Jevgeņijs Oņegins by Alexander Pushkin (1837, trans 1974)

I read the Latvian translation of Eugen Onegin (itself an English translation of the title of a long poem in Russian by Pushkin, translated into Latvian by Mirdza Bendrupe with ellipses for certain stanzas or lines - possibly censored) The original date is tricky too, as it was published serially over a number of years, but the Wikipedia claims that the version most often read now is the 1837 edition.

I recently attended a play called “Onegin - Commentary” at the Riga New Theatre. The friend who gave me the ticket suggested that I read Eugene Onegin in the Latvian translation before attending the play, and I am thankful I did, as the poetry itself was recited in Russian, but the story line and the comments outside the story line were in Latvian, which I could understand clearly. It was easier to follow having read the book.

I took all the Russian literature classes in translation that were offered at Cornell. My senior year I decided that to really “get” Russian literature, I should learn the language, and I took one semester of it. Enough to learn the letters, but not much else has stuck over the years. I do not remember what we read of Pushkin, but I am quite sure it was not Onegin. I am not used to reading much verse, never mind a whole story in verse, but this actually fit quite well with the story. I also read very little Latvian, so it took longer than it otherwise might, but was well worth the effort.

Onegin is a dandy (as the play explained) who was an aristocrat, bored of parties in the city (St. Petersburg, I believe) and was happy to inherit an estate in the country from an uncle. He gets bored there too, but makes friends with Lensky, a neighbor and poet. Lensky is in love with Olga, and Olga’s sister Tanya falls for Onegin – writing him a letter declaring her love, which I understand my friends here in Latvia learned by heart in their school days. Onegin rejects Tanya. Lensky tricks Onegin into attending an event at the sisters’ house, and Onegin is mad about it, so he flirts and dances with Olga, making Lensky so jealous, that he calls Onegin out on a duel. Onegin kills Lensky at the duel, and has to go abroad, as dueling is illegal in Russia at the time, but still often practiced. The play spent quite a bit of time explaining dueling at the time, pointing out all the mistakes the second made, who could have prevented the duel and unnecessary death of Lensky. Onegin returns years later to find Tanya married to an officer, and when Onegin declares his love for her, she rejects him.

In my mind the play and book are so intertwined that I have a hard time teasing them apart. I just am happy that I have had this duel experience. I doubt that I would otherwise pick up a book of Russian literature in verse – though that in itself was interesting, as Pushkin wrote in his own “sonnet” form with a distinct rhyming pattern that was emulated in the translation. It was full of literary and historical references, and in a romantic style that is foreign to me now, but worth visiting occasionally. Thank you Inta for both experiences!

Pārbaudījums by Vilnis Baumanis (2011)

Could this really be the first Latvian novel I have read that reflects my times growing up as a Latvian? Vilnis Baumanis is older than I am, his mother was my Latvian school teacher and taught me not only about Latvian grammar, but a love for the language and literature. I knew his three sisters (I still run into him and two of his sisters now and then), and the house that he describes in this book. His novel is a thinly disguised reflection on his own youth, how he fell in love with his wife, and the community of Latvians that lived behind the liquor store in the 1950’s to 60’s, before they could afford their own spaces. I know my father lived in a cramped house in Brooklyn with at least a dozen other people when he first came to America. I do not remember all the people that lived in the Baumanis house, but I do remember his mom and sisters, and another teacher and her family. I occasionally went to their house to practice a play for Latvian school with my two teachers. 

I have no idea how much of this story is true, as Baumanis makes the story more thrilling with some Russian mob characters threatening the house, but my cousin, who was the same age as Vilnis said that much of it was true and that he participated in some of the activities described. So we get a good reflection on how Latvian youth lived their first years in America. These were high school and college aged, they met frequently, had their local youth group, danced folk dances, sang, participated in plays. His love interest lived in a basement apartment a few blocks from his house. I remember this basement very well, as I spent years going there every week to practice folk dancing and a group exercise for performance (don't ask, I can't explain it). I remember couches in one corner – that must have been the youth hang out space. The only other character I recognized in the book was the woman who directed them in the performance of Brigadere play Princess Gundega and King Brusubarda. Pauline Dumina was my aunt's  friend and I know she was a big theater person, but I never had a chance to work with her. I am planning to meet a woman who is depicted as a little girl in this book within the next few weeks. Maybe she can shed some light on some of the other characters.

My cousin commented on Baumanis’ rich language, and I have to agree, it is definitely beyond our daily use Latvian, and seems different from the Latvian used here in Latvia in some way.

Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O'Melveny (2012)

I always love books about books, strong women, and historical periods, so this book satisfied all those and wasn't a bad read, but wasn't great. Dr. Gabriella Mondini has been taught the healing arts by her father in Venecia of the late 16th century. Her father took off ten years ago to explore diseases in other countries for his book that she had been helping him write. Since she hasn't heard from him for a while, she takes off to look for him with two of her servants. They travel through Germany, Netherlands, England, Ireland, France, Spain and Morocco. Interesting way of showing these countries from those times, but I had a hard time believing that a single woman could do so at that time, even when she did dress up as a man. I was wondering how she was able to communicate in all those countries, and lastly, I wondered how she could take that much currency with her that worked everywhere and that was never in danger of being stolen. But I guess you can take a positive look at the world, as I usually do, but with my own foreign travels coming up, I must be feeling extra paranoid. I felt I just got a glimpse into how women were treated at that time.

Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea (2009)

This was an inspiring book on human spirit and gave me a bit more insight into the Mexican border and immigrant issues. A town on the coast of Mexico is threatened by drug dealers and there are no more men left in town to protect them, so Nayeli and her two girlfriends, along with Tacho, the gay owner of the town's cafe, head north to bring back men to protect their town. They are supported by Irma, Nayeli's aunt and newly elected major. Nayeli also hopes to bring back her father. We follow them on the long bus ride to Tijuana, their attempts to cross the border, the various people they meet along the way - both good and bad, the makeshift communities Mexicans live in on both sides of the border, the border patrol, and attitudes of various people towards them. They pick up some interesting characters along the way. The story is full of Spanish expressions and conversation, some translated, some not, but the gist was always understandable. I listened to this one, but it might have been nice to see the written words as they were spoken, so I might learn some Spanish - maybe some other time.

Latvian Storytellers (2006)

This came from our university's Japanese professor, a set of three tales by Latvian writers:

• Para by Gundege Repše
• The Innocent Virgins by Pauls Bankovskis
• Amaryllises by Nora Ikstena
• The Snake by Laima Muktupavela
• Still Life with Pomegranate by Inga Ābele
• push, push by Andra Neiburga

I actually did know all of them by name and had read something from half of the authors. This just reminded me that I do need to take time this summer to read more of the local Latvian authors. I really enjoyed these stories.

Feminist Fables by Suniti Namjoshi (1981)

Just one of the books I picked out from the books left behind by Inese Jansons. These one to two page fables are a feminist stream of consciousness on the fairy tales, legends, fables from around the world. Most were familiar. Namjoshi doesn't necessarily try to retell the tale, just takes some aspect and comments on it.

• The post Red Riding hood story written up as a case history: "Grandmother dead. Wolf not dead. Wolf marries mother. R. not happy..."  
• If the princess was so sensitive that she felt the pea under all those mattresses, then she would probably be unbearably sensitive to everything.
• The fisherman's wife of the guy with the three wishes really just wants a divorce.

Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts (2011)

I have to say this is one of the best Nora Roberts books I have read in a long time. She looks at a profession - smoke jumpers - that I was not aware of. These are the people that put out forest fires by jumping out of planes to get quickly right to the fire. A very dangerous and physically demanding job. I liked the camraderie in the group, and the details of the job. Of course this is a romance, so we have our love story between the main character - Rowan Tripp, a daughter of a smoke jumper and one of a few women on the team, and Gil Curry, a rookie smoke jumper who is fast on his feet, confident, comes from a successful family business, but is drawn to put our fires. (I am not sure why he started working as a fireman was ever addressed, but that is a small detail.) I liked the pace of this romance, as Rowan has a rule about not dating those she works with, plus she has trust issues, which I thought were handled well. But my favorite part of this romance was that there was middle-aged romance and intimacy - Rowan's father finds love too, and actually "gets some" before the young couple get together. Adding a mystery story-line always helps too. The story starts with Jim, one of the smoke jumpers making a mistake that costs his life. But the following summer his girlfriend's body is found, so there are cops milling about investigating. Good simple read.

Wish List by John Locke (2011)

Well, this was a strange book. Maybe it is the sign of the times, since we are moving away from in depth reading, maybe adult fiction is moving towards quick, intense reads. The 215 pages consisted of chapters 1 (yes one!) to 7 pages long. I found one chapter that was 8 pages, most ran 3-4 pages. I think most kids' book chapters run longer than that. 215 pages of fast, non-stop action. Then there were 20 pages before you get to the story itself, mostly promotion for his next novel, of which you get 2 chapters at the end of the book. This is supposedly a New York Times best selling author, who was the first to sell 1 million copies in e-books. So maybe this is the style for e-books. I don't get it.

The premise sounded like fun. There is an online program where you can enter your wishes, and they get granted, but there is a price. And I didn't even mind the raunchy guy talk of I would like to take so and so to bed. And Buddy Pancake was a likable character, loved his wife, hated his job, so I liked how his wishes started changing his life. But then it went into a lot of senseless killing. I have a hard enough time with murders in mysteries and spy novels and all those crime shows on TV, but this went beyond my tolerance level and not my idea of entertainment. Sorry Mr. Locke, I will not contribute to your further success. (Wasn't John Locke one of the strangest characters on the TV series "Lost"?)

The one thing this book made me think about was if I was given three or so wishes, what would they be? Mostly I think of the nebulous health and happiness for my son, family and friends. The rest of the things that come to mind seem like I can make them happen myself, if I set my mind to it - travel around the world, get someone to clean my house and redo my yard, have a meaningful conversation about reorganizing my work environment, create a foundation to support Latvian libraries and archives. What ARE my priorities?

Lily and Sword and Crown by Katherine Burton (1958)

This is a history of the Sisters of St. Casimir, a Lithuanian congregation based in Chicago, that I visited as part of my research on places that might be useful to researchers of the Baltic countries and their people around the world. I also have a blog entry on my visit. Since there is only one reference to the library in this book, when someone is considering giving a book to the library as a gift, this hasn't really been helpful to the nuts and bolts of my research. But instead, it has given me a good glimpse into the Lithuanian community in the U.S. during the first half of the 20th century. I actually know very little about the Latvian communities that were formed in the United states before my parents emigrated, and the Lithuanians settled in the U.S. in much greater numbers. I only knew that from Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle and that there was a large Lithuanian community in Chicago, that predated WWII. In my visit, Sister Theresa Papsis gave me a brief history, and explained, that it had all started in Scranton, PA, where a Lithuanian pastor had a congregation and invited his sister to come to America and help him out. The sister and friends started the Sisters of St. Casimir in Pennsylvania, but then were convinced to move to Chicago instead. She graciously gifted me this book, so I could learn more about them.

From that brief overview from Sister Theresa, I kept asking myself - why Scranton? So when I spent spring break visiting a few libraries, archives and museums on the East coast, I visited the Anthracite Heritage Museum in Scranton, where I learned about the numerous immigrant coal miners and textile workers. Lithuanians were mentioned among the immigrant groups, and churches were mentioned as important institutions for the communities. I also looked up the most recent census data, and got approximate numbers of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians for each state. The tables are at work right now, but I was surprised at the number of Lithuanians in Pennsylvania - and Illinois. After reading this book, I understand why.

This book educated me on various levels. I learned a lot about the practical work of the Catholic Church and congregations of sisters in particular. I think in my mind I had thought of it more as a monastery or cloister, devoted to quiet contemplation, though the little I saw of Sister Theresa convinced me that at least one of them was a very busy sister. I was surprised that their main focus was education. Over the fifty years described in the book, they grew from three teachers and under a hundred students to 53 institutions in 13 states and Argentina, with about 500 sisters teaching over 12,000 students. They built and managed the Holy Cross Hospital from 1928, and were asked to manage another failing hospital in Chicago some years later. They prepared teachers for Lithuanian communities around the country - and even reinvigorated the Catholic Church in Lithuania, after it gained its independence in 1919. All incredibly hard workers with the larger communities as their focus.

I have always been a bit skeptical of renouncing relationships with men, but I found a model that I saw as quite functional. First of all, the church setting and extensive training offered a way for women to be out in the world away from their families, to get an education, and have a fulfilling career, while not being totally out on their own without protection. There were plenty of men in their lives - the fathers, bishops, etc., without whose help they could not have done all the things they did. I can see this as a very functional system, with set roles and boundaries. I will stick with my belief in the good and keep the skeptic out of this situation. I am sure it is much harder to get people who want to commit to these roles now, as is seen with the diminished number of sisters at St. Casimir.

It seemed that there was no angst about remaining "purely Lithuanian," a conversation often heard in the Latvian community today. As Catholics, they had a structure in which to belong, and their accomplishments were largely due to support from American bishops, archbishops, fathers and mothers. Since I am not totally familiar with Lithuanian names, often I could not tell if they were dealing with a Lithuanian or not. Mother Cyril played a major role in the development and ongoing support of the Sisters of St. Casimir, and my sense was that she was not Lithuanian. During celebrations it was often noted that things happened in Latin, Lithuanian and English. Something to think about.

My last comment on this book, is that it was meticulously crafted (maybe edited a bit differently if written today) and seemed to know what everyone was thinking at any given moment. I believe this detail was possible because the people of those times communicated frequently with letters - often weekly or even daily. The book will at time directly quote from a letter, but often just say things like "Sister Maria was greatly disappointed..." We tend to put it all out there in emails, but who can even begin to archive all of those. My friend Inta sent long letters to my cousin about her philosophy of life. When she died I asked my cousin about them and he said he had deleted them all. Poof! Gone! I understand the Sisters continue to maintain a detailed archive of their history, which is good. They have done an amazing job over the last 100+ years.

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah (2009)

I did not realize this was another Kristin Hannah book, since I just read Home Front. I might have waited a bit longer before reading another one of these modern day sagas that I think realistically depicts relationships and situations, but gets pretty heavy.

Two very different girls briefly live across the street from each other on Firefly Lane. (Strangely it gets mentioned a few times that there are no fireflies in the Puget Sound area around Seattle, WA,which is a shame, as they are really neat creatures.) Kate comes from a loving family, but isn't very popular in school. Tully has a strung-out mom that leaves her to be raised by her grandmother, but knows how to be the center of attraction. They bond and become best friends for life. Here again I feel the need to add an aside. In one sense I envy those that have life-long best friends. I seem to have had a series of best friends throughout life - throughout childhood - high school - college - Ohio - Latvian Studies Center - and post LSC. I am still in contact with all of them, except from early childhood, and the ones that are no longer with us. But I can't say I have a best friend at the moment, and that elicits a certain sadness in me when reading about other best friends.

So... Kate and Tully dream of being news anchors together, go to U-Dub (University of Washington) together - a school I admire and enjoyed mentions of Suzzallo lLbrary. They get their first job together, but then Kate goes on to be a stay-at-home mom, while Tully becomes famous. I always enjoy learning about the way certain professions work, and since I have some interest in journalism, it was a nice look into that field. The book did seem to plod at times, as the author took us through the decades with these two women. But what I really enjoyed were the details from each time period. Since the women depicted are only about five years younger than me, I remember all the times they lived through. The music and songs of the times are always mentioned, but then there are toys (trolls), drinks (Tab), movies, books and numerous other cultural references that just bring a period back to me.

I don't know if it is a pattern for Hannah, but since Home Front addressed amputation and PTSD, this book too addressed a medical condition - breast cancer. Definitely a better way of learning about it than from a dry brochure, and it adds extra gravitas to the book, which I didn't really need at this busy time of the year. Worthwhile, but I think I will stay away from Kristin Hannah for a while.