Reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver now

A powerful book! Review to come soon; I'm almost finished.

Family Pictures, by Jane Green

This was a very enjoyable, thought-provoking book, except for the explicit sexual descriptions (I admit I am a prude). There were some errors in context that were mildly annoying, but I could get past them. I could predict from the blurb what was going to happen, and was just waiting for it to "hit the fan." It did, very explosively, and devastatingly, utterly wrecking the lives of two families. How the women managed to pull themselves and their children out of the pit made interesting reading.

The Watsons Go To Birmingham, by Christopher Paul Curtis

An award winning children's/young adult story about a typical African American family of the upper midwest who travel to Alabama to visit relatives before a fateful September Sunday. Mr. Curtis very skillfully blends humor with tragedy.

Evergreen, by Belva Plain

Having finished and enjoyed one Belva Plain book, I was eager to read another.

A great family saga, following Anna Friedman from her childhood in a 19th century Polish village through her immigration to America. Anna's life encompasses World Wars I and II, marriage, family, the depression, her husband's successful business, and many tragedies and joys.She lives to see grandchildren and a great granddaughter some fifty-odd years after her arrival.
Ever since her service as a maid in the Werner household, Anna has kept her attraction to the handsome young son of the family to herself, and after an incident several years later, she has even more devastating secrets to keep.

Whispers, by Belva Plain

Whispers and rumors abound, in the home and among friends and neighbors. Lies and cover-ups, to oneself, to children and other family members, to friends and neighbors. Finally, abruptly, and dramatically, it all must come out. A story of domestic violence, told very skillfully. This was not a pleasant book to read, but it kept me enthralled to the end.

In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote

A psychological thriller, a novel based on the facts concerning the murder of the Clutter family in a small town in west Kansas. Includes in depth descriptions and character studies of the victims and of the criminals, as well as of the friends and family members of both, and of the detectives.
I was afraid to read this, afraid it would be too disturbing for me, but now that I have read it, I am glad I did. Mr. Capote was an excellent writer. From the beginning I was deeply involved in the lives of the family and of the perpetrators. However, there is some controversy; family members and others who knew Mr. and Mrs. Clutter and their children are very unhappy with Capote's portrayal of them. And, there are some discrepancies with the facts of the case, as recorded in court records. I guess we can chalk that up to "poetic license," but I do think that Mr. Capote should have made that clear in his Acknowledgments section.

Hannah's List, by Debbie Macomber

A sweet romance based on an unusual premise. A young woman dying of cancer leaves a note for Michael, her grieving husband, to be read after her death. In it, she urges him to marry again, and even gives him a list of possible wives: her cousin, her oncology nurse, and a flighty, unpredictable model she met in her work as a buyer. Guess who Michael falls for? It's pretty obvious, even from the book's cover picture. However, as Shakespeare observed, "the course of true love never did run smooth" . The twists, turns, obstacles, and rocks in their path make for an interesting read.

Run, by Ann Patchett (audiobook)

This book was given to me by a Bookcrossing friend, a surprise gift sent in the mail! (Thanks again, Captivated Reader!) It is an audiobook. I am not in the habit of listening to books; I usually prefer to hold and read them, but as it happened, husband and I made several long auto trips in the last month, and we both enjoyed listening to the book in the car.
We got caught up in the story: a retired mayor of Boston, Mass. has taken his two adult adopted sons to a lecture by Jesse Jackson. As they were leaving, his older son stepped off the curb into the path of a SUV. A stranger pushed him out of the way, and was herself seriously injured. She was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, leaving her 11 year old daughter alone on the street. The mayor and his sons persuade her come to their house. As it happens, the mayor's adopted sons are African-American, and so are the mother and daughter. As the story develops, long-hidden family secrets are slowly revealed and mysteries appear.
I never did quite understand older, natural born brother Sullivan's hidden past. Perhaps my thoughts wandered a little while that bit was explained, but I didn't want to listen to it all over again, just to find it. Otherwise, the story was quite enjoyable, but tied up a little too neatly and quickly at the end. Also, the bit about Tennessee's deceased friend mysteriously appearing in her hospital room seemed very strange, even surreal.
I did think that Peter Francis James did an excellent job narrating the story. His range of voices was spot on, from Boston Irish Catholic accents to Jamaican, Asian Indian, and perfect renditions of Jesse Jackson and of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (as heard on a radio in the story). Every one was distinct and well done, even the young girl, without resorting to the use of falsetto.

In a slump

I'm between books, sort of. I started In Cold Blood by Truman Capote several days ago, but haven't opened it since. I'm afraid it will be too gory for me, too explicitly grisly. I know it's hard to believe that a person of my age hasn't read it yet, and doesn't even know much about it, but that's the case for me. I do know that it is based on an actual event, the brutal murder of a family in rural Kansas.

I've been spending way too much time lately on my phone, on Facebook and playing Solitaire.

ETA: As you can tell from my entry of November 20 (today's date), I picked a lighter romance. Now I think I'm ready to tackle In Cold Blood.

Bookish Quote

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Seen on Bookcrossing.com

"What makes a book live? A book lives through the passionate recommendation of one reader to another. Nothing can throttle this basic impulse in the human being. Despite the views of cynics and misanthropes, it is my belief that men will always strive to share their deepest experiences."
Henry Miller

It is my hope that the books I enjoy will keep living, and that my reviews here and elsewhere are helpful to others.

The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland, by Jim DeFede

I had seen an article on Facebook about the events in Gander, Newfoundland on 9/11/2001, and this book was mentioned in the article. I posted about it on a Bookcrossing forum, and said that I would like to read the book. A fellow Bookcrosser generously offered to send me her copy!

A wonderful book, a true account of the events in Gander, Newfoundland and surrounding areas following the attacks of September 11, 2001. All airspace in the USA and even North America was closed, and all flights in progress had to land ASAP at the nearest airport that could accommodate them. Gander had been the site of a huge military airbase during World War II, as a fueling station en route to Europe, so it was easily able to accommodate many airplanes. There were passengers from all over the world, with many cultural differences. The good citizens of Gander (and surrounding areas) very graciously provided food, medicine, shelter, bedding, even clothing, transportation to stores, etc, and did not forget the pets still on board the planes. The dietary needs of three Orthodox Jewish passengers were provided. Friendships were formed. It is a very heart-warming and inspirational book. I enjoyed it thoroughly and would highly recommend it!

I no longer have this book; I donated it to my church's semi annual yard sale to fund missions.

90 Minutes in Heaven, by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey

I borrowed this from a friend.

A devastating road accident results in Don Piper's death, arrival at heaven's gate, and subsequent return to earthly life. He struggles with constant pain, suffering, and wondering why he was "sent back."
This is a very inspiring book for all who have lost loved ones and have reason to believe that they are indeed in "a better place", and for all who are suffering, are despondent and who are wondering what life is all about.
It is unapologetically a Christian book, written by a Baptist pastor telling of his own experiences. I found it very inspiring, and would like to buy copies of my own, to share with others.

The Inimitable Jeeves, by P. G. Wodehouse

A loosely connected collection of short stories featuring Jeeves and Wooster.

Don't we all wish we had a Jeeves to take care of us, to provide our every need even before we knew we needed it, and to solve all our problems and our friends' problems with ease and diplomacy? Bertie Wooster is a young man of Edwardian England, a socialite who has received a good education and seemingly is not required to work for his living. He and his friends frequently find themselves "in the soup", usually of their own making, and Bertie's valet, Jeeves, always adroitly manages to restore them to the good graces of their families. The contrast between Bertie's casual Edwardian slang ("What ho and all that rot" for example), behavior, and attitude and Jeeves' very proper, conservative manner ("Very good, sir") was part of the fun of reading this.

The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck

I read this many years ago, but I only remember bits and pieces of it. When I saw it at a yard sale last spring, I bought it to read again. I'm glad I did. There are many gems in it.
On corporate, commercial farming: "Carbon is not a man, nor salt nor water nor calcium. He is all of these, but he is much more, much more; and the land is so much more than its analysis. ...that man who is more than his elements knows the land that is more than its analysis. But the machine man, driving a dead tractor on land he does not know and love, understands only chemistry; and he is contemptuous of the land and of himself. When the corrugated iron doors are shut, he goes home and his home is not the land."

On the Dust Bowl migration along Route 66: "The people in flight streamed out on 66 .... All day they rolled slowly along the road, and at night they stopped near water. In the day ancient leaky radiators sent up columns of steam, loose connecting rods hammered and pounded. And the men driving the trucks and the overloaded cars listened apprehensively. How far between towns? It is a terror between towns. If something breaks - well, if something breaks we camp right here ...."

The people didn't leave because of the dust. They left because huge corporations bought the land from the owners. The people no longer owned the land their ancestors had settled. Years before, they had had to borrow against it and had been unable to pay their debts. Banks owned it. Land companies owned it. Sold it for profit, and drove the sharecropping tenants out. They had high hopes of a better life in California.

The above is a partial review; I hadn't finished it then. All I can say now is that it is a very deep, rich book. A disturbing, thought-provoking book. It was well worth reading again, I'm glad I did.

Okay, I have finished it, and actually gotten my old atlas of the United States and followed their journey through Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle, New Mexico, Arizona, and into California! The town they started from, Sallisaw, OK is in the far eastern part of Oklahoma, near Ft. Smith, Arkansas.

The book told the story of the Joad family, and interspersed this with chapter-long essays on the economy of the nation, the dust bowl migration as a whole and its effect on the western states to which they migrated, and the attitudes and actions of the people they met along the way: auto dealers, who sold the "jalopies" they needed, owners and employees of gas stations and diners whom they approached for fuel, water, and even sometimes food, fellow travelers with whom they camped on the sides of roads, campground managers, sheriffs and state police. This slowed the pace somewhat, but it helped in my understanding of the immensity of the entire situation.

The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins

I bought this book because it was recommended by some of my friends. I tried to start it a few months ago, but distractions kept me from being able to immerse myself in it at that time, and I find that immersion is required for many of the 19th century English classics (Austen, and Dickens, for example).

This is a Bantam Classic paperback in gently used condition. The cover is a little worn and the pages are slightly yellowed with age (3rd printing, 1986). They are not marked nor dog-eared.

The Moonstone is considered the first modern detective novel, but Collins himself called it "A Romance". Certainly, it had romance in it, but the major plot revolved around the solving of the mysterious disappearance of a large diamond which had been presented to a young lady on her 18th birthday.
The story begins many centuries before, with a large golden-yellow diamond set in the forehead of an Asian Indian idol, the moon god. It is constantly watched by three Brahmin Indians, succeeding in turn by three more in each generation. It is their duty to always know where the diamond is, and if possible, to return it to its rightful place. Its turbulent history includes a curse, many wars and invasions, desecration and theft. Finally, another invading army, the British, sack and plunder the castle, and when it's all over, the diamond has been removed to England.
Two years after the Moonstone has been discovered missing from the sitting room of Miss Rachel Verinder, a family member and their lawyer decide it is worthwhile to have a written record of all the events of that evening and following. Thus we have the story, written as reports from the principals, beginning with the family's elderly and faithful servant, the butler and steward, Mr. Gabriel Betteredge. Reports are also given by Miss Clack, a "poor relation" spinster lady who is much concerned with missionary endeavors and is given to writing in excessively flowery language; by Mr. Bruff, the family's solicitor, mentioned above; by a cousin and suitor of Miss Verlinder, Franklin Blake; by physician's assistant Ezra Jennings; by the famous London detective, Sergeant Cuff; and by the family doctor, Mr. Candy.
The Epilogue consists of three more reports: by Sergeant Cuff's man, by a ship captain, and by Mr. Murthwaite, a man known to the family, who is well traveled in Asia and in Europe.
Of all the characters, I liked Mr. Betteredge best. (I'll have to re-read Robinson Crusoe now!) I also liked Ezra Jennings and Sgt. Cuff, and I learned to like Rachel Verinder. She began as a spoiled teenager, but grew to a wise, forgiving, and loving young lady. Of course, the most pitiable was poor Rosanna Spearman, who loved in vain.
There are several suspects who had motives for stealing the diamond, and I confess I was unable to guess who was the guilty party.