A Bunch Of Books

 My husband presented me with that latest of the omnipresent gadgets meant for staying in touch. Steve Jobs's iPhone. I was completely happy with my good old phone but even I thought I could use a new one since one of the buttons came off of it. So here he (my husband, not Mr. Jobs) goes adeptly turning off my old phone and connecting the new one and depositing it in my bag all in a good evening's work. Then he calls me as I was driving to work and I was totally surprised and happy to find it in my purse! At first I couldn't find much use for its many features but now I am a complete convert and am a fan of Jobs for a job well done. This is a quality product where every little detail was thought about and implemented to the satisfaction of a critical eye. The only complaint - and I think it a valid one - is that it should have had a good GPS installed. Something along the lines of what the androids sport so well as evidenced by my husband's 2 year old and still going strong google phone. Why am I blabbering out all this here? I would not have been able to capture this beautiful swan if it wasn't for the excellent camera on this phone so readily available in my jeans pocket. It was on a visit to our local park. I had not noticed him there before but apparently he is a regular visitor!

So nance asks if have stopped reading books. Without nance this blog will wither and die and so this post is for nance. I never stopped reading and they are what keeps me sane when things get on a never ending roller coaster or life throws its lemons around. Though I read I didn't have time to sit down and write'em impressions I have of the book and then I feel the soul of it is lost and that I cannot put what I felt on reading it. These are a bunch of books I read the past week. I am writing down a few lines here on each of them. There is not much in common except that they are all about women.

Little Bee By Chris Cleave (Published as The Other Hand in Britain)

With an eye catching byline on the back cover that claims in uncertain terms that they don't want to give out too much about this special story, the book easily came home with me. Yes, it indeed is a special story and  one of the narrators is what makes it so. The girl who calls herself Little Bee is an illegal immigrant to UK from Nigeria and the story begins when she is about to be released from the Immigration Detention Center. It goes onto get her story combined with that of a British couple. The second narrator is the wife who is also a magazine editor. The story revolves around what happened one day at one of the beaches in Nigeria where Little Bee's world collided with that of the British couple as a byproduct of the oil conflict in Nigeria. What was most interesting about this book was Little Bee's narration in first person. Refreshingly worded and told from a different angle, it attracts you immediately. The author draws deeply from his own experience in West Africa and his connection is evident in how well he is able to bring out this female voice. The book has snagged a few awards and will be made into a movie with Nicole Kidman as the second narrator.


The Wednesday Sisters By Meg Waite Clayton

At first glance the urge is to dismiss The Wednesday Sisters as a run-of-the-mil chick flick er.. book. In addition to being a satisfying chick read, it incorporates so many other elements that ultimately it becomes a flick for everyone. Granted, being set in Silicon Valley Bay Area may have twisted my hand a bit but who can resist a bunch of wives meeting regularly in the park in the late sixties eventually evolving into a group of writers and publishers through mutual support and encouragement? I'd like to be a part of that myself. The birth of Intel/silicon valley is a quiet presence all throughout since that is where one of the husbands worked! The venerable Robert Noyce is presented as a distant yet familiar figure. Clayton had her own version of Wednesday Sisters and this could be written in tribute which makes it all the more endearing.

The Dovekeepers By Alice Hoffman

There's been a flurry of various type of keepers lately. Memory keeper, bee keeper, bear keeper, you name it we have it. Something about it makes me not want to touch it and yet when I read one it is always better than expected. So it is with Hoffman's Dovekeeper. It is about four Jewish women from around the time of the Roman occupation of Judea who keeps the doves for a dessert settlement of the diaspora. It is based on the ancient settlement called Masada built on the ramparts of King Herod's Fortress overlooking the Dead Sea. Masada is second only to Jerusalem as a tourist destination. It was appropriated by a violent sect of Jewish fighters against Rome. The book is replete with magic and mysticism, gained and lost love as well as mothers, daughters and war. Each of the artifacts used in the book to perform magic or war was based on an actual such object found in the Museums around Masada and elsewhere according to the author. I found that very intriguing. It is almost as if those objects came to life and told their stories!  It takes talent to bring such a story together with that of four different women and make it as interesting as it is. Hoffman has succeeded very well in doing this.

Elizabeth Berg's Books

High BP invaded the house quite unawares and its medications had the most uncommon but listed side effects, and life's been in the doldrums. The ongoing remodeling came to a halt and priorities changed overnight. Having a doctor for a brother only a call away (and willing to listen for any lengths of time) in this country where the doctors mostly diagnose you for the 5 minutes you are in their office helped more than I can say. Family support from both ends held us together and friends in need were great too. Finally it looks like we are past the nightmare and can relax a bit. When life seems to take the carpet from under your feet, prayers give you strength. Childhood prayers that lolled though the house every morning and evening came to our aid in time of need. Taking heart from this we hope to impart some of it to the kiddos. Hope they will be able to channel this candle in the water that will burn for you in times of trouble - to paraphrase a famous Disney song. Setting aside the dutiful and conveniently short prayers, we have started what we hope to be the beginning of a long history of family prayers. Needless to say the novelty of a structured prayer is holding the kids up through the longer time for the moment. I remember my own impatience as the rosaries stretched long every day with no end in sight and yet how comforting it always is! It is a ritual that anchors you in familial love and in devotion to a higher power that keeps you secure.

I didn't mean to go that much off the subject but guess it had to be. Since books are my major form of relaxation I couldn't wait to get a bunch at the the first chance in a long time. Lucky for me I chanced upon Elizabeth Berg again. This writer as I knew then is just what you need in such times. She is an ultimate woman's writer and instead of fishing for angst and rage she manages to bind her characters with love, empathy and kindness while not being overly so. Her sensible characters go through life with real experiences and come to the most amicable conclusions after facing plausible soul searching episodes. An aphrodisiac if you are looking for something gentle and engaging. I wish her the best and hope she will write as many books as she can so her subtle message of love and civility will reach more people. I finished True To Form and The Year of Pleasures in 2 days! The former is told through the eyes of a budding teenage girl who lost her mother and is finding her own way in the world. What is great is how she picks up on the love of people around her even when it is not so demonstrative. It is that awareness of true and gentle love among all layers of people and its understanding that will form the person that she is. Great great book. I could easily see the 13 year old me in her:-) The second book is about a well loved and protected wife who is forced to find the meaning of life anew when her husband dies. Berg portrays her decisions and how she mourns rather well and while some parts could be said as piling it on (the warm cozy), still manages to remain true to her basic message in a reliable story fabric. I am going back to get more of her books.

In a rather sad but not really so aside, I have to say that my trusty Library has just decided to charge us yearly for its wonderful service because although we live near it, we don't fall in its service area. Being superior to what we have in our service area, I will be ponying up the money for sure. Just hope that it won't keep going up each year though.. Isn't it odd that all the Elizabeth's I have come across are good writers that cater to the reader in me? Could it be because I am partial to them for carrying my sister's baptismal name? On other news I have drafts of a few fantastic books I had read earlier and will be posting those in the coming weeks. Till then go find Berg and have one on me. K?

A Visit and a Book

Little did we know that we will be flying to tornado country when we booked tickets to spend Easter with my brother and family. Luckily for us, we managed right under the ravaging weather radar and came back safe and sound. Our prayers for those who were caught unawares. Yes, we went to Pioneer Woman's state although we didn't spot her and even had food at Sonic. It was really good to spend this holiday with family. Afterwards we drove 5 hours to the neighboring state to see my alma mater in US (pictured above is the ornate top of the oldest building on campus) after wrangling a dinner invite from my graduate adviser. It was quite a gratifying trip and the family enjoyed revisiting my old habitats. Weather too decided to be lenient while we were roaming around campus. When we visited the downtown I realized that I had never visited it during my time there! My husband and I would like to actually move there, as the green and sprawling university town is just what the doctor ordered for bringing up a nice little family. Hold your horses, we are not moving yet, for such is the travails of life that these decisions cannot be made lightly... So here we are back in sunny benevolent California, obediently spinning the daily wheel of life.

In expectation of my sister's visit from India in summer we are doing some much needed repair ( remodeling sounds better. eh?) to our house. I am holding my breath until the work is over because I just cannot tolerate dust and so much hegemony inside my sanctuary. But we cannot really escape it if we have hopes of living in the house long term. OK, so that was all about the visit and what is the latest and greatest here. Now for the book.

An Atlas of Impossible Longing

 The main reason I bought the book was because I wanted something to keep me occupied during the flight especially since the kids are older now and the husband came prepared with his newly acquired Nook. I just need to hold paper between my hands which is why I don't own the Kindle that he tried to get me. So off I went browsing the airport bookstore and this book caught my eye despite there being hundreds of good books around. I hope to go back to that book store another time just to note down titles for future reads. Didn't have much time to spend there during this trip. Lack of time is also the reason why I thought this was Arundhathi Roy's second book instead of Anuradha Roy's first book. It is also what made me think the coconut trees on the book cover shows Kerala instead of West Bengal! Only after getting on the plane and settling down did I realize the mistake. Undaunted, I started to read the book and a few pages were enough to tell me the mistake was actually a find! Anuradha Roy is a gifted writer with a great perception for people from all walks of life. The book envelopes the reader in a nostalgic past that you will totally get even if you are not from that part of India. Story spans three generations of an old family in Bengal starting with pre-independance India and is sort of centered around a house on the banks of a river. The house is not the one lived in by the family in question but comes out as a central character. Roy's other job is as an independent publisher in India. If you come across this book you will know what to do now. We had four flights to take in all and that is about the time it took me to finish the book!

The Year Of Fog & A Summer Without Dawn

 

Not only did the kids get better, but we all went skiing last weekend amidst snow showers as evidenced by our little snowman up there! Dads and kids did the skiing while I had fun sitting inside the rented cabin with other Moms and enjoying the falling snow, drinking coffee and taking a leisurely walk. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to ski but the weather seemed more for simple merriment rather than trying my first hand at skiing where one could fall many times over before getting the hang of it. The decision to postpone the inevitable was rather quickly taken if you know what I mean:-) Perhaps half the charm of being in the snow was knowing that our snow free hometown is only a few hours drive away.. True to form guess what we did just three days after getting back from the snow storm? Went biking around the block in near summer weather!!!! Only in California I think..

The Year Of Fog by Michelle Richmond

This beautiful book was finished in 2 sittings separated only by going to work and tending to kids' needs. Six year old Emma vanished in the few seconds that her step-mom-to-be Abby turned to take a picture in the foggy Ocean Beach of San Francisco. Michelle Richmond describes Abby's uncommon love for the lost girl with a realistic approach. The twists and turns in Abby's relationship with Emma's father is also realistically portrayed. As an extra perk, the way memory works in people under different circumstances is shown with the support of adequate research material. The way Abby rethinks the events of the day and picks through her memories even after Emma's own father has given up is far from the norm and intriguing. Abby's search is made conceivable to the reader through interesting visuals and thought processes.  Interesting to note that the fog on the beach of the initial chapters gets replaced with the fog of Abby's memories. Very good and quick read. All the beach and fog brought forth memories of House Of Fog and Sand which was a book and movie that I had liked. But they are not similar in any other way.

A Summer Without Dawn by Agop J. Hacikyan & Jean-Yves Soucy

This top of the line historical fiction is a must read for all. There is not much material on the authors in the web especially for Jean-Yves Soucy. Agop J Hazikyan is of Armenian descent and his background has done full justice to the story he is trying to tell. The authors have painstakingly portrayed the plight of a people while keeping it on a personal level by threading in the story of a particular family. I agree with the reviews that describe the book as the Armenian equivalent of a Dr. Zhivago or a Gone with the Wind  . Vartan Balian is an Armenian Christian who is an Army Reserve Officer in the Ottoman Empire around World War I. He is also a trained pharmacist and even this position of advantage and wealth does not help him and his family from what was to come. Maybe it was because Mother Teresa was from the same region of the Balkans (Albania) that I felt a quick affinity to this particular story. More than a million and quarter of Armenians were systematically eliminated in the Armenian Deportation procedures that started in 1915 during the Young Turks regime (the name Sublime Porte is also used) under Sultan Mehmed V and the three Pashas who wielded the real power. Armenians were asked to move from their ancestral homelands in the Ottoman Empire to far away lands with no intention of  letting them reach any destination. Vartan, his beautiful wife Maro and 10 year old son Tomas are noble, lovable characters and it is not surprising that we feel their sufferings as our own. The book served literally as a 'Porte' into the time around the downfall of the Ottoman Empire before the formation of the Republic of Turkey. Historical fiction at its best. Interesting fact for those who watch Food Network. Just learned that Chopped Judge Geoffrey Zakarian (a favorite of yours truly) is of Armenian descent. The last name ending in 'an' is common for Armenians it seems.

Below is a picture from my girl based on the entirety of our trip which started through rainy green meadows and centered around the snow cabin.

Three Books

I have read a few books these past days. That was before the cold virus landed in full force. Found only three of them worth mentioning. These are real gems though and  I am happy to talk about them.


The Savior by Eugene Drucker

At first glance it has the look and feel of a story similar to The Pianist. No I didn't read the book, only watched the movie and loved it. So then what is the big deal. Why bring this to the post? There you have it. It is a violin instead of a piano! OK just kidding:-)  It is quite an interesting story of a German (read Aryan) musician being reduced to playing for bored and angry soldiers and eventually for an experimental group of concentration camp inmates during the Third Reich. The expected but still ruthless conclusion makes us feel the human pain in full force. Being told from the other side of the fence by a sympathizing spirit is a good change. An intriguing aspect is the presentation of music and its organization for concerts even if not for the usual audience. I was not much into instrumental music until my son and now my daughter started piano lessons. They are not maestros but it is endearing and lively to listen to the sound of music played by little hands in the house. This gave me a new appreciation for music unaccompanied by voice. So enjoyed this book probably more than if I'd read it earlier. How else could I have appreciated  the presence of  Bach's Chaconne and its effect on the characters? Eugene Drucker is a Grammy winning violin artist and has given the equivalent of a beautiful concert to his readers here. It is loosely based upon the experiences of his father who was an accomplished musician in Germany during the period of the story. A good read doubtless.


A True Story Based on Lies by Jennifer Clement

Jennifer Clement is a well known poet and I knew that is why this book attracted my attention. Not really, but I have to say the book read like a poem. How could she express this deep deep story in such simple and elegant prose? Clement just  had to be a poet. The funny thing about the book is, there are not many words  in which one can describe it. It is an amazingly well written book. A lot is said in a little in this gem of a book. It goes through the exploited life of a woman named Leonora living among Mexico's impoverished tribes who finds work among its rich. The story maybe be oft told but we will see it anew through Leonora's eyes for whom I developed a certain admiration. This very real character will take a stranglehold on your heart and keeps you thinking whether you like it or not. This small book is simply too large to ignore.

Elizabeth Berg's Home Safe

Whenever I visited a library in Kerala, India there was an author that I could bring home in confidence. Elizabeth Goudge. I have read most of her books in this fashion. So when I fastened on the name Elizabeth Berg I had a deja vu that this is going to be a long relationship. A faithful author to read along the lines of Goudge, Piccoult, Divakaruni or Amy Tan. I was not disappointed. She seems to be a prolific author and I will be reading her books again.  Home Safe is all about writer Helen Ames and how she copes with writer's block and life in general after her husband's sudden death. It also explores her relationship with her daughter and her attempts to build a social network by teaching writer's workshops. I have half a mind to join one. Maybe in another 10 years? Read all of her books OK? Because I will.

Olive Kitteridge

 

I give you this most perfect book on the 3rd anniversary of my blogs.  What a book to post about on this special day! It is the one at the top of the set. While strolling through the streets of a nearby University town we spotted a used bookstore. Of course we had to take a peek which was gratified on realizing that the owners cater to just my kind of reading in the fiction aisle. So we got a book from there and Olive Kitterdige came home with us. Written by Elizabeth Strout, this book is a compilation of short stories about the people living in the New England town of Maisy Mills. Olive Kitteridge pokes her face in all the stories. In sometimes short and sometimes long spans.  Elizabeth Kitteridge, I mean Elizabeth Strout - it is difficult to separate them - has magnificently captured the trials and tribulations of a present day woman through the various stages of life. Strout seems to be primarily interested in portraying people through their post marriage lives and is very good at it. Looks like having lived in a small New England town of  Puritans  has given her the right tools to delve into her characters with precision.  
 

I could not put this book down although there were no mysteries to solve and no thickening plots. The quite simplicity with which Strout goes through each story is just cool. Why is this so perfect? Because there is something in it for every reader. This will be my all-time recommendation for anyone, anywhere, any day.  Suffice it so say I have read Strout's two other books after hunting them down in our Library. Her very first book Amy and Isabelle explores mother daughter relationships and teenage angst in all honesty. Abide With Me is simply too sweet to pass up and can hold a good candle to Cronin in the turbulent yet peaceful journey of its main character Tyler. So many good reads everyone. Boy, am I generous today, there are more books to follow!!

 Chitra Divakaruni's One Amazing Thing

A Divakaruni book is a surefire read and this one was no exception. Her portrayal of a cosmopolitan group of people caught inside the Indian Embassy during an earthquake has come together very well. Divakaruni is venturing closer to her current home environment in this book . Meaning she writes it without the usual foot in a nostalgic India immortalized through her golden prose many times over. The change is really beautiful and though less lyrical shows her off as a strong writer and storyteller once again.

The Portrait of an Unknown Woman By Varona Bennet

Varona who? you might say but this writer is a force to be reckoned in period dramas based mostly on facts. Chances are you might already be familiar with her and I am the last to get on board. The book is about 425 pages and was way awesome until about 400 pages. After that it fell through a little too quickly! Maybe the author wanted to keep the pages to an agreed upon number and had to end it there. Anyway there were too many secrets being revealed in such a short time that I couldn't swallow all of it so easily. Having said that you will still thoroughly enjoy this book if you are a historical fiction-er like me. The Unknown Lady is Margaret Giggs. A ward of Sir Thomas More the famous lawyer, humanist and Chancellor to Henry VIII. At least until he resigned, was executed and later joined the Pantheon of Catholic saints. Being raised a Catholic, Thomas More's name was not unfamiliar to me but this book is a jewel of information both in regards to More and Meg Giggs and the many luminaries of those turbulent times in the Church's history. The best find for me was Hans Holbein, portraiture expert and King's Painter. This mostly logical story line developed by the author to weave England's Plantagenet and Tudor dynasties into it was fun. A wonderful period for the writer to choose from. The brilliant pick of Meg Giggs as narrator instead of the oft repeated characters from Henry's Court augments the novel's appeal. Holbein painted two family portraits of the Mores. The sketch of the first can be seen here and the second here. How some of Holbein's paintings took shape is given special thought and written in detail. This provides a most interesting angle to the book. So read them all or read a few and don't forget Mrs. Kitteridge. Keep reading!

The Red Pyramid & A Movie

I think I told you that my son is totally into Rick Riordan. So I got him the Red Pyramid when it came out. He's been very good about getting all the Riordan books from his school library so far. But the Red Pyramid being home caught my attention on a lazy rainy afternoon and I took it up much to his pleasure. Suffice it to say I finished it off fast. It reads almost like any of the HarryPotter books and even seems to have some themes running in parallel. But the environment is quite different what with Egyptian Gods fighting each other through the centuries and all. I am as you well know is a big time sucker for history. Mythology and ancient legends are so closely intertwined with history that I find those easy to read. A good book and a good author. It may not be as appealing to the adults as the HP books are, but comes close. So take it up if you were eyeing these books and wondering..

The Movie
Finally watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I  that I'd been promising my son ever since it came out. Now that Christmas holidays are here I thought the 3PM show on a Tuesday cannot be that bad since it's been a few weeks. Much to my surprise the theater was full by the time the movie started. A rarity around here. Even more interesting was the wide spectrum of people who came to watch the movie. From the old Grandpa with the cane to my girl who stubbornly kept her eyes open through most of the scary scenes. I as an adult totally enjoyed the movie. I guess the director got a chance for some character development this time since they are doing the last book in two movies. I loved how the 3 brothers' tale was portrayed in the movie. Very tastefully done. Do watch it with family esp if everyone is a fan of the books. Tangled is next in list for the holidays.