Be a Minute Stealer

Today I was a minute stealer. I heard that phrase used this fall at a school district training about teaching kids to love reading, and I thought, "Yes." That's me. When I'm reading a truly excellent book, I will read in whatever snatches of time I can find. I bring good books with me to doctor's waiting rooms, to kids' swimming lessons, anywhere I think I might get a few minutes in. If I don't bring it along, I'll find myself wishing I could be reading in any spare minutes I have. That's when I know I'm really enjoying my book. So today I found myself thinking about my current book between batches of cookies. I stayed near the kitchen, so I would hear the timer on the oven, and crept away to read during Christmas baking. Yes, it was that good.

The Boston Girl

Fiction by Anita  Diamant

Written in the style of a memoir, a grandma telling her granddaughter about her life, the voice in this book is so believable that I forgot she wasn't real. Addie Baum grows up Jewish in Boston in the 1920s. Her story encompasses the whole experience of the age, from war to war, early feminism to child labor, Prohibition to racism. Addie comes from the extreme poverty of immigration, and through curiosity and education and friendship with women who encourage her, she and her family lead full and healthy American lives.

Many of the elements of this story are reminiscent of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Angela's Ashes. What appeals to me even more in this book than those is the friendships of the women and the strong tones of feminism that underscore the events of the story. I suppose that's the benefit of being both fiction and set 100 years ago. A real Addie Baum may not have had up close experience with so many of the events of her time. But maybe she would. And that's another thing I love, the conversation between Addie and her granddaughter that is subtly embedded. My best stories come from my grandma, too.

 

A Sudden Light
Fiction by Garth Stein

Sadly, this book did not necessitate minute-stealing for me. I was super looking forward to reading it because I loved his The Art of Racing in the Rain . I gave it a good long try because of that previous book, but in the end I skimmed. I think there are a few reasons it didn't resonate with me. First, it was not what I expected. It seemed to have all the elements I love: family secrets, generational angst, cool old house, learning about the history of an area, in this case Seattle. But mostly, it's a ghost story. Racing in the Rain had some fantastical elements (dog narrator, check), but this one is a straight up ghost story. It just didn't do it for me. Also, it reminded me of the "The Fall of the House of Usher." I was reading that classic Poe story with my students at the time I read this book and it just kind of felt like I was at school. I read to escape (hence reading in the doctor's waiting room) so again, no thanks. Maybe with a different set of expectations or at a different time, I would have like this book, but not now.

Christmas is in four days. Baking is done. Wrapping and stocking stuffers are all I have left to do, and then after Christmas I still have a glorious week of vacation from school. I plan to be an hour stealer during these coming days.

For your Christmas shopping list

We decorated for Christmas yesterday. It's our first Christmas in this house and as the familiar decorations came out of the boxes, we looked around for new places to put our dearly loved Santas and Baby Jesuses and ugly kid art. Thanks to more space in the new house, I have more bookshelves and windowsills and wall space for our collections. I noticed, though, that most of my bookshelves are not actually taken up with...books. Not nearly as much as you might assume, anyway, given the ravenous readers that we all are. In fact, the kids probably have more books in total than the adults do, and most of what we own is from college. You know, the time in your life when you are REQUIRED to buy books. Most of the books I read now come from the public library and our own personal lending library, the network of friends and family that passes books around. We all constantly have books in our passenger seats and purses to give to someone. It's a great set up and one I for which I am thankful. I'm also aware that someone, somewhere, had to buy those books, so here are some suggestions for the book lovers that you're looking to buy for this Christmas. Fill up those shelves and pass them on.

A Country Road, A Tree

Historical Fiction by Jo Baker

I give book talks to my students at school, and since I haven't read any young adult or middle grade fiction lately, I've been delving into my childhood favorites to read to them. Someone asked what I've been reading lately, though (teacher's pet :) and I told them about this book. I explained it as a historical fiction about an real life author (Samuel Beckett) who is from Ireland but lives in France during World War II and becomes a spy for the Resistance. Most of those things when right over their mannequin-challenge filled heads, but a few perked up at those topics. Truly, there are many topics in here to catch many people's interests, which is why I think it would be a good Christmas gift. I may buy it for my father-in-law. (Don't tell.) It starts slow, and I have to admit that I don't like Beckett's work, but I like the person I grew to know in this book. I like that I can see connections between his war experiences and his writing, in a deeper and more psychological way than straight autobiography. And mostly, I like that he saw a problem in the world and decided he couldn't not do something about it, even though it wasn't really his problem. That is so relevant, right now, to all of us.

Still Life and A Fatal Grace
Books 1 and 2 of the Inspector Gamache series
Mystery by Louise Penny

These books were recommended to me by three different people in the same month, and then hand delivered by one of them. You don't turn down such a gift, even when it isn't EXACTLY what you've been wanting. Mystery isn't usually my favorite. I would venture to say that these are more than mystery novels. The crime may be the plot driver but it is second to the depth of the characters and the subtle themes of humanity and life. The French Canadian detective is a master of studying humans, and in the village of Three Pines he meets the best array of fascinating, loving, disturbed characters you could ask for. That's another thing I teach my students: discover what kind of reader you are, whether you love characters or action or theme or facts, and you'll always have a good book to read. Lucky for us, this series has 14 books, so I'll always have a good book to read...for the next two months.

This is just what I've been reading lately and is a little limited in scope, so check out past posts for other must-reads. The two best book by my newest favorite author, a writer of deep and rich historical fiction, is here and a bunch of sweet fluff is here. Good luck shopping!

Literary Feasts

Does anyone else's family use the phrase "My eyes were bigger than my stomach"? This is when everything on the table or buffet looks too good to pass up and we load up our plates with more than we could possibly eat. This usually happens to me at Tuesday night dinner at Grandma's. Does she have to make such good bread, and that Greek Goddess dressing, and wait, there's dessert, too?

I've been doing this with books lately. For starters, I checked out too many literary looking books at the library near the end of the summer. What was I thinking, with a household move and going back to work, that I really needed to read about Russian literature and artists colonies? For my main course lately, I've been reading lots of young adult and middle grade fiction so I can ahead of or at least keep up with my students. And then I go and pilfer more books from my mom's shelf, just so no one else in the family gets them before me. And as tired as my kids (both biological kids and school kids) are making me, my reading eyes are definitely bigger than my reading hours right now.

Still, I've gotten through a few books I can share with you.

The Versions of Us

Fiction by Laura Barnett

This one took me too long. I think that's probably an indication that it's not one of my favorites, maybe not even a book I'd recommend. That was pretty disappointing, because it seemed like my perfect kind of book. I love stories told from multiple points of view, and this one is actually told from multiple versions of reality. A young man and woman meet in college in England in the late 1950's and either fall in love and get married, fall in love and don't get married, or don't fall in love. One couple, three stories. The author deeply develops the characters and deftly weaves together the three stories. It's very well written. However, I was always confused about which version of them I was reading. I also found all three stories of their relationship quite cynical. I think if I was, ahem, older, I may have found more to relate to in the time periods they live through and the ups and downs of the marriages. But it was too much down and not enough up for me, in all three versions. Someone needs a happy ending.

Some Kind of Courage
Middle Grade Fiction by Dan Gemeinhart

Even though the middle grade stuff is the main course in my books are food analogy...it's really the dessert. This sweet, easy, one day read made me feel good like a warm chocolate chip cookie. The author is local, a school librarian turned author, and in that, my hero. The story is an adolescent orphan in turn of the century, Wild West style Wenatchee, searching over mountain and up river for his stolen horse. His unrelenting friendship to all and bravery in dangerous circumstances and conviction of moral courage is heartening. It's a better break from the election news than a kitten picture on facebook. I loved sharing this with my students and I hope you can read it with a kid you know and better yet, buy it for a kid you know. Support local authors. I may be one someday.



The Summer Guest

Historical Fiction by Alison Anderson

I continue to dive into the literary pursuits of my over eager summer library splurge. The patient librarians continue to renew these books for me. And I continue to ask myself why these books just aren't as great as they promise to be? This one is again, all my favorite things: takes place mostly in another time and culture (Russia 1880's), told from multiple viewpoints (1880's Russian woman and two contemporary women), about literature and publishing...it should have been perfect. This particular story is about a blind woman's diary the summer her family hosted Anton Chekhov, the famous writer and playwright, and whether or not he wrote a mysterious, missing novel. Sounds lovely. There's one fatal flaw, though. It's about Russian literature. I forgot I don't like Russian literature. They have too many names, for one thing. For another, there's a certain starkness or stoicism to the culture that I don't understand. I should probably force myself to get through more of it and would grasp it better, but I'm not a college literature student anymore, so I don't have to. I think I will try ONE MORE of the scary literary books from the library before going back for more book candy, though. To keep myself in shape.

But Where Will I Read? Part 2

We have moved. It is done. But...is it ever really done? The boxes are all unpacked and the furniture is all placed. I know where MOST of my belongings are and I can USUALLY find the right switch for the light I want to use. There is also, however, the never ending list of improvement projects that keep us busy and, let's be honest, I keep finding different ways of organizing. It's my spiritual gift.

In the midst of this process, I started teaching again, my sister had a baby, my cousin got married, and my kids went back to school and daycare. It's all been a very rich time, and filled my minutes and hours with exciting new experiences, and also a few three year old melt downs.

So I find myself, at the beginning of September, on a glorious almost-fall day, having planted my mums and swept my porch and sitting down without a favorite book to read or a favorite place to read it. I have not yet answered my question...where will I read?

I could read here..

Or here...

Or here...

But the routine still isn't there, the places don't feel right yet, and frankly I'm tired. So meanwhile I mostly read facebook and also these books to get me back in the brain of middle school girls again...

When I'm done with these, I hope to get back to my routine and joy of reading novels. I have this stack waiting for me. They haven't appealed to me much yet so I may take them back and start fresh. If you see one in here that you loved, please tell me and maybe I won't abandon it.

(By the way, if you came here looking for book recommendations, in July I really enjoyed A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman, I mostly enjoyed My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry by the same author, and I devoured the new Harry Potter, which everyone will tell you is not the same because it is a script but I think a different Harry Potter is better than no Harry Potter at all. )

But Where Will I Read?

Our family is moving. This is a really big deal. For eleven years, we've called this house home. We have brought all three of our babies from the hospital to this house; we have loved numerous pets here; we are on a first name basis not only with many neighbors, but also the neighborhood goats and donkey. So while we are excited for the opportunities in our new house, we are understandably a little sad about leaving.

Each of us is concerned about different aspects of the move. When she lets herself think about it, my daughter is devastated to be leaving her best friend across the street. My little boys are worried that they will have to leave their things behind. I've assured them that we'll take all their toys and furniture. "Even my nightstand?" "Yes, we're taking your nightstand." "Even my bookshelf?" "The bookshelf too." It has helped to read The Berenstain Bears' Moving Day and witness Brother Bear go through the same emotions. God bless Jan and Stan Berenstain for thinking of everything.

Then the moment came for me to have my own little freak out about moving. I've been concerned about the logistics: packing, cleaning, changing our mailing address with umpteen companies. Then, as I was packing books, of course, I found myself asking: WHERE WILL I READ? Will the light be right from the built-in bedside lamp? Will the brown leather recliner fit in the living room? Can I read on the back deck and still see the boys playing?WHAT HAVE WE DONE?

I didn't have a Berenstain Bear book to show me that it would be all right, but I did remind myself that all my books and favorite reading chairs are coming with us. I'm sure there will be an adjustment period, but there may be even better reading spots than here, in our happy little house. I will most likely enjoy future writing by favorite authors just as much. And thank goodness for that.

Caleb's Crossing

Historical Fiction by Geraldine Brooks

I dearly hope that Geraldine Brooks will write more books for me to enjoy in my new home. This is the last of her current books that I hadn't yet read. It isn't my favorite; People of the Book earns that place in my heart, but it is the favorite of a friend. Brooks' books are intricately researched and this is no exception. The blurbs say this is the story of the first Native American to attend Harvard in the 1700's, but I think it's the story of his friend, Bethia. The two meet on their home island of Martha's Vineyard, but their experiences of their home are vastly different. What they share is high intelligence, open hearts to learn from each other, and a curiosity about the world that leads them far from their home. I find them both a little too perfect, actually, as characters go, but I do love their relationship and their purity of heart. I expected a bit of a different ending, knowing Brooks writing and her take on women's roles, but I think that is a gift, too, to be surprised. I hope to read and enjoy many more of Brooks' novels. I wish even more to someday write as well as she does.

And the Mountains Echoed
Novel by Khaled Hosseini

From another time-tested author, Hosseini's third book is just as intricate, disturbing, and beautiful as his first two. I'm always a little reluctant to start his books because I don't know how deeply they will affect me, what nerve or emotion they will pierce with arrows of truth. That is his strength as a writer, that he may write of a different country and time but it becomes real and personal and connected to me nonetheless. This story is actually many stories by many characters, all connected to the one devastating separation of a brother and sister in Afghanistan. As a result, I felt a different piercing with each story, a different truth about mothers or friends or personal failings or unexpected beauty. It added up to a rich experience but was less jarring and unsettling for me than his other books. I'll share one small arrow of truth; a character who left Afghanistan for the U.S. as a young boy, visits his homeland as an adult, after the war, as a kind of humanitarian tourist. He meets a little girl in need of a surgery that his home hospital can perform and goes home intending to get her this surgery despite all cost. Little by little, though, he forgets how deeply he felt about her situation and eventually goes back to his complacent life without helping her at all. Who among us can't think of a time we felt to our core that we must help with something, someone, but then let the fervor slowly die without taking action? It's so easy to do when the situation isn't clearly in front of us all the time. I'm thankful for good stories and good writers that can show us these truths again and again. The little girl in India that my family prayed for every night at dinner, how quickly her face went out of our minds when I had to pack up her picture.

I'm looking forward to unpacking in my new home in a month, finding new spots to curl up with new books, but also putting back up on my fridge the picture of that little girl. Who knows what other stories that house will bring us into?

Three books to take you away from it all

It's that time of year. Don't get me wrong; I love spring. But we're at the verge of spring becoming summer, when the number of activities for kids ramp up just about the time the kids are losing all motivation to even find their library books and cleats, let alone actually go to school and choir and t-ball and (heaven forbid) PE ON MONDAYS. These are the specifics in my house, but I know you have your own version of spring fever. Admit it. My recycling bin can't be the only one with too many chardonnay bottles clinking in the bottom. And to top it off, I am keenly aware right now that my complaints are only teeny tiny microscopic algae cell problems compared to some of the hardships facing some folks around the world, and some friends even closer to home.

We need an escape. Beach time is still too far away, but I've been enjoying some early beach reads anyway. Reading really is the best escape for me, especially these nice, relaxing, easy reads, where everyone ends up happy and no one has to breathe through rags because of dust storms (sorry, Tim Egan, I quit reading The Worst Hard Time. It was too much reality right now).

We Never Asked for Wings

Fiction by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

I saw this sitting on my sister in law's coffee table and immediately requested it from the library. Diffenbaugh's first novel, The Language of Flowers, was a surprise and a delight, so I was super excited about this. With such high expectations, it's no wonder I was a tiny bit disappointed. This story is similar to the first in the consistent use of theme and imagery (birds and feathers this time), the close look at how systems fail fragile populations (children of immigrants), and the faith the author demonstrates in individuals to do the right thing for friends or even strangers (a young mom, her new hipster boyfriend, and a teenage boy). I just never fell in love with any of the characters in this like I did in her first book. Diffenbaugh expresses in her comments at the end that this was a harder book to write, and as I'm working on my second manuscript, I understand, so I shouldn't be too critical. It's also a good story, a sweet story, that should probably be allowed to stand on its own.

By the way, this is one of those covers that does not match the book. I'm not sure the graphic designer even read it. Yikes.

Hello from the Gillespies
Fiction by Monica McInerney

I set very few expectations on this book, having never read this author and checking it out on the recommendation of a friend. If anything, I had the opposite experience as with Wings, being a little bored at first and then growing to care for the Gillespies. Maybe that's the author's exact intention. She starts with the mom of the family writing a Christmas letter full of bad news and honest evaluations of the family members' flaws. Not a great start for a character-driven reader. As they came together, though, and acted like a family instead of a group of selfish misfits, I loved them for their love for each other and misguided attempts to help each other through their domestic, romantic, financial, and hair problems. Plus, this book is pretty long, so it draws that mental escape out for a bit.

Actually, looking at this image, I realized that this cover doesn't exactly fit either. This is set in the Australian outback, and while there is a painted door with roses nearby featured in the story, I think these look a little too lush.

One Plus One

Fiction by Jojo Moyes

Ah, there's a cover that doesn't promise anything, except another Jojo Moyes book. Her covers are all pretty similar, which makes it handy for spotting them on the Book Club Favorites shelf at the library. Since I liked Me Before You and loved The Girl You Left Behind, this came with a pretty good guarantee, I think. And before you protest that those are not beach reads, this one is. It's a simple, road trip-unlikely couple-sweet troubled kids-one big drooling dog, kind of story. Happy ending, win win. The one thing that annoys me about Moyes is that it always seems to be the men who have the money to help the broke woman and the women who have the social skills to fix the emotionally stunted man. They do kind of save each other, but it seems like there should be a little more variety in who does what kind of saving. Maybe I'm just an idealist. And I am, I suppose, a writer, so I guess I should take that as a reminder to give my own characters a chance to break some gender roles.

So there you go, friends, mindless reading to get you through the rest of your school year/baseball season/finals studying/allergy season/whatever ails you. Love to you.

Author Study #2: Geraldine Brooks

When I've done something that I feel particularly proud of, but in an embarrassing sort of way, I fall into Bridget Jones Diary speak: Have accomplished great thing. Will be remembered forever. Suspect am something of a genius.

Which is ridiculous, but that's the point. I am not a genius, for simply reading two wonderful books in a row. In fact, I'm the lucky beneficiary of Geraldine Brooks' genius. This is truly an author to study and emulate.

From the (actually three) books I've read, it is apparent that Brooks has some personal themes she prefers to write on, and that she is a stunningly detailed researcher. Still, her books are more different than they are similar. The first one I read, The Secret Chord, demonstrated her aptitude for deep characterization, the long arc of a family narrative, and careful research about one point in history. Since then, I've seen her investigate not two, but six other time periods, and tell stories from a dizzying number of perspectives and voices. No wonder she won the Pulitzer. (Also, she was in college when I was born. So, I've got time.)

People of the Book (2008)
Historical Fiction

Reading a review of this book on Goodreads is what piqued my interest in Brooks to begin with. A book about a book, and all the people who were involved in its making and survival through the centuries? Yes please. Hanna, an Australian conservator of ancient manuscripts is called to consult on a famous haggadah, a Jewish book of Passover, when it emerges from the rubble of war in Sarajevo in the 1990s. The book and its rescue, by the way, is real, but the rest of the story is the fiction part. Using tiny artifacts from within its binding, she traces the journey of the book through that war, World War II, Vienna in 1890s, Venice during the Inquisition, Spain and Africa in the time of Columbus. While Hanna has an amazing knowledge of these varied times and places, and learns a great deal about the book through her investigation, the people of the book appear to tell us their own stories, giving the reader more details than Hanna could possibly know. The way the book traveled between the people it touched is often left a tantalizing mystery, though, to us and to Hannah.

One difference I noted in the writing of these three books is that this is the only one with multiple points of view and I think the characterization suffers a little for it. Perhaps it is harder for her to get into the mind of the characters as she switches back and forth, but they take a few pages to find their voice. It's a sacrifice that is worth making, though, to tell this story and immerse us so richly in the surroundings of the characters, as only that manner of story telling could do.

From this book as well as The Secret Chord, it's obvious that Jewish history is important to Brooks. She seems to endow the Jewish characters, the biblical and the historical and the fictional, with the most admirable and honorable qualities. However, she also gives them vices, and presents some honorable Christians and Muslims, despite the atrocities that most of the different religions commit against each other through the ages. That is a lasting impression, the ageless ability of humans to devalue each other, which is apparent in TSC and the next book I read as well.


Year of Wonders (2002)
Historical Fiction

This one is only set in one time period. I know, so lazy of her. This one time and place, though, is fascinating and repulsive and wondrous enough. Just as the haggadah is a real book in The People of the Book, the year 1668 and the village of Eyam in England really existed, and really did fall victim to a horrifying plague. The wonder, though, is that the village decided to close its borders so as to protect their neighbors from the plague. You can imagine the microcosm of humanity that occurred in that year and that place, from the very best of people to the very worst, including murder, witchcraft, love, learning, innocence, forgiveness, revenge, greed, and so many more facets of our intricate natures.

The narrator, Anna, is complicated and wonderful all on her own. A miner's widow who supports herself as a servant to the vicar and his wife, she learns from them as well as from the town herbalist. She is at times loyal, jealous, generous, courageous, and selfish, as we all are. The personal journey that Anna takes in one year, all while staying in the confining borders of her own tiny village, is the wonder of the book. And just as you think you know what the culmination of her journey will be, she surprises us again. This is the depth of character I expected after reading TSC and felt was missing in POTB. Perhaps it's because she had only one time period to study (and study she did, in amazingly specific detail), and only one cadence of speech to enter, and only one delicate psyche to enter into, that Brooks was able to develop a character of such depth.

Her Jewish theme was left behind in this one, but the glimpse of humanity's worst tendencies was present, tempered by slightly more emphasis on our saving graces. Anna points out in one instance that neighbors are more likely to help those they know than to help strangers, and possibly this is the main point of all Brooks' stories, that of extravagant grace for those we love and even more extravagant love required to save a stranger from the violence inherent in all of us.

By the way, I've advocated lately for quitting books that you're not engrossed in. Life is too short to read bad books. But I've been told that I quit one of Brooks' books, March, too quickly.  So after I finish the stack on my bedside table, I'll try it again.

Here's the stack. (I'm rich. Mwahahaha.)