Wilma Mankiller - A Chief And Her People

This is only the tip of the iceberg. The story of the native people of America who were called 'The Indians' not to be confused with the people of India. My son was doing his Native American Report last week and his tribe was 'Cherokee'. While collecting information about the tribe, an acquaintance of Native American ancestry kindly lent me this book that she was reading at the time.

This is the autobiography of Wilma Mankiller, a Cherokee who is one of the most admirable women I have come across in person or in print. Not only did she rise to the post of Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, she went through numerous personal struggles and came out victorious each time. A person of unending will power, she says coming back to her family's roots was one of the things that helped her to get a better perspective on life. Her story is so enormous since it is not just her story but also that of the Indigenous people in this continent and is difficult to contain in a few sentences. She is well read and her experiences transcend race or creed and is a shining example of what can be achieved through personal power. Her name by the way is derived from a military title held by one of her ancestors. The book is sprinkled with Cherokee stories of old handed down through generations in addition to a closer look at the history of her people. The Cherokees originally lived in the southeastern US and were driven through what is referred as 'The Trail of Tears' in the 1800s to the west of Mississippi by the earlier administrations especially that of President Andrew Jackson. They lost millions of acres of land through inefficient or ambiguous policies designed just for that purpose. They also had their own internal struggles with the lose of culture and assimilation. Cherokee at present are the second largest Native American tribe in the US next to the Navajo.

Mankiller speaks of the 'Iroquois' and other native people who were here long before Europeans ever set foot in the Americas. How they always had their own government councils and culture and how the government to government treaties between the Indians and the settlers were rarely honored and the list goes on. It is said that the constitution of the Iroquois that existed long before is very similar to the US constitution and the main difference is that while the US constitution excluded women, the former had women as an equal constituent. A much more evolved society I guess. They also knew of the balance and harmony of nature that needed to be preserved for the good of mankind long ago, akin to present day environmentalists and conservationists.

Mankiller served as chief for 10 years and continues to this day in her efforts to help her people be aware of their own strengths and to help them know their roots. I feel like I have a barely half baked knowledge on the whole subject and so will not go further and will let you at least take up this book for an interesting window into the deep rooted and rich culture of the Cherokee people.

Roald Dahl and other Children's authors/books

I simply don't know how I managed to skip this writer till I got here and watched a movie called 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' with my son. Came to know that it was based on the book by a guy named Roal Dahl and didn't think much more of it. Then came my son's birthday and guess what he got? A bunch of children's books authored by none other than Mr. Dahl! My son immediately finished reading 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and that was it. He was onto other peer reviewed interesting books by authors like Barbara Parks (Junie B Jones), Jeff Kinney (Wimpy Kid) and of course Star Wars and the ilk. We did get the kids stories from Panchatantra, Jataka Tales, TinTin, as many 'Amar Chita Katha' I could find in stores etc all of which my blooming reader devoured in no time.

He wasn't too much into chapter books that looked a little dull or long. My husband finished reading 'Swiss Family Robinson' from the Illustrated Classics with him and again that was that. But once we got the full set of the 'Treasury of Illustrated Classics' (which unfortunately seems out of print now) he had also reached the right time. We started him off with one chapter at a time which he just had to finish by himself before we got to the next day's turn. Sherlock Holmes was what started off the frenzy I think. Now he started scouring the house and of course the Library for books to read. So finally I was able to turn his attention to the 'Roald Dahl' books. This is when I also discovered how fun they are to read! My daughter who is into 'Panchatantra' stories, who then slowly drifts off to sleep while the reading is going on has started to sit back up to listen because the adventures are such fun. We are reading 'Danny The Champion of The World' now which I think is the best ever by Dahl! There are still more of his books (Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, BFG etc) to finish and I can't wait for each.

One book that he had to learn in class was by actress Julie Andrews that is greatly entertaining is: The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles . He also got me 'Death of Superman' from the school Library although he had already read it. Am I not lucky?:-)) I am glad we are past Arthur, Dr.Seuss , etc which are indeed great kid books (my daughter finds them very easily laid out to read all by herself) but I wouldn't be able to talk much about with the kiddos. I do love Avatar stories. We have '1001 Arabian Nights' at home but it looked so bulky that even I couldn't bring myself to read them. My husband found some audio stories (storynory) online for long car trips which the kids enjoy a lot. It had 'Alibaba and the 40 Thieves' which was so popular with them that now I am on the lookout for a simple 'Arabian Nights' edition.

Speaking of car trips, all 4 of us -especially my daughter- love listening to the Laurie Berkner Band in car. She also loves to listen to old Yesudas classics:-) To my surprise, they are enjoying the 'Alice in Bibleland' stories that I had bought hoping to substitute for a mildly anchoring religious aspect we might not be able to provide here due to a busy life and the lack of extended family - read grandparents- around. Step into Reading books are no brainer buys for kids who are in various stages of learning to read. My son didn't take much to Magic Treehouse but I think my daughter might like them. Her all time favorite and first love is Arnold Lobel's Mouse Soup which happens to be one of her brother's favorites too. Well folks, I have some more children's books to gush about but I think it is time to step off the pulpit and let these permeate. Hope your kids will find at least one new author/book/genre here and will come to love them.

P.E.T - a parent self help book by Dr. Thomas Gordon

I never believed in self help books. I always knew what was good for me. I used to take pride in the fact that having grown up in a large family with all kinds of people I knew all I could learn about people right at home. Wrong! I also hadn't accounted for the ones who were brought into this world solely by me and my husband and whose lives depend on us for nurturing. Living away from the cocoon of extended family makes this role more visible. For the record, I was raised in a household where there was no spanking and therefore needed to find something that will work like the untold chain of love, respect and discipline that existed in my childhood home. P.E.T (Parent Effectiveness Training:-)) didn't provide all the answers but it was a good reference.

Whenever I am in a dilemma I search for more information. This one book shone with wisdom and had effective ways to handle things that agreed with my policies. They have little examples. Some are extreme but when we know how even those can be handled wisely and peacefully then we build a certain confidence. I see that it is not very easy to adhere to everything the book says, but then we can adapt what we read and try to shape it into what works. It also helped to know that there are a large majority of new parents seeking similar insights into effective parenting. It talks of the strict households and the permissive households and shows a middle ground to do things more effectively. Even if you don't follow the book, it is a good read especially if you are the kind that sometimes wonders whether you are indeed providing the right environment for those sweet little bundles of joy that God entrusted to you. Read here for a rather critical review I found in Amazon that will provide another side. This wiki page gives some insight into the book's philosophy and this page gives more on the book. You can know more about Dr. Gordon who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize here.

Three Books

I went to the library and got not one but three that I thought worthy to bring home. Two of them were really good and a third not too bad. All in all pretty good I'd say! I always worry when I search for books in the Library and move along the aisles that if I am passing up little gems as I walk away to the next row. Many a times I had wished that I'd have word of mouth info from a kindred spirit about each of those books. This is among one of the many reasons for this book blog. To give a would be reader a thumbs up or down. Most are thumbs up as I turned out to be lucky in the ones that I latch onto. Let us get to the ones for today:

The Harafish by Naguib Mahfouz
Translated by Catherine Cobham

This Nobel prize winning author was an unknown to me till last week. Our local Library seems to have had a renaissance in quality as well as quantity. Or maybe they are just being shelved better. Anyway this one or rather the author's name caught my eye and I liked what I saw. I am glad his books got translated from Arabic to English. The cover pages make it clear that this book is more like 3 of the author's other popular books - The Cairo Trilogy - and so maybe the rest are different. I am going to find out soon as I can't believe an author with such a deep perception on life can be anything but readable no matter what the style of narration is. Take this book 'The Harafish' for example. 'Harafish' means 'the common people'. It could also mean 'the riffraff'. Think R K Narayanan only he is in Egypt and not in India:-) This is in terms of the theme but in narration Mahfouz has quite a unique and quaint style. I believe his expertise is in being able to tell a saga of depth with as little words as possible. He is able to tell a story spanning many generations of the Al-Nagi family succinctly and in detail. How is this possible? I myself was amazed at the short number of pages written for each generation yet the content didn't lack anything. I could be partial to this style of narration, having been attracted to the stories of the Old Testament not only from a religious view but also for the pure fun of it:-) We used to read a chapter a day at the evening prayers from this large Black Bible. When my tenure started as a real listener and the chapters moved from the sleepy 'Genesis' and the likes to to the more entertaining Juedan Kings I just had to read it all myself instead of waiting for the chapter of the day... Mahfouz's style strongly reminded me of those. Yet just like those Bible stories though the content is very entertaining and light, gems like this are scattered throughout the book : "If wrong existed, right must exist too. It must be constantly renewable, and if it was possible to suffer lapses, it must also be possible to ensure that they didn't recur". Need I say more?

David Long's The Falling Boy

This book looked almost like "Snow Falling on Cedars" which is what brought me to it. Then the reviews on the front and back kind of stood out from the usual jargon that we get. David Long seems to have quite a following among the critics based on his short stories. This is one of his initial attempts at the long form of story telling and I think the expectations did not fall short. I liked the book and how the author presented his characters and the story. It follows an orphaned and amicable contruction worker's - Mark Singer- life with remarkable clarity especially when handling relationships from Mark's perspective. Some female characters lacked depth towards the end but I am sure Long is on his way there or is already there. Will surely read his other books. Read here for more on the book.

When The Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

Loved the name of the book. Loved what was written in the book unlike two other books that I had put back right away after a few glances and wanted to bring this one home. I was right through more than first half of the book but somehow it fell short in the last half. Not sure what happened as the disappointment was sudden and real. Couldn't really get through the last pages yet the story of Japanese prison camps in the US during World War II is a compelling one. Wish it could have provided a better experience for such a poignant theme. Maybe it is just me being unable to appreciate the depths the author tried to portray.

Ian McEwan's Saturday

After 'seeing' Atonement written by McEwan, I had determined to read some of his books. Didn't think I will get a chance so soon. Sure enough, the author lived up to expectations. In the book McEwan takes us through one particular Saturday in the life of Dr. Henry Perowne of London. One might be reminded of Arthur Hailey's 'Airport' in that respect.

'Saturday' leads us gently and with enough suspense through the lives of everyone in Dr. Perowne's family on that day. I for one was able to completely empathize with all of his characters including even the meanies! The novelist succeeded in transporting his characters into the minds of the reader. Like its name, I finished the book in a day on Saturday. So do pick it up if you need a good but short read any day of the week:-)

Colleen McCullough - An Author of Excellence

I can't seem to get Gaius Julius Caesar out of my mind and Colleen McCullough is why. I had read her 'Caesar's Women' a first time just few years ago and had left it at that thinking it was not quite what I expected from the book. Now during a cleanup I came across it again and before donating it to the Library wanted to read it one last time especially as I was fresh out of books to read. My goodness what a path it lead me to! Reading it this time I understood the author's original intent that it was really all about Caesar and who he is rather than his women. Doing a little more research I discovered that this was quite true! I hadn't known -being a frog in the well as far as McCullough books were concerned- that this is the 4th book in a series that she had been doing on the Master's of Rome. Seven in all. And yes though she did write about the beginning of the end of the Roman Republic I think it is Caesar she really zoomed in on among all that patrician pageantry.

Since the US elections just got over and with the latest senate seat peddling scandals in the mix etc, I just couldn't help but see how everything is just a repetition of history. That is right folks! There is nothing new in this 21st century -all the technological breakthroughs duly acknowledged - that hasn't been done before. Rome was the old 'New World' that Romulus created around 750 B.C to which flocked the enterprising people who wanted to make a new life for themselves.

The Roman Republic came into being with a Senate and a House of Congress to boot - I mean the Plebeian Council - and there were elections and armies and commissions and reports all orderly and recorded to the hilt. All remind one of the political systems of the world we live in now especially that of the US. I bet Thomas Jefferson had imbibed extensively on the Roman political system before he started on the US constitution. The main difference being 'The Consul' - the highest electoral post- was elected only for a year instead of 4 years for the US Presidency. That and the Senate was initially only for those of the patrician families while the Plebeian Council was for anyone. All of this was gradually changing for the worst towards 100 B.C around when Julius Caesar was born.

The Republic was formed around 500 B.C after a revolution of sorts with the last King of Rome executed by none other than - are you ready? - a great great ancestor of Marcus Junius Brutus, the same Brutus who is attributed Caesar's murder which in turn lead to the spawn of the Empire .

McCullough's series is about how the Republic ended and the Roman Empire came to be and revolves around the leaders of Rome who were instrumental in this. The first books tell us about Cornelius Sulla and Gaius Marius, then comes Julius Caesar with Pompey the Great, and finally Marc Antony, Cleopatra and Octavian aka, the first Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar. But Caesar is ever present whose entire lifespan from infancy to death is covered in the first 6 books. The last book talks of Antony & Cleopatra and the formation of the Empire by Caesar's grand nephew Octavian. Caesar and the great orator Cicero were contemporaries. The author has presented Cicero in less flattering terms than one would expect. Maybe because Caesar is said to have been an orator on par with Cicero in addition to his many other qualities and vices. You may not need to read all the 7 books as there could be repetitions galore in such a complex historical series. But do read one or two and it will leave you intrigued and thirsting for more things Roman. I was vaguely aware that the Calendar we use had something to do with Julius Caesar with July definitely being named after him. Didn't know that what we follow today is mostly based on the 'Julian Calendar' that Caesar personally implemented with some important changes added later by Pope Gregory to make it a 'Gregorian Calendar'!

Reading McCullough, one comes off with the unbelievable feeling of an extremely handsome and charismatic military leader who was an astute political leader too. When you see Caesar's statues or busts it will all fall into place. The Roman busts were made from wax molds of actual faces and so they show real physical traits. He reminds one of a Socrates or Plato albeit dressed in military uniform. Whether contemplating political or military actions, Caesar always thought and planned ahead. He was way ahead of his time which didn't endear him to his peers. This link is a must read if you are interested in Caesar's policies and what made him standout so. And if you don't believe me about the history being repeated part just go on over to this page in the link and go down to the section titled 'The Empire' paragraph 3 and tell me if it reminds you of any of the current day economic measures:-)

It is true that McCullough seems to have fallen for Caesar much more than any other 'Masters of Rome' including Pompey but it still is a good read. She is a good story teller which was evidenced by 'The Thorn Birds' I had rather shockingly read oh, so long ago. I am not planning to read any more of the Rome series except maybe 'The October Horse' but won't hesitate if they happen to fall into my hands. I am however planning to read her latest as I thought it'd be intriguing to see how this master storyteller put a spin on one of another master storyteller's rather obscure characters.

The Good Earth & Of Human Bondage

Two golden classics! I had read these a while back but wanted to read again when I came across them. I knew how getting on in one's life can change one's reading experience and these two books were no exception.

The Good Earth - By Pearl S Buck
I admit that when I first read Good Earth I knew it was a great book. But it is only when I read it recently that I was able to fully appreciate what Buck was trying to show in there. Not only was she able to portray the life of a farmer enslaved to seasonal weather changes but also the political and normal living conditions in China during the reign of the last emperor. She was raised in China and English was taught to her as a second language which probably accounts for her intuitive characterization of things Chinese. She did her college education in the US but went back to China after that. Buck won the Pulitzer Prize and later the Nobel Prize for her work. Read more about the author here. Wang Lung the farmer and his wife O-lan are such deep and real characters that you will not fail to empathize with them. More so with O-lan if you had been through a childbirth. Read more or rather all on the book here.


Of Human Bondage - By W Somerset Maughm
Another author of great insight who lived in post Victorian England around the same time as Buck and the likes of Faulkner, Virginia Woolf etc. I had read another book of Somerset Maughm before I had read this book long time back but can't remember it for the life of me. None of his book titles remind me of which other book was it. I remember reading it with pleasure but as one gets old I guess memory gets selective in what it wants to keep. It could be 'The Painted Veil' for all I know but 'Of Human Bondage' is the one that I remember from then and when I read it this time I skipped a few pages in between where the story seemed at a standstill. It was around a quarter into the book. Before and after it flowed well, esp after. This is the most biographical of Maughm's books who also lost his parents at an early age and was brought up by his uncle who was a Vicar. Having known this fact, all throughout the book I couldn't fail but see Maughm's face instead of Philip Carey's. Maughm's disability was not a clubfoot but rather that he stammered. Read here for more on Somerset Maughm, here to read the book and here for some details on the book.