End of December Reads

The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

I never thought there would be the day when I could say I didn’t like something by Dickens. But I am so bored by this book! I’m reading this in the form of an eBook. I’ve only read two other books by Dickens: The Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. Both of these were serious, soberly written, and wonderful. The Old Curiosity Shop, by contrast, is written in quite a light-natured way. It shows the silly side of Dickens, despite the fact that the plot is grim enough. Despite this, the reading is somewhat tedious. If he wasn’t already dead, I’d write to Dickens and tell him to give it up and stick to what he does best….drama!

Young Nell (a saccharin young do-gooder) lives with her grandfather. Everyone believes him to be a very wealthy man, including his grandson (Nell’s older brother). But, he has apparently gambled it all way. Near the early middle of the book, Nell and the grandfather sneak out of their home to try to avoid the debtors. The grandfather thinks that Nell doesn’t know what is going on, but she quickly figures it out when the old man gambles away their little bit of cash and then sneaks into her room after dark to steal from her.

It appears to be a book about avarice. The grandson, believing his grandfather to be rich, is angry when the old man cuts him off. Whether the grandfather cuts him off because the money was already gone or because he recognized his grandson’s grasping greed, I’m not sure. A dwarf, violent and nasty, appears to have lent money to the grandfather, and gleefully takes over the house and all of the property.

Now that Nell and the grandfather have left town, the grandson and the dwarf are both trying to find them. Both have made partnerships with unsavory characters in attempts to land the old man’s wealth for themselves. The rest of the book is a trip back and forth between the schemings of evil doers, and Nell and her grandfather who seem to always come upon loving people. A tedious, read.

The Storytellers Companion to the Bible – Jesus’ Parables

Fascinating. I’m not all that interested in the new stories, frankly. But, the scholarly discourses on the little bits of readings is very information and interesting. For example….when Baby Jesus was born, and is surrounded by shepherds guarding their flocks….who knew that to the original audience of the Bible this was a symbol of danger??? Today we see shepherds as pastoral, gentle, protective, benign, etc. However, being out in the country was to be unprotected from brigands, and shepherds were themselves known to be violent persons at this time. I’m really enjoying this book.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

A book on tape that mom gave me. Excellent! Placed in turbulent Afghanistan , two women, with very different backgrounds, both find themselves married to the same creepy man. At first, they are enemies (how fascinating that they, both powerless in their situation, would fight each other instead of the real enemy), and then they eventually become friends and co-protectors. This story shows how powerless the Afghanistan woman is against male brutality. The story ends with the ultimate sacrifice.

Runaway by Terry Kay

Kay is a white man raised in the south, and he experienced first hand the change the south experienced following WWII. Not that prejudice and hatred were not still rift. But he said many awakened to the fact that freedom and dignity were important things worth fighting for and should belong to every human. His story is his attempt to capture that subtle but powerful conversion in southern thinking.

The story starts with two boys born on the same day: Tom, a white boy, and Son Jesus, a black boy. On the day of their birth, the feared and respected Conjure Woman appears to announce that these boys would begin “the change.” We follow the story of these boys, best of friends, when they discover a human leg bone while on one of their adventures. The bone turns out to belong to Son Jesus’ father, one of several colored murders that had occurred several years prior, but never been solved. Enter the Frank, the sheriff and WWII hero. Frank investigates the murders unrelentingly, facing the derision of white men who ask him why the death of a few black men should matter. But, Frank has been changed by the war, and the prejudices he sees (seemingly worse among those who had never gone to fight) make him angry and ill. We meet several other white people who also are battling the long engrained prejudice they meet every day (such as Tom’s family). We also see many black men and women who, despite their fear and a long history of terror, are no longer willing to accept the status quo. The veneer of white superiority is cracking.

This book is wonderful on many levels. The delight of watching childhood’s friendship, a murder mystery, and a peek at the splintering of a long-standing and evil institution.

The Wild Irish by Robin Maxwell

The story of Grace O’Malley, the famous Irish woman pirate.

The Floating Life: The Adventures of Li Po by Simon Elegant

Li Po was a famous poet in China . In this novel, he is telling the story of his life, after he had already been banished from the city. He is arrogant, impetuous, and a drunk. But the story is told in an interesting manner.

The Professor’s Daughter by Emmanuel Guibert

What a hoot. This is a graphic novel, and I admit that it WAS kinda fun to read. The design work was a simple watercolor style, but very well done. The story was cute. The 1800’s daughter of an archeology professor falls in love with a mummy. No common mummy, mind you, this is Prince Ihotep….walking around and communicating. They fall in love with each other, knowing it is doomed. Enter another mummy, Prince Ihotep’s father, who is rather a brute and tends to botch up the works. It was fun to see that the Prince and his father had a long history (several centuries, in fact) of disagreeing. I got a few chuckles out of this little book. A very quick read.

MirrorMask by Neil Gaiman

Another graphic novel, but this one I didn’t like. It was a dream story, and as such, made no sense. I didn’t enjoy reading one nonsensical thing after another. What I DID enjoy was how the book was laid out. It looked like the “found item” art books that were so popular a few years ago. The text followed unusual patterns, the pictures and sketches scattered about in an artistic way. Visually, I found this book appealing. I might have enjoyed it had the story been worthwhile.

Cairo by G Willow Wilson

Now this graphic novel I really enjoyed. A combination of current day history, Egyptian mythology, and spiritualism. The characters are surprisingly well defined, and each one very individualistic. There was a surprising amount of really good humor. Also, the artwork was fabulous. I enjoyed this one a lot.

Here if You Need Me by Kate Baestrup

It’s about this woman, Kate, who was raised by agnostics (people who don’t know if there is a God or not), but married a man who was very faithful. He was a police officer, and studying to become a clergy for the police department. Anyway, he is killed in an accident, leaving her a widow with four children. For some reason, she felt compelled to study herself, and is now a clergy for the Forest Rangers. I didn’t even know they had a clergy. It’s a part-time job, called out only in search and rescue cases. But, her experiences and personal growth are also interesting to read.

Once chapter in particular struck me. You know how many faiths teach that suicide is the one unforgiveable sin. She had a take on this theory that I found remarkably insightful. She is called out to assist on the search for the body of a suicidal woman. They find the woman, but she is already dead. She took a lot of amphetamines, then crept off into the woods to die. When her body is found, they contact the brother. Kate speaks to the brother, who tells her that this sister had been getting therapy and was on medication, but nothing could help her out of her depression (poor thing. I’m so glad that meds work for us). Anyway, he said that she had really suffered. But, HE was struggling because his personal church told him that she couldn’t receive a Christian burial and that she was doomed to hell because of her suicide, and he asks Kate about this. I loved what she wrote. She said, as she listened to him, she felt such an anger at the church. She told him that she didn’t personally know the pastor he had spoken with, didn’t know what that man knew or didn’t know. But, she told him, this was what she knew. The park rangers were willing to go out in a snow storm and search all day for several days for this woman. They left their families, and were willing to spend hours and days in discomfort (sub zero weather), risking their own health and lives to find her. She was that important to THEM. She said, surely these men couldn’t love this woman more than God himself did….and if they were willing to go so far for the sake of a woman they suspected had killed herself, how much more could God love her and want her back?

I thought that was really beautiful and well said.

She also had another little discussion that I found interesting. She said that she was a Christian Universalist (I don’t really know what that is), so as such, her church didn’t spend a lot of time talking about Jesus and the afterlife. However, she studied a lot about it in seminary. She said that she noticed that Jesus didn’t spend a lot of time describing heaven. Only things like heaven having many rooms, and heaving being like yeast mixed with flour. She found that amazingly vague. Her opinion, in reading Jesus teachings to love others and to give everything you had, was that Jesus was teaching us how to LIVE, not how to die. She thinks that when we die, we die. She thinks that God’s ruling is for how we live, and that when we love people and are loved by others, we are in heaven no matter where we are. If we do not feel love, we are in hell, not matter where we are. I don’t know if I believe this, but it is an interesting and viable opinion.

Aesop’s Fables

OK, so what is the big deal? Why is this considered great literature? Boring.

Empress Orchid by Anchee Min

The tale of a poor, young Chinese girl who becomes the favorite concubine of Emperor Hsien Feng (Ch’ing Dynasty), which is the during the last days of its imperial glory. She is “married” to the Emperor, but then doesn’t see him for almost a year. It was interesting to learn that, despite the fact that it is the concubine’s duty to provide the Emperor with many male heirs, getting visited by the Emperor is not a given. The story tells how the concubines must suck up to and bribe the Chief Eunuch in order to get time with the Emperor. Interesting how little control the Emperor has over his own life, really just a slave to the power and intrigues of his court officials. Also, the concubines compete with and hate each other. Perhaps worse than being ignored by the Emperor (which seems to be Orchid’s fate in the beginning) is the danger of becoming a favorite. A concubine accused of selfishly keeping the Emperor’s attention all to herself (because then how can he spread his seed and have many sons?) is in danger. In the early chapters, the new concubines are showed the Emperor’s old favorite, her arms and legs removed and kept a live in a glass jar to serve as an example to the new concubines.

The kingdom is failing, and the Emperor is under great stress…and thus, is often unable to sleep and is often impotent. Orchid’s rise to favoritism is through her intelligence and willingness to help him with his daily tasks (acts that are forbidden to her).

300 by Frank Miller

I was itching to read this graphic novel since I loved the movie so much. I loved it!

9-11 Emergency Relief by Alternate Comics

A whole bunch of comics artists created their takes/responses on the 9-11 disaster. It was kind of interesting to see all the different design styles.

Ghost World by Daniel Clowes

Another graphic novel. This is about to bitchy girlfriends who spend their time mocking and insulting others. They think they are cool, but really they are bored, aimless, and being left behind. They are always shocked when they see how the lives of school mates have changed. Their friendship is tested when one takes an exam to go to college, which means the two would be separated. In fact, they become separated for other reasons. You are left hoping that they both will change for the better.

Gob’s Grief by Chris Adrian

This is a strange story about a man, Gob, who builds a machine in an attempt to defeat death. His twin brother, Tom, dies in the Civil War, and Gob is forever haunted by the loss, and sets out to bring back every soldier that died in the war. Characters, such as Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln, visit the pages, and many viewpoints of death are shared.

Great Quote

Life is short. Life is short. Read fast!

Do You Know What I Know?

Before Christmas, Mn came home from school with the lyrics for “Silent Night” and “Joy to the World.” He was supposed to ask his parents to help him memorize the lyrics, but, he said, “I’ll have to teach you the songs, Mom, because you don’t know them.”

I told him that I did indeed know these songs. Very well. He looked at me with a cynical expression that is the spitting image of his father’s, and asked me to prove it. I started singing “Silent Night.” Mn’s eyes just about bugged out of his head. “Mom! How do you KNOW that?????” Laughing, I then belted out “Joy to the World.” Mn just about fell out of his chair in shock. “Mom, did you come to my school and hear us singing?”

No amount of explaining could convince the child that these songs actually existed in the “olden days” of Mom’s childhood.

Early December Readings

Bibliographies rule! In addition to reading like a maniac, I checked out several bibliographies from the library. These are lists of suggested reading from various approaches. Some of the more frivolous (and fun!) bibliographies were Book Lover cookbooks. Two loves combined!

Anyway, it occurred to me that I'm not as well read in the classics as I should be. So, I've been making reading lists (yet one more compulsion for my brother to call me on).

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

For every few contemporary books I read, I want to throw in one of the classics. The fact is, for being an English major, I’m not as well-read as I would like. It’s shameful that I would know these stories by movies, rather than by literature.

For having been written in the 1800s, the story is surprisingly easy to read. In some of the older books, it’s difficult to follow along the dialogues, as they are riff with strange patterns, slang, and references. But, I’m having no such problem with The Count. The story is so intriguing. We start off really caring for the young Edmond …he is a sensitive, gentle, kind-hearted fellow who is well-liked by all, except for a handful of people who are jealous of his good fortune. After his betrayal by the said jealous comrads, he is locked in prison for several years, and when he comes out, he is altered in many ways. For one, due to his friendship with and education by the “mad” abbe, he comes out a much more polished person than he went in (not to mention, now he’s rich, since the abbe shared the location of his vast wealth hidden on the deserted island of Monte Cristo ). But not all of his changes are for the better. His desire for revenge has altered him quite a bit, so that some people find they are repulsed by him (I was, myself, while reading Edmond ’s rant on the necessary of torturing people who deserved more punishment than death). One character actually compared him to a vampire.

It appears that the Edmond of old did good simply because that was his natural inclination. The “Count” did good as a means of acquiring “friends” (you may as well call them tools) for fulfilling his long-term plans of revenge. It’s as if he takes the all the good and training given to him by the old abbe, and becomes it’s antithesis.

I had to laugh at one description…..even several years after his escape from the prison, Edmond is described to have an unearthly, pale pallor to his skin. That made sense immediately after his escape from prison…after all, he had been underground for years. But, several years as a sailor AFTER his escape would surely have added color to his skin, yes? Why would he still maintain the paleness of a prisoner after all this time?

Anyway, the detail of the characters, and the interweavings of storylines and plots is well done and fascinating. I have particularly enjoyed the sense of humor that some of the characters have revealed.

In the end, the Count seems to reevaluate whether he had the right to act as an avenging angel. Especially when certain innocents died in the process (the young girl and the little boy who were poisoned). It bothered me when he decided that he really was doing what God wanted, although, he admits, he did have regrets. Hmmmm. I also couldn’t help marvel at the audacity of the Count as he told one of his enemies that he “forgave” him…..after he had already stripped him of everything. What significance is a forgiveness after you’ve already excercised your revenge to the fullest extent?

It was an unexpected twist at the end of the book when Edmond did not end up with his first love. I fully expected that to happen all the way through the novel….it’s the route that most authors would have taken. Instead, while they parted friends, and it was clear that Edmond would have tender feeling for her the rest of his life, they both knew that too much had happened to each of them to ever be together again.

Overall, an unexpected marvelous read that really causes one to reflect on one’s own feeling of right and wrong.

Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism by John Shelby Spong

I’m disappointed. The book started off with so much promise, but almost ended up like an exercise in arrogance for Spong. I agree with Spong that fundamentalism is a dead-end for Christianity. But, instead of a book-length rendition of everything that’s wrong with fundamentalism, I wanted an explanation of how the Bible could be viewed by those of us who weren’t fundamentalists. He himself stated that he loved and valued the Bible…..but he never explained why….or (more importantly to me) how. What’s more, some of the arguments he used as examples of conflicts in the Bible were weak, even to my limited knowledge….for example, he called Abraham a murderer and said, “So much for ‘Thou Shalt not Kill,’” and pointed out that Moses had broken the “Thou Shalt not Lie” commandment by tell the Pharoah that he was taking the Hebrews to the desert to pray, but he would bring them right back. Both incidents were pre-commandments….so his argument is ridiculous, even to me who agrees with his anti-fundamentalism. By the time I was half-way through the book, and Spong still hadn’t done anything except bash fundamentalists, I just quickly scanned the rest of the book, and then gave up.

The Storytellers Companion to the Bible – Jesus’ Parables

Fascinating. I’m not all that interested in the new stories, frankly. But, the scholarly discourses on the little bits of readings is very information and interesting. For example….when Baby Jesus was born, and is surrounded by shepherds guarding their flocks….who knew that to the original audience of the Bible this was a symbol of danger??? Today we see shepherds as pasteural, gentle, protective, benign, etc. However, being out in the country was to be unprotected from brigands, and shepherds were themselves known to be violent persons at this time. I’m really enjoying this book.

Truck – A Love Story by Michael Perry

I am LOVING this book, and will absolutely check out Perry’s other novel, Population: 485.

This book is all about the journey, not the destination. It’s written in what almost feels like a personal journal, as you reflect on gardening, cooking, failed romances and promises of new ones, living single, gardening, redneck living in a small town, and – the main point – the love of an old, beat-up pick-up truck. Perry incorporates a writing style that is pure delight. His sense of humor, often self-effacing, is a pleasure, and his use of metaphor is completely fresh.

The 101 Best Graphic Novels by Stephen Weiner

I for one want to know what’s up in the graphic novel genre. It seems to be getting bigger all the time. I initially wrote it off as just big comic books, but it’s come to my attention that there are some fabulous, adult stories out there. My friend, Erik, who is well read and has a sophisticated reading style, has caught the graphic novel bandwagon….so I thought it was time to check it out. I know I peeked at the book 300 by Frank Miller, and would really like some time to read it, especially since I loved the movie so much. Anyway, this little book had a list of some of the best graphic novels out there (at least according to Weiner), and he kindly categorized them for adult, youth, and child. So, with a focus on adult, I requested a few graphic novels from my public library. One can never have too much to read, right?

Late November Readings

As I said, I've been in a reading fury. The trunk of my car is filled with library books...literally. I cannot walk into the library without walking out with at least 3 books...often over 10. And, I've been spending a lot of time with the online library catalogue, putting in book requests. If I find an author I really enjoy, I start requesting their other novels.

Anyway....this is what I read during the second half of November.

The Binding Chair – or a Visit from the Foot Emancipation Society by Kathryn Harrison

Such a fascinating story about an extraordinary, one-of-a-kind woman living in a world where women were not allowed to be unique. Woman behavior is strictly regulated and controlled. As a child, May’s feet are bound, just like any other upper-class Chinese woman. This excruciating process of slowly breaking a woman’s feet so that she is barely able to support her own weight, and which will cause her problems for her entire adult life in the form of infection and daily pain, is inflicted on young girls by other women. In May’s case, it was her grandmother. Women damaging women for the sake of their men. I could have cried as I read about the little girl lay sobbing on the floor, crying out to her grandmother, “Help me!” Her grandmother forces her to walk on her splintering feet and says, “I am.”

As was expected, May is given in marriage. From the first, she is disrespected and abused by her new family. Unaware that she was the fourth bride, rather than the first, she was forced to sit in her private rickshaw in the street for hours before being allowed into her new home. The promised wedding ceremony was not provided. Instead, she was married by a quick, little affair that was clearly intended to insult, but from which she had no recourse. Her husband was abusive and twisted, and to escape her degradation, she attempts suicide. When she fails, she is subjected to further punishment from her new family. Her grandmother basically tells her to quit whining and tough it out.

At this point, May decides to break way and to become her own woman. She steals some jewels from her husband, and bribes a gardener to help her run away by carrying her on his back. As a woman, she finds herself helpless many times, but determinedly uses her wiles to get what she wants. She becomes a prostitute in a fancy house, and only sells herself to foreigners. She refuses to allow herself to be used by a Chinese ever again. Her plan is to make a foreigner fall in love with her so she can escape the lifestyle of a Chinese woman. It takes years, but she succeeds.

She is married by a European man who is living with his sister and her family in China . May’s story is told from the vantage of her caucasian niece. Living in a family of caucasians, May’s life was not without it’s trials. But, clearly, her niece celebrates this woman, even during the period of time when the young woman is rebelling against her authority. One telling scene is when the rebellious teenager takes a Chinese lover, to May’s outrage. May rants, “After everything I have done, you would do this…..lay with a Chinese!”

And yet, it is the restrictions of the Chinese woman that May rejects, not her Chinese-ness. She is still as bound to the stories and superstitions as she is confined by her bound feet. This contradiction in character is confusing to the niece, and perhaps to the reader. But it is still one of the essences of May that make her a fantastically fascinating character.

Brother One Cell – an American coming of Age in South Korea’s Prisons by Cullen Thomas

A true story. Cullen is a cocky young American, who goes to Korea to teach English, thinking it will be a great adventure. Instead, he finds his job tedious, and he start itching for a little “excitement.” He describes how he felt “outside” of Korea ’s society and laws and, as a result, invincible. He then made a decision that impacted the rest of his life. He runs hashish into Korea , gets caught, and is sentenced to 3.5 years in the Korean prison.

What makes this book interesting is Cullen’s take on his confinement. He truly grows into a better person by his ordeal, and comes to respect the Korean people greatly. He makes no excuses for himself, although in the beginning he feels like he is being treated unfairly. He acknowledges that, through his own arrogance and stupidity, he has placed himself in this situation, and thereby caused tremendous suffering for his family.

Life in the Korean prison is different from that of U.S. prisons. The normal schedule is that 23 out of every 24 hours is spent in confinement in a tiny solitaire cell. Sometimes, such as when execution are being performed, they would not be let from their cells for days. The lights are never turned off. There is no toilet. There is a bucket, and there is a trough on one end of the cell through which water runs once a day. They get their drinking and cleaning water from this trough. They wash their own clothes. There is no heat or air conditioning, and the temperatures in their cells can be extreme. They suffer from frost bite in the winter. The greatest danger was not from the other cell mates, but of going crazy from loneliness. Very few prisoners were allowed to participate in work programs. But, because Cullen is American, he is in demand, and is allowed to teach English to several people.

Despite the difficulties described above, Cullen admits he is treated well by the Korean authorities. He describes them as a polite, gentle people. Once he learns to obey their system of etiquette (their rules of politeness are subtle and complex), his life gets easier. In short, he finds that his incarceration turns him into a thoughtful, thankful, respectful person, whereas before he was restless and selfish.

On Agate Hill by Lee Smith

This is a pretty interesting book about a young orphan girl raised in a southern family that has been shattered by the Civil War. Their plantation, Agate Hill, is full of ghosts – her parents, her siblings, her aunts and uncles…..all the deaths that came with a sad time of deprivation. Molly and her baby brother are taken in by her Uncle Julius, but he is past caring about life. And Molly is forced to watch as life around her crumbles. She often refers to herself as ghost, as she is often forgotten and ignored and left to made do for herself. Her aunts come and take away her little brother, but leave her behind…..forgotten? Can you imagine how she must have felt?

She has a friend for a short while. When her aunt comes to “take care of” Uncle Julius, she brings her granddaughter, Mary White. The two are as close as can be; but when the aunt and Mary White later leave, it seems to only reinforce poor Molly’s isolation. Years later, she finally leaves Agate Hill, and we watch Molly grow, become a school teacher, fall in love, live and love with abandon. In her later years, she returns to Agate Hill.

I enjoyed this book, written in the epistolary form of letters, diaries, etc.You really get a feel for post-Civil War south.

The Kitchen Witch by Annette Blair

If you want a really quick read that will give you a fit of the giggles, read this book.

By page 17 I was laughing out loud so much that Minao asked me to read the book to him….but, since the book is spicy in more ways than one, I couldn’t do that.

Basically, this book is a romance. At first I though….ugh, a Harlequin-type book. But, it’s a bit racier than that without getting out and out pornographic. LOL!

The book starts out with Logan, who is completely stressed out because he has to be to work in 20 minutes, and he has no babysitter. He is begging a friend, a retired Judge to please watch his son, but she can’t because she has started a new job – cemetery tours. We quickly learn his background – he’s an executive who has just landed a job at the local TV station, WHCH (witch – get it?) in Salem , Philadelphia . He’s stressed, because he’s also landed a son. His wife had left him 4 years ago when she was pregnant. He spent a lot of money on a detective, but could never find her. She suddenly shows up on his doorstop with their 4-year-old son and says, “I’m done. You take him.” And she’s gone. The little boy asks every day when his mother is coming back for the first few weeks, and then quits. Can you imagine???? On top of that, his new boss is completely insensitive to the single-Dad situation, and is doing what he can to make Logan completely miserable.

So, immediately you are rooting for Logan because he is busting his butt trying to build a relationship with his son, worried that he might be damaged by his mother, and – essentially – put his son first in all things. A truly awesome dad.

Anyway….his retired judge friend tells him to ask Melody to watch Shane (the son). Melody lives in the apartment below Logan , but he hasn’t met her yet.

Enter Melody. She’s drop-dead gorgeous, vivacious, funny, a “magical” personality………and a total disaster. She can’t hold down a job. And she has a father who reminds her on a regular basis how much of a failure she is at everything. He’s rich, and he gives her money, but she refuses to use his money for herself. Instead, she signs the checks over to charities……homeless, unwed mothers, etc……which drives him crazy. When she finds out that Logan works for WHCH, she gets excited because she knows that station is starting a new cooking show, and she thinks she would be perfect as the hostess of the show! She gets an interview through Logan , and comes up with the Kitchen Witch idea, a combination of “make-believe” magic and cooking, and the boss of the company LOVES the idea. She’s in!

The problem……she can’t cook. Her chickens explode. The night she babysits Shane, she tells him she wants to cook a meal to impress his dad (to get the interview). This hysterical chapter has you totally in love with her and the little boy, and you’ll need to change your pants because you’ll laugh so hard that you’ll wet yourself. And if you think that’s funny, wait until her first cooking show broadcast. Wow!

The love dilemma….. Logan is falling for Melody. Who wouldn’t, since she’s gorgeous and funny and everything. But, he’s very focused on providing a safe, reliable home for his son, and Melody reminds him in many ways of his first wife….flighty, out of control, dangerous. For his son’s sake, he thinks he needs to stay away from her, but it gets complicated because his son adores her. And Melody is so good with the little guy, you can see why.

What’s best…..it’s a FAST read. One day, maybe two, and you’ll be done.

From the Mouth of Mother Teresa

A few weeks ago in her sermon, Mother Mary talked about Mother Teresa’s perserverence. It occurred to me that although I had grown up knowing the name Mother Teresa, I actually knew nothing about the woman herself. So, I picked up a book from the library.

What a remarkable story. It is amazing what one tiny person was able to accomplish so much. But I tell you what I found even more amazing than all of her accomplishments….the fact that she actually doubted that God was speaking to her. Imagine! People came from nowhere to lend assistance, money appeared at the exact time it was needed, one by one she established more facilities to lend the necessary aid. Her work spread from Calcutta to all across the world. And yet, she doubted that God heard her.

If this tiny woman who could move mountains suffered doubt, is it any wonder that the rest of us do? That somehow, was reassuring to me.

Some of my favorite quotes from Mother Teresa:

“In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.”
“There are no great things, only small things with great love. Happy are those.”
“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”
“Each of them is Jesus in diguise.”
“Joy is the net of love by which you can catch souls.”

Early November Reads

I’m back in the reading mood. I’d been out of it for a while; not sure why. Watching a lot of DVD movies. But, now I’m frequenting the library again, and so the TV has been turned off for several weeks. This is a good thing.

I find that I’m not as much of a fiction reader as I used to be. I probably read one piece of fiction for every 5 non-fiction. Most of the non-fiction I’m reading isn’t worth recording, though. It’s just my perpetual curiosity/self-improvement/permanent student mode in action. A lot of kitchen remodel texts, cook books, Photoshop CS3 manuals, photography techniques, and -- more recently -- some Christian texts.

However, I’d like to do a better job of tracking my reading. I can be a voracious reader, but I suspect I’m also a careless reader. How many times have I recognized a title, but was really fuzzy on what the story was about? Too often!

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.

I had forgotten how much I love Steinbeck’s writing style. I picked up a recording of Of Mice and Men to enjoy while driving to Joplin , Missouri . I was sucked in within the very first few minutes. A surprisingly short book….but so rich. The writing is clean…not a single unnecessary word.

My memory of the book, from years ago, was that the story (with a shocking ending) about two unusual friends and hard it was to be a migrant worker during the depression. That is only tapping the surface though. This is really a story about loneliness, friendship, and the quest for the American Dream.

“Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. . . . With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t have to sit in no bar room blowin’ in our jack jus’ because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us.”

The loneliness is the strongest emotion. The old man who loses his old dog. The black man, isolated from the others. The pretty wife hungry for attention. George and Lenny had their share of trials too, but they seemed somehow easier since the had each other.

I loved the voice Steinbeck used for his characters. Direct, gritty, tough….it rings true, and you can hear all the cracks, callouses, fears, resentments that each man bears by the words he chooses.

A Long Way Gone – A Memoir of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

Nonfiction. Ishmael lived in Sierra Leone . He was twelve years old when the civil wars began, and he saw families wiped out – in fact, entire villages devasted. The brutality that he saw is such as no child (or adult) should ever have to witness. Separated from his parents, and eventually from his older brother, Ishmael flees the war by crossing through the forests from village to village, struggling to avoid being shot, captured, or starving to death.

Eventually he is captured by the army and forced to become a soldier. The training is brutal. The expectations are heinous. They are told that they must take revenge on the people who had killed their families. Ishmael describes, in clear language, the conversion of a child’s mind from one of innocence and fear to one of unbridled violence. And when, finally, he and some other youths are rescued from the soldier’s life, he admits their resentment.

Ishmael never sees his family again. One can only assume they did not survive the war…so many did not. Ismael traveled to the U.S. to share the story of what was happening in Africa . His story is a shocking and enlightening one.

Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott

Ugh. Talk about your waste of time. Rebecca is a glutton for melodrama, but lacks the talent to actually create it. The story is actually about a Ghostwriter. Her lover’s mother died while writing a controversial book about Isaac Newton’s involvement in Alchemy. The lover contacts her to finish writing the book. What follows is a bunch of weird hauntings (to no real effect), descriptions of ancient murder and intrigue, and a revelation of Newton ’s selfish scramble to the top as fellow scientists. There is potential for some great scenes, but Stott prefers to keep the action entirely mental and, in my opinion, a lot less interesting or satisfactory. The description of the love affair is on a some bizzarro intellectual/spiritual plane that doesn’t seem real. The characters have no control over the situation, but are pawns in the after-life greed of the deceased alchemists. In short, a potentially good story poorly executed.

Parents' choices

DH had his heart set on DMCC for Mn. After everything that Mc went through in middle school, we wanted to avoid that for Mn. Not that there are any guarantees, off course. Substance abuse and bullies can be found anywhere….but we felt Mn’s odds would be better at DMCC.

I had my concerns. The literature clearly stated that everything would be taught with a Christ-centered emphasis. What did that mean? Creationism vs. evolution? Did the children work out of secular texts or Christian-based texts only? Did they practice book banning?

While I liked the idea that a child was being raised in such a way that his or her faith was an every-day lifestyle instead of an activity restricted to Sundays, I had concerns. I felt that if secular and modern science were eliminated or undermined, the child would be living in a faith outside of the real world. That is unacceptable to me. I didn’t want Mn to become a Bible-beating freak who couldn’t function in the real world. I wanted him to be a person who was comfortable with his ideals, his beliefs, but could also be successful in his daily interactions of life.

So, with these fears in my heart, I wrote a careful letter to the Principal of DMCC, asking my questions in what I hoped was a diplomatic, non-offensive way. Was I ever impressed. Less than five minutes after pressing “send” on my email, I received a call from the Principal. He said my message deserved a one on one discussion. He put my mind to rest on so many issues. Yes, the children worked out of secular texts, receiving the same science, literature, and art background as any other school…..but with more. He said they also taught the Bible side and without any apologies. He told me that there would undoubtedly be times when parents would be unhappy with a school policy…..some parents were extremely protective and wanted to isolate their children from the world, other parents were like me who wanted to expose the children to everything in a safe way. DMCC is in an awkward position of trying to please everyone.

All my fears were put to rest. I gave DH my whole-hearted consent for Mn’s enrollment into DMCC.

The picture in the next blog is one of Mn all dressed up for his first day of Kindegarten. No longer a little boy….no more preschool. Now he’s a big kid in a big-kid school. Some mother’s are an emotional wreck when they send their baby to Kindegarten. Me…..I was excited and proud.

See the big ol’ box at his feet. What a lot of loot a kid needs to start school!!!!! When I went to Kindegarten, it was with a box of crayons, a package of tissues, and a pencil box. How times have changed.

I’m happy to say that we made a good choice. Mn is thriving! I cannot believe how much this little boy has learned in just a few short weeks. He can spell almost all of his colors. He has such a strong grasp of the various sounds that letters make, and is actively trying to read and spell everything. The boy is writing lists all of the time! He already knows some sight words (the, a) and he knows the difference between vowels and consonants. Good heavens, he is going to be reading Beginner’s Books by Christmas, I’m sure of it.

We had our first parent teacher conference last week. I am so impressed with the creative approaches his teacher utilizes to teach a concept. So many different ways of accomplishing the same task, so that the process of learning is not only stays interesting, but actually allows the child to recognize the principals from several different vantage points. Education methods have changed so dramatically….even from Mc’s day. Mn has a beautiful, bright future ahead of him at DMCC.