Category: Reading

Tidy Tidbits: Just Books

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BOOKS AND MORE BOOKS.  You’ll find fun with a favorite children’s book here along with Edna O’Brien’s sobering novel followed by a fast-paced thriller.

THAT CAT

I had the unexpected pleasure of reading The Cat in the Hat to a kindergarten class the other day—with some non-verbal assistance!   It was Dr. Seuss Day and the Chief Penguin and I were at the Community Day School in Sarasota.  This faith-based school is an inclusive place open to kids of all nationalities, flavors, and religions with a focus on preparing them to be global citizens and to have a positive impact on the world.    

Dr. Seuss Day celebrates the noted author’s birthday (March 2) and is a time when many schools invite volunteers in to read one of his books.  In the Sarasota-Manatee area, the event is also sponsored by the organization, Embracing Our Differences.

EVIL AND INNOCENCE

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O’Brien.  O’Brien is a noted Irish writer of stories, novels, and a memoir, and this is her latest novel.  Her first novel, which I have not read, but know of, The Country Girls, was published in 1961.  She was so severely castigated for its frank sexual content (mild by today’s standards) that she left Ireland for London and has been estranged from her home ever since.

The Little Red Chairs is a strange book but, despite my initial doubts, I ended up finding it worthwhile.  The early chapters present a bunch of characters in a small town in western Ireland and are somewhat confusing.  Eventually, things sort themselves out after Fidelma, a married woman who desperately wants a child, becomes the focal point.  She is attracted to the charismatic stranger and healer, Dr. Vlad, and ultimately seduces him.

But, Dr. Vlad is not who he pretends to be and is arrested for war crimes associated with the Bosnian War.  Horrific revenge is visited upon Fidelma for her actions and she must leave and forge a new life for herself in London.  Echoing throughout the early part are memories of and references to the massive slaughter in Sarajevo in 2002.  This is a dark novel of hate and evil based on the real war criminal, Radovan Karadzic (tried and convicted at The Hague), ending with a glimmer of hope for Fidelma’s salvation.

I read this novel for my book group here.  Everyone found it challenging, and responses to it were mixed to negative.  Some found there to be too much descriptive writing and others did not find themselves engaged with or caring about the characters, especially Fidelma.  Many of the book reviews I read consider it O’Brien’s masterpiece.  Particularly helpful for context is an interview with the 85 year old O’Brien which appeared in Smithsonian Magazine.  Had I read it before tackling the novel, I would have appreciated sooner what she was attempting.

CHANGE OF PACE THRILLER

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley.  I had put off reading this thriller since it deals with a plane crash, but once I started it, I raced through it.  It was gripping.  A private plane leaving Martha’s Vineyard crashes a a short time later, and of the eleven people on board, only two survive, a man and a small boy.  Why did the plane crash and what are the back stories of the passengers and crew?  Hawley’s novel is a fast-paced account of the TSA investigation, the role of the press, the lives of the victims before the crash, and the effect of the crash on the two survivors.  If you’re looking for a quick escape into another realm, this could be it!

FOOTNOTE

Following up on my mention of  Colson’s novel, The Underground Railroad, most of the NY Times’ Travel section this past Sunday (February 26) was devoted to museums and historic sites related to the Underground Railroad.  Many of them in Maryland.

Images:  Red chairs from the Web (litstack.com); photos courtesy of L. Hershorin.

New Books by Desmond & Collins

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RECENT READING

I have two nonfiction books to recommend and, with you know who now in office, the first one about poverty seems especially appropriate.

Evicted:  Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond.  This is an important book and one that takes a different look at the lives of poor people in Milwaukee in 2008 and 2009.  Desmond views poverty as a relationship between landlords and tenants and shows how entangled and enmeshed renters’ lives are with landlords who hold the threat of eviction over them.  Desmond lived in a trailer park inhabited by white residents for four months and then spent 10 months living in an apartment owned by a black woman.  Like many people, I thought that most poor people lived in public housing, but in this city, and probably more generally, public housing was very often not available, the wait time was years or decades, or the individuals who needed it most didn’t qualify for one reason or another.  Most of those evicted or those who moved out voluntarily (rather than being given an eviction notice and taken to court) were women and especially women with children.  Having children tripled the odds of being evicted.

Once evicted, these folks often had to look at 80 or 90 apartments before finding a place to live; if unsuccessful, they ended up in a shelter for weeks or even months.  And the rents they paid for their apartments (frequently in poor condition with non-working appliances or holes in walls or roofs) were market rate—the same amount as paid for nice, clean apartments in the more desirable neighborhoods.  Over the course of his field work, Desmond followed eight individuals and their families and observed their struggles with addiction, job loss, new schools for their kids, and the possibility of jail time.  Only one person, a single male, succeeds in breaking the cycle, overcoming his addiction and becoming a productive citizen again.

Matthew Desmond, a Harvard professor who won a MacArthur Fellowship (“Genius” Award) in 2015, offers his thoughts on possible solutions in a very comprehensive “About This Project” at the end of the book.

When in French:  Love in a Second Language by Lauren Collins.  This is yet another memoir in my ongoing fascination with reading about how other people perceive their lives.  A New Yorker staff writer, Collins’s book is ostensibly about falling in love with Olivier, moving to Geneva, marrying him, and dealing with communicating with him and others in French.  But it’s much more than that.  Collins is a small town Southern girl from Wilmington, North Carolina, who moves to London where she meets Olivier and then follows him to Geneva when his job takes him there.  She is biting in describing her response to the city of Geneva and candid about her linguistic faux pas and her cultural misconceptions.  Along the way she provides nuggets of information on the history of languages and her canvas becomes much larger than just her stumbling journey to fluency.  At some points, I felt she was trying to cover too much material, but I stuck with her.  Here’s one example of some linguistic history:

In 1880 there were 641 German newspapers in the United. States. …One of them, Pennsylvanischer Staatsbote, had been in 1776 the first publication to announce that the Declaration of Independence has been adopted.  English speakers had to wait until the next day when the document’s full text appeared in the Philadelphia Evening Post.

And one of her observations on her extreme desire to get married:

I had exactly two anxieties about cross-cultural marriage:  (1) I feared being marooned, at the end of my life, in some French nursing home where no one had ever heard of baseball; and (2) it made me sad to think that my kids would miss out on one of the great joys of an American childhood, learning to spell Mississippi.  But, generally, I didn’t see what the big deal was.  Tied up as I was in rules, timetables, and proverbs about buying cows, I couldn’t take Olivier at his word.  [That he loved her and wanted to be together and have a family with her.]

If nothing else, you will think a bit more about the language you speak and how you acquired it, and if you’ve ever tried immersion in another country and language, you’ll empathize with her experience.

Header photo:  Taken at Selby Botanical Garden (JWF)

Book Bounty

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BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS

I have always been a book person.   When I was a toddler, my mother would take me in the Taylor Tot (a popular stroller, very basic by today’s standards) to the nearby branch library for bunches of picture books.

I was an early and avid reader and  soon bored by the Dick and Jane series.  In 3rd grade, I recall being so engaged in silent reading period that I had be called back to attention after everyone else had moved on to the next assignment.  I think the book in question was The Secret Garden. 

Resources in my family were limited so we didn’t purchase a lot of books.  A real treat was the box that would arrive from England at Christmas, the packages inside colorfully wrapped and tied with thin white ribbon.  The wrapping paper was always slightly frayed at the edges as if the journey across the water had been a rough one, and you could see just a hint of the book cover.  These were books from the Bishops and there was one for each of my sisters and me.  My grandparents had met Mr. and Mrs. Bishop on one of their trips abroad (perhaps on sabbatical), and this couple, whom I never met, never failed to give us books each year for a number of years.  I particularly remember some of the Noddy books about a boy puppet.

Since then, books have continued to feature prominently in our Christmas and birthday giving.  My siblings and I all have Amazon Wish Lists and mine is mostly books.  While I’m happy to receive selected titles for my Kindle, I still derive great pleasure from the look (different fonts and attractive covers), feel (different sizes), and heft of hardback and paperback books.  This year was no different.  Here are some recent gifts plus others, several of which I’ve already read.

RECENT AND UPCOMING READING

Falling:  A Daughter, A Father, and a Journey Back by Elisha Cooper.  It is a devastating moment when your young child is diagnosed with cancer.  Children’s book author Cooper movingly in lovely straightforward prose shares his emotions and the impact Zoe’s illness has on him and the rest of the family.  He candidly recounts episodes of anger when he just plain lost it.  But he also reminds us of the preciousness of everyday life.  It was a difficult journey, but for this family, one with a good result.

All at Sea: A Memoir by Decca Aitkenhead.  It is often said that it is harder to recover from a loved one’s sudden death than from death after illness.  Aitkenhead’s spouse drowned in Jamaica before her very eyes.  This is her account of that event interwoven with the story of Tony’s life and how she and her two young sons coped afterward.  Mostly it’s about Tony, a man I found a surprising choice for this journalist.  He had a criminal record, had spent time in jail, had been a drug dealer, and was still growing and selling marijuana after he and Decca got together.  His moral compass was widely divergent from mine and so, at times, I found it hard to fathom his appeal.  It’s an affecting, poignant book and a heartfelt tribute to a man who ultimately gave his all for his sons.  

News of the World by Paulette Jiles.  A finalist for the National Book Award, this novel is by an author previously unknown to me.  Set in Texas in 1870, it presents an intriguing slice of western history.  Small towns did not get much news beyond the local which meant that Captain Jefferson Kidd, a former printer and retired soldier, would draw an audience for readings of articles from big city papers like the Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Tribune, and London Daily News.  When offered a princely sum to transport a former Indian captive, 10-year old Johanna, all the way south to San Antonio to her aunt and uncle, he reluctantly agrees.  Traveling through rough country always mindful of being ambushed or attacked, the Captain (Kep-dun to her) and Johanna move from silent resignation to the flowering of a fragile friendship.  This unlikely pair is finely drawn and I found myself fully engaged and rooting for both of them.

The Book that Matters Most by Ann Hood.  The premise here is an attractive one—a monthly book club where each person selects and then leads a discussion about the work that had the most impact for him or her—and there were no real surprises about the books chosen.  As a framework for this novel, it’s mostly successful in showing Ava re-engage with friends and come to terms with her husband’s departure after 25 years of marriage.  The subplot about her wayward college daughter’s ventures into the drug scene abroad was less convincing, mostly because I don’t think a mother would be that gullible.  For a work by this author I like better, try The Obituary Writer.  

Be Near Me by Andrew O’Hagan.  My son introduced me to this Scottish author.  I’ve just started this beautiful novel about a priest published in 2006.

Novels, Tales, Journeys by Andrew Pushkin.  This book of almost all of 19th century Russian poet Pushkin’s prose was an unexpected gift and one I’m looking forward to enjoying.

Owls Do Cry by Janet Frame.  Occasionally I even buy myself books before Christmas.  I’ve known of New Zealander Janet Frame for a long time, but never have read any of her works.  Published in 1957, this early novel provides a perspective on mental illness.  On my to-be-read list.

Evicted:  Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond.  I’ve read this one, but more about it after my island book group discusses it later this month.

Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 3:  The War Years & After, 1939-1962 by Blanche Wiesen Cook.  I found volumes 1 and 2 fascinating and, having started this last volume, will finish it.

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O’Brien.  Novel by celebrated Irish writer which has received much acclaim.  On my to-be-read list.

Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance.  I think this memoir about growing up poor will make a good pairing with Evicted.  To be read.

 

Note:  Stroller images from www.worthpoint.com

The Power of Reading: Book List #2

JWF 1 Comment

WHY WE SHOULD READ.  I love the Wall Street Journal (for a host of reasons),  but their tight firewall only allows subscribers to access the full text of an article.  So I’m going to quote from the lead essay in the November 26-27 Review section.  It’s by Will Schwalbe, author of The End of Your Life Book Club, and is entitled, “The Need to Read.”  I think it’s excellent.

“Books are uniquely suited to helping us change our relationship to the rhythms and habits of daily life in this world of endless connectivity.  We can’t interrupt books; we can only interrupt ourselves while reading them.  They are the expression of an individual or group of individuals, not of a hive mind or collective consciousness.  They speak to us, thoughtfully, one at a time.  They demand our attention.  And they demand that we briefly put aside our own beliefs and prejudices and listen to someone else’s.  You can rant against a book, scribble in the margin or even chuck it out the window.  Still, you won’t change the words on the page.”

And after providing examples of books that have influenced him or changed his mind or made him wiser from Stuart Little to The Odyssey to Lindbergh’s Gift from the Sea to Reading Lolita in Tehran, Mr. Schwalbe salutes the power of reading:

“Books remain one of the strongest bulwarks we have against tyranny—but only as long as people are free to read all different kinds of books, and only as long as they actually do so.  The right to read whatever you want whenever you want is one of the fundamental rights that helps us preserve all the other rights.  It’s a right we need to guard with unwavering diligence.  But it’s also a right we can guard with pleasure.  Reading isn’t just a strike against narrowness, mind control and domination:  It’s one of the world’s great joys.”

In these somewhat unsettled times, his words resonate with me.

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BOOK LIST FROM MY BLOG

And here, in time for your holiday shopping should you choose, is the list of books I’ve mentioned in the blog since June.

Buruma, Ian                          Their Promised Land (biography, July)

Belfer, Lauren                       And After the Fire (novel, June)

Brower, Kate A.                    First Women:…First Ladies (biography, June)

Gyasi, Yaa                              Homegoing (novel, June)

Lewis, Sinclair                      Main Street (novel, June)

Purnell, Sonia                       Clementine (biography, June)

Cambor, Kathleen                In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden (novel, July)

Church, Elizabeth J.             The Atomic Weight of Love (novel, July)

Cooper, Anderson                The Rainbow Comes & Goes (nonfiction, July)

Delinsky, Barbara                 Blueprints (novel, July)

Doiron, Paul                          The Poacher’s Son (mystery, July)

McCoy, Sarah                       The Mapmaker’s Children (novel, July)

Simonson, Helen                 The Summer Before the War (novel, July)  

Smith, Dominic                   The Last Painting of Sara de Vos (novel, July)

Cleave, Chris                        Everyone Brave is Forgiven (novel, July)

Haigh, Jennifer                    Heat & Light (novel, Aug.)

Matar, Hisham                    In the Country of Men (novel, Aug.)

McCann, Colum                  Dancer (novel, Aug.) 

George, Elizabeth               Believing the Lie (mystery, Aug.)

Thompson, Victoria           Murder in Chelsea (mystery, Aug.)

Cleve, Chris                          Everyone Brave is Forgiven (novel, Aug.)  

Erdrich, Louise                    LaRose (novel, Aug.)

Donati, Sara                         The Gilded Hour (novel, Sept.)

Sweeney, Cynthia                The Nest (novel, Sept.)

Haruf, Kent                           Our Souls at Night (novel, Sept.)

Carr, David                           Night of the Gun (memoir, Oct.)

Harrod-Eagles, C.               Orchestrated Death (mystery, Oct.)

Hadley, Tessa                       The Past (novel, Oct.)

Goodwin, Daisy                    Victoria (novel, Nov.)

 

Note:  Photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved)