Vive la Paris by Esme Raji Codell (2006)

I was amazed by the hard issues discussed in this young adult book (free advance proof from ALA). Paris is the youngest of five, the only girl in a black family, whose father is a musician. She is bright and well liked. Her father sends her to piano lessons with Mrs. Rosen, and old Jewish lady, who teaches her more than music. I'd really like to see what kids get out of this book, but it was written from Paris' viewpoint and it made sense that kids could easily misinterpret things. When Mrs. Rosen shows Paris her the number tatooed on her arm, Paris associates it with what she has just learned about gangs getting tatoos. She hasn't been taught about the Holocaust - probably a hard thing to teach school kids - and she is only in 5th grade. When Paris starts reading about it, she is overwhelmed. Somehow the author manages to weave together Martin Luther King, the Holocaust, bullying, and gay issues - though the latter are not explicitly stated. It reminds me that the blacks and Jews have a lot in common, but as we move further away from WWII, how many people will understand the significance of the Holocaust and how "we need all kinds of people to make a world," as Paris writes in her report. It is scary to read the lists about what our current university students have or have not known in their lives, who have never known the Soviet Union, never mind the horrors of WWII or Viet Nam. They have Iraq, but are we learning tolerance and acceptance of other people's from that?

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (2006)

I really enjoyed listening to this book about Jacob Jankowski, an almost veterinarian, who loses his family and ends up working for a circus in 1931. This rich story gives us a sense of lives during the Depression. This is not a glamorous running away with the circus story, but a nitty-gritty one, mostly about behind the scenes, the caste system, and all the hard work that goes into setting up a circus, taking care of the animals, feeding all the workers, traveling, etc. Apparently Gruen has done quite a bit of research and shares all the terminology, like rubes, roustabouts, redlighting, etc. I always like to see Cornell mentioned - that was the vet school Jacob was attending, before he dropped out right before final exams. Jacob lands in this circus by chance and is kept on because of his vet skills. He falls in love with Marlena, the equestrian performer, who has a paranoid schizophrenic husband. Of course there is an elephant in the story, but my only disappointment was that the reference to watering elephants in the beginning, as if there was a secret to the job, was never explained - or I missed it somewhere.

The other part of the book, which made it so wonderful, was Jacob's story at the end of his life - told by him as a 90 (or is it 93) year old man in a nursing home. It was read in a gravely voice and conveyed all the indignities of the life in a nursing home. Jacob has one nurse who treats him with respect. Having worked with the elderly at one point in my life and having to take care of my dad at 94, I can relate. The narration alternates between the young and elderly Jacob - both of them telling the story very well, and it all comes together in a satisfying ending.

Monticello: A Guidebook (1997)

After touring Thomas Jefferson's house Monticello, I wanted to read more about him and the place, so I bought the requisite guidebook, which told the story of the house, the gardens, the plantation, and the people that lived there, including the slaves. Jefferson has been one of my favorite American historical figures, so it might be time to read up on him a bit more.

Summer Guest by Justin Cronin (2004)

I have to thank the literary criticism class I saw in the library for this one. I really enjoyed it. Tritely I could say it is about love and war and family and relationships and the beauty of nature, but it is very well written. Each chapter is told by one of the main characters, which can get a bit confusing as sometimes they are talking about the present, but much of it is flashbacks to different parts of their lives - and not in a sequential order. Somehow, it all comes together beautifully.

Joe sr. comes home from WW II having lost an eye, purchases a camp on an unspoiled lake in Maine, and moves his family there. Joe jr. comes of age during the Vietnam War and his father strongly encourages him to evade the draft; he returns to marry Lucy and run the camp. Their daughter Kate goes off to med school. Jordan is their employee, who takes people like Harry, the perennial guest, out on the lake to fish. The camp was an ideal place for all of these characters - on soothing water, within the healing beauty of nature, but still in contact with other people - providing the experience of nature for others. I see Joe sr. making the decision to not be in the public eye with his deformed face, I see the love Joe jr. had for the place, and Jordan, my favorite character, who has the deep pain that only a place like this can heal. They all live parts of their lives someplace else, but end up returning here.

Cronin does a wonderful job of getting into the hearts and minds of these people. I can relate to their concerns, hard life choices, disappointments. I relate very deeply to finding peace and comfort by the lake in Maine. I remember a phase in my life, when I felt that was my ideal - living away from it all. Now I wonder what it was that I wanted to get away from - civilization? cement? the rush and stress? people? I don't think that I felt as comfortable with people at that time, or I somehow thought I didn't need many people, but after living in the country for three years in the early 1980's I found myself wanting the city and a wider variety of people. I think I have found my ideal - on the water (OK, it's just a pond, but it has wonderful wildlife), in suburbia, small metropolitan area with plenty of cultural opportunities, enough diversity, and a job about which I am passionate.

House of Scorta by Laurent Gaude (2005)

As with The Last Song of Dusk, this book had its own feel and pace from another part of the world. The small southern Italian village of Montepuccio from 1870's to the recent past is the setting. The story begins with a man coming to this town for revenge after serving a prison sentence. He leaves behind a son, Rocco, who grows up to pillage and terrorize the area and when he dies, leaves Carmela and her brothers to fend for themselves. They open a tobacco shop, work at becoming respectable citizens, and have families of their own. The story is of ongoing generations struggling to survive, to find their place in the world, to find happiness and love. This just gave a glimpse into those struggles in one Italian family.

As a child of immigrants, the moment when Carmela is not let into America for health reasons was poignant. It reminded me that not everyone who tried to immigrate made it, and today the numbers of those wanting to immigrate, but being turned back are much greater.

I don't regret listening to this, it just wasn't my favorites. Something about the raw passions and despair that is also in a lot of Latvian literature just didn't provide the most satisfying read. I don't mind emotion and hard times, and the next book I'll describe - Summer Guest - has plenty of both, but the latter is presented in a way that speaks to me. Maybe it's an American - European thing. I later found out that this is an award winning French book in translation.

Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society by Adeline Yen Mah (2005)

I love coming across good reads randomly. I had to show someone how to use MeLCat, the Michigan wide interlibrary loan system and was looking for these Chinese Cinderella books, so I had to "submit" to see if the system was working properly. I decided to go ahead and read this young adult book and found I learned something new. I know nothing about the situation in China during World War II, actually I've never understood much about the Japanese - Chinese relationship. This is another good example of historical fiction, where children are the heroes during an important historic event. CC (Chinese Cinderella) is a Chinese girl in Shanghai that is thrown out of her house after a fight with her stepmother and finds shelter in a martial arts academy. Along with three boys of mixed races they participate in the rescue of American airmen, whose plane crashed after bombing Japan in 1942. I somehow had missed that the coast of China was invaded by Japan, though they mostly left the European settlements alone. I liked that the author gave a few pages of history after the story, and included a glossary of Chinese words and sayings, and an overview of the Chinese year. I also liked that she had included documents in the story - real letters written home by the soldiers that were executed by the Japanese. One more book for my ethnic - American young adult book list.

Circle of Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini (2006)

I didn't realize this was one of the latest in a series of books about Elm Creek quilters. Elm Creek is an old mansion in the Pennsylvania woods that has been opened up as a camp/workshop place for quilters, and it is a privilege to become one of the resident quilters. The storyline of this book is about five different people applying for the job of being one of the quilters. It is a patchwork quilt of people, giving the story of each of the applicants, how they got into quilting, and the stage they have reached in their lives, where a position at Elm Creek Quilts seems very appealing. Though I have never quilted, the details about quilting were so appealing, that I am actually tempted to try it myself. I have never been able to piece cloth together cleanly, but I see it is a skill that could be acquired. I know how soothing knitting is, maybe it could be a new meditative hobby. I am not sure I will read or listen to any more of these Elm Creek Quilt books, as I was a bit frustrated with the writing. Chiaverini sometimes wrote her characters into such a pathetic state, with only quilting saving them that it was hard to listen to. It was interesting to see a review from Publisher's Weekly on the Quilter's Legacy (2003) that said: "Chiaverini's storytelling skills have noticeably improved. She approaches but never succumbs to sentimentality... She remains a keener observer of subtleties in quilts than in people..." I'm not sure I'd call it sentimentality, but something bothers me there. On the other hand, I really liked the details about quilting history and how it has evolved.

Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut (1952)

An oldie, but goodie saved from the dumpster. I must have read this in high school. I forgot that Vonnegut mixed science fiction with his comments on life. This was a future, where machines have taken over almost everyone's job, only the engineers and managers remain. People are despondent with nothing to do. Paul Proteus is one of the top engineers, but he too is no longer satisfied. There are great characters, like the Shah of Bratpuhr, who is being shown around America by Dr. Ewing Halyard. The Shah sees similarities with his own country and Halyard has the hardest time explaining that the people are not slaves. My favorite detail in the book is when the machines find out that Halyard didn't complete his physical fitness requirement at Cornell, so his degree could be invalidated. I had friends who had to finish up PE requirements to get their degrees from Cornell. Since Vonnegut attended CU, I feel a connection with him and appreciate all the references to local places and things. I enjoyed the book, but not as much as when I was younger. It is still funny, but the machines have taken over our universe in a much different way than Vonnegut imagined.

The Thrall's Tale by Judith Lindbergh (2006)

I almost forgot to list this book, as I never finished it, and I think there is a place for books I have started and not finished. The premise was quite fascinating – the story takes place in the ninth century when people sailed from Iceland to Greenland, both very harsh lands – I even looked them up on Google Maps to see how much was actually livable and how much was snow covered. I usually like these historical fiction books, and there was an interesting thread of Christianity coming into the lives of these people and competing with the Norse gods. I listened to over half of the book, but I found I had no sympathy for any of the three main characters – Thorbjorg the seer, Katla the thrall (slave), and Katla’s daughter, the voiceless Bibrau, who becomes an apprentice to Thorbjorg. I know their lives were harsh, but they were all so negative, I didn’t much care how it would all turn out. I also could not get into the mind-space of either the worship of the Norse gods or the Christian faith as presented here. There was much bloody sacrificing and the gods talked to these women. I believe that people can be guided by some larger force or inner voice, but these made no sense to me.

I later went back to look for reviews. It turns out that Lindbergh researched this for years and it is considered a great book about those times, and about Christian ideas taking root in these cultures. I also read some reviews by regular people on Amazon, and found many who agreed with me that it was a hard read, with unsympathetic characters.

The Divide by Nicholas Evans (2005)

This book is set mostly in Wyoming, and part of it actually happens around Sheridan, where we were on vacation. Inta recommended it and I am assuming my cousin recommended it to her. The book is mostly about relationships - focused on watching one family fall apart, while some relationships blossom. I thought the inner dialogs while Sarah and Ben were drifting apart were very realistic. A large part of the book is about the country. The book starts with an exhilarating climb by a father and son into the Wyoming mountains in early spring, to ski down undisturbed snow. A Wyoming dude ranch is another important place, where the family vacations for a number of years, the kids grow up and find first loves. Abbie, the daughter, decides to go to college in Montana and becomes an environmentalist. We see some of the issues around the environmentalist movement and their protest of the WTO in Seattle. I think this is the first novel where I've seen 9-11 as an event affecting the lives of the characters. Though we are exposed to some very awful human situations, the thing that horrified me the most was the description of the land that was destroyed while drilling for coalbed methane gas. This is happening in the area right now - a new cheap way has been discovered for getting at this gas, and since most landowners don't have the mineral rights to their properties, gas companies can come in and destroy the surface while getting at what is "theirs." The rancher in the book tries to protest, but his horse ranch is overrun with equipment, the fields and streams demolished, and he ends up having a stroke. Because of this new "gold-rush" there is a lot of money in the area for some, and large houses are going up in Big Horn, but my relatives assure me after each boom, there is always a bust in Wyoming. Plus, there is a nasty haze in the valley from all this activity, at times wells will catch fire and spew smoke into the air.