There has been some good buzz for fiction as of late and what better time to grab a book, get outdoors and lose yourself in a novel? These six are an eclectic mix of debuts, returns by award winners and some nice solid entries by established authors.
Benediction by Kent Haruf (2013)
In this novel of small town America, rich with characters we get to know and appreciate, a place becomes real and problems recognizable because family is not always without drama. A man is diagnosed with terminal cancer and one of his grown children returns home to be with her parents and tie up loose ends. Along with them, we watch and we wait.
The community rallies round to support the family and throughout we learn more about the dying man, the town and the other players. More than one family has trials of their own and each family is drawn with care by Haruf.
Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi (2013)
This strong debut by Selasi is set in Boston and then Ghana as four children reconvene to mourn the death of their renowned surgeon father.
We are told the stories of Kweku Sai, the surgeon, his first wife, and the lives of his 4 children. We come to know them and the substance of these people as a family. These are not just Africans. They are people with strengths, weaknesses, skills, talents and flaws. They happen to have a rich heritage.
Stylistically, the writing takes twists and turns so it is unclear when time changes and to whom the narration refers. This is the one shortfall of the novel. It was a distraction interrupting the flow of the story which was intriguing until you had to work hard to absorb it. That said, it was worthwhile.
Harvard Square: A Novel by Andre Aciman (2013)
Told as a flashback, a lively immigrant Tunisian cabbie meets a culturally Jewish Harvard PhD candidate and they form a strange but symbiotic friendship in late 70s Cambridge. Reminiscent of The Stranger (Camus), perhaps only because we have two Francophiles with ties to Northern Africa and their hangout, Cafe Algiers, they have a relationship that does not cross all facets of each others' lives. Likely due to embarrassment, the nameless narrator keeps Kalaj, his taxi-driving friend, compartmentalized from his upper class student experience... until he can no longer.
Their lives become entwined, one knowing how to play the games of the social and academic world, the other brash and obstreperous with professionals and women alike. In the end, does the value of the friendship override the shame held because a poor immigrant is inferior to the hopeful professor?
Elders by Ryan McIlvain (2013)
Two young men with pressed shirts and name tags are serving their mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Brazil. Or as the book reminds us, we know them as Mormons. But the main thrust of this story is not to sell or demonize proselytizing or comment on the LDS as a people. Interestingly, the focus is on the relationship between the two young men, the two 'elders' on their mission.
One is having a crisis of faith and the other is a ladder climber who wants to do what he must to ascend the ranks of Mormon leadership, no matter the cost. Things are not aways what they seem and this story, written by a former LDS member, offers a bird's eye view into a life experience that most see only from the other side of their doors.
Amity and Sorrow by Peggy Riley (2013)
A mother escapes a fundamentalist cult with her two adolescent daughters who are ignorant to the ways of the world and brainwashed beyond reason. How did it happen and why? Why are the two girls bound at the wrist? Will the escape ultimately lead to freedom?
This novel is unique in that the fundamentalist cult story popular now, usually told while the family is intact and living their polygamous lifestyle, is here told from the perspective of three who escaped. And not all three wanted to leave.
Sorrow, the older sister fiercely believes that her father, bound to 50 wives, was going to lead them all to heaven. Convinced that the world outside is evil, she tried to end their suffering and have them returned to their compound or end the world so they can be saved in the Rapture.
The Humanity Project: A novel by Jean Thompson (2013)
Author of the NYT bestselling, The Year We Left Home returns with another page-turner. Admittedly, this one has many storylines that even an avowed bookworm can have trouble following. The book is chock full of misfits who need a hand. The ties that bind them are not evidenced until you get quite deep into the book.
One teen is left to care for his father, who is losing their house, rather than go to college. Another teen is the victim of a broken home and a school shooting and tries to start over with her estranged father. A nurse becomes engrossed in the project of a wealthy, elderly patient.
But the book asks, can people be paid to be good? And I don't think this is the real premise nor do I think it's actually answered. So, if it was addressed, for it does give food for thought, and if it was somehow answered by the novel, I would praise this far more.
Humanity Project was certainly a skillfully told story that keeps your interest and worth the time it takes to read as well as the time you devote to pondering its questions. However, you think it raises certain issues, will go in one direction and then it goes in quite another.
the lowercase b,
I read, therefore I am
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4.14.2013
Books about women, by women, but not just for women.
Three books about three women. Two memoirs and one biography, all penned by women. It was a coincidence that these were the books I had to read this week but they juxtaposed nicely, examining lives of varied types of women at different eras.
Her: A Memoir by Christa Parravani (2013)
As evidenced by my relationship with my sister, siblings may share a special bond, a unique love, but it can never compare to that shared by twins. In fact, when one twin dies, regardless of circumstances, even accident, it is 50% more likely that the surviving twin will pass away within the following two years. Chilling.
Christa Parravani, upon losing her twin Cara, was no less than paralyzed by her young sister's death. This heartwrenching memoir chronicles their bond, their devotion to one another, their imperfect love and what happened when Christa could not save Cara from her demons.
Born to an insecure mother and a father who was not interested in raising one girl, much less two daughters, they had a less than ideal childhood. Later saddled with a second father figure in their step-dad who was no better than the first, they continued to struggle in poverty. In spite of this start in life they went on to Bard College, together, and studied the arts.
Finding their way in the world together, it seemed happiness would be in their grasp. Until a horrifying rape ended life as both twins knew it--although physically, it happened only to Cara. The downward spiral could not be stopped and Christa was left alone.
My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor (2013)
This smart memoir by about a gifted lady is at once informational and inspirational. By no means was Sonia a perfect child living in a idyllic world. Having nothing handed to her except a brilliant mind, this woman worked hard for everything she became.
Regardless of what political team you bat for, it is difficult to imagine someone reading this and not having enormous respect for the ambition and diligence with which Sotomayor approached everything she tried. Her integrity is impressive but she was also honest about the role affirmative action played in her life and how without it she would not have even known about Ivy league schools because she was too busy just trying to get homework done in her widowed mother's household where they lived paycheck to paycheck, eating rice and beans in her poor Bronx neighborhood.
Seeking an ADA placement right out of Yale Law instead of vying for a coveted, moneyed, firm position because of her commitment to public service, Sotomayor saw her commitment to people and the law as more vital than dollars. Even when she later left private practice for the Federal bench, her own mother was proud but confused since she would be surrounded by less savory individuals and take a large cut in salary.
Diagnosed with Juvenile (Type 1) Diabetes as a young child, Sonia Sotomayor had a precarious existence as a youth, with an alcoholic but loving father and a hard working, always supportive mother. She rose to the top and is living a life worth reading about. Smartly, the book is also published in Spanish.
Margaret Fuller: A New American Life by Megan Marshall (2013)
This well-researched, thorough biography chronicles the life of Margaret Fuller, early feminist, transcendentalist, book reviewer, author and correspondent. Her family life, relationships with other famed contemporary transcendentalists, her aspirations, romantic life and experiences in Rome as a correspondent during the revolution are fully explored.
I read, therefore I am,
the lowercase b
Her: A Memoir by Christa Parravani (2013)
As evidenced by my relationship with my sister, siblings may share a special bond, a unique love, but it can never compare to that shared by twins. In fact, when one twin dies, regardless of circumstances, even accident, it is 50% more likely that the surviving twin will pass away within the following two years. Chilling.
Christa Parravani, upon losing her twin Cara, was no less than paralyzed by her young sister's death. This heartwrenching memoir chronicles their bond, their devotion to one another, their imperfect love and what happened when Christa could not save Cara from her demons.
Born to an insecure mother and a father who was not interested in raising one girl, much less two daughters, they had a less than ideal childhood. Later saddled with a second father figure in their step-dad who was no better than the first, they continued to struggle in poverty. In spite of this start in life they went on to Bard College, together, and studied the arts.
Finding their way in the world together, it seemed happiness would be in their grasp. Until a horrifying rape ended life as both twins knew it--although physically, it happened only to Cara. The downward spiral could not be stopped and Christa was left alone.
My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor (2013)
This smart memoir by about a gifted lady is at once informational and inspirational. By no means was Sonia a perfect child living in a idyllic world. Having nothing handed to her except a brilliant mind, this woman worked hard for everything she became.
Regardless of what political team you bat for, it is difficult to imagine someone reading this and not having enormous respect for the ambition and diligence with which Sotomayor approached everything she tried. Her integrity is impressive but she was also honest about the role affirmative action played in her life and how without it she would not have even known about Ivy league schools because she was too busy just trying to get homework done in her widowed mother's household where they lived paycheck to paycheck, eating rice and beans in her poor Bronx neighborhood.
Seeking an ADA placement right out of Yale Law instead of vying for a coveted, moneyed, firm position because of her commitment to public service, Sotomayor saw her commitment to people and the law as more vital than dollars. Even when she later left private practice for the Federal bench, her own mother was proud but confused since she would be surrounded by less savory individuals and take a large cut in salary.
Diagnosed with Juvenile (Type 1) Diabetes as a young child, Sonia Sotomayor had a precarious existence as a youth, with an alcoholic but loving father and a hard working, always supportive mother. She rose to the top and is living a life worth reading about. Smartly, the book is also published in Spanish.
Margaret Fuller: A New American Life by Megan Marshall (2013)
This well-researched, thorough biography chronicles the life of Margaret Fuller, early feminist, transcendentalist, book reviewer, author and correspondent. Her family life, relationships with other famed contemporary transcendentalists, her aspirations, romantic life and experiences in Rome as a correspondent during the revolution are fully explored.
I read, therefore I am,
the lowercase b
4.09.2013
"Power is of two kinds..."
The two books I read last week reminded me of this quote by Gandhi:
"Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand more times effective and permanent than the one derived from fear of punishment."
Each of the following, the first a debut novel and the second a non-fiction travelogue/memoir/business-economics genre, has a lot to offer:
Wash by Margaret Wrinkle (2013)
Wash, a young slave, is followed in this story as he loves the local healer, also a slave, as he is bred by his owner for money, and as he recalls his life with his mother who was bought while pregnant with him, his destiny a fait accompli.
Richardson is the relatively kind slaveowner, Revolutionary War veteran, chosen by Wash's mother rather than the other way around.
Detail transporting you to the moment but not weighing you down makes Wash a realistic historical slave narrative.
This novel spans West Africa and the American South telling the story from the points of view of the slaves and the slaveowners. So many stories, voices we should never forget.
The International Bank of Bob: Connecting Our Worlds One $25 Kiva Loan at a Time by Bob Harris (2013)
This book is many things: a travelogue, a memoir and an most interestingly, an introduction to microlending in developing countries.
When ForbesTraveler.com hired Harris to stay at various elite hotels around the world and write about the accommodations, his experience in Dubai and the juxtaposition of extreme wealth backed against dire poverty opened his eyes to the dichotomy of people drinking $136 cups of coffee just feet away from impoverished men working for under $10 a day. He wanted to do something about it and discovered the world of microfinance.
Kiva.org, an organization that facilitates loans for individuals in countries around the globe, has a repayment rate over 98%. The motivation for many borrowers is to be able to send their children to school, knowing the best way to get out of poverty is education. Hard to argue with that.
Also explored are the failures of microloans and the reasons why.
Depending on your opinion of footnotes, this book could be quite enjoyable. For me, the footnotes, although often educational, were a distraction that disrupted the flow of the book.
I read, therefore I am,
the lowercase b
"Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand more times effective and permanent than the one derived from fear of punishment."
Each of the following, the first a debut novel and the second a non-fiction travelogue/memoir/business-economics genre, has a lot to offer:
Wash by Margaret Wrinkle (2013)
Wash, a young slave, is followed in this story as he loves the local healer, also a slave, as he is bred by his owner for money, and as he recalls his life with his mother who was bought while pregnant with him, his destiny a fait accompli.
Richardson is the relatively kind slaveowner, Revolutionary War veteran, chosen by Wash's mother rather than the other way around.
Detail transporting you to the moment but not weighing you down makes Wash a realistic historical slave narrative.
This novel spans West Africa and the American South telling the story from the points of view of the slaves and the slaveowners. So many stories, voices we should never forget.
The International Bank of Bob: Connecting Our Worlds One $25 Kiva Loan at a Time by Bob Harris (2013)
This book is many things: a travelogue, a memoir and an most interestingly, an introduction to microlending in developing countries.
When ForbesTraveler.com hired Harris to stay at various elite hotels around the world and write about the accommodations, his experience in Dubai and the juxtaposition of extreme wealth backed against dire poverty opened his eyes to the dichotomy of people drinking $136 cups of coffee just feet away from impoverished men working for under $10 a day. He wanted to do something about it and discovered the world of microfinance.
Kiva.org, an organization that facilitates loans for individuals in countries around the globe, has a repayment rate over 98%. The motivation for many borrowers is to be able to send their children to school, knowing the best way to get out of poverty is education. Hard to argue with that.
Also explored are the failures of microloans and the reasons why.
Depending on your opinion of footnotes, this book could be quite enjoyable. For me, the footnotes, although often educational, were a distraction that disrupted the flow of the book.
I read, therefore I am,
the lowercase b
Reading with a vengeance!
Leisure time = reading time! And hopefully something you'll be interested in picking up and maybe even sharing. Lots here to learn from, entertain and enjoy.
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (2013)
A zen Buddhist priest writes a beautiful two-pronged novel about a suicidal girl whose diary washes ashore and is found by a Canadian writer. In the diary, the Japanese-American girl shares the story of her life amongst bullies in Japan and time spent with her centenarian, Buddhist nun great-grandmother.
This novel is Ozeki's junction of fiction and reality and it's difficult for us to parse through it, determining where she writes what she knows and where she creates from her imagination.
The concrete thinker in me does not enjoy the book as much as the abstract reader will. But it is a wonderfully made story that draws the reader in as the diary draws in the novel's writer who finds it.
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (2013)
All the YA (Young Adult) books are wasted on the young. Maybe this was written for a young audience and maybe it has young protagonists. But enough about that demographic. This story is placed in 1980s Omaha and it has 80s references that today's YA whippersnappers can't appreciate, characters we quickly come to know and care about and a gripping plot.
Eleanor and Park meet. There's a romance. But it's not like that! They don't even speak to each other at first. Heck they don't even like each other. He's not popular. She's not even on the fringe of not popular. The both get by. She, barely. His home life is idyllic. Hers is horrible. They are different as can be. Or are they?
A great story, an unpredictable ending set to 80s new wave and the sharing of X-Men comic books.
The Still Point of the Turning World by Emily Rapp (2013)
Heartbreak and literary philosophy between the covers. A mother cathartically relives the devastation of learning her beautiful boy is not going to blossom into all the hopes and dreams she has for him, but will instead soon die of Tay-Sachs disease, a terrible, degenerative illness.
Rapp begins this crushing memoir with the medical appointments that reveal her son's diagnosis. Rather than give the day-to-day trials of living with a slowly deteriorating baby, she talks about how she dealt with the truth of his diagnosis, the reality of the prenatal Tay-Sachs testing many people take (her son's was a rare and untested variety) and how she came to terms with the fact that she and Ronan would share very little time here together.
The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America by Ernest Freeberg (2013)
Fact-filled book, exploring the change in society once the incandescent lightbulb hit the scene. Quite honestly, this book did not light up my life in an entertaining way, but it was educational historically, socially and scientifically and for that it had value.
Drama in the scientific community surrounded the fame that Thomas Edison garnered, as it was not he alone who invented the lightbulb. He did, however, revolutionize the processes by which the lightbulb was used and brought to the people at large and for that his fame was earned.
There were many deaths and dangers present in the initial years of light being spread upon the city streets. Stories are gruesome and disturbing.
Europe conceded that America reigned supreme when it came to ambition and ingenuity and it was a new age. The late 1800's were an Age of Edison.
The Dinner by Herman Koch (2013 USA)
Is there a genre called disturbing fiction? The Dinner might fit the bill. Or it might be called confusing fiction. This book has been a bestseller in Europe for a few years now and has just found its way to America.
Teen cousins get into trouble and the narrator and his brother, a political big-wig in Amsterdam, along with their wives, meet for dinner to discuss how to handle the problem. The book is largely flashbacks and intermittently, we find them back at this dinner.
Perhaps most disturbing is the way one of the parents wants to 'handle' the trouble the teens caused. Or maybe more disturbing is what the teens actually did. Or it could be that none of the characters in this book has enough redeeming qualities so you would run screaming from dinner with any one of them.
The concept was a good one, though you get one-third of the way through the book before you even get a hint of what the problem was in the first place and perhaps your interest wanes by then. All said, it takes less time to read this book than it does for them to finish their dinner, so you can decide what you think for yourself.
Out of the Easy by Ruta Septys (2013)
After reading how many books by a particular author can I consider myself a fan? I've read Septys's debut, Between Shades of Gray (2011) and decided whatever book is her next, I will be reading. She has hit the ball out of the park twice, with YA historical fiction. And both times, I started the books at night and stayed up into the wee hours to finish in one sitting. I didn't love Ms. Septys in the morning due to my reading hangover, but I did love her books.
Out of the Easy is the story of a girl, Josie Moraine, raised in New Orleans, or not really raised, by a prostitute with links to the criminal underworld. Josie wants more than a life of tricks and crime. She has her sights set on college, in the Northeast no less. In the 1950s, that was not exactly on the poor girl's menu. But Josie, a smart and savvy girl with ambition was going to make this happen.
A richly drawn cast of characters both for and against Josie, a mystery to be solved and the backdrop of the French Quarter conspire to make a grand novel.
I read, therefore I am,
the lowercase b
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (2013)
A zen Buddhist priest writes a beautiful two-pronged novel about a suicidal girl whose diary washes ashore and is found by a Canadian writer. In the diary, the Japanese-American girl shares the story of her life amongst bullies in Japan and time spent with her centenarian, Buddhist nun great-grandmother.
This novel is Ozeki's junction of fiction and reality and it's difficult for us to parse through it, determining where she writes what she knows and where she creates from her imagination.
The concrete thinker in me does not enjoy the book as much as the abstract reader will. But it is a wonderfully made story that draws the reader in as the diary draws in the novel's writer who finds it.
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (2013)
All the YA (Young Adult) books are wasted on the young. Maybe this was written for a young audience and maybe it has young protagonists. But enough about that demographic. This story is placed in 1980s Omaha and it has 80s references that today's YA whippersnappers can't appreciate, characters we quickly come to know and care about and a gripping plot.
Eleanor and Park meet. There's a romance. But it's not like that! They don't even speak to each other at first. Heck they don't even like each other. He's not popular. She's not even on the fringe of not popular. The both get by. She, barely. His home life is idyllic. Hers is horrible. They are different as can be. Or are they?
A great story, an unpredictable ending set to 80s new wave and the sharing of X-Men comic books.
The Still Point of the Turning World by Emily Rapp (2013)
Heartbreak and literary philosophy between the covers. A mother cathartically relives the devastation of learning her beautiful boy is not going to blossom into all the hopes and dreams she has for him, but will instead soon die of Tay-Sachs disease, a terrible, degenerative illness.
Rapp begins this crushing memoir with the medical appointments that reveal her son's diagnosis. Rather than give the day-to-day trials of living with a slowly deteriorating baby, she talks about how she dealt with the truth of his diagnosis, the reality of the prenatal Tay-Sachs testing many people take (her son's was a rare and untested variety) and how she came to terms with the fact that she and Ronan would share very little time here together.
The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America by Ernest Freeberg (2013)
Fact-filled book, exploring the change in society once the incandescent lightbulb hit the scene. Quite honestly, this book did not light up my life in an entertaining way, but it was educational historically, socially and scientifically and for that it had value.
Drama in the scientific community surrounded the fame that Thomas Edison garnered, as it was not he alone who invented the lightbulb. He did, however, revolutionize the processes by which the lightbulb was used and brought to the people at large and for that his fame was earned.
There were many deaths and dangers present in the initial years of light being spread upon the city streets. Stories are gruesome and disturbing.
Europe conceded that America reigned supreme when it came to ambition and ingenuity and it was a new age. The late 1800's were an Age of Edison.
The Dinner by Herman Koch (2013 USA)
Is there a genre called disturbing fiction? The Dinner might fit the bill. Or it might be called confusing fiction. This book has been a bestseller in Europe for a few years now and has just found its way to America.
Teen cousins get into trouble and the narrator and his brother, a political big-wig in Amsterdam, along with their wives, meet for dinner to discuss how to handle the problem. The book is largely flashbacks and intermittently, we find them back at this dinner.
Perhaps most disturbing is the way one of the parents wants to 'handle' the trouble the teens caused. Or maybe more disturbing is what the teens actually did. Or it could be that none of the characters in this book has enough redeeming qualities so you would run screaming from dinner with any one of them.
The concept was a good one, though you get one-third of the way through the book before you even get a hint of what the problem was in the first place and perhaps your interest wanes by then. All said, it takes less time to read this book than it does for them to finish their dinner, so you can decide what you think for yourself.
Out of the Easy by Ruta Septys (2013)
After reading how many books by a particular author can I consider myself a fan? I've read Septys's debut, Between Shades of Gray (2011) and decided whatever book is her next, I will be reading. She has hit the ball out of the park twice, with YA historical fiction. And both times, I started the books at night and stayed up into the wee hours to finish in one sitting. I didn't love Ms. Septys in the morning due to my reading hangover, but I did love her books.
Out of the Easy is the story of a girl, Josie Moraine, raised in New Orleans, or not really raised, by a prostitute with links to the criminal underworld. Josie wants more than a life of tricks and crime. She has her sights set on college, in the Northeast no less. In the 1950s, that was not exactly on the poor girl's menu. But Josie, a smart and savvy girl with ambition was going to make this happen.
A richly drawn cast of characters both for and against Josie, a mystery to be solved and the backdrop of the French Quarter conspire to make a grand novel.
I read, therefore I am,
the lowercase b
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