The Book I'm Carrying Around: Strange Library

The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Reading confession - I totally picked up this book because of the cover. The cover is everything, I always judge a book by its cover.  Unlike any normal adult book, the cover flips open vertically so of course, I had to feed my curiosity and figure out what this book was about.

And now that I've read it... I still don't know exactly what it's about. The summary tells you right off: a boy gets stuck in a crazy weird library with an old man, a man dressed in sheep's skin, and a beautiful girl that only he, but sometimes the Sheep Man, can see. He's terribly upset because now he will be late for dinner and his mother will be upset and he eventually tries to escape.

I know there's a deeper meaning, I just haven't figured it out yet.  This is the first book I've read in a long time in 1 sitting, so I was excited about that.  Aside from being a short story, it's printed in 18 point font.  So there is the possibility of reading it again, if necessary.

I've ranked the stars based on the cover & the smart writing.


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A Book I'm Carrying Around: You Should Have Known

You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Should've known what?"

I was waiting in the library check-out line, when I saw this book sitting on the shelf and immediately, the obvious question came to mind.

Ah-ha. Rich parents and a snooty private school. Someone ends up dead.  A spouse had planned to come to the big shindig on that same evening, but then had to work late. Yeah, she should've known.  But, wait, what would've been a motive? Nah, maybe she shouldn't have known.

There is some intrigue - more so because WE can figure out what Grace should've known, why didn't she? How many times have you looked at a friend, sister, colleague's situation and shook your head and thought, "hmm.. yeah, I could've told you he was no good." But we totally miss the mess in our own lives.  That's precisely, ironically, the topic of her psych self-help book for women who don't recognize all the signs when they first start dating that guy, then marry him.

You can figure out the "who" once you get into the story, but the "why" is a little more elusive.  And the "what comes next" was, for me, not enough.  [I've made a few more comments below regarding the ending, which may be a SPOILER for some, so watch for the warning]

If you're married or plan to be, like, Gone Girl - I think this will make you review some of the instances in your relationship and think, "hmmm..... should I have known?"  I was definitely looking at my husband kinda side-eyed whenever he had to work late or missed his flight.


{POTENTIAL SPOILER}
I wanted the "who" to be punished more than he was. It seemed like he skipped away and got off too easy.  And she was no way as near mad as hell as I would've been with my life turned upside down. Then it all wrapped up too tidy with a kinda almost happy ending.  That, I did not expect at all.


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Book I'm Carrying Around: The Supadupa Kid

Getting your kids to read is much easier when they find a book they like.  And they seem to want to read books where they like the characters.  My son suggested that I should mention The Supadupa Kid by Ty Allan Jackson on my blog because other boys would really like this book about a boy who gets cool superpowers.  And a supersuit.  What else could a boy want?

Twelve-year old Javon is a normal kid – he goes to school, is pestered by his little sister, and lives with his mom and dad.  Until one rainy day, by a freak accident of getting struck by lightning, he gains super powers.  He can fly and shoot lightning from his hands!  Unfortunately, the neighborhood bully was also struck by that same lightning, and he also has superpowers, now, too.  Javon and his sidekick friend (every superhero’s got to have a sidekick), use his powers for good, saving the neighborhood from bad guys, retrieving cats from trees, and fighting the school bully. The story is told from Javon’s point of view, as if a friend is talking to you, and intermixed with comic strips that summarize the chapters.  He experiences some angst and excitement about being a kid, with a little crush on a cute girl at school, and about being a superhero.

My son picked up The Supadupa Kid at the Baltimore Book Festival and was reading it by the time our car hit the highway on our way home.  He said to be sure to write here that he couldn’t put it down. As a normal kid, with a pestering little sister, and grand imagination, I think he found kinship with Javon. I heard him laughing as he read and a couple days later, he concluded that it was a good book.  Pressed for more details, he looked at me in the way little boys look at their moms, and said, “It just was a good book.”  Well, the boy is reading and enjoyed it.  What else could a mom want?

Get your super-kid's copy at www.bigheadbooks.com.

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Best of Just Piddlin': Top 10 of 2013

Thanx for Just Piddlin’ along with me in 2013!

I've had a wonderful year blogging and chatting with you.  Checking over my blog posts, these were the 10 most read posts of the year (no particular order).

Working moms and stay-at-home moms, alike, were represented in these motherhood and parenting posts:

• "Lean In" Isn't Such a Bad Message
• Now That You're a Stay-at-Home Mom
• Shall We Give The Kids a Sticker for Breathing

These dishes perfect for busy moms who want home-cooked food for their busy families were popular:

• Next Best Thing to Fried Shrimp - from Witchery in the Kitchen
• Asian Chicken in the Crockpot - selected as a Circle of Moms Recipe of the Day
• And for birthdays, holidays, or any reason to have cake - Cake Decorating - tips from Fancy Cakes by Leslie

Perhaps I’m not the only one struggling with the “where’s your family from” projects, as many of you read up on Another Family Heritage Project.

Fellow yarn-holics picked up their needles for this one: My First Knit Hat

Folks were busy cleaning out their closets & looking for tips on what to do with those old clothes: Re-Use & Recycle Old Clothes

And friends were looking for answers of why they were de-friended (or justifying why they de-friended folks): 5 Reasons You & I Are No Longer Friends

Was your favorite in the top 10?

In 2014, we'll continue striving to grow Just Piddlin' and make it better - for you, the reader, and me.  To learn more about this whole blog-o-sphere, I attended 2 blogging conferences - Disney Social Media Moms and Blogalicious - conferences will be in the plans again in the coming year.  We received a pile of products and books for review which was a lot of fun and look forward to continuing to bring you great products and recommendations.

Book reviews will continue, but I’ll be changing the reading plan a bit.  I’ll let you know in the beginning of the month the Book I'm Carrying Around and invite you to read along and discuss the book with me.  (I’m busy trying to pick out what to start the year with.)

I’ll still be In the Kitchen, cooking and trying out recipes, especially anything chocolate.  Feel free to recommend any great foods or coffee/chocolate shops you think I should try if ever in your city.

And of course, I will continue to be a busy mom of 4, who is always carrying around a skein of yarn, a book, and my perceptions of the world.  I hope you’ll keep piddlin’ along with me.

Please feel free to let me know in the Comments below what you would like to see in 2014.  We'll see what we can do.

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The Book I'm Carrying Around: Please Look After Mom

Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's not often that I find modern, Korean stories in English, so I quickly add them to my to-read pile.  This is one of those books. When I told my own mother about it, as it turned out, she had already read it, in Korean.  "That's the one where...[the end]."  Thanks, Mom.  Now, let's get on to Chi-hon looking for her mother.

What do you do when a family member goes missing?  What happens when it's not a child, but your mother, a grown woman? How do you get the word out, what is the appropriate amount for a reward, where do you start looking? And how long do you keep looking?

These are the immediate questions Chi-hon and her family face when Mom gets lost in the Seoul subway station. The family argues about the answers and continues to fuss, disagreeing with the best and most respectful way to look for their mother.  As they search, they realize how little they really knew about their mother, and how little they ever thought about her in anyway other than as "mother."

As Chi-hon, her siblings, and her father share the pieces of their mother and wife that they knew, it made me think of my own mother and myself as a mother. Have I ever thought about what my mother wanted to do with her life, assuming that being my mother was not her whole life dream?  Do my children ever think of me as a person, outside of being the woman who cooks, signs permission slips, and drives them places?

Kyung-sook Shin blended Korean customs and ways of thought into the story as she revealed who Mom was through her family's memories and their search for her. By the end, we are left with an idea of where she has gone and are hopeful that the family will figure it out, too.

The story is told, for the most part, in second-person ("you look around"), which is a very rarely used and difficult point-of-view. It took a few chapters to get used to having the narrator speak directly to me, but it also was successful in eventually drawing me further in, as if I needed to be part of the search party. When Shin switches POV it was a clear signal that I really needed to pay attention now.  She used the technique well, but it sometimes gets confusing and does take a minute to get used to.

This is the first of her novels that I have read, but apparently she was twelve previous ones. I intend to look for them - and hope that they are available as English translations.



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The Book I'm Carrying Around: Ghana Must Go

I'm excited that I've managed to finish a few books lately, despite it being a busy few months. But I think my short trips have actually helped me squeeze in some reading time.

While taking my Girl Scout troop on our beach camping trip, I finished up my bookclub pick, Ghana Must Go.  It was too cold for me - and any sensible person - to get in the water in September, but I did get in the kayak. I drew the line at running into the water for a swim only fit for polar bears and pre-teen Cadettes.  Instead, I sat in the sand and read, with one eye on my shivering scouts. And, like a kid, I read in my sleeping bag by flashlight after lights out.


Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From page 1 we know that Kweku Sai has died. The remainder of the book is the story of why he has died in this house in Ghana, and, as his son wonders, how a master surgeon can let himself die, not calling for help, because surely, he knows he's dying.  We find out what has happened to the family through the separate views of his first wife, who lives alone; his oldest son, now also a surgeon who has married a colleague but not told his family; his twin son and daughter, who were once inseparable, but now distant physically and emotionally form each other; and youngest daughter, who is trying to find her own identity apart from being "the baby."

Taiye Selasi wove a beautiful story of how things can come apart even when everyone thinks they are doing the best that they can and has intentions of doing good for the rest of the family. I enjoyed her use of language - it's hard to describe how well she made use of the ellipsis (...) and still conveyed meaning that you understood.

We selected this for bookclub and it jumpstarted a lot of, ahem, let's say, discussion.


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Tuke: the Specialist Turtle

Think of "specialist" not in the way that adults use the word, as in "she is a foot specialist," but the way kids use the word, "this is my specialist toy."  Got it?  This was my stumbling block in understanding the title, but my 8-year old got it right away. Now, you're ready to turn the page and read how Tuke realizes he is the specialist turtle.

Tuke the Specialist Turtle

We received a complimentary copy of Tuke and I had my little folks read this colorful picture book about a "tiny turtle Tuke, with long lanky fins, a pea-sized head, the neck of a gazelle and an enormous shell."  He's teased for his small size by the other sea creatures in the Caribbean reef. When he ends up in a marine study lab, he comes up with this thought that he is the "specialist" turtle.  Returned home, he tries to tell the others about his new title, only to be scoffed at again, until a whale shark agrees with him, confirming that he is the specialist and he has an important role to play in protecting their home.

Does it remind you a little bit of Nemo? Sure. But that's okay because kids love Nemo (at least mine do). And we can't remind our kids enough how each one of them is special and important, it's a message that bears repeating.

"With friends like these who needs anemones?"  That cracked me up.

Aside from the story and the message, this book does another thing well: it uses big words.  I love children's books that are challenging, but appropriate (sometimes hard, especially as they approach upper elementary and middle school, but that's another topic.)  This one, I would put on the elementary reading shelves, but it can span a few grades. Parents can read it with the real little ones and talk about the pictures - there's crabs and seahorses and whales and turtles and coral.  And older ones can read for themselves and learn new vocabulary (for spelling or definition), like carapace, brittle, mysterious, and specialist; and metaphors (how does a turtle have a neck of a gazelle) is big in elementary poetry and writing.

Tuke is published and distributed by Chowder Inc. and the Coral Reef Conservancy (CRC).  Chowder is a creative firm that specializes in travel, tourism and destination marketing. CRC is a non-profit whose primary goal is "to raise public awareness about the plight of coral reefs and their connection to humanity."  But don't worry, there's no big "come to the Caribbean" ad in the middle of the book.  Instead, it's an interesting collaboration to educate children about the environment in a way they will enjoy.  At the same time taking away a message about appreciating our own selves.

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Stuff Every Woman Should Know

Do you know how to slow dance or check your oil? How to flirt or dress for your body type? How to give or accept a compliment or perform a breast self-exam?

 

According to this little blue book I picked up at BEA2013, this is just some of the "Stuff Every Woman Should Know" (by Alanna Kalb).  

 

Do you know how to change your oil, sew on a button?

It's a catchy title and a purse-sized book and of course, I wanted to make sure that I knew what I'm supposed to - especially by now, at my age, I figured I should have this stuff down. As I looked over the list, I realized that most of the items, I was a little iffy. 

 

Change a tire? When I used to drive my dad's small 2-door Japanese car, I could. Before I could even go for my driver's test, he made sure I knew how to take the flat tire off and put on a new one. But now that I drive a behemoth of a vehicle that carries 4 kids, their bookbags and sports gear, a dog, and a couple of friends - I don't even try.  The one time my tire blew out - on the highway, on my way to a meeting - my friend had her AAA card out without even a discussion of us trying to change it.  The big auto-repair dude working hard to jack up my car on the hydraulic jack and power tool off the tire, pretty much confirmed that that was not only the best, but only choice.   

 

How to slow dance. Okay, dancing is one of my major weaknesses. On a good night, if I've had a good mojito and no-one's talking to me too much, I can keep up with the Cupid Shuffle, but don't ask for much more than that. But slow dancing, that's pretty simple. Hand on the waist, hand in hand, smile, and follow along with your guy. I can do that. Keep it simple, no swinging, no spinning, no cheek-to-cheek tango (that requires at least another mojito and a shot of tequila).   

 

How to pick a signature scent. Apparently I'm not good at this, because I don't have one, I don't generally wear perfume.  

 

Self-defense techniques - this is a good one. Although I have a white belt in Tae Kwan Do (I quit after my brother jammed my finger with a really good roundhouse kick), I couldn't fight my way out of a wrestling match with my 8-year old. I've never been in a fist fight and my only defense mechanism is to scream and cry and swing my arms like a girl.

 

Hmm. Surprisingly, at my age, there's still a lot of things for me to learn. But I do know how to sew on a button and fix a hem, wear colors that look good on me (why I never wear blue), cook a few good recipes, and give a compliment. But it's nice to know there's things I still have yet to learn. Otherwise, where would we be if we've learned it all?

     

 

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Diversity in Kids' Books: Twins and Island Hunters

Name a children's book, any book. Or pick up the last book your kid read.  What race were the kids in the book (assuming they were not animals or aliens or fish)?  If your kids' books are like mine, most likely those characters were White.  Maybe, by some small chance, they were Asian or Black; by a smaller chance, they were Hispanic or Native American.  Now think - what was the last book your child read that had main characters of color?  Not the side-kick friend, but the main character on the cover.  While you think, continue to read.

The diversity - or lack of - in children's books

We all like to see and read about people that look like us. Whether "looks like" means by gender or race, ability or disability, culture or heritage. It helps to validate us as who we are. It proves that we are important.  It allows us to say, "hey, I'm not the only one."  For our children, it says, "you, too, are beautiful and belong in this world."  And aside from all of that, it's fun to see and read about other people who are just like us.  My kids love "Little Bill" on TV; although the older ones may groan when my daughter turns it on, they still sit and watch it.  Its one of the few TV shows, animated at that, that features little kids that look like them and the grand-dad looks like their grand-dad. It's fun to see your own life reflected in stories.

So it is with books. And that's why I get excited when I see children's books that represent the diverse culture of our world. We have books about Black, Korean, Latino, and Aleutian children on our shelves, along with White children.

Now I've found a couple more.

Twindollicious by Natasha Danna

Twin-doll-icious by Natasha Danna is the story of twin girls who love dressing alike.  It has bright, cute pictures and younger elementary level writing.  I gave it to my 8-year old to read and for her review. She thought it was funny and a good story.  Her summary: it was about twin sisters who liked to dress alike until a new girl came to school and made fun of them. Then they didn't dress alike and everything went wrong.  The new girl lost the class guinea pig and the twins helped her find it and then they were all friends.  From a parent perspective, it emphasized how the twins were the same in that they looked and dressed alike, but were unique in their different strengths and personalities. The message I liked was knowing who you are and not letting other people tell you who you should be.  It wasn't a story that focused on race, but about growing up, and the girls happened to be brown.

The Island Hunters series by N.E. Walford

The Island Hunters by N.E. Walford is a series of chapter books I thought my son would enjoy.  First, I was impressed that it was written and illustrated by a mother of five boys!  Beyond that, the books are all boyhood adventure. There's pirates and maps and islands and brothers fussing with each other and plotting together to find treasures and running from the bad guys.  Walford includes cultural hints and historical references as the boys wander through the Caribbean and the island of Jamaica.  My son commented that there were some "vocabulary" words in the writing; he knew them, but I think it slowed him down a little bit.  If the writing is too old for your kid, it would be a fun read-together book, if your son will allow it.

Enjoy!

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The Book I'm Carrying Around: When She Woke

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Again, I didn't read the back of the book and had no idea what I was getting into.  You can take this as a love story, a moral tale, a crime/suspense novel.  Or all three.

*I'm trying not to give any spoilers, but have to give a few details to review the book and I promise I won't tell any major plot twists or the ending*

Everyone knows that Hannah has committed some type of terrible, punishable crime. How? Because she's red.  From head to toe, dyed thru the skin red. And she will continue to be red until her sentence is over.  She's free to roam the streets, but everyone will know she's a criminal.

What was her crime? She had an abortion.  Yes, Roe v. Wade has been repealed and abortion is illegal.  In the U.S., which is a religious state, it is anyway.

Jordan doesn't give us a time for When She Woke, but its conceivably not too far in the distant future.  Some of the electronic gadgetry is our navigation maps and smartphones and iPads taken up a few notches.  Religion, Christianity specifically, has become, if not the law, then the basis of the law of the land and the country is ruled by a moral code.

One can consider this story on a number of different levels.  As a Christian, I have to admit, there were angles that I agreed with, and then there were others that I thought, "no, I don't think that's what the Bible means."  When you have sinned, do you believe that God will forgive you, regardless of that sin?  Even if its against the law?  Can you forgive yourself?

Obviously, your personal belief on abortion will influence what you think of Hannah's sentence. But, if you are pro-choice, do you support breaking the law in the name of personal choice? If you are pro-life, do you think a woman, alone, should be punished?  I'm not getting into a pro-life/pro-choice debate, but you can't discuss this book without raising the subject.

In Jordan's novel, criminals are dyed different colors depending on the severity of their crime. Interesting to note the discussion on how these "colored" people are treated.

When She Woke definitely kept me awake, late into the night to get to the next page.


* I've also read and reviewed Jordan's Mudbound.

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The Book I'm Carrying Around: 12 Tribes of Hattie

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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12 Tribes of Hattie, is not, as you might expect, as I expected, specifically about the title character. Instead, it is about her 12 tribes, her children. The title, I assume, is borrowed from the Biblical story of Joseph, as he and his brothers are considered the 12 tribes of Israel. Ayana Mathis has wonderful language and  introduces us to each child in a manner that will pull at your emotions, from sadness to pity to confusion, and hoping that someone will make you smile.

Hattie and her children were on my mind when, a few days ago, I went to the funeral of a cousin. She had 8 children and a legacy of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A number of her descendants spoke during the service, providing their reflections on the mother and grandmother they knew. As I listed to them speak, I thought, "they sound like Hattie's children."

Like August and Hattie, my cousin and her husband apparently had some misunderstandings and unrest in their marriage. One child said the problem was that, if anything, they loved each other too much, they took each other so high and then had to bring themselves back down. Like August and Hattie, they stuck together, despite whatever disappointments they had. But unlike them, my cousin and her husband were also able to enjoy some good times together, as well.

About being loved, each of Hattie's children realized that their mother provided for them and did for them the things that mothers are supposed to do - fixed their dinner and mended their clothes, cleaned their house and took care of them when they were sick. But she was not, a sweet, lovey-dovey kind of mom.  With 8 children to take care of, my cousin's children seemed to feel the same way. It was remarkable that most, maybe all, of her children made a joke about being the favorite child or a comment on knowing that their mother loved them, in her own way. One said that there were moments, as a child, that she didn't know if her mother loved her. And as an adult, she realizes that maybe, in those moments, her mother was trying really hard to love herself.

I thought about Hattie, and I think there were moments, when she, too, was trying to figure out how to love herself. And I know, that for me, as a mother, as well, sometimes I wonder, how, in a household, filled with people who need you and depend on you, do you gather up a little bit of selfishness to focus on yourself, for just a little while?

Ms. Mathis' Hattie rarely seemed joyful. My cousin was. She used to sing and dance and party and her children loved her. I'm glad that her 8 tribes had a mother who withstood any sadness and disappoint to still be able to be their mother; and in the end, I'm glad that they loved her enough to share her memories with us all.

(Click on title above for my review of the book on GoodReads.)

The Book I'm Carrying Around: Close My Eyes

Close My Eyes by Sophie McKenzie

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I watch CSI and Hawaii Five-O and swear I've solved the case by the first commercial break.  This one too.  Once I figured out the premise, I was sure I had solved the case, picked out the perpetrators, and was ready to call the police to lock these people up.  Perhaps why I've never been picked for jury duty.

Gen and Art's baby was born as a still-born eight years prior to the story.  While Art has worked through his grief and moved on, Gen is still mulling over it and weighed down by depression.  Then, she gets a visitor who puts this notion in her head that her baby didn't actually die, she becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to the baby, who knew, and who was involved.  At this point, I had implicated everyone who stepped onto a page.

There are a lot of twists and suspicions, some dead ends and meandering paths to unravel the whole story.  I will admit, there were a few bumps that I didn't quite accept, and I got a little distracted because I didn't like some of the characters' names (yeah, I know) but I rolled on and kept going.  And the ending, well, I'm still deciding what I thought about it.  But its a good, suspenseful, and surprising case.

Thanks to Bookreporter.com for an Advanced Reader's Copy.  The book is due out in July 2013.

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The Book I'm Carrying Around: Mudbound

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

You know those books you read while walking around the house?  You're making coffee with one hand, holding the book with the other?  Glad there was a snow day and the kids are going to school late and now you've got 2 extra hours to find out what these folks on Mudbound are up to?  Yeah, this is that kind of book.

The book begins and ends at the same place - two brothers digging their father's grave.  The middle is the story of how he got there.

The basics: Henry and Laura McAllan move their family from their comfortable home with lights and a flushing toilet in Memphis to a cotton farm and worn-down farmhouse in Mississippi.  Their new land comes with sharecroppers and tenant farmers, including the Jacksons and the Atwoods.  At the end of WWII, the McAllan's brother (White) and the Jackson's eldest son (Black) come home from serving in the Army.  Their time in Europe has matured and changed their views and themselves.  And neither is really prepared to return to their Southern home.

At the end of the story - I won't tell what happened in the middle, of course - your mind flips back, as Laura's does to wonder - what was the point that set these events into motion, reminiscent of a question in "The Shack".  As in our own lives, you don't know how all the pieces fall together, which ones knock the next one over like a set of dominoes.

The story is about families, Black and White.  But the issues in the book aren't all that way.  Yes, there's racism which, at least for me, is a definite "wrong."  And there's taking care of your family, a "good".  But then there's - do you side with your family, even when they're wrong?  Can you be a good person and exact revenge?  Is it so easy, just not to mention a betrayal and hope it doesn't come up?  But, as Laura says, its better if you begin and end it all with love.

I got caught up in the story and forgot, while I was reading the book, that the father dies. I was shocked when he did, then recalled they were digging his grave at the beginning.  When you have finished the book, I urge you to go back and read the first couple of chapters again and see if you don't say,"ooohhhh, I get it!"

A few other things to consider....

- Jordan, a White woman, uses the "n-word" throughout the book, in dialogue by the White characters.  Recently, there's been controversy about Q. Tarentino using it in his movie, "Django," set in the 1860s.  Is it appropriate to use the "n-word" when historically accurate?  Should authors/screenwriters temper the vocabulary for modern sensitivities?

- Often suggested as a restitution for slavery is "40 acres and a mule."  I never gave much thought about the mule, but at one point in this story, the value of the mule is highlighted, illustrating the vast difference in potential income that the animal represents, and by consequence, the livelihood, lifestyle and hopes of the farming family.

- On the cover, there is an image - I believe its a bird reflected in the water.  Interesting enough, I'm still figuring out the symbolism.  But one day, I happened to glance at it and it appeared to be a silhouette of a man running.  Hmmm.

I was drawn in by the story, but I was pulled by the subtleties of the characters' emotions.  Jordan does a nice job of mixing in historical data (which I will presume to be true) of the 1940s into a personal story - I always like to learn a little something when I read.

Have you read it?  What did you think?

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The Books I'm Carrying Around: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When facing inescapable tragedy or disappointment, it must be in our human nature to make non-sensical deals with fate.  "If my football team wins, then the doctor's report will be good."  "If I walk backwards, my house won't be flooded when I get there."  Right?

"If someone could please let her know I'm on my way, then she won't die, she'll wait for me."  This was Harold Fry's deal.  Even though "on my way" was a couple hundred miles on foot from one end of England to the other, he kept on going.  Because once you've told someone you're coming to see them on their dying bed and then you get a couple weeks and hundred miles in, can you really quit until you get to the end and find out if they did wait for you or not?

Harold's pilgrimage is a physical one.  I've done charity walks of 60 miles and I was shaking my head with sympathy as he discovered the pain of the wrong shoes and muscle aches, the frustration and chill of rain, and the mental fluctuation between boredom and thoughtfulness.

But his pilgrimage is also a spiritual and emotional one, and this is really the heart of the book.  Page my page, mile by mile, we learn about the unraveling of his marriage, his disappointments and mistakes as a father, his discovery of what he now wants in his life.  Along the way, we also get insight into his wife, left behind at home, waiting for his phone calls and postcards as he makes his journey.  And we find out why a man would walk so far to see a woman who is not his wife.

I went from sympathetic to exhausted, interested to ready to quit, just as Harold did.  But once you get so many pages in, even with blisters and pouring rain, you've got to make it to the end.  

*Personal tip - if you are ever planning on walking a very long distance - Vaseline, baby powder, good socks, and excellent walking shoes.


Note - I received a copy of this book from the Random House Reader's Circle.

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The Book I'm Carrying Around: Salvage the Bones

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This past spring, I participated in World Book Night - a national day to hand out a selection of books for free to folks who may not really be readers.  I chose "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" - click here to go back and read more about that interesting experience.  I noticed today that this book is one of the one's selected for next spring.  Its a good pick that will definitely get people thinking.  After Katrina, and then most recently, the SuperStorm Sandy along the East Coast, and the many floods and storms that dot our news radar, I think we all get a little jittery when there's any threat of an inch or more of rain.  And at some level, we all have to make a decide whether we can survive the potential damage or not.  And when the sun comes out - we find out if we were right or wrong.

It took me longer to read this book then it really should because I usually wait 'til I've climbed in the bed at the end of a long day to read.  Okay, maybe more information than you really need for a book review, but it does serve a point - this isn't the book to read as you are fighting your eyelids.  That said, I do like this book.  Jesmyn Ward has pretty, lyrical writing, even when describing a dog fight or tangle with a tractor.  Some of her writing is so pretty, when something bad happens, it catches you by surprise.

The book opens with a pitbull in labor - I know, makes you wonder where's this story going, right?  We then meet Skeetah, the owner of the dog; Randall, his older brother; Junior, their baby brother; and their sister, Esch, our main character, a tomboy-ish, yet sexually promiscuous girl, hanging out with her brothers and their friends, figuring out that she's pregnant.  They're being raised by their usually drunk father, having lost their mother when she died after giving birth to the youngest brother.  As I moved through the story, I saw China, the pitbull, as a metaphor for the kids' lives.  She (the dog) is the primary mother figure, the one Esch looks to for a model of what motherhood looks like.

The suspense in the story is not only built into the pace of Ward's writing, but the timing of the story.  Its set in a rural area in Mississippi days before Hurricane Katrina.  You want to yell through the pages "get the dog, get your dad, and get out of town!" while at the same time, wondering how or if, this family is going to survive.  You revisit those questions that ran through the nation's head as we watched the waters flood New Orleans - why didn't they get out?  What were they thinking?  What are they going to do now?  Ward provides some answers, at least for this family.  They were pulling the framing out of their attic for plywood to board up the house and were eating Ramen noodles for every meal every day.  They clearly did not have the means to evacuate, and if so, they weren't getting far in the not-really-running pickup truck sitting in the dirt yard.

Salvage the Bones is a story of love and desperation, and the things that happen when those two strong feelings are confused one for another.


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The Book I'm Carrying Around: Four of a Kind

Four of a Kind by Valerie Frankel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is what happens when you're a mom.  Your kids are in school, you end up on the PTA/room parent group/school performance committee with a bunch of other moms.  You try to be social while getting through the committee agenda and, if you are lucky, you actually like the other moms (b/c its rarely dads).  Luckier, they become your friends.

In Four of A Kind, four moms from different corners of the school end up on the Diversity Committee together  - three are White, one is Black; one is rich, the others range in middle-classness; one has a single child; one is single.  The basics of diversity; but they don't seem to have much else in common.  They spark upon the idea to play poker to squash the uncomfortable silence and then begin to open up to each other.  And they do become friends, even if reluctantly and questioningly.  I mean, once you tell folks you haven't had sex in 2 years and about your marital arguments, you are pretty much on the road to friendship; if not, you are terribly over-sharing.

This was an easy, light read, although with some serious, family issues going on, but it wasn't treated too heavily.  Its one of the few that I've read that has both Black and White characters; probably one of the very few of those in which the Black character was not a servant/dependent/victim needing to be saved.  There were things the mother's did that I agreed with, others that I didn't, others that made me think.  And many that made me laugh.

This was, literally, a beach read.  Water, sand, salt - good thing it was the real book not on a nook.

*Note - I received this book as an early preview from the Publisher


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Secrets, Memories, and History - A Selection of Books

There were award-winning, established authors as well as first time authors at our sorority conference; they were there at booths in our vendor area, along with our beautiful pink & green paraphernalia, and as presenters for some of our workshops and forums. In between going to our business sessions and eating my way across San Francisco, I had a chance to talk with a few of them.

ReShonda Tate Billingsley, a bestselling and award winning author, was a attending as a presenter in the forum on the entertainment business and promoting her new book, The Secret She Kept. We spoke about her first book and the efforts of getting it published. As any aspiring writer knows, once you've written your next best novel and contribution to literature, you've got to get it published. She explained the challenge of getting through the slush pile, when an editor may have months- worth of reading piled up in manuscripts. There are some advantages of self-publishing, as she had done with her first novel, which really requires you to put in the work to market it and get the book in the hands of your audience. Once she established commercial success with that, she was noticed and picked up by a publisher. Look for her on tour with her latest.

On the other end of their writing career was Antoinette Lawrence and Terry Lewis. They have just published their first children's book, I Remember, a sweet book about a girl remembering the things she's done with her grandmother.  The pictures are bright and well-drawn and the type is a fun, bouncy lettering that is easy to read and kids will enjoy; it's about a K or 1st grade reading level. The appeal for African-American parents is having a fun, early level reading book with characters that look like your child. The authors are also working on another book about a boy and girl who travel around the world - and no, the authors are not siblings, but yes, they have themselves traveled globally and their experiences will be the basis for some of the adventures. They are from Maryland and will be presenting again at the Baltimore Book Festival in September. (I'm putting it on my calendar to make this annual literary event.)

Stretching into a different direction, non-fiction, there was Anne Pruitt-Logan  who was presenting, Faithful to the Task at Hand, an autobiography of Lucy Diggs Slowe, one of our sorority founders. She was there with her son and they explained the interesting way she came upon this project. The original author,  Carroll Miller, was a student of Slowe and inspired by her achievements in educations and sports, wanted to memorialize her in an autobiography.  During the writing of the manuscript, he became ill, and asked Ms. Pruitt-Nelson to assist him in editing the book. She edited his portions and then did more research in Slowe's life and history, and added more to the story.  During this writing process, the first author passed away and Ms. Pruitt-Nelson was left with completing the book. And now, after years of research and writing, we have our first biography of one of our organization founders, an African-American pioneer in many arenas - an educator, college administrator, and a title-winning tennis player (one of my favorite sports). This book is available thru SUNY Press and Amazon.  

Thanks to the authors for taking a few moments from their busy booths to talk to me about their books.  Enjoy! 

The Book I'm Carrying Around: Gone Girl

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ever thought of killing someone?  Think you could get away with it?  Probably not, because you probably aren't patient enough and you would let your emotions get involved.  Either you'd move impulsively because they made you mad or you would change your mind because you realized you loved the person afterall.  To really get away with it, you have to have a plan, be patient, and ignore all your emotions.  Otherwise, like most criminals, you'll mess it up and get caught.

I don't read suspense thrillers/crime dramas too often - and I don't know why because I am such a "CSI" addict.  I didn't know what this was about or what to expect, other than that some girl was missing, which I figured out from the title, but once I got to about page 2, I was hooked.

* No spoilers here; in fact, I could tell you exactly what happened and you would still need to read the book to believe me that that's what happened.  But I won't, so continue.... *

We open on Nick and Amy's fifth wedding anniversary (with the traditional gift of "wood") and quickly realize that their marriage, like most marriages, is a mix of love, sacrifice, and compromise.  Unlike (or like?) most marriages, there's also a bit of bitterness and betrayal.  When Nick is called home from his bar, which he co-owns with his twin sister, Margo, and has been financed by his wife, he finds his cat wandering outside his open front door and his wife gone.  The police come, the in-laws are called in, he confides in his sister, all kinds of folks from both Nick and Amy's past are visited.  And of course, I am, as always, as everyone is, sure that the husband did it - its just a question of "how" and "why"?

And its the "how" and "why" that kept this book constantly in my hands - at the pool, waiting for the kids, laying out on the hammock, late at night.  And wondering, if I could ever pull off such a feat.  (Not that I would, but when you watch a crime show, don't you wonder whether you could get away with it?)

There are so many plot twists and revelations, that I constantly was turning back to previous pages to see if I had read a detail correctly the first time or exclaiming "ohhhh, that's what he/she meant" or "oh, sugar! how'd he/she do that?!"  It got to the point, I didn't even know whose side I was on in this marriage debacle.  By the time I figured out what was going on, the story took off in another direction and took me with it.

Great story, great characters.  I'm off to find one of Gillian Flynn's previous books, I feel like I've been left out of a great secret.


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The Book I'm Carrying Around: The Tower, The Zoo, and the Tortoise

The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise by Julia Stuart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

She had me at "the zoo".  Between that and the funny cartoon-ish cover, it was an automatic read for me.  No, I didn't read the back or a review or anything.  I mean, it had a zoo and a turtle and a British Tower guard - it had to be good.  Yes, this is how I also came to read "Water for Elephants", "Night Circus" and "Tiger's Wife" - all good books!  Okay, so back to The Tower.

This book had me alternating between cracking up laughing and being a little sad, even dropping a few tears.  (A really crazy mix of reactions anyway, but even more so when sitting on a pool deck and folks are looking at you like "what the heck?"). Without revealing too much of the goings on in the book, here's a few things that I liked, surprised me, and I found interesting.
- because I like random useful facts, I liked the tidbits about the Tower of London, which I would assume are true, otherwise surely some Anglophile or the historical society of London would not be too happy,
- the author identified everyone by their full name, all the time, and or some other long description, which I found amusing.
- she also did this for pets (Mrs. Cook, the 108- year old tortoise, a descendent of a pet tortoise of a famous pirate) and rodents (the vile creatures that weren't even named in the Bible).
- at first I thought her repetition of descriptions or facts was an editing oversight, but soon realized it was a clever, amusing redundancy.  Sometimes she changed it up a little bit, and you received some other factoid about the character
- the zoo!  I've been to the London Zoo, so I felt like I had some little piece of reference for one of the settings of the story

The main story thread is one about a Beefeater, Balthazar Jones, a guard at the Tower of London, and his wife, an agent at the lost & found for the Underground (London's subway system).  They live at the Tower, along with an amusing cast of characters - other guards & their wives,  a priest, the pub owner.  But, they are without their young son, who passed a few years earlier (yes, you find out how, but I'm not going to tell you) and adjusting to this new life and new definition of themselves of not being parents anymore.  Apparently, being a Guard and answering silly tourists' questions gets kinda boring, but Balthazar Jones wasn't really looking for the excitement of being in charge of the menagerie of gifted animals the Queen has decided to relocate from the London Zoo to the Tower.  His career as a zookeeper begins with losing the penguins and almost beheading the giraffes.  The presence of the animals upsets the balance of life at the Tower in an entertaining confusion of events.

The author weaves the lives of each character together to create an amusing, thoughtful, emotional, can't-put-down tapestry of a story.


It was a fun read that made me regret not going to see the Crown Jewels and the ghosts on my trip to London last year.


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The Book I'm Carrying Around: Wife 22

Where did you go on your first date?

Do you remember? Alice Buckle does. She remembers almost everything about meeting, dating, and marrying her husband. But does that mean she's happily married? She doesn't necessarily think so. When offered the opportunity to participate in an anonymous marriage survey, she enthusiastically accepts and fully answers all the questions. IRL (in real life), she's trying to balance her marriage to her recently laid-off husband, parent her two children who she thinks is gay (her son) and has an eating disorder (her daughter), and hold on to her job as an elementary school drama teacher. What else does she need in this already busy life? How about an online relationship with the survey researcher?

"Wife 22" is amusingly told in prose, alternating with our most common, modern forms of communication - emails, FaceBook statuses, Twitter updates, and phone texts. I immediately related to Alice and her family and felt empathetic to her until the last page. I cheered for her, LOL'ed, and cried a few real tears because I wanted her to be happy and I wanted her marriage to work and I wanted that both could happen concurrently. Because I want that for myself.

If you are married, raising kids, and dared to admit that you aren't sure you're totally, always happy with your life - and especially if you've ever wondered, even just for a moment, whether there's a greener patch of grass elsewhere - you will recognize Alice and be ready to pour her a cup of coffee as you listen to her story. Then you'll sit back and come up with your own answers to the survey, perhaps starting with "give three reasons people should stay married." And then you will go Google yourself.


*This book will be released on May 29. I received an Advanced copy of this book from the Publisher - thanks Random House Publishing & Ballantine Marketing.