What Are You Reading This Summer?

Bethany asked this question at Book Club on Tuesday night. I just finished reading Warriors: Into the Wild, a youth fantasy adventure novel. That is what I will be reading this summer - various childrens' novels that either my kids have asked me to read because they enjoyed the book or because I have it in the library at school and I am curious. My summer will be filled with fun in the sun and childrens literature, with the exception of what I am reading for Book Club of course!

What was your favorite book as a child? Mine was a book called Ghosts I Have Been by Richard Peck. I have it in the library at school perhaps I should check it out for the summer for the nostagia...

What are you reading this summer?

Madame Bovary Book Club Night

French Onion Soup, Stuffed Savory Cornish Game Hens, Brie with Lemon Thyme Honey Sauce, Baked Brie with Flaky Crust, Spanish Style Artichoke Dip, Trifle with Angel Food Cake, Whipped Cream and Brandied Strawberry Sauce and of course, French wine...Book Club is always a feast of good food and good company. Not everyone was able to finish this classic novel but it is an age-old tale of bored, unhappy wife turns to selfish, handsome player for entertainment while ho-hum, cuckold husband is clueless. It just happens that in 1857, it was a fairly new concept to put on paper.

I started to struggle through this book about a third of the way through because I didn't like or care about any of the characters but I am happy I stuck with it. Definitely a worthwhile read, if only because it is a classic and Flaubert was really sailing into uncharted literary territory for the time but also because he uses some beautiful language. For example, when describing the act of reading he says,"Your head is empty,the hours slip away. From your chair you wander through the countries of your mind, and your thoughts, threading themselves into the fiction, play about with the details or rush along the track of the plot. You melt into the characters; it seems as if your own heart is beating under their skin." *sigh* Just beautiful.

When I read the commentary after I finished the novel, I learned that I had missed much of the sexual/erotic imagery. Phallic candlesticks and cigars permeated the novel. Big, pink conch shells dressed the mantel, while large, decorative balls hung from the curtain rod. I took the descriptions of surroundings at face value, forgetting that this was the erotic novel of the time.

I really enjoyed Book Club this month! I mean I enjoy it every month but with life being so crazy this year, I haven't been able to put the energy into Book Club that I usually do. I was so happy I was finally able to contribute something yummy that I hadn't purchased moments before the meeting, I had time to dress up a la sophisticated Madame and my brain was actually engaged...I had a lovely time! Now that school is ending and I should really have to time, I can't wait for our summer meetings! Please remember to bring ideas next month for July, August, September - our themes will be Africa, Chick Lit and Banned Book.

The Midwife by Jennifer Worth

"Why did I ever start this?" Jennifer Worth asks herself in her memoir 'The Midwife'. "Only an idiot would choose to be a midwife. " This first sentence in the book made me smile. Nice to know I'm not the only one who has thought that. Worth shares her incredible career as a midwife during the 1950s in the London Docklands. The Docklands were poverty stricken, dirty, and recently bombed during World War II. People lived in condemned buildings among rats, grime, and violence. Worth worked out of a Nunnery, providing prenatal care, delivering babies in their homes, and checking up on the moms and babies afterward. It was a busy life with highly unpredictable hours.
Some may be turned off by the subject, fearing gore, blood, and other unpleasant things often associated with birth. But this is one book you don't want to judge by its cover. The Midwife is, more than anything, the story of an amazing woman in 1950s London and the people she met. I recommend this book to anyone interested in history, motivating stories, or who just wants a good read. (Consider reading the appendix first to help with the Cockney dialect.)

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy

Everybody knows the story of Hansel and Gretel, the two children abandoned in the woods by their father and evil stepmother, who then discover the witch's hut. In this moving book by Murphy the story is changed but, the main pieces are still there: the stepmother, the bread crumbs, and the 'witch'. This is WWII during the occupation of Poland and two children are left in the forest by a desperate father and stepmother who are trying to flee the Nazis. The children are told they must forget their names because their real names will reveal their Jewishness and are renamed 'Hansel' and 'Gretel'. The parents hope someone will take them in and think they are Christian. The first person they find in the forest is Magda, the village 'witch'. She takes them in and protects them in her small hut that is heated by an enormous old bakers oven. This is a gut wrenching story of the Holocaust. The voices of Jews who hid in the forests, of men and women who participated in resistance movements, and of Polish civilians.
Hearing those voices was chilling. And this author does a remarkable job at giving them all voices.

The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble

This book was a best seller in the UK and I almost didn't pick it up, thought it would be too 'chic-lit' and foo-foo and I didn't want to waste my time. But then I opened the book and saw the list of books this fictional book club read and saw that they have three of the books we've read this past year, Rebecca, Heartburn & Atonement. This was a great palate cleanser between Irving and Flaubert and not that mindless. The book follows the five members of the reading group from different backgrounds and age groups, they bond closely while coping with such matters as a philandering husband, a mother with dementia, a pregnant but unmarried daughter, an infertility crisis, a wedding and a funeral. It took a little bit to get all the characters separate in my mind, the five group members with their husbands & kids, but once I did I enjoyed this book.

With summer coming up, this would be a great beach read or even a possible suggestion for our 'chic-lit' book selection. Either way, I'll bring this to our next meeting so it can start to make it's way through the BC Underground.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Our Book Club meeting for A Prayer for Owen Meany wasn't as in-depth of a discussion as it could have been but in all fairness this was a book that needed more than one month to read. It certainly was not a book that could be easily skimmed and with all the busyness in all of our lives it was no suprise that not everyone could finish the book in time. Everyone said that they enjoyed it though and wanted to finish it in the coming months.

We all agreed that John Irving managed to write a Christian novel that’s not the least bit inspirational. At no point in the novel does the author suggest that the reader adopt Christianity, however, this is a very religious book in the sense that God plays a large role—and the main character himself is a Christ figure. I loved the way this novel was written, it is truly a novel that waits until the very end to wrap up it's plot. I love a book that makes you turn the page. This book covered some huge issues: religion, war, politics, friendship, sacrifice, duty...you name it, it was probably covered. I think we all agreed that this book was a worthwhile read, in fact, a recommended read.

And, of course, the food and company were wonderful. Our Book Club is the nicest blend of personalities, worldviews and cooks. It is always a delicious suprise to see what everyone has brought to share. The theme for the night was "small foods a la Owen Meany" chosen by Bethany. See what I mean?

Thanks ladies! I am looking forward to many, many more shared books and recipes.

Charming Billy by Alice McDermott

Many years ago I read a book by Alice McDermott called Child of my Heart. It was a sweet ethereal meandering book. Charming Billy won a National Book Award, and that piqued my interest. It too was a meandering slow book. It was not written chronologically, but rather, gave a bit of information, went back in time, forward in time, and then came back to the bit of information, adding a little, and then back and forth again. The story was about an Irish New Yorker. The story starts at his wake, his death being a result of alcoholism. The friends and family at his wake blame his life-long drinking problem on lost love, but as we travel back to look at his life, we find nothing is that easily explained away. I enjoyed this book, but felt no compulsion to get back to reading it. If I were  not stuck on a plane for 3 1/2 hours, I may not have finished it. I didn't particularly care about the characters, not even the lead, supposedly lovable lush at the center. I find alcoholism selfish and not at all charming. The same writing style with a different story would have been more enjoyable. 

This book was thrown around our last meeting as a potential Sci-Fi pick. I'm glad it didn't make the final cut only because it doesn't really delve into the sci-fi aspect of the story. The main character is Kathy H. (you never know last names, just first initials) who as a child lived at Hailsham, an isolated private school in the English countryside where the students were sheltered from the outside world. The students are brought up to believe that they're special and that their well-being was crucial not only for themselves but for the society they would eventually enter. The students are told to focus on art, drawing, painting, poetry and their best works are taken from the school my a mysterious character only known as Madame. They are told their art work will to into The Gallery. We are introduced to Kathy H. as an adult and her job as a 'carer' to donors at various recovery centers. We eventually learn that the students at Hailsham are clones whose sole purpose in life is to donate and then 'complete.' The book focuses more on the relationships Kathy has with two of her classmates from Hailsham than the sci-fi part, who are they clones of, who is their 'possible'? But since the focus of the book is on the interpersonal relationships of these students/clones it does make you think, does a clone have a soul and a life completely separate and different from the original person they were cloned?

I did like this book and would read it again in the future only because I think it may be one of those books where you'll get more from it the second time you read it through.

Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

From the back cover: "On an icy winter night in an isolated house in rural Vermont, a seasoned midwife named Sibyl Danforth takes desperate measures to save a baby's life. She performs an emergency cesarean section on a mother she believes has died of a stroke. But what if Sibyl's patient wasn't dead - and Sibyl inadvertently killed her?"

When I began reading this book I was sure the author was pro-midwife but once I finished it I was not so sure. I can only filter this story through my own personal beliefs about midwives and childbirth. My mom is a certified nurse midwife who works in a hospital. I delivered two of my babies in a hospital with a midwife in attendance (I would have delivered all four that way but it just didn't work out). I considered a home birth but felt more comfortable in a hospital where 1) equipment was within arms reach to help if something went wrong and 2) I didn't have to deal with the mess in my house. However, I had friends who delivered babies at home with lay midwives and had incredible birth experiences too. In the end, I believe that a mother should deliver wherever and with whomever she feels most comfortable. In any case, we are talking about life, and life is messy - there is never a guarantee that everything will be okay. I hate that our society has become so litigious that there must always be someone to blame and made to pay if life gets messy. I thought this book was ultimately a warning against trusting anyone who isn't a medical doctor who went to school for years. I guess all I am saying is that everyone, including the most highly trained surgeons, makes mistakes. Anyway, it was a good book, definitely thought provoking and a little disturbing to me.

Loving Frank and The Country Girls March Meeting

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan turned out to be well liked by everyone. While we all thought Mamah was a selfish person for abandoning her family to be with Frank Lloyd Wright, we all still liked the story. As a love story, it missed the mark because no one was rooting for their relationship to succeed. However, the suprize ending made the novel well worth the read. We all said we would recommend the book.

The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien turned out to be a disappointment. We all expected fireworks since, upon publishing in the 1950's, the book was banned immediately in Ireland. The story was blah and the characters shallow. It wasn't a terrible book but no one in Book Club would recommend it either. The food and the company were great (as usual) at the meeting last night. The menu included Irish Stew made with Guinness, Beer Bread, Corned Beef with potatoes and carrots, Green Irish Ladies (a green champagne drink - yum!), Green salad, Green apple wedges with Dubliner cheese, and Caramel Apple Cake with Whiskey Cream. Delicious! Check back for recipes...

My Name is Will, A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare

I read a review of this book about a year ago and it peaked my interest then but I didn't go out of my way to pick the book up. I just figured, "eh, if/when I see it, I'll pick it up." I wish I would have gotten it last year. This book is smart, funny, witty and not for everyone. There is sex, there is drug use and there is Shakespeare. The main character is William "Willie" Shakespeare Greenberg, a Jewish kid in the masters program as UC Santa Cruz, who has decided that his masters thesis is going to be about how the original William Shakespeare was a closeted Catholic and how that influenced his writing and how there may have been hidden codes in this plays and sonnets to other hidden Catholics in Elizabethan England. Willie has been cut off by his dad and needs some fast cash so he agrees to be a drug runner, ending up at a Renaissance Faire. Interspersed in Willie's story, is the parallel story of an 18yr old William Shakespeare before his shot-gun marriage to Anne Hathaway, his own experiences with hallucinatory substances and run-ins with the law. I would read this again and tell everybody else to read it, but only the people who I thought would be able to handle it, like I said, it's a SMART book, not for the ding-dongs out there.

The story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

This is Wroblewski's first novel. I always love reading new authors books and I was very pleased I read this one. The author grew up in rural Wisconsin not far from the Chequamegon National Forest where the setting for the story is.
The novel begins with the needless killing of an injured, limping, stray dog with a poison by a herbalist. This brutal killing fits into the story later on.
The protagonist is a fourteen year old boy named Edgar Sawtelle, who is born mute. His parents, Gar and Trudy are dog-breeders, who live on a farm in a remote part of northern Wisconsin not far from the National Forest. They breed and train a unique and special breed of dogs that were developed by Edgar's grand father. The dogs have earned a good reputation not only for their noble temperament, but also their ability to anticipate commands by watching body language. The training methods by this young mute boy are extraordinary The family's life is disrupted when Claude, Edgar's creepy uncle visits them. Gar offers him a job at the farm and a place to stay. Gar then dies suddenly and mysteriously. Edgar suspects that Claude murdered his father. He tries to prove it but, his plan backfires. So, to save himself from Claude he runs away into the Chequamegon forest, along with three young dogs. The author's vivid descriptions of nature, his ability to describe the terrors of the wilderness, and narrating a part of the story from a dog's perspective are incredible. Even the supernatural incidents in the story seem to be natural and believable. This is definitely a book I will read again.

Hold Tight by Harlan Coben

This book grabs you from page one. And, anyone who was or is a parent will relate to this story. There are basically two plots. 1) Mike and Tia are worried about their son, Adam. Ever since Adam lost his friend, Spencer, to suicide, he has withdrawn from the family. They decide to install spy software on his computer. And, 2) a baffling police case which connects numerous people throughout the community. The story brings up the highly relevant ethical questions that most parents may have to deal with today: How do you weigh a child's privacy against a parent's right to know? How do you differentiate normal teenage rebellion from out of control? When and how do you intervene if suicidal signs appear? A note from the author states that all the technology used in the book is real. All the software and equipment described are readily available to the general public for purchase. I was totally amazed to think parents can now know exactly where their children are via their phone and with internet spy software know exactly who they talk to and about what. Definitely lots of food for thought in this read.

Memoir of Misfortune by Su Xiaokang

The BN synopsis of the book is: "In the 1980s, Su Xiaokang, a young journalist, wrote the script for a six-part television series, River Elegy, which probed so deeply into the core of Chinese beliefs and values that it galvanized the entire country in an explosion of intellectual debate. Having survived the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, he now became the focus of a massive pursuit as one of the regime's five most wanted "criminals," and was smuggled out of China, leaving behind his wife, Fu Li, and their young son. After two long years and great international pressure, the family was finally reunited in Princeton, New Jersey. For a brief time, it seemed as if the worst was behind them. But on June 4, 1993 -- exactly four years after Tiananmen -- while the family was being driven to Niagara Falls, the car they were in sped off the road. When Su Xiaokang regained consciousness, he discovered that Fu Li was in a coma, from which she would eventually emerge unable to speak or to control her limbs. "

This book is so much more than that, we join the author's journey through his guilt for his wife's injuries, trying to reconnect with his tween son who is becoming more Americanized, and his spiritual discovery coming from an atheist China, to discovering what faith and spirituality means to each individual. We also learn from the letters written from Fu Li to her husband in exile and from her journal entries when she first arrived in America, what life was like for her prior to the accident that changed their lives. The only criticism is that I feel that some of this novel may have been lost in the translation from Chinese to English.

Saturday by Ian McEwan

I know that most of us feel strongly about Ian McEwan, we either love him or could do without him. I am of the love him camp, but this book wasn't my favorite of his. The novel centers around Henry Perowne, a successful neurosurgeon with an equally successful wife and two grown children. The story takes place all in one day, a Saturday, sometime after 9/11 but before the war with Iraq. As Henry makes is way to his weekly squash game with a fellow doctor, there is an anti-war protest going on and he has to make a detour. As in all the McEwan novels I've read, the detour always means that something good/bad is going to happen and Henry gets into a small fender bender with Baxter, a small angry twitchy man with a tendancy for violence. But to Henry's trained eye, he thinks there may be something neurologically wrong with Baxter. Not to give anything away, but everything comes full circle for Henry & Baxter. Like I said, wasn't my favorite McEwan novel, but does bring up the question of what would you do for revenge.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

I figured that since Feburary was the month of Abraham Lincoln, and it was 200 years since his birth, it would be a good idea to read a book on good ol' Honest Abe. Team of Rivals isn't just a bio on Abe, but also the three other men who ran against him for president in 1860. There is the shoe-in, the wealthy elitist snob, and the elder statesman who all ran against the no-name backwoods lawyer from Illinois. After Abe unexpectedly gains the Republican nomination, he then brings in these three rivals into his cabinet as Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury & Attorney General. The subtitle of this book is, "The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" and it shows how he was a genius in his own way, usually when a spat broke out between his Sec of State & Sec of Treasury, he would somehow smooth things over with each man thinking he was the victor when really Abe was the winner. The book also goes through the Civil War and what a personal toll it took on Abe, his family, and the men in his cabinet. This is a hefty book, 750pgs, not something you can power through in a weekend but I highly recommend it even though it can get a little muddled since there are so many names to keep track of, but you learn quickly who is important in the history of our country.

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

After a deep experience with God and a very messy divorce, the author Elizabeth travels to Italy, India and Indonesia in search of truth and healing. At times this book was funny, other times very serious. The author has such a different world view from my own that it was also an interesting peek into her mind. I have to admit that I was briefly jealous that she was able to embark on a "voyage of self-discovery" at the tender age of 35. Then I realized that even if I had the opportunity, I still would not have chosen her path. She has a wonderful writing style. I love when writers can convey what others can't even put into words. I enjoyed this book, I'd recommend it.

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain

The book back reads, "In 1977, pregnant Genevieve Russell disappeared. Twenty years later, her remains are discovered and Timothy Gleason is charged with murder. But there is no sign of the unborn child. CeeCee Wilkes knows how Genevieve Russell died, because she was there. And she also knows what happened to the missing infant, because two decades ago she made the devastating choice to raise the baby as her own. Now Timothy Gleason is facing the death penalty, and she has another choice to make. Tell the truth, and destroy her family. Or let an innocent man die in order to protect a lifetime of lies."

I stumbled across this book at Target, picked it up and read the back, shrugged, and thought to myself, "Hmmm. This might be good." Then tossed it in the cart. Forgot about it. Found it last week. Glad I did. While not a literary masterpiece, Diane Chamberlain does an amazing job of pulling you into the story. The main character, CeeCee, is a naive sixteen-year-old when she is manipulated into a 22-year-old man's quest for "justice." Having lost her mother to cancer at the age of 12, then being bounced around a series of foster homes, CeeCee is desperate to be loved and willing to sacrifice anything to keep that love. While the crimes she is involved in are shocking and sensational, I found myself sympathizing with young CeeCee. I felt so connected with the characters I felt their struggles, pain and joy. I could barely put the book down, so eager was I to see how it ended. Then there was the contradictory disappointment that comes with finishing a good book. I'll bring it to the next meeting to pass along.

Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion

B&N.com says ... "A ruthless dissection of American life in the late 1960s, Play It as It Lays captures the mood of an entire generation, the ennui of contemporary society reflected in spare prose that blisters and haunts the reader. Set in a place beyond good and evil-literally in Hollywood, Las Vegas, and the barren wastes of the Mojave Desert, but figuratively in the landscape of an arid soul-it remains more than three decades after its original publication a profoundly disturbing novel, riveting in its exploration of a woman and a society in crisis and stunning in the still-startling intensity of its prose."

This book left me uneasy and uncomfortable. That is the only way I know of to describe it. I read it in one day - it's a fairly quick read, seeing that some of the chapters are less than half a page long. But part of the reason I read it so quickly is that I was anxious to finish it and put it away. My father, for some unknown reason, has been urging me to read this book for several years. After finishing it last night, I cannot fathom WHY. I can't see my military-history-and-historical-fiction-loving father even remotely enjoying this book. Note to self - ask him to explain. I am by no means saying this book is not worth the read. It just put me into a place that I prefer not to be.

Beloved by Toni Morrison

This book was written in 1987 by Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison. From the back cover: Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved."

Wow. This book is incredible. It is like watching a great artist flesh out a breathtaking and horrible painting up close. There is the idea of what the painting will be and slowly each color is added and built-up so that when it is finished and we back up, the effect is truly stunning. Like a Monet, up close we can see the detail, each blob of color and brush-stroke but when we step back - what a masterpiece!

This book's details are grisly, hard, bitter, beautiful, heartwrenching, poetic and devestating. It is a true look at slavery in the United States. It is always horrifying to me how awful human beings can be to one another. Slavery, the Holocaust, the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem witch trials, the treatment of the American Indians - history is fraught with evidence of the nastiness of men. But also the strength of the human spirit, the beauty in life and how amazing people can be. This book was terribly hard to read and impossible to put down.

It certainly puts my life in perspective, while I am worrying about the economy and the bailout and whether California will ever have a budget , those worries are nothing! I am not worried about whether I will be fed, or beaten, or tied and bridled like a horse, or have my children sold away from me, or my husband shot or hanged or burned. I don't have to care for someone who thinks of me as an animal, less than livestock, locked in a cage. I have a say in who will father my children. I am and always have been truly free. My worries are nothing.