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.

Orhan Pamuk

I am a fan of Orhan Pamuk. I even have an absurd pride that I picked up  "My Name is Red" from the library to read him for the first time and he won the Nobel Prize for literature later the same year. Me & The Nobel Committee on the same line. Not bad eh? Since then I had been very interested in his works and own a copy of Snow.  I know Naperville Mom shares my enthusiasm for Pamuk. There was a short Pamuk break but recently I happened to watch a Malayalam movie called 'Kaiyoppu' and in it the protagonist who is a budding writer has a talk with his mentor while they were discussing the current state of writing. He  quotes the first line from Pamuk's book : "I read a book one day and my whole life was changed." Who wouldn't be intrigued by that? So that was enough for silly me to jump into the library site and put The New Life on hold. It was all worth it I tell ya. The book was not quite what I expected in terms of where it lead but Pamuk's writing kept its hold on me as always. He can be down to earth when he wants to and fly up into higher planes as easily. This Marquez of Turkey has been translated into many languages and is Turkey's best selling author. His writing is also reminiscent of many Malayalam novels of a certain era. Not a specific author but rather a specific time. Along with The New Life was Pamuk's latest : The Museum of Innocence. While reading the initial chapters I had a feeling that this is perhaps the least liked Pamuk book. Boy, did Orhan Pamuk prove me wrong!  By the end of the book I was completely back into Orhan's world. The Bospohorous plays a part in some of his books as a backdrop. I love the feel of a body of water bobbing up now and then in a book flowing so well. Ataturk looms large in all his books maybe because he played such an important role in shaping present day Turkey after the fall of the Ottoman Empire? Orhan Pamuk also seems to know the effect his books have on people. That first line in A New Life is mentioned towards the end in The Museum of Innocence and his own name comes up many times as a minor character.  You will find yourself smiling and nodding when you come across the familiar name. You have to read Pamuk. That is if you haven't already!

The Bearkeeper's Daughter By Gillian Bradshaw
While swimming in Pamuk pages I had company from this book which oddly enough also has The Bosphorous flowing through it. Only this one was during the Byzantine Era when Istanbul was Constantinople:-) Very interesting story about Empress Theodora  who rose from rags to riches and ruled alongside her husband Emperor Justinian I. Her NurJahan to his Jahangir I guess. An easy read replete with history. As with well researched historical books Gillian Bradshaw's novel is a wonderful mix of historical facts and  brilliant fictionalization leading to a viable storyline. Good pick for curling up on the sofa with a warm cup of tea and some crunchy snacks..

Cutting for Stone By Abraham Verghese

Halloween is over. We had a 10 year old hockey wizard casting spells and a 6 year old bunny (cute bunny suit thanks to HAunt's sewing skills) hopping madly collecting candies helter-skelter. This is the most favorite holiday for the kids. Christmas holds its charm only due to the presents and long holidays. Who can resist dressing up in costumes and getting huge stashes of candy, all community approved! Sharing and bartering of acquired candies went on yesterday and now I can hear the calm rustle of candy wrappers from where I sit. My son has a bigger horde and is able to enjoy it over a long time since he is not as crazy about eating it all at one time. Little sweet tooth is in candy heaven for the moment without giving a thought to what she will do when her horde is over and cheta (big brother) still has a bunch left:-) I used to hide it all and give it away but not lately. They did work hard for it you know..

The other news is of course the matter pertaining to our title here. Yes, I finished this book that my husband spotted for me when we were at the Library the other day. Funny part is I had it on hold a few months back and took out the hold since the wait seemed interminable. I had read a review around the time it was published and had an inkling that I might like it. I think it was in 'More'.  A magazine that I discovered at my son's piano teacher's place. My husband homed in rightly onto this book and I am so glad he did. A wonderful book that tells the story of twins Shiva and Marion born to British Surgeon Thomas Stone and Malayali (person from the state of Kerala in India) missionary sister Mary Joseph Praise in Ethiopia. If it sounds a little distasteful or scandalous or Grey's Anatomyish don't worry. You will not feel any of that once you finish reading. Abraham Verghese is not just a Professor in Stanford School of Medicine but is an accomplished writer as well as a caring human. This last quality is what enables him to be what he is I believe. Reading his other works are naturally in the plan.

In the book he reiterates the beginning of Christianity in Kerala when St. Thomas the Apostle came to India. A fact most Indians at least are familar with I guess. But did you know that Ethiopia is the only African nation that remained independant during the coloniztion of that continent? I bet you only vaguely knew that Ethopia's last and most famous Emperor Haile Selassie I was the last of an unbroken royal line that is believed to begin from the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon? Yes older than the Hapsburg line. Wait till Dan Brown gets a wind of this:-) Ethiopia and Kerala shares much in terms of preferring to wear white, and the presence of early Orthodox/Syrian  Christianity. This page describes how on his visit to Kerala after his much published coronation the Emperor was impressed by the thousands of uniformed school children lining the streets to wlecome him and hired an entire batch of Malayali teachers to teach in Ethiopia? Ethiopia always brought to mind the heartrending picture of a very famished child picking up after a cow to fill his tummy, but now it also brings to mind an independent nation with an outstanding history. In Verghese's own words, a nation of beautiful people emerging from a mingling of Persia and Africa with ancient traditions and a monarchy belonging to the House of Solomon. He goes on to claim that Ethiopian Airlines is one of the best he has ever flown. Verghese does not overlook the reality of Ethopia's impoverishment but this other aspect was never put forward as a rule. The book will be appreciated by expatriates anywhere in the world for its colorful descriptions of their trials and tribulations. So dear reader, take it up and you will have spent some entertaining and educational hours as the 500 or so pages draw to a close....

If you say you have read it, then answer me this: What treatment is administered through the the ear in an Emergency?
(See comments for the answer)

A Mystery Book From The Past & Others

Crooked House by Agatha Christie
Before I knew about genres, about mysteries, about Dame Christie herself  I had the chance to read a book that I had appropriated from my brothers' room. The brothers in question are right above me and my sister in the pecking order -er.. birth order- and shared a room at the other end of our house. The room contained a variety of books which was a constant source of fascination for yours truly. Oh.. they tried to lock it up and stuff in an effort to keep the pest of a little sister away. Me, I was rather resourceful and knew where the key was kept, what time they were likely to return etc and made a clean sweep of any books present as soon as the coast was clear. More than anything else I guess they did it out of a sense of personal space that we all acquire around the early/late teen years.

Coming back to our book, it was a Library book in Malayalam but the story was so foreign that I still remember it quite vividly. Books from the past are playing catchup with me now-a-days. First The Cardinal and now this. There was hilariously delightful book called "Vellappokkam" (flood) that I still remember from one of those forays. Only a few years back did I figure out that it was written by none other than Thakazhi Sivasankarapillai.

Few months back a book friend of mine gave me three books to read. Since she was not particular about getting them back anytime soon I had put off reading 2 of those by Agatha Christie for a later date. I had a bunch of Library books to finish off you see. The time finally came for me to pick up Crooked House and give it the read. On my way into the 50th page or so it dawned on me that I am familiar with this story and in fact had never forgotten it! Having read it in Malayalam by the name of "Ajnatha Khathakan' (Unknown Murderer) and not remembering the author's name at all it never occurred to me that they could be one and the same. Though I knew the mystery's answer Dame Christie's intriguing ways kept me a captive till the last page once again.  This is not a Ms. Marple or M. Poirot story by the way.

Aftermath: I finished the 2nd Agatha Christie in one sitting (The
                 Murder of Roger Akroyd) and fished out  "Ordeal
                 by Innocence" from the Library. Ordeal by Innocence
                apparently is one of two all time favorites of Agatha
                Christie. Crooked House being the second.Christie is
                a beloved writer who can get you through boredom
                 without fear of any long lasting effect and so what have you
                 got to lose? Get off that sofa and go get some for there is
                 no better medicine to cure a reading block:-)


A Death In The Family by James Agee

Memories always take precedence over exemplary writing. Mea Culpa. The subject/story is morbid as the title implies but the book is a literary treasure. What puts this book on the pedestal is not the all too familiar storyline but the evocative, moving pros describing the love, angst and care of all in the family when faced with a beloved person's death. It is autobiographical which I didn't know when I read the book. Young Rufus and deaf Grandma Catherine alike will take root in our hearts and refuse to go away with the last page.

That James Agee was gifted does not need to be said by the likes of me. The book was posthumously published and had an editing team arranging the manuscript in chronological order. The manuscript itself was finished before Agee died. A true classic and a must read. You will be a better person to have read it and I beg of you to do just that.


Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander trilogy

I know by now most people have heard of Larsson's  Millennium series. The saving grace is the heroine Lisbath Salander who is very contemporary and accounts for the wider spectrum of empathizers. I read all three books and while it is awfully boring where Blomkvist descriptions takes on a larger than life form,  it is quite an entertainer that could get you through train journeys and airport waits in a jiffy.  I  think the story could have been better told in 2 books instead of 3. The strength is the tightly woven dark story albeit with a more Utopian view of the world for certain aspects of living.

It is to Larsson's credit that he wrote the stories while living under threats to his life and was always an advocate for what he believed in. He also did not live to see the phenomenal success of his books.
I am not sure if he intended Salander to be the main character but that is what caught the imagination of the public and the reason for the success of the books. I feel Salander lives in the background except maybe in the 2nd book while Blomkvist looms large everywhere. Another all important fact is the window into Sweden's darker side which had remained relatively unknown to the outside world.I really enjoyed the first one esp taken as a mystery of the missingVanger heiress. There is a certain naivete to Larsson's writing that could be endearing or tiresome depending on the reader. To read or not to read is left up to you.