the first one.

Starting over this year and my first book read is:
Traveling with Pomegranates


I didn't think too much of this book in the beginning.  Bought it 50% off in Cleveland.  Great title though about the legend of Demeter and Persephone and the transformation mothers & daughters go through.  Initially, I felt the authors (mother and daughter Kidd) had way too much time on their hands to analyze dreams and explore foreign countries.  Rough life.

That said, this was an extremely honest reflection on discovering oneself.  I'm insanely jealous of the time they spent exploring Joan of Arc and the Black Madonnas and Athena in Greece & Paris.  If you love Secret Life of Bees, you'll enjoy Traveling with Pomegranates.  Sue Monk Kidd talks about writing the book here.  I would recommend to Claudia et al who like feminist literature but no others.

Book Thirty Five

Well, my aspiration of becoming an official bibliophile will have to wait one more year.  But I'm proud nonetheless that I worked my head around 35 books.  I KNOW that I can hit 50 in 2010!

The last book I finished in 2009 was the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  Craziest book title ever but a poignant story.  I love reading about the occupation and World War II and felt pleasantly introduced to the Guernsey Islands and its inhabitants.  My fascination for London is quickly escalating and I would LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE to travel to Guernsey in person. 

The love story . . . didn't do much for me.  But I enjoyed reading all the letters describing Elizabeth and others who demonstrated great acts of courage.  The author writes in a style that resembles Maeve Binchy.  The characterization and sense of place is spot on.  This was a quick read.  I couldn't necessarily predict the surprises that lay in store and I wanted to read more.

I am happy for Mary Ann Shaffer that she could write such a novel in her golden years.  I won't remember this novel for long but am glad it has been published and will fill library shelves.

Book Thirty Four

Well, I was pleasantly surprised by this book.  It had guts.  I thought it would be just another book about a male ego but it was more than meets the eye.  I'm desparately sad about missing this book club as I feel I could gain a lot from the discussion.  Unfortunately, it snowed today and I had a commute from hell.  Somedays, it is awfully hard to appreciate Minnesota.

But, back to the book.  Guterson's writing was very detailed which caused me to detach from the characters initially.  Clearly, John William Barry was depressed and his depression was aggravating as most depressions are.   I found myself more taken with the setting than the characters at the outset.  Guterson writes about the Seattle mountains and environs with great admiration.  I'm not a hiker but I felt as if I was breaking my own trail.  A mix of action and contemplation, this could be a book for both genders.

As the book continued on, it made me think.  Similar in plot but  more developed, this novel seems more ambitious and enhanced than Krakauer's Into The Wild.  It is thoughtful about existentialism and delves further than just the actions of the hermit.  It wonders about nurture and nature and if John William Barry suffered the effects of bad parenting.  It makes you question Neil Countryman's decisions and motives and consider what life might be like if 19 million dollars fell out of the clouds one day into your hands.

This is a novel that I might recommend (to some) and would certainly be on a personal Top 10 list of my own IF it were just a little less verbose OR if I was just a little more male.  Know what I mean?

Book Thirty Three

I've been hearing in blogland (the place I go to check out & simultaneousy be inspired) that Ruth Reichl is the bomb.  And also that the world is now coming to an end with the close of her Gourmet magazine.  I had to find out for myself and read Garlic and Sapphires.  Here, Reichl discusses her reign as the restaurant critic for the New York Times.  The title drew me in but the cover turned me off.  Ick.  I had to strip the book down before I could read it.  And yes, I accidentally ordered large print through Better World Books.  Maybe this is a book I'll read again in thirty years when the eyes are shot and trips to NYC are a distant memory.

That said, the memoir was a tad bit self important and vapid.  And yet, I have to admit that I was hungry reading it.  I have heard of all these executive chefs before: Rocco DiSpirito and Daniel Boulud, for example.  Famous haunts like Le Cirque and Tavern on the Green.  The book was very cosmopolitan and good background reading if you are a fan of the Martha show.  I nearly put Martha back in my Tivo so I could taste the dishes and glimpse the celebrity in person.  I will never eat at Le Cirque (never say never) but I feel as if I have eaten there after finishing this book.

I wonder what Reichl will do next?  What adventures does she have in store for us now?

Book Thirty Two

This book was haunting and there is no other way to describe it  Written by the author of Speak, Laure Halse Anderson paints an incredibly vivid picture of a teenage woman grappling with a deadly eating disorder.  She gets the voice down pitch perfect.  Lia is sarcastic and disillusioned about life.  I liked the strike-outs that Anderson inserts when Lia censors her own thoughts.  I don't know how Anderson identified with the teenage voice quite so well.  By the end of the book, I felt the author certainly must have struggled with her own disordered eating.  But then, don't we all . . .

This is not a book I would have on my shelf because it's too dark.  But, I'm glad it has been written as it expertly depicts the experience.  I don't know who I would recommend the book to.  It doesn't exactly glorify eating disorders but in many ways it could be misconstrued as a "how to" manual.  Parents reading this book would get chills and fear for their own daughter.  The scenes depicting cutting were difficult, if not impossible, to read.  I wanted to hate Lia for the pain she inflicted on herself and others.  Like I said, Anderson nails this disease.  She couldn't have written a more authentic novel if she had tried.

Read this in a day and a half.  Need some uplifting chick lit, stat.

Book Thirty One

My first impression of this book was:  dammit will Kate DiCamillo STOP repeating herself already?  I must say, I missed the whole point of that technique.  The specialness of the book didn't hit me until the author's acknowledgments on the last page giving thanks to those who walked with her through a long winter's night.  To me, DiCamillo means to say that an elephant comes to us all when we despair most.  And a community of others will help us get to the place we are supposed to live.

Way too much time on Vilna Lutz though.  What is DiCamillo trying to tell us about this old soldier with half a brain? This is a lyrical book but it does beg to be read aloud.  I'm not sure my understanding of the novel is what DiCamillo intends.  I did enjoy but without the dramatization and setting constructed by brilliant illustrator Yoko Tanaka, the book is just page upon page.  I could have skipped this one and I hate to say that about DiCamillo.

Book Thirty

I love Leif Enger. He's an former NPR editor writing about a man from Cannon Falls. Lest those Harvard professors continue to characterize us as "children of the corn," Leif Enger shows again that there can be beauty in simplicity & deep characterization in a novel of just 250 pages. He isn't showy with his words but still manages to convey. I finished this book in 3 days. I devoured it.

Some readers find that Brave, Young and Handsome is a poor man's cousin to Peace Like A River. The former is a book about faith, the latter about family. I wasn't ready to embrace a novel about the West and train robbers and the Pinkertons but somehow, along the journey, I found myself intrigued by Darlys Dafoe and Hood Roberts and Charles Siringo. I could have spent a little less time with Charles Siringo. The dude just would NOT go away.

More than anything, Enger does an AMAZING job giving voice to his storyteller. I felt that Monte Becket was a member of my family . . . I knew him so well. I found myself drawn to Glendon Hale's character most of all and kept wishing Monte would find him again in the story. At the same time, I wanted Monte to just go home already. I was frustrated by the long journey to find himself. I have to admit that I was shocked by the ending. I should have seen it coming. I really didn't.

My favorite passage is on page 271 when Susannah discovers that Monte has encountered grace. "You seemed afraid before you left - and now you don't." I do think that Monte Becket experienced a tremendous amount of growth throughout the book but then again who doesn't find happiness (at the end of the rainbow) on an orange grove in California? I mean, really . . . anyone could be happy there.

Interesting that "So Brave" is Leif's second book and it took seven years to create. In "So Brave," he describes "Peace" as a novel that was trashed for not being good enough. And Leif has stated in interviews that he read every sentence of his novels to his wife Robin during their inception. Just like Monte Becket shares with Susannah when he writes his 1000 words. You wonder how much of the novel and its themes are autobiographical.

Favorite quote - "Sometimes heroism is nothing more than patience, curiosity, and a refusal to panic."

Book Twenty Nine

This memoir was compelling and sensitive. Couldn't put it down. Very thoughtfully written, the memoir will leave you uplifted.

I chose this book to read because of my work with Hmong students at our school. I felt a void not knowing their history and not understanding the parent perspective. The story of Yang's family crossing the Mekong river helped explain their immigrant journey. I understand more now the gender norms of the society and the desire to have large families. I loved the compassion that Kao had for her grandmother and the image of her washing the dirt from many lands from her feet. The last few chapters of the book that covered the grandmother's funeral I simply didn't want to end.

I am hopeful that Kao Kalia Yang might speak to our group and will shamelessly push this book on every Hmong young woman coming through our school

Inspired respect and understanding. Highly recommend.

Book Twenty Eight

I'm doing my third cleanse this week and quite frankly, I'm just done with health books. I've learned all about Omega 3's and low glycemic diets and hydrating. I'm eating protein at every meal and drinking cranberry juice and organic foods when possible. But, what I really want, is a Potbelly Oreo Shake.

I found Mark Bittman's book just NOT as good as Pollan's In Defense of Food. He attacks meat and dairy with a vengeance but also in a very boring, repetitive way. This might be a good introduction to healthy eating for the new millennium but stay away if you've read others in the same genre.

This book is mostly recipes. Bittman is an amazing chef and I plan to go through his recipes one at a time because I do think they will help my cooking. Just not sure I plan on eating quinoa and barley for breakfast any time soon.

I still love me my Greek yogurt.

Book Twenty Seven

This book was a struggle. I'm grateful I didn't suggest it to Vanaheim or Stillwater as it would have absolutely killed the book club. The synopsis according to BN: "Mary McCarthy portrays the lives, and aspirations of eight Vassar graduates. "The group" meets in New York following commencement to attend the wedding of one of their members— and reconvenes seven years later at her funeral".

Well, here's what I thought. Basically, I missed the whole lesbian subtext, found myself unintrigued by Trotskyism, socialism, Fascism and a whole lot of other isms. The child rearing techniques were interesting, I suppose, and I learned a good deal about birth control and mental health in the 1940s. None of the characters grew on me whatsoever except for Polly at the very end. The author spent a good deal of time with each and yet I wasn't endeared a bit. The writing is just too detailed and meticulous. And so, I missed the satire.

I wanted to like this book because I feel as if it lends perspective into the women's movement and all of the advancements we have made as a society. But, I just couldn't appreciate the plot. Only 1 reader review and 3 editorial reviews. This book does seem to have fallen off the radar despite it's popularity at the time. I think I understand why.