Review and quotes: BEWILDERMENT: A NOVEL

Title: Bewilderment: A Novel by Richard Powers

Book Beginnings quote: 

BUT WE MIGHT NEVER FIND THEM? We'd set up the scope on the deck, on a clear autumn night, on the edge of one of the last patches of darkness in the eastern U.S. Darkness this good was hard to come by, and so much darkness in one place lit up the sky. We pointed the tube through a gap in the trees above our rented cabin. Robin pulled his eye from the eyepiece -- my sad, singular, newly turning nine-year-old, in trouble with this world.

Friday56 quote: 

They share a lot, astronomy and childhood. Both are voyages across huge distances. Both search for facts beyond their grasp. Both theorize wildly and let possibilities multiply without limits. Both are humbled every few weeks. Both operate out of ignorance. Both are mystified by time. Both are forever starting out.

Summary:  The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife. Robin is a warm, kind boy who spends hours painting elaborate pictures of endangered animals. He’s also about to be expelled from third grade for smashing his friend in the face. As his son grows more troubled, Theo hopes to keep him off psychoactive drugs. He learns of an experimental neurofeedback treatment to bolster Robin’s emotional control, one that involves training the boy on the recorded patterns of his mother’s brain. And the results are amazing and miraculous...until they aren't. (Publisher)

Review: Back in 7th or 8th grade my class read Flowers for Algernon, a heart-breaking book about artificial intelligence and the its limitations. I honestly don't remember much about the book except it broke my heart because first the test mouse and then Charlie, the human volunteer, did great with their with their new intelligence and then it stopped working and both of them slid backwards. I desperately wanted a happy ending. But that was not to be. In Bewilderment when Robin and his father travel to North Carolina for their space-gazing trip they listen to an audiobook of Flowers for Algernon. Astute readers would pick this up as foreshadowing. (It took me a while, but I finally figured it out.)

Robin is a misfit by every sense of the word. He can't get along with children his own age and almost everything about the way humans live today hurts his sensibilities. When he sees a young activist on TV (a Greta Thunberg type) Robin decides he must live a life of activism, too. But he is so sensitive, even slight frustrations send him into tantrums. Until he is offered a chance at an experimental treatment which involves engaging with his mother's recorded brain activity, captured before her death. These treatments bring about a miracle in Robbie's life. He can think clearly and doesn't need to fall apart violently when things don't go as he thinks they should. He is creative and sensitive. But when the treatments are abruptly halted, his progress digresses back to the starting point. Another heartbreaking story. But what is the point?

Regarding the inevitable forms of tragedy with which this book is intent upon grappling — that loved ones die, that progress has its limits, that as a species we fail more often than we succeed — Bewilderment invites us to ponder not only our dominance of the planet and the ways that the unjust power of a few dominates the lives of others. It also insists we ponder this: At what cost do we allow our capacities for fear, jealousy and appetite to trounce other equally intrinsic capacities, like empathy, courage and forbearance? What if our worst enemy is not barricading himself in the White House or pelting our children with taunts on the playground? What if it’s right here, lighting up neural pathways inside our own skulls?

The conscience animating Bewilderment lobbies for the essentialness of plants, animals and those of differing needs and abilities.(NYT)

Lucille Clifton’s quote (above) asks us to shift our focus in order for our species to recognize its proper place in the universe, we must collectively admit to the beauty, the inviolable sanctity and essentialness of all life. The book asks it readers to address what it REALLY important and to get busy addressing ways that we, all humans, can change to save ourselves. It is powerful stuff. Not a very cheery message, I admit, but in the hands of a master story-teller, Richard Powers, beautifully wrought.

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. Share the opening quote from current book.The Friday56 is hosted at Freda's Voice.  Find a quote from page 56 to share. Visit these two websites to participate. Click on links to read quotes from books other people are reading. It is a great way to make blog friends and to get suggestions for new reading material. 

 

-Anne

Three Short Book Reviews

 

A Thousand Steps Into Night by Traci Chee

Clarion Books, 2022.

Summary: A Japanese-influenced fantasy brimming with demons, adventure, and plans gone awry. In the realm of Awara, where gods, monsters, and humans exist side by side, Miuko is an ordinary girl resigned to a safe, if uneventful, existence as an innkeeper’s daughter. But when Miuko is cursed and begins to transform into a demon with a deadly touch, she embarks on a quest to reverse the curse and return to her normal life. Aided by a thieving magpie spirit and continuously thwarted by a demon prince, Miuko must outfox tricksters, escape demon hunters, and negotiate with feral gods if she wants to make it home again. But with her transformation comes power and freedom she never even dreamed of, and she’ll have to decide if saving her soul is worth trying to cram herself back into an ordinary life that no longer fits her… and perhaps never did. (Publisher)

Review: This YA novel is full of Japanese mythology, which I really appreciated. It is also long, 400 pages, and very involved. I don't often read fantasy in any form so I struggled with some of the magical aspects and had trouble picturing many of scenes, as they were quite elaborate.

Likes/dislikes: I liked that this book dwelt exclusively on Asian mythology. YA readers who enjoy fantasy or high fantasy novels will have a new type of fantasy to explore. It also has a surprisingly feminist message. That is refreshing. I have enjoyed Chee's other books: We Are Not Free, about Japanese Incarceration in America during WWII, and The Reader, another fantasy book, the first of a trilogy. She is a good writer. What I didn't like was the length. I want storytelling to be crisp and concise these days. Ha!

Quote: “I think you believe you ought to be small,” he said softly, almost meditatively. “I think you have been taught that greatness does not belong to you, and that to want it is perverse. I think you have folded yourself into the shape that others expect of you; but that shape does not suit you, has never suited you, and all your young life, you have been dying to be free of it.”

Rating: 3.5 stars

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Ballantine Books, 2021

Summary: Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, their lives will change forever.  Set in Malibu, August, 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together, the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over—especially as the offspring of the legendary singer, Mick Riva. Malibu Rising is a story about one unforgettable night in the life of a family: the night they each have to choose what they will keep from the people who made them... and what they will leave behind. (Publisher)

Review: Loosely part of what could be called a crossover series, Malibu Rising would be the third book in the series. Each looks at strong but flawed female characters during a certain time period: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (1950-60s); Daisy Jones and the Six (1960-70s); Malibu Rising (1980s, with look back to 1950s) and Carrie Soto is Back (1990s). I adored Daisy Jones and the Six, the only other books I've read of the four, and looked forward to Malibu Rising with much anticipation. Throughout my listening experience I kept thinking, "Fame is not as great as it is cracked up to be." Fame sure seemed to cause a pile of problems for everyone.

Likes/dislikes: As it turns out I came away from my reading as a woman divided. I liked the writing, the setting, and the family dynamics. I disliked the sex and drugs, and the out-of-control party scene. I also disliked how stuck the characters all were. Stuck where they started. Stuck until maybe the last five pages of the book. That said, I listened to the audiobook compulsively.   

Quote: “How were you supposed to change- in ways both big and small- when your family was always there to remind you of exactly the person you apparently signed an ironclad contract to be?”

Rating: 4 stars

The Hero of This Book by Elizabeth McCracken

Summary: A taut, groundbreaking novel is about a writer's relationship with her larger-than-life mother--and about the very nature of writing, memory, and art. Ten months after her mother's death, the narrator of The Hero of This Book takes a trip to London. The city was a favorite of her mother's, and as the narrator wanders the streets, she finds herself reflecting on her mother's life and their relationship.
The woman, a writer, recalls all that made her complicated mother extraordinary--her brilliant wit, her generosity, her unbelievable obstinacy, her sheer will in seizing life despite physical difficulties--and finds herself wondering how her mother had endured. Even though she wants to respect her mother's nearly pathological sense of privacy, the woman must come to terms with whether making a chronicle of this remarkable life constitutes an act of love or betrayal. (Publisher)

Review: Billed as a fictionalized memoir, The Hero of This Book is clearly about Elizabeth McCracken's mother. I wrestled with the word "fictionalized" as I read this otherwise compelling memoir. Then I settled on an understanding about fiction and nonfiction. Fiction allows for omissions and additions to a story. Perhaps even playing around with time. Nonfiction stays true to the facts, whatever they are, and doesn't mess around with time. This story about Elizabeth and her mother is considered fiction because a) her mother hated memoirs so Elizabeth could not write one about her own mother and b) she left out parts of the story, like for example that she has a brother who was not included at all in the story line. I used to tell students that Schindler's List was fiction because the author made up dialogues to make the true story more interesting, but of course, there is no proof those conversations every happened. McCracken did the same thing here. By fictionalizing the story she had room to deal with whatever truths she wanted to put in the story and leave out those she didn't.

Likes/dislikes: I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed this experience very much. It is set in London as McCracken retraces the steps she and her mother made together on a previous trip. I have recently been in London and could picture her as she walked around the city. I was pretty bugged by the "fictionalized memoir" aspect of the story throughout. Why not tell her story straight up? But in the end I saw her point about omitted details she didn't want to include. Either way, novel or memoir, I enjoyed it.

Quote: “Don’t trust a writer who gives out advice. Writers are suckers for pretty turns of phrase with only the ring of truth.”

Rating: 5 stars

-Anne

TTT: Excellent poetry book selections to read this April, National Poetry Month

Top Ten Tuesday: Excellent poetry books to read this April, National Poetry Month

I love to read poetry. But I get it that poetry can be very intimidating, especially when it is full of language from other centuries or the topic if so obtuse, it is impossible to understand what the poet is saying. What I love is poetry that speaks to me in a language I can understand, Poems that make me feel something or experience someone else's feelings are the best. But I also love humorous poems -- ones that make me laugh or at least smile. 

So with this in mind, I can wholeheartedly recommend all of these volumes of poetry. See if your library has any of them and check them out this month, National Poetry Month.

 

Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems by John Grandits

Concrete poems have shapes and this collection is full of shape poems to delight kids and adults alike. My two favorites have to do with volleyball and cheerleaders.

 

God Went to Beauty School by Cynthia Rylant

Imagine if God came down to earth and experienced life as a human. My favorite poem is about God's fascination with hands. Target audience is middle grade kids, but I love this book so much.

Dog Songs: Poems by Mary Oliver

Poet Oliver loves dogs and so do I. If you do, too, this collection is for you.

Sailing Around the Room: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins

Collins is one of my favorites and a very readable and often funny poet.

I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Joy and Hope by Hafez

Such a joyful collection of poems by a Hafez, a fourteenth century Persian poet.

The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur

A very 'now' poet. Ms. Kaur writes short poems about issues from her life. She also illustrated the poems herself. Appropriate for teens on up.

Dearly: Poems by Margaret Atwood

Atwood is the author of The Handmaid's Tale. I was completely taken by her poems as well.

Light for the World to See: A Thousand Words on Race and Hope by Kwame Alexander

You may know Alexander from his novels in verse targeted to middle grade kids. This small volume contains beautiful and hopeful poems for kids on up.

Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman

This is not the easiest poems to read. Gorman found historical documents about the treatment of Black citizens. Many she made into erasure poems. When I figured out what she was doing, I was very moved.

I Hope This Finds You Well by Kate Baer

Kate Baer first published these collection of erasure poems on her Instagram account in response to letters, mostly critical of her. I can't tell you how much I love this book and the whole project.

And one more recommendation...the poetry collection I am reading, and loving right now:

Spine Poems: An Eclectic Collection of Found Verse for Book Lovers by Annette Dauphin Simon

-Anne

Reviews and quotes --- THE READING LIST and SUCH A FUN AGE -- almost identical reviews

Today I am reviewing two book club selections for upcoming meetings. Though the plots and characters are quite different, you will find my reviews of the two books to be almost identical.

Titles: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid and The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

Book Beginnings quotes:

That night, when Mrs. Chamberlain called, Emira could only piece together the words "... take Briar somewhere..." and "...Pay you double." (Such a Fun Age)

The doors are new: Automatic open. Fancy. That has changed since Aidan was here last. (The Reading List)

Friday56 quotes:

After Alix finally closed the door behind Laney and her family, she pulled out her phone again. CORRECTION, she texted her friends. I HATE EVERYONE EXCEPT MY SITTER. (Such a Fun Age)

Mukesh knew that last sentence came only from her frustration, but nonetheless it hurt. He'd noticed how over the past year, Rohini only ever mentioned "Mummy" to berate him, to tell him he was living in a pigsty. (The Reading List)

Summaries:

Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right. But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix's desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix's past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other. (from the publisher of Such a Fun Age)

______________________________________________________

Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life in Wembley, in West London after losing his beloved wife. He shops every Wednesday, goes to Temple, and worries about his granddaughter, Priya, who hides in her room reading while he spends his evenings watching nature documentaries.

Aleisha is a bright but anxious teenager working at the local library for the summer when she discovers a crumpled-up piece of paper in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird. It's a list of novels that she's never heard of before. Intrigued, and a little bored with her slow job at the checkout desk, she impulsively decides to read every book on the list, one after the other. As each story gives up its magic, the books transport Aleisha from the painful realities she's facing at home.

When Mukesh arrives at the library, desperate to forge a connection with his bookworm granddaughter, Aleisha passes along the reading list...hoping that it will be a lifeline for him too. Slowly, the shared books create a connection between two lonely souls, as fiction helps them escape their grief and everyday troubles and find joy again. (from the publisher of The Reading List)

Review: After reading the summaries you see the stories are quite different, yet remarkably similar. Both have two main characters and all four characters are terrible at communicating what they are feeling. Each of the pairs are made up of two people who exist in different worlds of experience, age, race, etc. and this accounts for at least a bit of the miscommunication. In Such a Fun Age, Emira and Alix do not have an equal relationship as Alix is Emira's employer. Mukesh and Aleisha have a large age gap and cultural experiences that keep them from fully understanding the other.

Neither book is exceptionally written and both books only improved in my estimation because the conclusions brought the characters to a point of growth and movement, having been stuck in their bad communication patterns for the early parts of the books.

Oddly, the covers are super similar, too. This amounts to nothing but I thought I'd mention it since I am comparing the books and noting similarities.

I don't know about you but I hate it when I feel like I've wasted my time reading a book. I don't hate either of the books, and I'd probably use the word "liked" to express my feelings about The Reading List, but that is only because of the ending. I always read book club selections otherwise I'm positive I would have considered setting each aside and not finishing it in favor of a book which is well-written, or where I am learning something new. I guess you can tell from this review that I won't be recommending these books to you or to anyone. You've been warned!

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. Share the opening quote from current book.The Friday56 is hosted at Freda's Voice.  Find a quote from page 56 to share. Visit these two websites to participate. Click on links to read quotes from books other people are reading. It is a great way to make blog friends and to get suggestions for new reading material. 

-Anne

National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month. I know that but somehow I forgot it until today. This forces me to make a plan on the fly about how to quickly start consuming some poetry this month.

My plan---

1. Go to the library and peruse the poetry section. Find at least one volume that entices me. Check it out and read it.

2. Look through bookshelf at home. Find the three or four volumes of poetry which are unread or only half read. Crack them open and see what it inside.

3. Purchase a new volume of poetry. Gulp. I usually only buy used poetry books. This will be a new experience for me.

4. Share my favorite "finds" with you all by the end of the month.

-Anne

Let's discuss -- Reading selections

 

Yesterday I watched a 30+ minute Pulitzer Prediction video over at Supposedly Fun. In the video the creator talks about 36 books which might possibly win the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Literature in May. As I listened to his predictions and took notes on the books that interested me, a thought entered my head that I am rarely on the front side of these types of discussions. Of the 36 books he mentioned, I've read three. Of the 33 remaining titles I probably hadn't even heard of half of them. I have next to nothing to add to the conversation. Because the Pulitzer doesn't announce it's finalists for people to read ahead of time, the whole process is one gigantic guessing game. There is not really any way I can catch up and read a bunch of these early to be prepared for the announcement, like watching all the Best Picture nominations before the Academy Awards or making a commitment to read the five finalists for the National Book Award before the winner is announced.

Every year I add and subtract books from my reading list (TBR), like most people do. When the Pulitzer, Booker, or National Book Award winners are announced I quickly add them to my list. In December when the end-of-the-year best books lists are published I read through them like my life depends on it. I add and add more books to my TBR based on these 'recommendations.' Often the titles will languish on my TBR for months/years before I actually get around to reading them or removing the title with the delete key.

I hate this. I want to be one of those people in the know. I want to read the latest and greatest so that I join the conversation in real time. For example back in 2021 Bewilderment by Powers was a National Book Award finalist. A lot of people were talking about the book because the author had recently won the Pulitzer with his fantastic The Overstory. I added Bewilderment to my TBR. Two years later I am finally getting to it. After reading over 50% I happened to peek at the reviews on Goodreads and noticed that a blogging friend, Deb Nance at Reader Buzz read the book in 2021, loved it, and wished for someone to discuss the book over. Sigh. Once again, I'm behind.

That brings me to my discussion questions:

1. How do you make your reading selections?
2. When you add a book to your TBR, how purposeful are you about also reading that book in a timely fashion?
3. How often do you make just random selections at the library or the bookstore, shoving aside your reading plan to get to the latest and greatest?
4. Where do you turn for your book recommendations?
   

I'll start.

1. I am in two book club which meet monthly. I am certain I will read these 23 books. One club uses library kits so the titles are usually at least three of four years old, because kits have paperbacks, if possible. The other club chooses about five titles at a time, sometimes selecting the new books that everyone is talking about, but most often our selections were published about a year ago. That way most of us can find an available copy at the library. Book club selections are always top-of-mind when I am deciding what to read next.

2. I am pretty terrible, as I already confessed, of adding books to my TBR and then making little attempt to attain them. Just this year, I went through my whole TBR list and removed any titles which have been on the list longer than a year if my library doesn't have a copy. I think I cleaned fifty titles off the pile doing that.

3. I often will walk out of the library with a book I had no intention of reading next. It is almost like it jumped into my hands. But I am rarely unhappy with these selections. Oddly, however, I often find myself thinking I "should" be reading something else. Hmm.

4. I used to read School Library Journal and Booklist to assist my selections. Now I will read on-line reviews. I ask people I trust what they are reading, what they have liked in the past. I am pretty leery of making my decision on one recommendation, even from a close friend. So I try to do my homework.

How about you?

-Anne

TTT: Books with Animals in the Title

 Top Ten Tuesday: Books with animals in the title

Apparently I don't read many books with animals in the titles outside of children's books, so they dominate my list today.

Children's titles:

They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel

Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems

Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright by

Hot Dog by Doug Salati

The Book Hog by Greg Pizzoli

Middle Grade titles:

Singing with Elephants by Margarita Engle

The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis

Adult Nonfiction

The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

Adult Poetry

The Book of Sharks by Rob Carney

 

-Anne

Sunday Salon ---the Hope edition

Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park

Weather:

Tomorrow is Easter: I've decided to post a day early since we are planning a big gathering of family after church for the traditional egg hunt with our grandsons and a brunch. In addition to my immediate family we also expect my sister/her husband, and our niece/her husband. Should be a busy, happy day.

Hope and happiness: With the indictment of Donald Trump by the State of NY this week it seems like all the news has been about that. But I wanted to focus on positive, even funny items I found this week. Here goes (take the time to click links, you'll be glad you did)---

1. One minute "rant" about one good aspect of our country right now (hint: it is young people):

Last night in DC, on my book tour, I was asked by an audience member to do a spontaneous "60-second rant" - in praise of something.

Off the cuff, I chose young people. Young people who are saving our democracy.

Start the clock...and watch what happened:pic.twitter.com/PvrD1Xm0uq

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) March 2, 2023

2. Guitarist makes surprisingly good music from "songs" performed by dogs/animals. This is hilariously funny and cute. (Dodo, 3/31/23)

3. My grandsons, and other church kids, singing "I have decided to follow Jesus". Jamie (2 1/2) is a little slow but he gets there in the end, whereas his brother Ian (5 1/2) is right on until the end.

4. Quotes about HOPE---

• To repeat something that needs constant repetition, “hope is not the belief that everything was, is or will be fine.” Hope is what sets you on a path toward a goal and keeps you persisting. Hope focuses on the long term, not immediate results. Hope allows you to see that you’re not alone, that your efforts are part of a larger fight for a better world. -- Rebecca Solnit
  

• Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come. — Greta Thunburg

• Everything that is done in the world is done by hope. Martin Luther

• Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings. — Elie Wiesel

• Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. — Robert Kennedy

• To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing. — Raymond Williams

• Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. — Margaret Mead

5. "This is the Song of Hope" by Avishai Cohen

6. Do not obey in advance. by Simon Rosenberg, April 4, 2023. There is hope for us if good people protest and stand up. If we are loud and demand respect. If we don't obey in advance. Read it.

7.

8. I've helped a friend several times this past week. She is just home from the hospital where she had an operation to remove cancer. When I heard this song I wanted to infuse it into her being, give her my strength to see this tough time through: "You Can Do This Hard Thing."

 

9. Trae Crowder, the Redneck Liberal, actually uses my word of the week: Hope. Wait for it.

 

10. The Tennessee Three. I pray that their bravery to stand up even in the face of threat (and the eventuality) of expulsion will serve as a catalyst for change. If you don't know what I am talking about watch this: Summary, or this speech by VP Harris about the situation, and/or a Good Friday speech of Hope by Rep. Justin Pearce.

Books:

• Recently Completed:
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas -- It took me almost three months but I finished this tome finally. Read my review here. Then throw me a party! Print and audio.
  
• Adrift: America in 100 Charts by Scott Galloway. I saw this author on MSNBC and was intrigued by his premise that most information we hear on the news can be consolidated down into understandable charts. He was right. Print.
• Necessary Christianity: What Jesus Says We Must Do by Alexander. My Lenten study guide. I liked it in the beginning and each chapter got less interesting and more confusing. Sigh. Print.
• The Reading List by Adams. For a future book club. Two lonely people find each other and gain help from a list of classic books. The ending was very good, the middle was very average. Print.
• Malibu Rising by Reid. The second book in a loosely grouped series which started with Daisy Jones and the Six. I enjoyed it. Audio.
  
• Children's Books:
• -The Knight Owl by Christopher Denice. The 2023 Caldecott winner. Darling.
  -Chopsticks by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. A new favorite author.  
  -Exclamation Mark by the same author as above. My 5-year-old grandson LOVED this book.
  -Very Good Hats by Straub. After reading it to my grandsons we had a lot of fun trying to make hats out of household items like they do in the book. FUN!
  
   
• Currently reading:
• Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie. Guess I'm in the mood for Christie novels now. 12%. E-book.
  
• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Chabon. For my personal Pulitzer challenge. 45%. Audio.
  
• Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. For Classics Club SPIN.
• Bewilderment by Powers. My next audiobook. 3%
• Long Petal of the Sea by Allende. May's book club selection. A famous author. Should be good. Audiobook.
  
• Blog posts: 
• Review: The Count of Monte Cristo
• TTT: Locating Indie and Self-published Books
• Classics Club: SPIN #33
  
• WBC: Some favorite nonfiction books
• Review: Two books about migration from Latin America
• TTT: Book suggestions for people who like Barbara Kingsolver books
   

On the lighter side:

What is double funny about this is that my husband and I always call dogs "Ralph" if we don't know their name.

Required pet photo:

My daughter's cat, Skimble, taking a nap.

-Anne

Reviews and quotes: SOLITO AND INFINITE COUNTRY -- Two books about migration from Latin America

Recently I've finished two books on the topic of migration from Latin America, one fiction, one nonfiction. Both have helped increase my empathy for people living in poverty in their beloved country  making the hard decision to migrate to the United States. I'll expand on this topic more at the end of the book reviews.

Infinite Country: a Novel by Patricia Engle is the story of a mixed-status family after the father is deported to Columbia and the mother is left behind with the three children, two of whom were born in the United States. One of those children, Talia, is sent back to Columbia to be raised by the father and her maternal grandmother and now fifteen-year-old Talia is preparing to fly to the US to reunite with the half of the family she barely remembers. In the opening pages of the book, Talia escapes from a reform school, far from Bogota where her father lives. Twenty years of back story are told as she races home in time to catch that plane.

The book, short by any standard, is especially brief when held up to other books by Latin American greats. But I think its brevity gave the book a sense of urgency which I appreciated. Talia's story takes the most time with details of escape and about her travels across the country going home and going toward her unknown future. Her mother and father's love affair and immigration to the US show both their naivete and the awful reality of living in a country "illegally." Engle includes aspects of Colombia folklore when the chapters focus on the father, Mauro. The mother, Elena, is presented as a saint and as very long-suffering. Talia's siblings, Nando and Karina, also have chapters which describe what life is like for them in the US. Nando is often tortured and bullied at school. Karina's chapters are the only one's written in first person and we come to understand it is her journal writing that form the basis of the story.

Infinite Country is compulsively readable, or in my case since I listened to the audiobook, listenable (is that a word?) If you are a reader who loves your stories told on a strict timeline, this is not a book for you. But for the rest of us who can adapt to a story which jumps back and forth in time, I highly recommend it.

Opening quote (Book Beginnings): 

It was her idea to tie up the nun.

Solito: a Memoir by the poet Javier Zamora is a harrowing account of the author's migration story from El Salvador when he was nine-years-old. Zamora's parents had already migrated to the US so this nine-year-old boy had to make the journey with a group of people he did not know under the care of a "coyote." The account is told in the voice of the child. “I learned to poop in the toilet, wash my underwear. The only thing I still don’t know how to do is tie my shoes.” 

His innocence is contrasted with the challenges that Zamora faces: uniformed men with machine guns, smugglers, Border Patrol. In telling this story from a child’s perspective, describing his surroundings with plainness, presenting his survival without bluster, he reveals the true horrors of migration. (NYT)

I can't even tell you how touching and real this memoir is. I could practically picture every single step Zamora took on his journey north. And my heart broke for this little boy who was left to the kindness of strangers to get him to his destination as he journeyed with them for over seven weeks. 

On one hand I loved Solito for Zamora's raw yet beautiful storytelling and on the other hand I was disgusted. What parent would a) leave their child behind so they could migrate to the US without him and then b) expect a nine-year-old to make the harrowing journey by himself a few years later? I feel my blood pressure going up as I type these words, considering these questions. Plus, here's the thing that also bothered me -- Zamora loved his life in El Salvador living with his grandparents and his aunt. He loved the food, the culture, his friends. He was doing well in school. What on earth could compel his parents to leave in the first place? What was so horrible about El Salvador and so wonderful about the US?

Years ago I read a book by Jonathan Kozol called Savage Inequalities. In the book Kozol addressed how abject poverty usually lived right next to opulent riches. He compared the riches of  Manhattan next to the poverty of Harlem as his examples. I kept thinking about his examples as I compared the "riches of the US" compared to the "poverty of Latin America." I put those phrases in quotes because I am not sure they are true. I have long suspected that many people from Latin American want to come to the US because they THINK it is better than where they live. And the reason they think that is because we BRAG about how great America is. In Solito Zamora said that his nine-year-old self thought his parents lived in a grand style in the US with a huge house and a swimming pool. I'm sure that vision was far from the truth considering that his parents migrated and entered the country illegally. If we want less people to attempt to enter the US illegally perhaps we should start by telling the truth -- about poverty in the US; racism; etc. Maybe that would be a bigger deterrent than bragging!?

What do you think?

Friday56 quote from Solito: 

Grandpa isn't here to talk to me before falling asleep, to go out for walks and explore the town, and because of that I feel alone, lonely, solo, solito, solito de verdad.

 

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. Share the opening quote from current book.The Friday56 is hosted at Freda's Voice.  Find a quote from page 56 to share. Visit these two websites to participate. Click on links to read quotes from books other people are reading. It is a great way to make blog friends and to get suggestions for new reading material. 

-Anne

TTT: Indie and self-published books -- How to find them

 

Top Ten Tuesday: How to find indie and self-published books

True confession: I don't often read either of these, indie or self-published books. I often feel overwhelmed trying to read all the books on my TBR, many of them classics or published long ago. Therefore I don't have the space in my brain to explore beyond the normal edges of publishing. So I decided to find out what is out there concerning help in locating these types of books. Here is what I found (click hyperlinks):

A. Locating good indie and self-published books

    1. The 61 Greatest Indie Books of All Time. (Discovery, Jan. 19, 2023 on reedsy.com) with short blurbs and sorted by genres, this list is pretty helpful.

    2.  The 30 Best Self-published Books of All Time. (UpJourney. Dec. 14, 2022.) Who knew The Martian and Legally Blonde were originally self-published? Read on to find some other familiar books which had very lowly starts.

B. Award books for Indie and Self-published books

    1. BIBA---Best Indie Books Award (Link to the 2022 BIBA winners) Links to other year's winners on the same page.

    2. Next Generation Indie Book Award (Link to 2022 winners) This one has an international feel to it, so we can all enjoy the list.

    3. A legit list of Indie book awards. (Writing Cooperative. Nov. 20, 2022) The author Alison McBain tries to highlight only indie book awards that cost little to have the book considered for the award. She mentions nine awards, so I guess Indie Awards are a thing.

    4. Bellwether Prize (PEN/Bellweather Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction) Not really an Indie award but it is awarded to writers who have never published a novel before. Established in 1999, the Bellwether Prize has has launched the careers of many new literary voices, writers with outstanding literary skills, moral passion, and the courage to combine these strengths in unusually powerful fiction. Scroll down on the hyperlinked page to see a list of the winners.

    5. Top 10 Self-published Book Awards ---Legitimate (IndieReader, Jan. 18, 2018) This is the second time I've noticed the use of the word 'legitimate' when talking about these book awards. This implies there are a lot of not-legitimate options out there. If you are a writer thinking about gaining attention for your self-published book, you'd better do your homework!

    6. CYBILS- Children and Young Adult Book Lover's Literary Award-- Not specifically an Indie or a Self-published award but they allow publishers and authors, as well as book bloggers, to nominated books. Myself and many book bloggers I know also serve as judges for this award. 

C. My favorite self-published books:

 

-Anne