I am woefully behind in reviewing the books I've read recently. I really have been reading this year, I just haven't taken the time to blog about any of them. So I updated my book reviews today. You can go here to see my reviews of:
Under Orders by Dick Francis
Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes
The Shack by William Young
Theodore Roosevelt: Wilderness Warrior by Daniel Brinkley
The Camel Club by David Baldacci
As always you can find my 2010 Reading List and book reviews on my sidebar at the right. I'll try to do a better job of updating it on a regular basis. I am currently reading The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, the book on which the Nicholas Cage movie "Adaptation" was based. I'll let you know how it is as soon as I'm finished.
What are you reading?
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
So Many Books To Read, So Little Time
Well, since it is a new year that means it is time for a new reading list. I feel like I didn't get much read in 2009 but when I look back over the list I certainly read a wide variety of literature. My new lisst for 2010 will be on my sidebar and you can still see reviews from everything I've read in 2008 and 2009 if you follow the links.
I ended 2009 with an excellent book entitiled, "Born to Run". The book begins with the author asking the question, "Why does my foot hurt?" and ends with him running in $10 shoes through the maze-like canyons of the Copper Canyons in Mexico as he discovers just how and why human beings were born to run. I highly recommend this book to anyone who run recreationally. It will change everything you think about running and convince you to run more....not less. But even if you aren't in to running this is a good read. The characters that McDougall meets along his journey are larger than life than extremely interesting. He writes with humor and skill and made the entire book (even the scientific explanations) a page turner. I give it a perfect 10.
My first book of 2010 was "The Constant Princess" by Phillippa Gregory. I've read several of her books and I have thoroughly enjoyed all of them. She writes about the British royal family of the 16th and 17th century. The constant princess refers to Katherine of Aragon and her 2nd husband King Henry the 8th. Their relationship is a stark contrast to the relationship we know that he had with his other wives and it is interesting to see how his life as a boy and the early days of his reign made him in to the deadly husband he later became. Of course the author guesses at many of the personal relationships of her characters but all the events of the book are based on historical fact. I recommend any Gregory book for readers who like to educate themselves while being caught up in a great story at the same time.
I'm currently reading "Healing Stones" by Nancy Rue and Stephen Arterburn. I"ll have a review of that up soon. Just watch the sidebar.
I ended 2009 with an excellent book entitiled, "Born to Run". The book begins with the author asking the question, "Why does my foot hurt?" and ends with him running in $10 shoes through the maze-like canyons of the Copper Canyons in Mexico as he discovers just how and why human beings were born to run. I highly recommend this book to anyone who run recreationally. It will change everything you think about running and convince you to run more....not less. But even if you aren't in to running this is a good read. The characters that McDougall meets along his journey are larger than life than extremely interesting. He writes with humor and skill and made the entire book (even the scientific explanations) a page turner. I give it a perfect 10.
My first book of 2010 was "The Constant Princess" by Phillippa Gregory. I've read several of her books and I have thoroughly enjoyed all of them. She writes about the British royal family of the 16th and 17th century. The constant princess refers to Katherine of Aragon and her 2nd husband King Henry the 8th. Their relationship is a stark contrast to the relationship we know that he had with his other wives and it is interesting to see how his life as a boy and the early days of his reign made him in to the deadly husband he later became. Of course the author guesses at many of the personal relationships of her characters but all the events of the book are based on historical fact. I recommend any Gregory book for readers who like to educate themselves while being caught up in a great story at the same time.
I'm currently reading "Healing Stones" by Nancy Rue and Stephen Arterburn. I"ll have a review of that up soon. Just watch the sidebar.
Friday, January 1, 2010
2010 Reading List
Here are the book reviews for every book I've read this year.
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean: was our most recent book club choice. This book was the inspiration for the movie "Adaptation" starring Nicholas Cage. It is a very interesting book about, well orchids. It may be a little too academic for some, but I loved the long descriptions of colonial Florida and the history of orchid hunting around the world. (As a matter of fact I suggested that Brian assign this book as one of his summer reading assignments for his Advanced Placement Biology class. It's that botanically centered.) The battles between the current orchid growers/collectors/thieves and the United States Government and Seminole Indians were fascinating to read about too. The book follows the real life struggles of John Laroche, an eccentric orchid lover, greenhouse manager, and lovable anarchist. He is one of the most bizarre characters you'll ever meet and the world of orchids is almost as strange. My only complaint about the book is that it has no pictures. The descriptions of the millions of species of orchids are wonderful but I was longing for some good pictures. I give this book a B.
Under Orders by Dick Francis: I've been reading Dick Francis books for years. There are dozens of them out there and they are all centered around the British horse racing world. As an ex-jockey, Francis writes wonderfully about the life he knows. In this book his ex=jockey hero, Sid Halley, is once again using his tenacity and private detective skills to solve a racetrack murder. I learned more about off track betting and online gambling in this book than I ever wanted to know. The Francis books are always quick, entertaining reads, perfect for an airplane or a beach chair. Grab any one of them and you'll enjoy it. A
Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry: This was my pick for book club. Of the three books I've chosen so far, all of them have been complete snoozers. It's horrible. I chose this book because I read a review about it that compared it to Marilynne Robinson's Gilead, which I absolutely loved. This book was nothing like Gilead. The writing was very 'stream of consciousness' and it felt like the author was trying to get all of his political, religious and social views in to one book and he didn't care if there was much of a story there to move it along. The only redeeming factor in this book is that it is set in a rural farming community in the 1920s-1960s so it was a complete reflection of the lives of my grandparents and my dad. I really enjoyed all of the farming descriptions and the small town social dynamics that I've heard described by my grandpa hundreds of times in stories about "the old days". But if you weren't raised by a couple of farmers you probably wouldn't enjoy it much at all. I'd say this book barely gets a D from me.
Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes: This is one of those books I grabbed quickly from the shelf because I was in between book club selections and it had an interesting cover. Turns out it was pretty good. The book is set in England in the 1960s, an era I know nothing about. Apparently this was the time when the aristocracy lost all of their social power because everyone realized that new money (made by actual work) was just as good as old money (inherited along with a title). The story revolves around a middle aged man that must go back and visit several of his friends from his past in order to investigate and event that took place when they were all running around together being irresponsible teenagers. I found the book to be informative, interesting and entertaining. B+
The Shack by William Young: I may be one of the last people on the planet to read this book so this review may be of no interest to most of you but.....I loved this book. It really challenged me to reexamine my relationship with God and my view of his attitude/love toward me. The expressions of love between God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and man in this book were so beautiful. I know that some people are bothered by a) the rape and murder of a child and b) the female personification of God in the book, but neither one of those effected my enjoyment of the book. If you have ever struggled with the question "Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?" then you should read this book. A+
Theodore Roosevelt: Wilderness Warrior by Daniel Brinkley: I absolutely loved this biography. It was LONG (as a matter of fact I didn't finish it because I had to return it to the library) and very slow in parts but the amount of information in this book, not only about Teddy Roosevelt himself, but about our country in the post Civil War and turn of the century days was truly remarkable. I really fell in love with Teddy and his off beat set of friends of enemies in the political realms of New York City and D.C. Reading about the beginnings of places I have been and loved (Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Badlands) was really awesome. I highly recommend this book for the serious reader. A+
The Camel Club by David Baldacci: This book was very slow in the beginning and I didn't really get into the story until at least halfway through. It was a typical legal thriller set in D.C., full of hidden murders, conspiracies that reach the White House and a socially inept band of honest detectives on the case. I give it a C.
The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory. Click here for review.
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean: was our most recent book club choice. This book was the inspiration for the movie "Adaptation" starring Nicholas Cage. It is a very interesting book about, well orchids. It may be a little too academic for some, but I loved the long descriptions of colonial Florida and the history of orchid hunting around the world. (As a matter of fact I suggested that Brian assign this book as one of his summer reading assignments for his Advanced Placement Biology class. It's that botanically centered.) The battles between the current orchid growers/collectors/thieves and the United States Government and Seminole Indians were fascinating to read about too. The book follows the real life struggles of John Laroche, an eccentric orchid lover, greenhouse manager, and lovable anarchist. He is one of the most bizarre characters you'll ever meet and the world of orchids is almost as strange. My only complaint about the book is that it has no pictures. The descriptions of the millions of species of orchids are wonderful but I was longing for some good pictures. I give this book a B.
Under Orders by Dick Francis: I've been reading Dick Francis books for years. There are dozens of them out there and they are all centered around the British horse racing world. As an ex-jockey, Francis writes wonderfully about the life he knows. In this book his ex=jockey hero, Sid Halley, is once again using his tenacity and private detective skills to solve a racetrack murder. I learned more about off track betting and online gambling in this book than I ever wanted to know. The Francis books are always quick, entertaining reads, perfect for an airplane or a beach chair. Grab any one of them and you'll enjoy it. A
Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry: This was my pick for book club. Of the three books I've chosen so far, all of them have been complete snoozers. It's horrible. I chose this book because I read a review about it that compared it to Marilynne Robinson's Gilead, which I absolutely loved. This book was nothing like Gilead. The writing was very 'stream of consciousness' and it felt like the author was trying to get all of his political, religious and social views in to one book and he didn't care if there was much of a story there to move it along. The only redeeming factor in this book is that it is set in a rural farming community in the 1920s-1960s so it was a complete reflection of the lives of my grandparents and my dad. I really enjoyed all of the farming descriptions and the small town social dynamics that I've heard described by my grandpa hundreds of times in stories about "the old days". But if you weren't raised by a couple of farmers you probably wouldn't enjoy it much at all. I'd say this book barely gets a D from me.
Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes: This is one of those books I grabbed quickly from the shelf because I was in between book club selections and it had an interesting cover. Turns out it was pretty good. The book is set in England in the 1960s, an era I know nothing about. Apparently this was the time when the aristocracy lost all of their social power because everyone realized that new money (made by actual work) was just as good as old money (inherited along with a title). The story revolves around a middle aged man that must go back and visit several of his friends from his past in order to investigate and event that took place when they were all running around together being irresponsible teenagers. I found the book to be informative, interesting and entertaining. B+
The Shack by William Young: I may be one of the last people on the planet to read this book so this review may be of no interest to most of you but.....I loved this book. It really challenged me to reexamine my relationship with God and my view of his attitude/love toward me. The expressions of love between God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and man in this book were so beautiful. I know that some people are bothered by a) the rape and murder of a child and b) the female personification of God in the book, but neither one of those effected my enjoyment of the book. If you have ever struggled with the question "Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?" then you should read this book. A+
Theodore Roosevelt: Wilderness Warrior by Daniel Brinkley: I absolutely loved this biography. It was LONG (as a matter of fact I didn't finish it because I had to return it to the library) and very slow in parts but the amount of information in this book, not only about Teddy Roosevelt himself, but about our country in the post Civil War and turn of the century days was truly remarkable. I really fell in love with Teddy and his off beat set of friends of enemies in the political realms of New York City and D.C. Reading about the beginnings of places I have been and loved (Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Badlands) was really awesome. I highly recommend this book for the serious reader. A+
The Camel Club by David Baldacci: This book was very slow in the beginning and I didn't really get into the story until at least halfway through. It was a typical legal thriller set in D.C., full of hidden murders, conspiracies that reach the White House and a socially inept band of honest detectives on the case. I give it a C.
The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory. Click here for review.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
It is long past time for me to update my reading list. I know of three book that I haven't written about yet, and I've got the feeling that I'm forgetting one more. I've been reading quite a bit, but it hasn't all been great literature.
The Bad:
The Ugly:
I love Odd Thomas. He is one of the purest, sweetest, most lovable characters in literature. As a twenty something fry cook with psychic abilities he gets himself into some unlikely situations...usually involving aliens or sadistic mad men trying to destroy the world with nuclear bombs. Koontz' writing is so clever and witty and easy to read. If you are squeamish or opposed to a few supernatural forces in your books you might not enjoy the Odd Thomas series, but I'm betting you just might find Odd's character so intriguing that you can overlook the "ugly" things that are happening around him. I highly recommend an Odd Thomas book. I think there are 4 of them.
The Good: 
I really enjoyed this book. It isn't a cheery type of book and there isn't a happy ending, but it is very well written. The language is beautiful and the story is completely engrossing. I couldn't put this book down. It has a couple of twists/mysteries in it, which I always love. I love a book that keeps you guessing until the very end. This book is a novel inside a novel. "The Blind Assassin" is a novel published posthumously by the narrator's sister. So in some chapters we have the narrator telling us the story of her life in early 20th century Canada and in other chapters we have excerpts from the published novel. The story itself focuses on the lives of two sisters growing up in a wealthy, but dysfunctional, family outside of Toronto. Family is a major theme of the novel but it delves in to communism, war, revolution and economic depression as well. A really good novel, over all.
The Bad:
This wasn't a bad book. It had its good moments, but overall it was really weird. I love, love, loved Marilynne Robinson's book Gilead so I had high hopes for this novel as well, but no such luck. Robinson tells the story of two sisters, abandoned by their mother (she commits suicide) and left to the care of their slightly senile grandmother. When she dies they fall under the care of two old spinster aunts that simply cannot deal with the responsibility so they call in a long lost aunt who prefers the life of a boxcar riding vagrant to living in an established home, but decides to take the job of mother to these two girls anyway. The family is SO dysfunctional and sad. The younger sister is finally driven away to live with a kind teacher and the town begins to demand that the older sister be removed from the home as well. Instead of losing her last remaining charge the crazy aunt takes the girl on the road with her and they become hobos....never telling the other girl that they didn't actually die in the fire that engulfed their house the night they ran away. (Of course they set the fire.) It was just weird and depressing and too wordy. I don't recommend it.
The Ugly:
I love Odd Thomas. He is one of the purest, sweetest, most lovable characters in literature. As a twenty something fry cook with psychic abilities he gets himself into some unlikely situations...usually involving aliens or sadistic mad men trying to destroy the world with nuclear bombs. Koontz' writing is so clever and witty and easy to read. If you are squeamish or opposed to a few supernatural forces in your books you might not enjoy the Odd Thomas series, but I'm betting you just might find Odd's character so intriguing that you can overlook the "ugly" things that are happening around him. I highly recommend an Odd Thomas book. I think there are 4 of them.
You can see all of my 2009 Reading List and the reviews of each book here.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Book Reviews
I've finally taken some time to update my 2009 Reading List. I've written reviews of 4 more books that I've read recently.
Check it out on my sidebar at the right.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
I"ve Been Reading....
There are book reviews of two more books over on the 2009 Reading List on my sidebar.
Check it out.
Now I'm in the midst of Fyodor Dostoevsky's "The Brother's Karamazov", and my next book club selection to read is "Mississippi Solo" by Eddy Harris. Look for updates soon.
Check it out.
Now I'm in the midst of Fyodor Dostoevsky's "The Brother's Karamazov", and my next book club selection to read is "Mississippi Solo" by Eddy Harris. Look for updates soon.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Evil Under the Sun
I've got one more book under my belt for the LOST Books Challenge. Three down and two to go.
As always you can find all of my book reviews here and a list of the books I've read this year right over there on my sidebar.
Happy Reading!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
A Bone
For those of you who don't follow LOST and find this blog very boring on Thursdays......I'm throwing you a bone.
I have two new book reviews up here if you'd like to read them.
Come back tomorrow for pics of recent sewing projects.
And start watching the best show on television for goodness sake!!!
I have two new book reviews up here if you'd like to read them.
Come back tomorrow for pics of recent sewing projects.
And start watching the best show on television for goodness sake!!!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Another Great Read
I know I’m about a year behind the rest of the planet, but I just read The Last Lecture yesterday. It has to be one of the most heart-wrenching books I have ever read! So I’ve been an emotional wreck for about 36 hours now and I got no sleep last night. My eyes are bloodshot and puffy and every time I look at my kids or glimpse the book jacket I burst in to tears. As a matter of fact I had to blog about it quickly so that I could try to stop thinking about it and move on with my life. That said, I completely recommend it.
If you are one of the other 3 people living that hasn’t heard of the book, let me explain. Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg, PA has a standard lecture series where they ask professors to give a lecture as if they knew they were dying and it would be their last one. The unique thing about Dr.Randy Pausch’s (professor of Computer Sciences) lecture is that it really was his last one.
At the time he gave the lecture he had been told he had 3 to 6 months before the pancreatic cancer that he had been fighting for a year would take his life. He was 47 years old and knew that he would be leaving behind a wife and 3 young children that probably wouldn’t remember him. Written for his children, The Last Lecture covers the same material as the actual lecture and gives a little more background into the life of Dr. Pausch. He is an unbelievably upbeat and optimistic guy and a tremendous teacher. The book (which sold over 2 million copies, while Pausch really only wanted the first three) is as hilarious as it is unbearably sad.
Dr. Pausch’s lecture is entitled “Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” and in it he reveals his childhood dreams and how he was able to achieve all of them(working at Disney, being Captain Kirk, experiencing zero gravity, etc)….well, except for that NFL thing. He praises his parents and confesses his undying love for his wife and children.
Just reading about Dr. Pausch’s life is enough to inspire greatness, but reading about his death (as he says, “Turns out dying is a great career booster.”) inspires hope and a real look at what is truly important in our lives.
No one should die without reading this book!!
You can also check out Randy Pausch’s website http://www.thelastlecture.com/ to watch the live lecture or for a look at his blog (be sure to read the e-mail from JJ Abrams), his obituary, a lost chapter of the book, and more information about fighting pancreatic cancer.
If you are one of the other 3 people living that hasn’t heard of the book, let me explain. Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg, PA has a standard lecture series where they ask professors to give a lecture as if they knew they were dying and it would be their last one. The unique thing about Dr.Randy Pausch’s (professor of Computer Sciences) lecture is that it really was his last one.
At the time he gave the lecture he had been told he had 3 to 6 months before the pancreatic cancer that he had been fighting for a year would take his life. He was 47 years old and knew that he would be leaving behind a wife and 3 young children that probably wouldn’t remember him. Written for his children, The Last Lecture covers the same material as the actual lecture and gives a little more background into the life of Dr. Pausch. He is an unbelievably upbeat and optimistic guy and a tremendous teacher. The book (which sold over 2 million copies, while Pausch really only wanted the first three) is as hilarious as it is unbearably sad.
Dr. Pausch’s lecture is entitled “Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” and in it he reveals his childhood dreams and how he was able to achieve all of them(working at Disney, being Captain Kirk, experiencing zero gravity, etc)….well, except for that NFL thing. He praises his parents and confesses his undying love for his wife and children.
“Children need to know that their parents love them. You don’t have to be alive to give them that.”
Just reading about Dr. Pausch’s life is enough to inspire greatness, but reading about his death (as he says, “Turns out dying is a great career booster.”) inspires hope and a real look at what is truly important in our lives.
No one should die without reading this book!!
You can also check out Randy Pausch’s website http://www.thelastlecture.com/ to watch the live lecture or for a look at his blog (be sure to read the e-mail from JJ Abrams), his obituary, a lost chapter of the book, and more information about fighting pancreatic cancer.
Friday, February 27, 2009
The Coalwood Way
I've finished my first book for the LOST Books Challenge, The Coalwood Way by Homer Hickam.
To read my review go here.
Or check it out in my 2009 Reading List book reviews.
To read my review go here.
Or check it out in my 2009 Reading List book reviews.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Gilead
I don't usually do individual posts on the books that I read. I usually just write a short paragraph review on my 2009 Reading List. But this book was just too good to relegate to a little paragraph on a sidebar link.
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson was an excellent novel. It is written from the point of view of an elderly preacher, John Ames, who knows that his weak heart is not going to beat much longer.
He uses his remaining time to write a letter, a memoir, to his seven year old son. Knowing that he will never live to see his son grow up, he wants to impart as much of his gained wisdom and family history to his son.
Rev. Ames comes from a long line of preachers. Preachers that fought alongside abolishionists in Kansas and promoted peace in Iowa. Rev. Ames himself has led a long lonely life in service to his God and his congregation after the death of his young wife and child.
Rev. Ames' May-December romance, subsequent marriage and child are his greatest blessings and the biggest surprises of his life. While he enjoys long slow summer days watching his son play and writing his lengthy transcript, Rev. Ames has some pressing matters to consider. The wayward son of his lifelong friend has suddenly returned to town and seems to be quite friendly with Mrs. Ames and their son. The reverend struggles with trusting that the prodigal boy has indeed changed and has become an honorable man and telling his wife about the young man's past and warning her away from him.
The story is very touching and sweet and the writing is really great. Interestingly, there are no chapter divisions. It is a letter, after all. And this isn't the type of letter where he tells his son how to shave and ask a girl out on a date, and things like that. This is the type of letter where a man tells his son about loving your enemy (for example)....
I would recommend this book to everyone. It is a really beautiful look at life, even a life full of difficulties and impending death. I've heard that Robinson's other book, Housekeeping, is equally good. I can't wait to read it too.
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson was an excellent novel. It is written from the point of view of an elderly preacher, John Ames, who knows that his weak heart is not going to beat much longer.
I have passed some fairly difficult nights. Discomfort, a little trouble breathing. I have decided the two choices open to me are (1) to torment myself or (2) to trust the Lord. There is no earthly solution to the problems that confront me. But I can add to my problems, as I believe I have done, by dwelling on them. So no more of that.
He uses his remaining time to write a letter, a memoir, to his seven year old son. Knowing that he will never live to see his son grow up, he wants to impart as much of his gained wisdom and family history to his son.
Why do I love the thought of you old? That first twinge of arthitis in your knee is a thing I imagine with all the tenderness I felt when yous howed me your loose tooth. Be diligent in your prayers, old man. I hope you will have seen more of the world than I ever got around to seeing--only myself ot blame. And I hope you will have read some of my books. And God bless your eyes, and your hearing also, and of course your heart. I wish I could help you carry the weight of many years. But
the Lord will have that fatherly satisfaction.
Rev. Ames comes from a long line of preachers. Preachers that fought alongside abolishionists in Kansas and promoted peace in Iowa. Rev. Ames himself has led a long lonely life in service to his God and his congregation after the death of his young wife and child.
Only that which is apart from my own being is capable of being doubted by me. How then can I doubt of God, who is my being? To doubt of God is to doubt of myself.
Rev. Ames' May-December romance, subsequent marriage and child are his greatest blessings and the biggest surprises of his life. While he enjoys long slow summer days watching his son play and writing his lengthy transcript, Rev. Ames has some pressing matters to consider. The wayward son of his lifelong friend has suddenly returned to town and seems to be quite friendly with Mrs. Ames and their son. The reverend struggles with trusting that the prodigal boy has indeed changed and has become an honorable man and telling his wife about the young man's past and warning her away from him.
The story is very touching and sweet and the writing is really great. Interestingly, there are no chapter divisions. It is a letter, after all. And this isn't the type of letter where he tells his son how to shave and ask a girl out on a date, and things like that. This is the type of letter where a man tells his son about loving your enemy (for example)....
This is an important thing, which I have told many people, and my father told me, and which his father told him. When you encounter another person, when you have dealings with anyone at all, it is as if a question is being put to you. So you must think, What is the Lord asking of me in this moment, in this situation? If you confront insult or antagonism, our first impulse will be to respond in kind. But if you think, as it were, This is an emissary sent from the Lord, and some benefit is intended for me, first of all the occasion to demonstrate my faithfulness, the chance to show that I do in some small degree participate in the grace that saved me, you are free to act otherwise than as circumstances would seem to dictate. You are free to act by your own lights. You are freed at the same time of the impulse to hate
or resent that person. He would probably laugh at the thought that the Lord sent him to you for your benefit (and his), but that is the perfection of the disguise, his own ignorance of it.
I would recommend this book to everyone. It is a really beautiful look at life, even a life full of difficulties and impending death. I've heard that Robinson's other book, Housekeeping, is equally good. I can't wait to read it too.
Friday, January 23, 2009
The LOST Books Challenge
I've recently joined my very first challenge!
Apparently a lot of avid readers also really enjoy watching LOST. They are particularily enthralled with finding literary references within the show.
Many times real books are being read by characters on the show or they appear on the bookshelves in different locations on the show. Other times the title of a well known book (A Tale of Two Cities, for instance) is actually used as a title for an episode and sometimes different literary works are referred to by characters through their dialogue on the show.
Anyway the LOST Books Challenge encourages participants to read at least 5 of the books mentioned, or alluded to, on the show between the first episode and the finale of this season. The list of books is long and distinguished and I had already read several of them....but here are the five that I chose to read in the next 4 months.
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky: It's a classic that I've never had time to read (or never been required to read by a college professor) and I know a friend of mine that just read it, so I thought I'd give it a try. This is my most ambitious selection.
The Coalwood Way by Homer Hickam: I loved the movie October Sky and I've seen it several times. I am thrilled to read a book written by the real life Homer Hickam. I might even get Brian to read this one with me.....what am I saying?....maybe he'll let me read it aloud to him.
Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie: I like Christie's novels and this happens to be one I haven't read. Easy choice.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: I recently read "The Grapes of Wrath" and didn't particularly like it that much so people have been telling me to give Steinbeck another shot and try Of Mice and Men. That's what I'm doing.
The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares: Hey, what's the point of a challenge if you don't challenge yourself? I've never heard of this book or the author, but the story line sounded interesting so I chose it. A total wild card.
If you want to join the LOST Books Challenge....or you just want to see the list of books that have been referenced on the show....you can go here.
Of course I'll review all of the books I read and keep you posted on my progress in the challenge.
Now I promise not to post anymore about LOST until next Thursday. Cross my heart!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Late Night Confessions
A few days ago Ryker came to me with a very serious conversation.
R: Mommy, I've got to tell you something.
C: Ok. What?
R: I've been doing something in my bed at night.
C: Okaaaaay. What?
R: Well, late at night after you tell us to go to sleep I hide under my covers and....read....with my flashlight.
C: (exhaling for the first time since the conversation started) Well......you really do need to get your sleep, but as long as you get up in time in the morning for school you can stay up and read under your covers for a little while.
I am secretly happy that Ryker is so engrossed in his books that he can't put them down. He has always been a good reader, but he never enjoyed reading for long periods of time before.
On vacation this summer his great aunt gave him a series of Charlie Brown books (published comic strips) and he read those, literally, all the way from Kansas City to Colorado Springs. He wanted to read a lot of them out loud to us. It was a constant chorus of, "Hey, listen to this one!" We were both impressed with his voice inflections and animation as he read about poor old Charlie's troubles, but it got to the point where we were sick of them and had to ban The Peanuts out loud.
Then last night I put the boys in bed and told them they could both read for awhile with their flashlights. I came upstairs 15 minutes later and found them both huddled around their little nightlight on the wall squinting to read their books. They couldn't find their flashlights and they couldn't not read before bed so what else were they supposed to do?
I guess if one of my habits is going to rub off on them I'm really glad it is reading. There are a few others I really wouldn't want them to inherit.
R: Mommy, I've got to tell you something.
C: Ok. What?
R: I've been doing something in my bed at night.
C: Okaaaaay. What?
R: Well, late at night after you tell us to go to sleep I hide under my covers and....read....with my flashlight.
C: (exhaling for the first time since the conversation started) Well......you really do need to get your sleep, but as long as you get up in time in the morning for school you can stay up and read under your covers for a little while.
I am secretly happy that Ryker is so engrossed in his books that he can't put them down. He has always been a good reader, but he never enjoyed reading for long periods of time before.
On vacation this summer his great aunt gave him a series of Charlie Brown books (published comic strips) and he read those, literally, all the way from Kansas City to Colorado Springs. He wanted to read a lot of them out loud to us. It was a constant chorus of, "Hey, listen to this one!" We were both impressed with his voice inflections and animation as he read about poor old Charlie's troubles, but it got to the point where we were sick of them and had to ban The Peanuts out loud.
Then last night I put the boys in bed and told them they could both read for awhile with their flashlights. I came upstairs 15 minutes later and found them both huddled around their little nightlight on the wall squinting to read their books. They couldn't find their flashlights and they couldn't not read before bed so what else were they supposed to do?
I guess if one of my habits is going to rub off on them I'm really glad it is reading. There are a few others I really wouldn't want them to inherit.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
2009 Reading List
Well, another year is upon us so it is time for another Reading List to begin. You can still read the reviews of all of the books I read in 2008 here. I'll be keeping a list of all of the books I read in 2009 on my sidebar and the reviews of all of those books will be in this post. You can link back to it any time you want.
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood: I really enjoyed this book. It isn't a cheery type of book and there isn't a happy ending, but it is very well written. The language is beautiful and the story is completely engrossing. I couldn't put this book down. It has a couple of twists/mysteries in it, which I always love. I love a book that keeps you guessing until the very end. This book is a novel inside a novel. "The Blind Assassin" is a novel published posthumously by the narrator's sister. So in some chapters we have the narrator telling us the story of her life in early 20th century Canada and in other chapters we have excerpts from the published novel. The story itself focuses on the lives of two sisters growing up in a wealthy, but dysfunctional, family outside of Toronto. Family is a major theme of the novel but it delves in to communism, war, revolution and economic depression as well. A really good novel, over all.
Here is one of my favorite quotes from the book: "Farewells can be shattering, but returns are surely worse. Solid flesh can never live up to the bright shadow cast by its absence."
Odd Hours by Dean Koontz: I love Odd Thomas. He is one of the purest, sweetest, most lovable characters in literature. As a twenty something fry cook with psychic abilities he gets himself into some unlikely situations...usually involving aliens or sadisitic mad men trying to destroy the world with nuclear bombs. Koontz' writing is so clever and witty and easy to read. If you are squeamish or opposed to a few supernatural forces in your books you might not enjoy the Odd Thomas series, but I'm betting you just might find Odd's character so intriguing that you can overlook the "ugly" things that are happening around him. I highly recommend an Odd Thomas book. I think there are 4 of them.
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson: This wasn't a bad book. It had its good moments, but overall it was really weird. I love, love, loved Marilynne Robinson's book Gilead so I had high hopes for this novel as well, but no such luck. Robinson tells the story of two sisters, abandonded by their mother (she committs suicide) and left to the care of their slightly senile grandmother. When she dies they fall under the care of two old spinster aunts that simply cannot deal with the responsibility so they call in a long lost aunt who prefers the life of a boxcar riding vagrant to living in an established home, but decides to take the job of mother to these two girls anyway. The family is SO dysfunctional and sad. The younger sister is finally driven away to live with a kind teacher and the town begins to demand that the older sister be removed from the home as well. Instead of losing her last remaining charge the crazy aunt takes the girl on the road with her and they become hobos....never telling the other girl that they didn't actually die in the fire that engulfed their house the night they ran away. (Of course they set the fire.) It was just weird and depressing and too wordy. I don't reccomend it.
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory: This is the second Gregory novel and I loved this one just as much as the first. I was completely ignorant of the history of the English monarchy before I read these books. Their true stories are like a train wreck....you just can't look away. It is unbelievable how self-centered and paranoid and powerful these people were. The books are so well written and make the characters really come to life. I would recommend any of her books. She makes history so personal and interesting. I really enjoy her work. My only complaint is that it is difficult to determine what order the books should be read in. I think it would make more sense to read them in chronological order or the events they portray...but she didn't write them in that order....so it makes it difficult. I think there may be some explanation of the chronology on her webiste but I haven't checked in to it yet.
Sail by James Patterson and Howard Roughan: I did not like this book. James Patterson needs to give up the co-authors and get back to writing the suspensful thrillers that made him famous (i.e. Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider). This story is about an evil stepfather that sets out to kill his wealthy wife and stepchildren by blowing up their sail boat. The family survives and grows closer in the process of living on a deserted island. Boring, predictable, and blah in general. Don't waste your time.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy: I liked this book, however, I don't necessarily recommend it. It was dark and depressing and likely to cause nightmares about cannibalism and killing your own children, but if you can see past all of that to the beauty of the father/son relationship then it is a good book. They story is about a man and his son struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. There is no hope that they, or anyone else, will survive on the dead planet, but in times of desperation McCarthy shows us that we all revert to our true natures. Would you resort to evil or remain good if all was ultimately lost? It is an excellent commentary on the true nature or man and the innocence of children. If you can handle the graphic content the writing is absolutely stunning. I will warn you that most of my book club did not enjoy this book at all.
The Choice by Nicholas Sparks: This is the worst Nicholas Sparks book I have ever read, but....it was still good. I was expecting "the choice" to be the whole focus of the novel and expected to come upon it at every turn of the page. Instead, the heartwrenching choice doesn't even come in to play until the very end of the book. The rest of the novel is just background information. It was a touching love story in typical Sparks fashion. I recommend it...just go into it knowing what to expect.
Mississippi Solo by Eddy Harris: This is a book by a local author about his experiences as a black man travelling the entire length of the Mississippi River in a canoe in the fall of 1986. The St. Louisan learns a lot about himself and the human race in general as he makes his month long journey. I enjoyed the book (even though it isn't the type I would normally read. It was a book club selection.) because I learned a lot about the river. It was so intriguing to hear all about the workings of the lock and dams and the history of man's attempt at harnessing the mighty river. Harris' experiences with people along the way were interesting too. There was plenty of excitement as he fought off a wild dog pack and drunken rednecks. He had a gun and wasn't afraid to use it....let's leave it at that. Overall I would say that the book was "interesting". I don't know that I would highly recommend it, but I don't have any reason to discourage you from reading it either. I guess I'm rather ambivalent about it right now.
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski: YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK! It is so beautifully written and the story is so touching that you just won't be able to put it down. The story centers around 14 year old mute, Edgar Sawtelle and his family. The Sawtelle's breed and train an amazing group of dogs in rural Minnesota in the 1960s. I don't want to give away what happens but I will tell you that the story is a re-telling of a well known Shakespearean tragedy. The family relationships and canine relationships are really wonderfully portrayed. If you love dogs....or teen aged boys.....or books about dogs and teenaged boys then you will absolutely love Edgar Sawtelle. READ IT SOON! Then come back and let me know what you think.
Wicked by Gregory Maguire: I really loved this book. It started out kinda weird and it was a little raunchy in some spots, but overall it was a really great book. As you probably already know, it is the story of the Wicked Witch of the East, the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch before, during and after Dorothy enters the picture. It is a history of Oz politically and socially. It is a story of friendship and family and love. If you really like the beauty and childhood innocence of the movie "The Wizard of Oz", you may not like this book. If you love the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "The Chronicles of Narnia" then you will probably like this book. It has a very dark, mystic feeling. The story is wonderfully written and makes you take a whole new look at the version of events portrayed in the movie. I've never read the Baum Oz books but I get the feeling that "Wicked" is more true to the books than to the movie. It definitely left me wanting to a) watch the movie again with a new perspective, b) go see the musical, and c) read another one of Gregory Maguire's books.
The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Down by Neta Jackson: This is the second book in the Yada Yada series. It closely mirrors the first book (see review below). It, like all of the books in the series, has a good message and a good story line but it is slow to get started and has a lot of repition, presumably so those that missed the other books in the series will be kept up to date. It is a little fluffy, but the characters are very real and so are the conflicts they experience. It isn't like typical christian fiction where everything turns out great in the end...and I, for one, think that is a good thing.
The Yada Yada Prayer Group by Neta Jackson: This book is about a multicultural group of women who are randomly assigned to the same prayer group at a women's conference. They decide to continue meeting after the conference and end up supporting each other through all sorts of circumstances. The book is written from the point of view of Jodi Baxter, the white, middle class, conservative, born and raised Christian good girl. She discovers that her view of God and her brand of worship isn't the only kind and isn't necessarily the best kind either. Her journey through faith is interesting and inspiring in some ways. This is an easy read that you can get through really quickly. It is also the first book in a series of 7 or 8 others about the Yada Yada group.
Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie: read my complete review here.
The Appeal by John Grisham: I'm not sure what to say about this book. It's not that I didn't like it, or it wasn't well written, it just kind of bored me. I wasn't that eager to keep reading it. The story just wasn't that gripping. I think the biggest thing that bothered me was that there isn't a clear good guy, a hero. I knew who the bad guys were. I knew I wanted them to be defeated and exposed and arrested, but I had no clue which character was fighting them. As it turns out nobody really was. It isn't that kind of book. I'm used to the Grisham storyline of a small town lawyer who is just barely scraping by defeating the wealthy and corrupt corporate moguls. In this book several characters battle their own demons related to the corruption of a wealthy mogul but none of them have the power, wherewith all or money to fight him. I guess it is more of a realistic look at the justice system, not a feel good underdog story. But it was still good and had an interesting plot. I guess I just can't slog through all of that legal jargon without a big fairy tale payoff at the end.
The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory: This was an excellent book. Gregory is also the author of The Other Boleyn Girl which was recently released as a movie starring Scarlett Johansen. She writes historical fiction about the English monarchs and their many trials and tribulations. I learned SO much from this book about a time period and a part of history that I had never really studied before. The Other Queen is about Queen Elizabeth's imprisonment of her cousin (and rightful heir to the English throne...hence the animosity) Mary Queen of Scots. Both being queens and relatives and held to a certain standard of decorum, Elizabeth couldn't just lock Mary in the tower and throw away the key. Instead she "imprisons" her at the palatial estate of one of her faithful English lords and enlists him and his wife as her guards and keepers....at their own expense.....for 16 years!!! The book is full of Mary's escape plots, uprisings against Elizabeth, Elizabeth's quest to hold her throne and force protestantism on all of England, and the personal struggles of Lord and Lady Shrewsbury who alternately love and hate their queen and the other queen. I highly recommend this book and any of Gregory's other historical novels.
Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck: I loved this book! I hadn't read any Buck before and I completely fell in love with her literary style. The book is about faith, family, marriage (arranged and otherwise), life, death, and above all love in 1930s and 40s China. It is beautifully written and is as educational as it is entertaining. I learned so much about Chinese culture and traditions that I never knew before. It amazed me how easily Buck got in to the Chinese mindset. Her life in China didn't fail to have a brilliant effect on her writing. The characters are very believable and I felt very close to them all by the end of the book, even though we had absolutely nothing except a human soul in common. I highly recommend this book and any of Buck's other novels, which include Portarit of a Marriage, The Promise, Dragon Seed, Today and Forever, Other Gods, The Patriot, This Proud Heart, A House Divided, The Mother, The Good Earth and East Wind: West Wind, among others.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: I really liked this book and completely recommend it. it is much better, in my humble opinion, than The Grapes of Wrath. You can read my complete review of this book here, at The LOST Books Challenge.
The Lost Recipe for Happiness by Barbara O'Neal: This book was just OK. It is about a female chef trying to start a new restaurant while dealing with excruciating pain from old injuries, falling in love with her boss, and being haunted by the ghosts of her dead family members. The story line is pretty good but there are some graphic scenes in it that I skipped and some bad language too. The one redeeming factor is the recipes that are interspersed throughout the book. There are recipes for several Mexican dishes and drinks. I actually want to try quite a few of the recipes from the book.
Time is a River by Mary Alice Monroe: There isn't anything necessarily wrong with this book, it just wasn't my type. It's one part romance, one part mystery and one part female empowerment. It's about surviving breast cancer and adultery and learning to fly fish. Lots of fly fishing, actually. It was a weird combination. You can read it if you want to but I wouldn't waste a lot of time on it.
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch: *sniff*sniff* Please read this book. Check out my post about it here to see why.
The Abstinence Teacher by Thomas Perrotta: I don't recommend this book. I read it as part of my book club and it did inspire a lot of great discussion about our responsibility as Christians to represent God accurately. In the book a woman has a very skewed view of religion and God because the radical evangelical Christians that have been harassing her. I was mad most of the time during this book, but it did demonstrate some real truths about the secular view of God and of Christians in general...not just on the sex ed question.
The Coalwood Way by Homer Hickam: The Coalwood Way was a beautifully written book. It reminded me of John Grisham's "other" novels, like The Painted House. Hickam's photographic memory of the home of his childhood and the characters that filled it is remarkable. The descriptions of rural America, and particularly small mining communities in the backwoods of West Virginia, in the mid-1950s are excellent. The reader comes away with a real sense of the people and the times.
The story centers around the author, Homer "Sonny" Hickam. Sonny, through the help of a favorite science teacher and the press coverage of Sputnik's flight, develops a great interest in the space program and rocketry in general. He and his like-minded friends begin to design and build their own rockets and plot their trajectory using complicated algorithms and trigonometry. For a bunch of teen aged boys in the a coal mining town in West Virginia this endeavor is completely unheard of and viewed as slightly crazy. Sonny's own family has doubts about his new found interest.
Homer Hickam Sr. is a supervisor in the local coal mine and takes his job, and the lives and livelihood of his employees and neighbors, very seriously. So seriously that he puts his own health and well being on the line daily. He also leaves very little time for his family in his schedule, especially his awkward second son that is more of a brain than a jock....or a coal miner, for that matter. Sonny is also surrounded by his no-nonsense, long-suffering mother and a host of townspeople that know his business practically before he knows it himself. The "Rocket Boys", as Sonny and his space loving friends are called, spend all of their spare time thrilling the town with rocket launches and dreams of going to Cape Canaveral to work after college (a dream that Sonny realizes, while many of the others never make it further than the coal mine down the street).
Throughout the book Sonny is desperately trying to identify the source of the gnawing sadness that overtakes him occasionally. Following the advice of "Little Richard", the preacher of the local African American congregation, Sonny finally discovers that his desire for his father's approval, and fear that he can never attain it, are causing his melancholy. As he tries to deal with these feelings he finds it difficult to keep the Rocket Boys supplied with the properly crafted parts and maintain straight-A's for the first time in his academic career.
This is a beautiful novel about teen aged self-discovery, family dynamics and small town mentality. Sonny sees discrimination, domestic violence, murder, and labor strikes play out in his town, but he also sees generosity, kindness, and an amazing example of community spirit. Hickam is quick to point out the good, the bad and the ugly in his hometown and it's people.
I would highly recommend this book, and Hickam's other two books Rocket Boys and Torpedo Junction as well as the movie October Sky, starring Jake Gyllenhall, Laura Dern and Chris Cooper which was based on Hickam's life. It is a great movie that really captures the feeling of the novels.
Playing for Pizza by John Grisham: At my book club we were discussing all of the Grisham books we have read. One girl said she had read everything he had ever written except for his brand new one that just came out, The Appeal. I've read a ton of Grisham so that made me curious as to how many of them I had missed along the way. I discovered that I had never read The Summons, An Innocent Man (non-fiction), The Appeal (of course) and Playing for Pizza. My library didn't have any of these (probably why I haven't read them) except for the latter. Playing for Pizza is one of Grishams little forays in to lighter, more relationally driven novels, similar to The Christmas Train and The Painted House (both of which I enjoyed). This book is about a washed up NFL player that goes to play in the "Pizza League" in Italy. He explores the culture, food, and language as he learns about being a true team player and the importance of integrity....something he didn't pick up from his NFL coaches, teammates or agent. There was a little bit too much football (descriptions of games and plays, etc) in the novel for me and the ending was a little unresolved, but overall it was a nice book. The characters and plot were not nearly as developed as I am used to with Grisham but it was a short, easy read with a fairly predictable plot and a lot of education into the Italian mindset and even architectural history. I got the feeling Grisham took a vacation to Italy, fell in love with it, and decided to hang out for a couple of months and write a little novel about it. As a matter of fact, the last Grisham book I read, The Broker, was also mainly set in Italy. I think he really likes the food there.
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai: This book was just OK. It was interesting to read from an Indian-American point of view, but I didn't enjoy it a whole lot. A lot of it was pretty depressing and most of the characters were hopeless. The writing was very good and the perspective was thought provoking but the overall feel of the book was very "blah". Nobody turns out happy in the end...which isn't a prerequisite for a good book....but it helps if at least one character has some hope. I did learn a little about Indian history and mentality, so I guess it wasn't a complete waste of time.
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson: READ THIS BOOK! I loved it so much I devoted an entire post to it here.
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff: This book is very unique...not so much for it's subject matter (polygamy), but rather for it's layout. It is really two books in one. The first is a historical account of the life and trials of Ann Eliza Young, the 19th wife of Brigham Young and a lecturer on the horrors of plural marriage and campaigner for anti-polygamy legislation. The second is a fictional novel about a young boy who escapes a polygamous home and tries to rescue his mother from it's clutches (and a false murder charge) as well. The two "stories" are intertwined very well and interestingly play off of each other, but the real-life story of Ann Eliza was much more interesting to me. Ebershoff recreates (not quotes, this is historical fiction) passages from Ann Eliza's book Wife No. 19 (really published in 1875), Brigham Young's sermons, and other historical documents. The whole history of the LDS church, and polygamy specifically, is covered in this part of the novel. I found it very, very informative and interesting. The story of young Jordan's escape from the Firsts (the radical Mormom branch that still practices polygamy) was fine in and of itself but it was full of crude language and homosexual references. I have to recommend one half of the book without the other. Or you could just read Ann Eliza's own book and get the same information, although not as much of the background and the other side of the story.
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd: I really liked Kidd's book "The Secret Life of Bees" so I thought I would try another one of her novels. I didn't like this one nearly as well. It was pretty predictable and a little trite. It is the typical story of a middle aged woman who is discontent with her life and her marriage and sets out to "find herself". In the case of this book she falls in love with a benedictine monk while visiting her mother who has mysteriously chopped off her own finger with a meat cleaver. Yeah, I told you it wasn't great. This is one I think you could skip.
The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton: In college I read Wharton's "House of Mirth" and I've seen the movie of her novel "Age of Innocence" so I thought I would try another of her novels. This one is very reminiscent of Fitzgerald. Set in the fashionable set of the 1920s it follows the lives of Susy and Nick, two hangers-on who prey on the rich for the small gifts and trips they can get from them. In the process they find that they have to compromise many of their own beliefs and moral standards. Finally unable to do so any longer, they find that being poor and scrupulous is better than being rich and amoral. I really liked the book and the love story of Susy and Nick. The lesson they learn is a good one and the message timeless.
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood: I really enjoyed this book. It isn't a cheery type of book and there isn't a happy ending, but it is very well written. The language is beautiful and the story is completely engrossing. I couldn't put this book down. It has a couple of twists/mysteries in it, which I always love. I love a book that keeps you guessing until the very end. This book is a novel inside a novel. "The Blind Assassin" is a novel published posthumously by the narrator's sister. So in some chapters we have the narrator telling us the story of her life in early 20th century Canada and in other chapters we have excerpts from the published novel. The story itself focuses on the lives of two sisters growing up in a wealthy, but dysfunctional, family outside of Toronto. Family is a major theme of the novel but it delves in to communism, war, revolution and economic depression as well. A really good novel, over all.
Here is one of my favorite quotes from the book: "Farewells can be shattering, but returns are surely worse. Solid flesh can never live up to the bright shadow cast by its absence."
Odd Hours by Dean Koontz: I love Odd Thomas. He is one of the purest, sweetest, most lovable characters in literature. As a twenty something fry cook with psychic abilities he gets himself into some unlikely situations...usually involving aliens or sadisitic mad men trying to destroy the world with nuclear bombs. Koontz' writing is so clever and witty and easy to read. If you are squeamish or opposed to a few supernatural forces in your books you might not enjoy the Odd Thomas series, but I'm betting you just might find Odd's character so intriguing that you can overlook the "ugly" things that are happening around him. I highly recommend an Odd Thomas book. I think there are 4 of them.
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson: This wasn't a bad book. It had its good moments, but overall it was really weird. I love, love, loved Marilynne Robinson's book Gilead so I had high hopes for this novel as well, but no such luck. Robinson tells the story of two sisters, abandonded by their mother (she committs suicide) and left to the care of their slightly senile grandmother. When she dies they fall under the care of two old spinster aunts that simply cannot deal with the responsibility so they call in a long lost aunt who prefers the life of a boxcar riding vagrant to living in an established home, but decides to take the job of mother to these two girls anyway. The family is SO dysfunctional and sad. The younger sister is finally driven away to live with a kind teacher and the town begins to demand that the older sister be removed from the home as well. Instead of losing her last remaining charge the crazy aunt takes the girl on the road with her and they become hobos....never telling the other girl that they didn't actually die in the fire that engulfed their house the night they ran away. (Of course they set the fire.) It was just weird and depressing and too wordy. I don't reccomend it.
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory: This is the second Gregory novel and I loved this one just as much as the first. I was completely ignorant of the history of the English monarchy before I read these books. Their true stories are like a train wreck....you just can't look away. It is unbelievable how self-centered and paranoid and powerful these people were. The books are so well written and make the characters really come to life. I would recommend any of her books. She makes history so personal and interesting. I really enjoy her work. My only complaint is that it is difficult to determine what order the books should be read in. I think it would make more sense to read them in chronological order or the events they portray...but she didn't write them in that order....so it makes it difficult. I think there may be some explanation of the chronology on her webiste but I haven't checked in to it yet.
Sail by James Patterson and Howard Roughan: I did not like this book. James Patterson needs to give up the co-authors and get back to writing the suspensful thrillers that made him famous (i.e. Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider). This story is about an evil stepfather that sets out to kill his wealthy wife and stepchildren by blowing up their sail boat. The family survives and grows closer in the process of living on a deserted island. Boring, predictable, and blah in general. Don't waste your time.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy: I liked this book, however, I don't necessarily recommend it. It was dark and depressing and likely to cause nightmares about cannibalism and killing your own children, but if you can see past all of that to the beauty of the father/son relationship then it is a good book. They story is about a man and his son struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. There is no hope that they, or anyone else, will survive on the dead planet, but in times of desperation McCarthy shows us that we all revert to our true natures. Would you resort to evil or remain good if all was ultimately lost? It is an excellent commentary on the true nature or man and the innocence of children. If you can handle the graphic content the writing is absolutely stunning. I will warn you that most of my book club did not enjoy this book at all.
The Choice by Nicholas Sparks: This is the worst Nicholas Sparks book I have ever read, but....it was still good. I was expecting "the choice" to be the whole focus of the novel and expected to come upon it at every turn of the page. Instead, the heartwrenching choice doesn't even come in to play until the very end of the book. The rest of the novel is just background information. It was a touching love story in typical Sparks fashion. I recommend it...just go into it knowing what to expect.
Mississippi Solo by Eddy Harris: This is a book by a local author about his experiences as a black man travelling the entire length of the Mississippi River in a canoe in the fall of 1986. The St. Louisan learns a lot about himself and the human race in general as he makes his month long journey. I enjoyed the book (even though it isn't the type I would normally read. It was a book club selection.) because I learned a lot about the river. It was so intriguing to hear all about the workings of the lock and dams and the history of man's attempt at harnessing the mighty river. Harris' experiences with people along the way were interesting too. There was plenty of excitement as he fought off a wild dog pack and drunken rednecks. He had a gun and wasn't afraid to use it....let's leave it at that. Overall I would say that the book was "interesting". I don't know that I would highly recommend it, but I don't have any reason to discourage you from reading it either. I guess I'm rather ambivalent about it right now.
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski: YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK! It is so beautifully written and the story is so touching that you just won't be able to put it down. The story centers around 14 year old mute, Edgar Sawtelle and his family. The Sawtelle's breed and train an amazing group of dogs in rural Minnesota in the 1960s. I don't want to give away what happens but I will tell you that the story is a re-telling of a well known Shakespearean tragedy. The family relationships and canine relationships are really wonderfully portrayed. If you love dogs....or teen aged boys.....or books about dogs and teenaged boys then you will absolutely love Edgar Sawtelle. READ IT SOON! Then come back and let me know what you think.
Wicked by Gregory Maguire: I really loved this book. It started out kinda weird and it was a little raunchy in some spots, but overall it was a really great book. As you probably already know, it is the story of the Wicked Witch of the East, the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch before, during and after Dorothy enters the picture. It is a history of Oz politically and socially. It is a story of friendship and family and love. If you really like the beauty and childhood innocence of the movie "The Wizard of Oz", you may not like this book. If you love the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "The Chronicles of Narnia" then you will probably like this book. It has a very dark, mystic feeling. The story is wonderfully written and makes you take a whole new look at the version of events portrayed in the movie. I've never read the Baum Oz books but I get the feeling that "Wicked" is more true to the books than to the movie. It definitely left me wanting to a) watch the movie again with a new perspective, b) go see the musical, and c) read another one of Gregory Maguire's books.
The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Down by Neta Jackson: This is the second book in the Yada Yada series. It closely mirrors the first book (see review below). It, like all of the books in the series, has a good message and a good story line but it is slow to get started and has a lot of repition, presumably so those that missed the other books in the series will be kept up to date. It is a little fluffy, but the characters are very real and so are the conflicts they experience. It isn't like typical christian fiction where everything turns out great in the end...and I, for one, think that is a good thing.
The Yada Yada Prayer Group by Neta Jackson: This book is about a multicultural group of women who are randomly assigned to the same prayer group at a women's conference. They decide to continue meeting after the conference and end up supporting each other through all sorts of circumstances. The book is written from the point of view of Jodi Baxter, the white, middle class, conservative, born and raised Christian good girl. She discovers that her view of God and her brand of worship isn't the only kind and isn't necessarily the best kind either. Her journey through faith is interesting and inspiring in some ways. This is an easy read that you can get through really quickly. It is also the first book in a series of 7 or 8 others about the Yada Yada group.
Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie: read my complete review here.
The Appeal by John Grisham: I'm not sure what to say about this book. It's not that I didn't like it, or it wasn't well written, it just kind of bored me. I wasn't that eager to keep reading it. The story just wasn't that gripping. I think the biggest thing that bothered me was that there isn't a clear good guy, a hero. I knew who the bad guys were. I knew I wanted them to be defeated and exposed and arrested, but I had no clue which character was fighting them. As it turns out nobody really was. It isn't that kind of book. I'm used to the Grisham storyline of a small town lawyer who is just barely scraping by defeating the wealthy and corrupt corporate moguls. In this book several characters battle their own demons related to the corruption of a wealthy mogul but none of them have the power, wherewith all or money to fight him. I guess it is more of a realistic look at the justice system, not a feel good underdog story. But it was still good and had an interesting plot. I guess I just can't slog through all of that legal jargon without a big fairy tale payoff at the end.
The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory: This was an excellent book. Gregory is also the author of The Other Boleyn Girl which was recently released as a movie starring Scarlett Johansen. She writes historical fiction about the English monarchs and their many trials and tribulations. I learned SO much from this book about a time period and a part of history that I had never really studied before. The Other Queen is about Queen Elizabeth's imprisonment of her cousin (and rightful heir to the English throne...hence the animosity) Mary Queen of Scots. Both being queens and relatives and held to a certain standard of decorum, Elizabeth couldn't just lock Mary in the tower and throw away the key. Instead she "imprisons" her at the palatial estate of one of her faithful English lords and enlists him and his wife as her guards and keepers....at their own expense.....for 16 years!!! The book is full of Mary's escape plots, uprisings against Elizabeth, Elizabeth's quest to hold her throne and force protestantism on all of England, and the personal struggles of Lord and Lady Shrewsbury who alternately love and hate their queen and the other queen. I highly recommend this book and any of Gregory's other historical novels.
Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck: I loved this book! I hadn't read any Buck before and I completely fell in love with her literary style. The book is about faith, family, marriage (arranged and otherwise), life, death, and above all love in 1930s and 40s China. It is beautifully written and is as educational as it is entertaining. I learned so much about Chinese culture and traditions that I never knew before. It amazed me how easily Buck got in to the Chinese mindset. Her life in China didn't fail to have a brilliant effect on her writing. The characters are very believable and I felt very close to them all by the end of the book, even though we had absolutely nothing except a human soul in common. I highly recommend this book and any of Buck's other novels, which include Portarit of a Marriage, The Promise, Dragon Seed, Today and Forever, Other Gods, The Patriot, This Proud Heart, A House Divided, The Mother, The Good Earth and East Wind: West Wind, among others.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: I really liked this book and completely recommend it. it is much better, in my humble opinion, than The Grapes of Wrath. You can read my complete review of this book here, at The LOST Books Challenge.
The Lost Recipe for Happiness by Barbara O'Neal: This book was just OK. It is about a female chef trying to start a new restaurant while dealing with excruciating pain from old injuries, falling in love with her boss, and being haunted by the ghosts of her dead family members. The story line is pretty good but there are some graphic scenes in it that I skipped and some bad language too. The one redeeming factor is the recipes that are interspersed throughout the book. There are recipes for several Mexican dishes and drinks. I actually want to try quite a few of the recipes from the book.
Time is a River by Mary Alice Monroe: There isn't anything necessarily wrong with this book, it just wasn't my type. It's one part romance, one part mystery and one part female empowerment. It's about surviving breast cancer and adultery and learning to fly fish. Lots of fly fishing, actually. It was a weird combination. You can read it if you want to but I wouldn't waste a lot of time on it.
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch: *sniff*sniff* Please read this book. Check out my post about it here to see why.
The Abstinence Teacher by Thomas Perrotta: I don't recommend this book. I read it as part of my book club and it did inspire a lot of great discussion about our responsibility as Christians to represent God accurately. In the book a woman has a very skewed view of religion and God because the radical evangelical Christians that have been harassing her. I was mad most of the time during this book, but it did demonstrate some real truths about the secular view of God and of Christians in general...not just on the sex ed question.
The Coalwood Way by Homer Hickam: The Coalwood Way was a beautifully written book. It reminded me of John Grisham's "other" novels, like The Painted House. Hickam's photographic memory of the home of his childhood and the characters that filled it is remarkable. The descriptions of rural America, and particularly small mining communities in the backwoods of West Virginia, in the mid-1950s are excellent. The reader comes away with a real sense of the people and the times.
The story centers around the author, Homer "Sonny" Hickam. Sonny, through the help of a favorite science teacher and the press coverage of Sputnik's flight, develops a great interest in the space program and rocketry in general. He and his like-minded friends begin to design and build their own rockets and plot their trajectory using complicated algorithms and trigonometry. For a bunch of teen aged boys in the a coal mining town in West Virginia this endeavor is completely unheard of and viewed as slightly crazy. Sonny's own family has doubts about his new found interest.
Homer Hickam Sr. is a supervisor in the local coal mine and takes his job, and the lives and livelihood of his employees and neighbors, very seriously. So seriously that he puts his own health and well being on the line daily. He also leaves very little time for his family in his schedule, especially his awkward second son that is more of a brain than a jock....or a coal miner, for that matter. Sonny is also surrounded by his no-nonsense, long-suffering mother and a host of townspeople that know his business practically before he knows it himself. The "Rocket Boys", as Sonny and his space loving friends are called, spend all of their spare time thrilling the town with rocket launches and dreams of going to Cape Canaveral to work after college (a dream that Sonny realizes, while many of the others never make it further than the coal mine down the street).
Throughout the book Sonny is desperately trying to identify the source of the gnawing sadness that overtakes him occasionally. Following the advice of "Little Richard", the preacher of the local African American congregation, Sonny finally discovers that his desire for his father's approval, and fear that he can never attain it, are causing his melancholy. As he tries to deal with these feelings he finds it difficult to keep the Rocket Boys supplied with the properly crafted parts and maintain straight-A's for the first time in his academic career.
This is a beautiful novel about teen aged self-discovery, family dynamics and small town mentality. Sonny sees discrimination, domestic violence, murder, and labor strikes play out in his town, but he also sees generosity, kindness, and an amazing example of community spirit. Hickam is quick to point out the good, the bad and the ugly in his hometown and it's people.
I would highly recommend this book, and Hickam's other two books Rocket Boys and Torpedo Junction as well as the movie October Sky, starring Jake Gyllenhall, Laura Dern and Chris Cooper which was based on Hickam's life. It is a great movie that really captures the feeling of the novels.
Playing for Pizza by John Grisham: At my book club we were discussing all of the Grisham books we have read. One girl said she had read everything he had ever written except for his brand new one that just came out, The Appeal. I've read a ton of Grisham so that made me curious as to how many of them I had missed along the way. I discovered that I had never read The Summons, An Innocent Man (non-fiction), The Appeal (of course) and Playing for Pizza. My library didn't have any of these (probably why I haven't read them) except for the latter. Playing for Pizza is one of Grishams little forays in to lighter, more relationally driven novels, similar to The Christmas Train and The Painted House (both of which I enjoyed). This book is about a washed up NFL player that goes to play in the "Pizza League" in Italy. He explores the culture, food, and language as he learns about being a true team player and the importance of integrity....something he didn't pick up from his NFL coaches, teammates or agent. There was a little bit too much football (descriptions of games and plays, etc) in the novel for me and the ending was a little unresolved, but overall it was a nice book. The characters and plot were not nearly as developed as I am used to with Grisham but it was a short, easy read with a fairly predictable plot and a lot of education into the Italian mindset and even architectural history. I got the feeling Grisham took a vacation to Italy, fell in love with it, and decided to hang out for a couple of months and write a little novel about it. As a matter of fact, the last Grisham book I read, The Broker, was also mainly set in Italy. I think he really likes the food there.
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai: This book was just OK. It was interesting to read from an Indian-American point of view, but I didn't enjoy it a whole lot. A lot of it was pretty depressing and most of the characters were hopeless. The writing was very good and the perspective was thought provoking but the overall feel of the book was very "blah". Nobody turns out happy in the end...which isn't a prerequisite for a good book....but it helps if at least one character has some hope. I did learn a little about Indian history and mentality, so I guess it wasn't a complete waste of time.
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson: READ THIS BOOK! I loved it so much I devoted an entire post to it here.
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff: This book is very unique...not so much for it's subject matter (polygamy), but rather for it's layout. It is really two books in one. The first is a historical account of the life and trials of Ann Eliza Young, the 19th wife of Brigham Young and a lecturer on the horrors of plural marriage and campaigner for anti-polygamy legislation. The second is a fictional novel about a young boy who escapes a polygamous home and tries to rescue his mother from it's clutches (and a false murder charge) as well. The two "stories" are intertwined very well and interestingly play off of each other, but the real-life story of Ann Eliza was much more interesting to me. Ebershoff recreates (not quotes, this is historical fiction) passages from Ann Eliza's book Wife No. 19 (really published in 1875), Brigham Young's sermons, and other historical documents. The whole history of the LDS church, and polygamy specifically, is covered in this part of the novel. I found it very, very informative and interesting. The story of young Jordan's escape from the Firsts (the radical Mormom branch that still practices polygamy) was fine in and of itself but it was full of crude language and homosexual references. I have to recommend one half of the book without the other. Or you could just read Ann Eliza's own book and get the same information, although not as much of the background and the other side of the story.
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd: I really liked Kidd's book "The Secret Life of Bees" so I thought I would try another one of her novels. I didn't like this one nearly as well. It was pretty predictable and a little trite. It is the typical story of a middle aged woman who is discontent with her life and her marriage and sets out to "find herself". In the case of this book she falls in love with a benedictine monk while visiting her mother who has mysteriously chopped off her own finger with a meat cleaver. Yeah, I told you it wasn't great. This is one I think you could skip.
The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton: In college I read Wharton's "House of Mirth" and I've seen the movie of her novel "Age of Innocence" so I thought I would try another of her novels. This one is very reminiscent of Fitzgerald. Set in the fashionable set of the 1920s it follows the lives of Susy and Nick, two hangers-on who prey on the rich for the small gifts and trips they can get from them. In the process they find that they have to compromise many of their own beliefs and moral standards. Finally unable to do so any longer, they find that being poor and scrupulous is better than being rich and amoral. I really liked the book and the love story of Susy and Nick. The lesson they learn is a good one and the message timeless.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The Rarotongans (1-20)
West. Monte went west. I guess he had to find out what happened to Glendon, but I really wanted him to go home to Susannah and Redstart. I think he was showing his new braver, more adventurous self by starting out for parts unknown all by his lonesome. And I was thrilled that he found Glendon relatively easily.
Poor Glendon. I understand Blue’s position completely but I do feel sorry for the guy. I think he’s kind of soft hearted for an outlaw. Blue doesn’t have to forgive him, but stringing him along so that he can work her orchard for her? That’s a little cold-hearted.
I do like Claudio, of course, and I enjoyed the interaction between Monte and Claudio. In the end I thought it was totally fitting that Monte should move his family to the orchard and work there alongside Blue. It just seemed fitting. They had nothing waiting for them back in Minnesota and there is still a beautiful river to live beside in California.
Monte becoming a boat builder (is there a technical term for that, like ‘barketer’ or something?) seems fitting also. He always admired boats and owned one. He loved his time on the boat with Glendon and later helping him make them. Of course the side benefit being that not worrying about writing allowed a story to come to him…his own story or adventure.
If I have to admit it, Glendon willingly going away with Siringo is probably fitting too. He accomplished his purpose (apologizing to Blue) and no longer had to fear being locked up. He could pay for his crimes with a clear conscience. I guess that is all he really wanted. I have the feeling that Siringo dumped him at the nearest sheriff’s office and then drove out in to the dessert and dropped dead. I think he was only living long enough to see Glendon in custody. He’s walking up to those black gates by now, I’d bet.
So why is the book entitled “So Brave, Young and Handsome”? Is it all in reference to Hood Roberts? He seems to be too minor a character to warrant a title. Although when you look at the book as written by Monte about his adventure you have to remember that Hood meant a lot to Monte and weighed heavily on his mind. Maybe Monte sees the whole trip as he and Glendon both reaching their destinations but Hood, the brave, young and handsome one, coming to a tragic end. I don’t know.
Maybe he is referring to the deeds of the brave, young and handsome. Glendon, Siringo, Hood, and even Ern all had crazy and exciting lives (when they were brave, young and handsome) that ultimately led to sorrow. Maybe this is the chronicle of what happens to the brave, young and handsome ones later on. Monte of course was young once but I don’t think he was either brave or handsome…at least not until he reached California and started building boats. Then he had developed a spine and some character. Maybe he should be glad it came to him later in life when he was capable of making good decisions…unlike the others in the story. What do you think?
Overall, I loved the book; maybe not as much as “Peace Like a River” but it was close. I’d gladly read anything else Enger writes. Now I’m moving on to something else from my list and I’m starting a real life, in person book club too. I hope to see some of you there.
Poor Glendon. I understand Blue’s position completely but I do feel sorry for the guy. I think he’s kind of soft hearted for an outlaw. Blue doesn’t have to forgive him, but stringing him along so that he can work her orchard for her? That’s a little cold-hearted.
I do like Claudio, of course, and I enjoyed the interaction between Monte and Claudio. In the end I thought it was totally fitting that Monte should move his family to the orchard and work there alongside Blue. It just seemed fitting. They had nothing waiting for them back in Minnesota and there is still a beautiful river to live beside in California.
Monte becoming a boat builder (is there a technical term for that, like ‘barketer’ or something?) seems fitting also. He always admired boats and owned one. He loved his time on the boat with Glendon and later helping him make them. Of course the side benefit being that not worrying about writing allowed a story to come to him…his own story or adventure.
If I have to admit it, Glendon willingly going away with Siringo is probably fitting too. He accomplished his purpose (apologizing to Blue) and no longer had to fear being locked up. He could pay for his crimes with a clear conscience. I guess that is all he really wanted. I have the feeling that Siringo dumped him at the nearest sheriff’s office and then drove out in to the dessert and dropped dead. I think he was only living long enough to see Glendon in custody. He’s walking up to those black gates by now, I’d bet.
So why is the book entitled “So Brave, Young and Handsome”? Is it all in reference to Hood Roberts? He seems to be too minor a character to warrant a title. Although when you look at the book as written by Monte about his adventure you have to remember that Hood meant a lot to Monte and weighed heavily on his mind. Maybe Monte sees the whole trip as he and Glendon both reaching their destinations but Hood, the brave, young and handsome one, coming to a tragic end. I don’t know.
Maybe he is referring to the deeds of the brave, young and handsome. Glendon, Siringo, Hood, and even Ern all had crazy and exciting lives (when they were brave, young and handsome) that ultimately led to sorrow. Maybe this is the chronicle of what happens to the brave, young and handsome ones later on. Monte of course was young once but I don’t think he was either brave or handsome…at least not until he reached California and started building boats. Then he had developed a spine and some character. Maybe he should be glad it came to him later in life when he was capable of making good decisions…unlike the others in the story. What do you think?
Overall, I loved the book; maybe not as much as “Peace Like a River” but it was close. I’d gladly read anything else Enger writes. Now I’m moving on to something else from my list and I’m starting a real life, in person book club too. I hope to see some of you there.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Fiery Siringo (1-20)
Well! All I can say is that Glendon should have been a little less cryptic when he told Monte to “stay out of Siringo’s grip”. We should have known the old geezer wasn’t as feeble as he pretended. And yet, even with a bitten hand and a broken finger why wouldn’t Monte just leave him along the side of the road? I knew that over-active sense of duty would come back to bite Monte in the end. If only he could be as cold-hearted as Siringo he could be back home with Susannah by now. But would Susannah want him in that condition or would she cease to see him as Siringo’s wife had?
So now Monte is traveling with Siringo, aiding him in his hot pursuit of Glendon or Hood Roberts or both. Who saw that coming? Certainly not me. I do admire his half-hearted attempts at escape and his refusal to stoop to the tactics of his captor. Unfortunately, Siringo can read Monte like a book. Even when the poor guy manages to convince the bank teller that despite his manacles he is not a fugitive but a kidnapping victim, Siringo is one step ahead of him already signing books and spinning tales with the local law enforcement. At that moment I thought Monte might cry. I felt so sorry for him.
More than dislocating his finger, or biting his hand, or popping his finger back in to place, or breaking his collar bone I think Siringo caused Monte more pain by telling him about his visit to the Davies’ and Emma’s subsequent disappointment in Monte and hurling of his book. I think that crushed Monte’s spirits more than anything else.
Enger seems to be examining the themes of life and death, heaven and hell again. He describes Ern Swilling’s death as his “turn at the infinite”. Then in this section Monte wonders if Siringo…
Siringo acknowledges the fact himself when he says,
I agree with Monte that Siringo is describing death. His own death. At least the death of his soul if not his person. I think we’ll see him dead before the end of the novel. At least I hope so…and hopefully before he kills Hood and/or Glendon. Somehow I’m not afraid for Monte. I think he’ll make it home to his wife and son again. Despite his many faults, Siringo won’t harm the innocent. Of course, that’s assuming Monte stays innocent.
I guess I’m glad that Monte didn’t shoot Siringo when he had the chance. At least he was brave enough to fire the gun and give Hood a fair warning. Why am I rooting for the bad guys here? Even though Hood didn’t murder Swilling he still stole a car and food and a horse and a mule. He even burnt down an entire town and killed a man in the process. I have no idea what crime, if any, he was running from in the beginning when he joined up with Monte and Glendon, but I’m almost positive there was one. He is a “bad guy”, and yet I want him to escape cleanly to Mexico with his pretty girlfriend. Well, that is if he didn’t kill Ericcson. If he murdered Ericcson in cold blood than I’m afraid I can’t be on his side anymore.
I still want Glendon to escape though. Maybe it’s because he seems genuinely remorseful for his life of crime. He doesn’t claim that he would do things any differently given the chance, but at least he seems sorry that it turned out this way. He wants to make amends with Blue. He wants to help out Darlys again. (By the way I think it is hilarious that Glendon uses Siringo’s money to pay for Darlys’ trip.) He even wants to go after Hood and prevent him from make some of the same tragic choices that Glendon himself made in younger days. He is a caring and gentle outlaw, that’s for sure.
How nice it would have been if this sentence were true.
But, it didn’t come down to a farmhouse, after all. Hood escaped…again! I couldn’t have been happier. I like it anytime something happens that Siringo isn’t planning on and doesn’t like. But, of course it couldn’t last. It was so sad and anti-climatic that Hood just walked in to the street and right in to the face of Charles Siringo. Siringo shot him and he died. It was awful. I think the dramatic farmhouse show down would have been better; more appropriate for a romantic boy like Hood.
Blanks. Blanks. Of course, it had to be blanks, but I wanted to believe that Siringo was bullet-proof, rather than face the knowledge that Hood had stood no chance from the beginning. How ludicrous that he would go back in to town for a pastry! A cinnamon doughnut? You’ve got to be kidding me. To think that he got killed for a doughnut. What a sad ending for him.
At least Siringo suffers a little bit from his encounter with Hood. He has a stroke, apparently. That's fitting, but I'm sure it won't kill him. At least Monte finally decides to leave him behind. But is he going home or on to find Glendon? East or West? Somehow I don't think he can go home at this point. I'm not sure I would either...knowing Glendon isn't the letter writing type.
I'm anxious to finish the last section "The Rarotongans". What in the world, or who in the world, is a rarotongan? I have no idea, but I'm eager to find out. I'll post my final thoughts on the book tomorrow.
Until then I leave you with me new favorite phrase that I picked up from good old Charlie.
So now Monte is traveling with Siringo, aiding him in his hot pursuit of Glendon or Hood Roberts or both. Who saw that coming? Certainly not me. I do admire his half-hearted attempts at escape and his refusal to stoop to the tactics of his captor. Unfortunately, Siringo can read Monte like a book. Even when the poor guy manages to convince the bank teller that despite his manacles he is not a fugitive but a kidnapping victim, Siringo is one step ahead of him already signing books and spinning tales with the local law enforcement. At that moment I thought Monte might cry. I felt so sorry for him.
More than dislocating his finger, or biting his hand, or popping his finger back in to place, or breaking his collar bone I think Siringo caused Monte more pain by telling him about his visit to the Davies’ and Emma’s subsequent disappointment in Monte and hurling of his book. I think that crushed Monte’s spirits more than anything else.
Enger seems to be examining the themes of life and death, heaven and hell again. He describes Ern Swilling’s death as his “turn at the infinite”. Then in this section Monte wonders if Siringo…
“…had died already, during the night, and was up anyway, making coffee in the normal fashion, and that I would be compelled for some time to be the companion of a dead fellow who refused to acknowledge his condition.”
Siringo acknowledges the fact himself when he says,
“I was human but now I think I am changing. It’s a change for the better. I can sleep or not as I will. I feel no anger. I am not thirsty. Hot and cold have no purchase on me.”
I agree with Monte that Siringo is describing death. His own death. At least the death of his soul if not his person. I think we’ll see him dead before the end of the novel. At least I hope so…and hopefully before he kills Hood and/or Glendon. Somehow I’m not afraid for Monte. I think he’ll make it home to his wife and son again. Despite his many faults, Siringo won’t harm the innocent. Of course, that’s assuming Monte stays innocent.
I guess I’m glad that Monte didn’t shoot Siringo when he had the chance. At least he was brave enough to fire the gun and give Hood a fair warning. Why am I rooting for the bad guys here? Even though Hood didn’t murder Swilling he still stole a car and food and a horse and a mule. He even burnt down an entire town and killed a man in the process. I have no idea what crime, if any, he was running from in the beginning when he joined up with Monte and Glendon, but I’m almost positive there was one. He is a “bad guy”, and yet I want him to escape cleanly to Mexico with his pretty girlfriend. Well, that is if he didn’t kill Ericcson. If he murdered Ericcson in cold blood than I’m afraid I can’t be on his side anymore.
I still want Glendon to escape though. Maybe it’s because he seems genuinely remorseful for his life of crime. He doesn’t claim that he would do things any differently given the chance, but at least he seems sorry that it turned out this way. He wants to make amends with Blue. He wants to help out Darlys again. (By the way I think it is hilarious that Glendon uses Siringo’s money to pay for Darlys’ trip.) He even wants to go after Hood and prevent him from make some of the same tragic choices that Glendon himself made in younger days. He is a caring and gentle outlaw, that’s for sure.
How nice it would have been if this sentence were true.
“And so it came down to a farmhouse. As it so often does!”
But, it didn’t come down to a farmhouse, after all. Hood escaped…again! I couldn’t have been happier. I like it anytime something happens that Siringo isn’t planning on and doesn’t like. But, of course it couldn’t last. It was so sad and anti-climatic that Hood just walked in to the street and right in to the face of Charles Siringo. Siringo shot him and he died. It was awful. I think the dramatic farmhouse show down would have been better; more appropriate for a romantic boy like Hood.
“Death arrived easy as a train; Hood just climbed aboard, like the capable traveler he was.”
Blanks. Blanks. Of course, it had to be blanks, but I wanted to believe that Siringo was bullet-proof, rather than face the knowledge that Hood had stood no chance from the beginning. How ludicrous that he would go back in to town for a pastry! A cinnamon doughnut? You’ve got to be kidding me. To think that he got killed for a doughnut. What a sad ending for him.
At least Siringo suffers a little bit from his encounter with Hood. He has a stroke, apparently. That's fitting, but I'm sure it won't kill him. At least Monte finally decides to leave him behind. But is he going home or on to find Glendon? East or West? Somehow I don't think he can go home at this point. I'm not sure I would either...knowing Glendon isn't the letter writing type.
I'm anxious to finish the last section "The Rarotongans". What in the world, or who in the world, is a rarotongan? I have no idea, but I'm eager to find out. I'll post my final thoughts on the book tomorrow.
Until then I leave you with me new favorite phrase that I picked up from good old Charlie.
“I think I’ll pass on that bag of snakes.”
Sunday, November 30, 2008
The Hundred and One (1-16)
I love Enger’s descriptions of The Hundred and One. If you’ve ever seen the Broadway musical “Annie Get Your Gun” or the more recent movie “Hildalgo” then you know what the old west shows were reported to be like. Apparently The Hundred and One was just such a show; sharp shooters, monkeys and elephants, saloon brawls and indian attacks at 6 pm nightly. What a place! No wonder Hood was determined to get there.
Speaking of Hood….why is he using an alias? And how old is he? Do we know? Did I miss that line? At first I thought he was 13 or so, but I don’t think they would’ve taken someone that young with them. Maybe he’s 16. I don’t know. He’s obviously old enough to be a skilled mechanic and old enough to fall in love. But he’s immature in many ways too. His desire for praise, his sullenness and his amazing ability to lie without compunction or premeditation show his youth.
I can imagine how exciting that underwater ride in front of his girl and all of the vaqueros must have been for Hood. What teenage boy wouldn’t want to pull off the most dramatic feat in Hundred and One history? How quickly he went from hero to goat after that, though. Why did he run after punching Ern Swilling? No one would have accused him of murder had he stayed. They all saw the action and knew that the fall, not the punch, broke Ern’s neck. Maybe he ran because he was already running from something else?
Poor Ern. I love these lines about the ill-fated German actor.
And then after the accident.
Medically speaking, I don’t quite understand the whole bit about helping someone breathe by tying a tube around their neck, but nevertheless I think we were all a little relieved when that tube slipped and Ern was released from a life of institutionalized agony.
The Hundred and One seems to have misfortune clinging to it. After Hood’s unfortunate accident and Ern’s untimely demise the entire place is flooded. Buildings are destroyed and livestock killed. Everyone is marooned inside the damp boarding house….including Charles Siringo.
I can’t say that I was surprised the he showed up, but I was shocked that he was Jip, Darlys’ old beau from the Hole in the Wall. How does Glendon keep running in to these people? Texas is a big place, but Glendon runs in to old friends every other day. Apparently he had (and maybe still has) a soft spot for Darlys and not much love for Jip. I don’t know if Siringo really doesn’t remember Darlys or if he does not want to reveal that he and Jip are one in the same. So is he really an outlaw that became a Pinkerton agent or a Pinkerton agent that was undercover as an outlaw named Jip? I don’t know but I suspect that he is 80% outlaw and 20% law man.
As a matter of fact, he isn’t a law man at all anymore. He has no authority whatsoever to arrest Glendon, but I doubt that makes Glendon any safer. Siringo probably wouldn’t hesitate to shoot him on sight, or at least detain him and turn him over to the local authorities in hopes of a large reward…or some major publicity. Maybe Glendon already knows this. I wouldn’t be surprised if he does.
I wasn’t sad that Darlys shot Siringo and I love how the narrator (Monte) just assumes that we know Darlys was the shooter. I fervently hoped that he was dead, but I knew he wouldn’t be. I never suspected that Monte would become Siringo’s personal nurse though. In some ways I’m shocked that Monte could sit there day after day and care for the old man, but on the other hand I know that Monte has a big heart and an even bigger sense of duty and honor…almost to a fault.
That sense of duty leads him to even offer Siringo a ride to the train station. I can’t help but think that that is a big mistake. We’ll see.
Thoughts on “The Fiery Siringo” coming tomorrow.
Speaking of Hood….why is he using an alias? And how old is he? Do we know? Did I miss that line? At first I thought he was 13 or so, but I don’t think they would’ve taken someone that young with them. Maybe he’s 16. I don’t know. He’s obviously old enough to be a skilled mechanic and old enough to fall in love. But he’s immature in many ways too. His desire for praise, his sullenness and his amazing ability to lie without compunction or premeditation show his youth.
I can imagine how exciting that underwater ride in front of his girl and all of the vaqueros must have been for Hood. What teenage boy wouldn’t want to pull off the most dramatic feat in Hundred and One history? How quickly he went from hero to goat after that, though. Why did he run after punching Ern Swilling? No one would have accused him of murder had he stayed. They all saw the action and knew that the fall, not the punch, broke Ern’s neck. Maybe he ran because he was already running from something else?
Poor Ern. I love these lines about the ill-fated German actor.
“…nature had been ridiculously kind to Ern Swilling—besides his marquee appearance he was strong as a bear with the easy world-beater genetics we were
all to encounter in coming years.”
And then after the accident.
“…he got his first grip on the transformed world; on the fact that he was no longer a sought quantity or screen actor but a handsome young paralytic with no prospects whatever for fame or wealth or for that matter much of a lifespan.”
Medically speaking, I don’t quite understand the whole bit about helping someone breathe by tying a tube around their neck, but nevertheless I think we were all a little relieved when that tube slipped and Ern was released from a life of institutionalized agony.
The Hundred and One seems to have misfortune clinging to it. After Hood’s unfortunate accident and Ern’s untimely demise the entire place is flooded. Buildings are destroyed and livestock killed. Everyone is marooned inside the damp boarding house….including Charles Siringo.
I can’t say that I was surprised the he showed up, but I was shocked that he was Jip, Darlys’ old beau from the Hole in the Wall. How does Glendon keep running in to these people? Texas is a big place, but Glendon runs in to old friends every other day. Apparently he had (and maybe still has) a soft spot for Darlys and not much love for Jip. I don’t know if Siringo really doesn’t remember Darlys or if he does not want to reveal that he and Jip are one in the same. So is he really an outlaw that became a Pinkerton agent or a Pinkerton agent that was undercover as an outlaw named Jip? I don’t know but I suspect that he is 80% outlaw and 20% law man.
As a matter of fact, he isn’t a law man at all anymore. He has no authority whatsoever to arrest Glendon, but I doubt that makes Glendon any safer. Siringo probably wouldn’t hesitate to shoot him on sight, or at least detain him and turn him over to the local authorities in hopes of a large reward…or some major publicity. Maybe Glendon already knows this. I wouldn’t be surprised if he does.
I wasn’t sad that Darlys shot Siringo and I love how the narrator (Monte) just assumes that we know Darlys was the shooter. I fervently hoped that he was dead, but I knew he wouldn’t be. I never suspected that Monte would become Siringo’s personal nurse though. In some ways I’m shocked that Monte could sit there day after day and care for the old man, but on the other hand I know that Monte has a big heart and an even bigger sense of duty and honor…almost to a fault.
That sense of duty leads him to even offer Siringo a ride to the train station. I can’t help but think that that is a big mistake. We’ll see.
Thoughts on “The Fiery Siringo” coming tomorrow.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Jack Waits (1-17)
Finally, a nice meaty section to examine.
Well, this time around we find out that Glendon was a foster child, for lack of a better term, and a thief.
"No, it's what I always was, it just weighs more, this time around."
Monte seems to want to believe that Glendon is a good person and can atone for all his former mistakes but Glendon keeps trying to make it clear to him that he is indeed not a good person at all. Monte is reluctant to give up his romantic notions about Glendon's past and his future. Maybe the fact that Glendon prays...even over stolen food, is what gives Monte hope.
In fact, the description of Glendon's "salvation" experience pretty much says it all.
"He [Glendon] uttered the prayer a number of times and cried several times, feeling the mercy of God pour out like a cleansing oil upon his limbs, and late in the day he arose and ate a sustaining meal of frijoles with side pork and rode out from the Hole with his friends and robbed the Union Pacific as it climbed the Wyoming foothills."
He wants to change but he feels powerless to do so. He is just one of many who are repentant but lack the real devotion to makeover their lives.
The series of events with the snapping turtle was interesting. First of all hauling a snapper around in a small boat, even if he is surrounded by rocks, does not sound like a smart thing to do. But I guess it paid off in the end, as the snapper drug one of their pursuers down to a watery grave. (And by the way who was that? Not Siringo. But who?) Maybe the snapper was paying them back for not cooking him alive (as Monte suggested) and giving him the chance to be free.
I loved it when, after seeing the "bad guy" drown in the river with the turtle pulling him down, Monte says,
"Belatedly it seemed my finest virtue was the distance I had maintained from
death; now I had this freight to carry and no place to lay it down."
I feel exactly the same way, although I didn't come to the realization belatedly. I've always known how blessed I was to never have experienced the death of someone close to me. My Dad's best friend was the closest person to me to have died (and young and tragically, at that). I always knew that I was, fortunately, missing out on a normal human experience. But when my Grandpa died last year I joined the club; the gang of people that travel the earth with only a portion of their hearts because some small (or maybe large) segment has already moved on to heaven. It is a weight to carry that can't be laid down and it makes death seem closer and ready to strike again at any minute.
At the beginning of this section Monte says that he crossed the line when he stepped off the Davies dock to follow Glendon once again, but I disagree. I think at that point he was still just following his curiosity and was swept up in a sense of adventure. After all several times after that he considered turning back. I think it was when he saw his reflection in the window at Revival that he crossed the line. When he identified himself as someone who looked, "capable", "wary", and "of dubious intent", someone that Grace Hackle would admire instead of the "well-meaning failure, a pallid disappointer of persons, a man fading" he was hooked. He could never go back to be being a struggling author after seeing the fugitive outlaw hidden within himself.
As with any line written by Leif Enger there were several great descriptions in this section.
If you've ever driven through Kansas you immediately identified with these passages:
"Plain describes it nicely, both as grassy tableland and unadorned prospect. It's wide and there you have it. To one born amid forest and bluff on the upper Mississippi, Kansas is so wide and its sky so flat it's disturbing."
"I still hungered for a hillside or building to break the tedium. Sculptors call this relief and they are right. I learned to take pleasure in the windmills spinning bravely along the route, announcing farms."
"Before the windmill there wasn't no Kansas."
I'm uncomfortable with all of that open land too. And no radio stations for miles. I'm also uncomfortable with the dry West. Driving for miles and seeing only the smallest bit of dusty olive green in an endless see of brown is disconcerting. I need green in my life. Even in winter there is still some green around here.
I also loved the description of Siringo's demeanor.
"...[he] propped himself in the position of Visiting Bard and told stories."
So, who was in the boat that tried to run them down? What do you make of the name Jack Waits? How do you like the book so far?
Oh, I guess I didn't event mention Hood Roberts, but I like him and he's now my number one suspect for "so brave, young and handsome". What did you think of him?
Monday, November 24, 2008
The Old Desperate (1-6)
"Why was I a slave to sentiment when it failed me so reliably?"
Its kind of nice to hear a man feel this way. I feel like sentiment fails me daily because the people around me (mostly males) don't get it. It is sweet to see how much Monte and Susannah love each other.
I must say that I was pretty surprised when Franco recognized Glendon on the train and told the policeman. I thought they might get a little further on their journey before the law caught up with them. I had already assumed that Glendon was a former train robber from the riddle he told Redstart in the first section. He said that he had been on 10 (?) trains that had been robbed but he had never had a single thing stolen. That screams train robber to me.
I was equally surprised when Glendon jumped from the train and left Monte alone. I didn't see that coming. Nor did I imagine that Monte would go home with the detective and enjoy his time there. I see that we are getting a little of the same idea that was present in "Peace Like a River"; the idea of a policeman as someone that you naturally dislike and run from but the realization that they can be very charming and kind men if you just get to know them.
I loved Monte's review of "The Pestilence of Man".
"...a number of momentous ideas, namely that war is difficult, and that poverty
is difficult too; in fact, that much of human experience is marked by
difficulty. I don't remember who is at fault."
It sounds like a few books I've read; so preachy that at the end of it you can't even figure out where it all began and what you are supposed to do about it. It kind of makes me think of "The Grapes of Wrath". The basic point of that book seems to be that governments are cruel and life is crueler, with no hope of change. Sounds rosy doesn't it?
Well, that's it for this section. More on "Jack Waits" coming up soon....maybe tomorrow. Let me know what you thought.
Preview:
My sister already finished the book and said she liked it more the further along she read. She also said she didn't like Glendon's character and that the parts of the book that don't' involve him are the best parts. She also said she wasn't sure who "so brave, young, and handsome" refers to. So keep an eye out for those ideas as well.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
A Thousand A Day (Chaps. 1-11)
By the end of the first paragraph I could tell this was a Leif Enger book. The voice coming out of the pages reminds me so much of the narrator of Peace Like a River. He even uses the word "pard", which I think came up several times in the cowboy story in that novel as well. And did this sound familiar to any of you who read Enger's first novel:This [novel] was about a boy who shoots two intruders in the dead of night and straightaway flees the Law. I had it in mind that the boy become a dangerous western hero along the pattern of Tom Horn. His would be a life of wild horses, of slender escapes, of comrades laid in shallow graves!
I love Monte's descriptions of himself and simultaneous jabs at other authors who may indeed be living "in a hospital for the insane or on a tramp steamer or in Madrid", and therefore consider themselves more literary.
Common blots aside, I have none of the usual Big Artillery: I am not penniless, brilliant, or an orphan; have never been to war, suffered starvation or lashed myself to a mast.
It reminded me of that line in "Singin' in the Rain" where, upon learning that he is fired, Cosmo, the pianist, replies, "Oh good. Now I can start suffering and go out and write that symphony."
I also already like the relationship between father and son that is apparent in this novel as well. The name Redstart is certainly strange but I'm betting it will have a significance later on. It almost seems like an Indian name to me. We'll see if being named after a bird has any significance in the boy's life or not.
Why do you think Monte was so eager to talk to the man in the row boat? A complete stranger. Would you ever stop a complete stranger and let him in to your house? Or have supper with a complete stranger that your son brought home with him...a grown man at that? I can't say that I would ever consider such a thing, but maybe that's why I don't have a very adventurous life.
I was surprised to find that Monte had sold, and is still selling, a successful novel. He describes himself as such a...well...loser. Why was Martin Bligh such a success and why can't Monte repeat the process with a second book? I'm assuming we'll discover the answer to that as we travel along with Monte and Glendon.
It was interesting to see how easily Monte was swept in by fame and flattery from his publisher. (What does it mean that his diction was described by some to be "purple"? I didn't understand that.) I also found it ironic that one of the symbols of his success was his boat. Isn't that so true? People today think that owning a boat that they take out twice a year is a status symbol. Although, I doubt many of them are content with just a row boat, but the idea is the same.
Susannah and Monte seem to have such a nice relationship, but I was sad to find out that he was lying to her about his book. She seems like the type that would understand his writer's block. Why do we hide our failures from the people that we love the most...the people that will undoubtedly overlook them and love us anyway?
From reading the jacket of the book I knew that Monte would "run away" with Glendon but I was shocked that it was Susannah's idea. See? She did accept Monte and show him a way to get his writer's brain going again. I really like her. I hope the story continues to follow Susannah and Redstart as well as Monte and Glendon.
What do you think Glendon's vision of his wife on a horse across the river means? I'm sure it will have a significance later on, as will the boats. I actually think that rivers and boats are going to be very central to this story throughout, but I could be wrong.
Based on the dedication of the book "to the brightest colors I ever saw" and to Monte's description of Susannah's moods and their corresponding colors:
You should know this about my wife: colors are as strong spirits to her. Yellow makes her insouciant, reckless, caustic. The brighter tints of orange render her nearly dangerous. It it's a quiet, confiding talk you're after, by all means wait until her palette is stocked with cooler, more seafaring shades.I think colors may be a recurring theme as well.
So let me know what you think about this first section and then let's read on and see what happens. A post on "The Old Desperate" coming in a couple of days.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
