  Silence by Shusaku Endo, Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham, The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff, The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau and Main Street by Sinclair Lewis. I am currently reading Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry.

This is a new blog  for me with some copy and paste from my previous one. I have been on hiatus from posting since December 2010. Don't ask why please. It's a long story best not told.

Ed wrote a poem about my recent wine spill over some of his books.

                        "Books of poems stained with wine

                          I smile at the purple

                          Reminders of your presence."

I have started reading adult books since I retired from the Sonoma County Library. When recently invited, I joined a really neat internet site called Good Reads. There I can post ratings and reviews of the books I read, and get recommendations from friends for books I might enjoy. 

     

sad but hopeful

 

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2010

sad but hopeful

Just finished reading Earth: Making a life on a Tough New Planet by Bill McKibben (Henry Holt and Company, 2010). I was practically crying reading the first half because it laid out a dire situation for our life on earth, some of which I already knew but the majority was eye-opening and cause for despair. The second half of the book suggested solutions that seemed possible if unlikely so I came away from reading this book with a renewed committment to live lightly on our beautiful earth. We live out in the country so car travel is inevitable but I can stay home more days than I go out especially if I have a pile of books. The other thing I know I can do is make the most of each trip out to get library books or groceries. I recommend this book to anyone who is concerned about the environment. This book is awesome, and it has an extensive index and list of notes.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2010

Juster, Norton.  The Odious Ogre.  Pictures by Jules Feiffer.  Scholastic.  2010.

An Ogre munched regularly on the people of a village, and the terrified residents did not think they could do anything to stop him. One day, the Ogre comes across a small cottage, and he veers over to see what tasty treat might await him. He meets up with a young girl working in the garden, and does his best to scare her but she just looks up at him and says, “Oh, pardon me, I didn’t realize anyone was there. I’ll be right with you.”

The surprised Ogre mumbles, “What’s going on!” The girl invites him to “sit down and have a cup of tea” with her. Now the Ogre feels terrible and he asks the young girl why she is not scared of him. “Oh, you’re not really so terrible,” she says, “Overbearing perhaps, arrogant for sure somewhat self-important, a little too mean and violent I’m afraid, and a bit messy”. The girl offers to help him tidy up and the poor Ogre becomes totally discombobulated because she is nice to him which the Ogre complains is “bad for business”. In the end, the Ogre expires from kindness, and the “townspeople…arrived to celebrate and bury him. The humor of this original fantasy is cleverly detailed despite the scary premise in the deliciously funny illustrations. The cover is an absolute draw as it shows a hapless young  man dangling from the Ogre’s hand. This is a picture book for children, ages 5 and up and can be shared in a group setting.

Yum, Hyewon.  There are no scary wolves. Farrar Straus Giroux. 2010.

A young boy is anxious to go outside but his mother tells him that he can go out later when she can go with him because otherwise it is too dangerous. The mother is busy doing house chores so the little boy replies, “No, I’m a big boy! I’m not even afraid of scary wolves.” When they finally get ready to go out first to a Chinese restaurant, and then to a toy store, the mother cannot find her keys. While she is searching, the little boy imagines going out alone; and everywhere he goes he meets up with scary wolves: the cook in the Chinese restaurant is a wolf and the owner of the toy store is a wolf. By the time, his mother finds her keys; the little boy has scared himself into not wanting to go out at all. His mother reassures him that he is a big boy, and she will be with him so he does not need to be scared, and of course, the scary wolves are gone when they go out together; or are they. The illustrations of wolf faces are mildly scary but charming nevertheless. The little boy is dressed in a red cape, and his imaginative adventure is clearly expressed as he visits the kitchen of the Chinese Restaurant: the cooks are wolves, and goes by the toy store: the clerk is a wolf.  

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2010

McCully, Emily Arnold.  The Secret Cave: Discovering Lascaux. Farrar Straus Giroux.  2010.

This is a wonderful picture book story about the discovery of the famous Lascaux cave by some French school boys. Based on memories collected years later, the information about its exact discovery is considered fictional although the cave is real as is the incredible prehistoric art the boys found by exploring the cave. Interestingly, during the war, the Resistance used the cave “as a secret storehouse for munitions” The cave was reopened for visitors in 1948 and two of the discoverers “guided the first visitors and were appointed official guardians and guides. One remarkable fact about this cave is that because it was sealed for over 17,000 years, the artwork was vibrantly colorful. As time went by, the presence of so many visitors began a process of deterioration. Subsequently, the original cave was copied and then closed to all but scholars. The illustrations are stunning, and show the sequence leading up to the discovery of the cave art; a few examples of the cave art are included. The author’s note is very informative, and she includes a brief bibliography for readers interested in learning more about this remarkable discovery.

Poetry Friday

from Shel Silverstein's "Falling Up" 

Crystal Ball

Come see your life in my crystal glass-
Twenty-five cents is all you pay.
Let me look into your past-
Here's what you had for lunch today:
Tuna salad and mashed potatoes,
Green pea soup and apple juice
Collard greens and stewed tomatoes,
Chocolate milk and lemon mousse.
You admit I've told it all?
Well, I know it, I confess,
Not by looking in my ball,
But just by looking at your dress.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2010

Shea, Bob.  Dinosaur vs. the Potty.  Disney/Hyperion.  2010.

Using the same formula he created so successfully in “Dinosaur vs. Bedtime (Hyperion, 2008) Shea has turned the subject of potty training into an amusing story. Children will giggle as Dinosaur declares victory over several liquid opponents: lemonade, a sprinkler, a three juice box lunch and roars aloud but then a victory dance turns into an all out dash for the bathroom, and the potty wins at the end when Dinosaur just makes it in time. Shea’s mixed media illustrations are colorful and humorous depictions of this delightful story.

Elya, Susan Middleton.  Rubia and the Three Osos. Illustrated by Melissa Sweet.  Disney/Hyperion Books.  2010.

The story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears has been turned into a multicultural story with the addition of some Spanish words, all understandable in the context of the familiar story; although, there is also a glossary at the end. Goldilocks is named Rubia in this cute version, the bears go for a slimming walk before eating their soup, and Rubia makes up for her mistakes and becomes good friends with the three bears by the end of the story. The mixed media illustrations are colorful and filled with humorous details. This is a star performance.

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ABOUT ME

4IQREAD

I love to read, promote and encourage literacy, and cuddle with my cat.

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