Return to Sender

Julia Alvarez is one of my favorite writers. She writes beautifully and reading her stories causes you to feel deeply for her characters but also their life circumstances. Everything I have read by her has more or less given me chills. After the last book that Isaac and I tried to read together but didn't finish, I became determined to find a book he'd like enough to finish. We sat on the computer one night on the library's Novelist database where you can type in the kind of book you are looking for and different titles will pop up. He wanted realistic fiction that had a good enough plot that he'd want to see it through to the end. When Julia Alvarez's Return to Sender appeared, I begged him to consider it. He read the brief synopsis, shrugged his shoulders, and agreed to give it a try. I was worried that I was pushing this book too much and that it would mean certain disaster for our chances of finishing it.

Ah, but Alvarez worked her magic and we were placed under her spell. We finished the novel last night. Isaac "really liked it" whereas I absolutely LOVED it so our responses varied, but both were positive.

The story is about Tyler, a farmer's son from Vermont whose family is faced with having to sell their dairy farm after Tyler's father almost died in a farm accident. Luckily they are able to hire Mari's father and uncles, undocumented farmers from Mexico. Marí's two younger sisters are American citizens but she is not and her family is unsure what has happened to her mother, who went back to Mexico to care for Marí's grandmother and never returned. The story is told in alternating voices-- Tyler's perspective is given in third person narrative and Marí's is through her letters and diary entries. An amazing friendship develops between the two children and much happens that made me clutch my heart. I typically do not cry when I'm reading, but there are a handful of books that have touched me so deeply that tears have sprung from my eyes and now Return to Sender is added to this list. I highly recommend this Pura Belpré and Americas award-winning book!

Bud, Not Buddy

 

I had the great pleasure of seeing Christopher Paul Curtis on Tuesday for a reading and book signing. While it is true my experiences with author readings are limited, it was the very best by far. Mr. Curtis managed to be charming, hilarious, touching, and inspiring, sharing funny personal anecdotes and his journey to becoming a published, award winning author. I left that evening feeling inspired to write and to continue to pursue my own writing. I also left wanting to read another of his books, as I had only read one, The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963, which is an incredible book and very worth reading. And so I read Bud, Not Buddy, which Isaac had read, is currently reading at school, and had recommended. I enjoyed it, but not as much as his first book. It is a touching story, but I had a hard time connecting with Bud for some reason. I felt like I could empathize with him, but wasn't really connecting, if that makes sense. The book's ending made up for its slow beginning, though and was uplifting. I would still recommend The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 first, but plain and simple, Christopher Paul Curtis is a very talented writer and everything by him is bound to be quite good.

What Is the What

The title of this book is so bad, it worked as a deterrent as neither I, nor anyone I knew, would pick up the book after it came out. It is unfortunate as Dave Eggers' What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng is the kind of book that can change the way you see the world. The preface includes a note from Valentino Achak Deng, who states that though the book should be considered fiction, Eggers interviewed Deng over a period of several years to gather Deng's stories of his life in war-torn Sudan, how he and other boys walked to Ethiopia to escape and the time spent there and in Kenya in refugee camps, before his eventual arrival to America to capture the reality of Deng's life. And the way that Eggers unfolds the story makes the book very compelling. I'm not sure I would've devoured the book the way I did had Eggers told the story chronologically. Instead, we meet Deng as he is being attacked and victimized in Atlanta and slowly we are drawn back to Sudan, the two stories weaving in and out. It is a very effective technique to tell this incredible story, one that needed to be told. And though I still think the title is not the greatest, I now understand it as it is derived from a story that Deng's father told, a story that I loved and that encompassed the overall theme of the book--questioning the search for something better and the idea that mysterious other thing somehow has greater value simply because it is unknown. Yes, it could be better, but it could also be worse.

Dave Eggers (left) and Valentino Achak Deng (right)

Cradle to Cradle

Today I finished reading my book club's selection for this month, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. It is a very interesting book about how things are made so cheaply that it is actually often more inexpensive to buy a new a small appliance than fix a broken one. Our current industrial model is cradle to grave (except there isn't really a 'grave' and our garbage wreaks havoc in our landfills) and the authors propose the idea that we design things that can be rebirthed as something new. It is a fascinating book, but to be honest, my favorite thing about it was the book itself. It is a paperless, waterproof book. (And it truly is waterproof. I know I shouldn't have done it, since it's a library book, but I purposely dripped water on one of the pages to test it. The water wiped off without leaving a trace or sign that it had been wet.) I recommend checking out the physical book sometime just to see the possibility of a synthetic 'paper' made from plastic resins and inorganic fillers. It is super durable and I would love to have books made like this so I could take a bath and read and not have to worry about getting the pages wet. Doesn't that sound nice?

Juice!

I was browsing the new African-American literature section at the library when the spine for Juice! jumped out at me. It has been over a decade since I've read an Ishmael Reed novel and I figured I would check this new one out. Like his previous work that I'd read, this book was highly literary and political with commentary about race relations. And when I say highly literary I mean there is pretty much no plot whatsoever. The main character is obsessed with the O.J. Simpson trial and the book is largely the character's commentary about the trial as well as examples of racism in the media spanning up to the present day. It was a very eye-opening book, one which Alan is probably happy I'm finished with because I could barely read two pages without saying, "Hey, listen to this..." I like books that challenge me as a person, challenge my view of the world and this book did that. I have to admit I steered far away from the O.J. Simpson trial and had absolutely no interest in hearing about it so the information about the trial was mostly new to me. I think it would be interesting to hear how someone who followed the trial closely thought of the book. Regardless, if the topic of race relations in America interests you, it's a worthwhile read.

The Legacy of Luna

It's strange how what we're reading can coincide with life sometimes. I've been reading the Judy Moody books to Adam and in one Julia Butterfly Hill is mentioned. Adam was fascinated and I put the two books about her at the library on hold, though The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Woman, and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods was for myself. I may have heard about Julia Butterfly Hill in passing, but was amazed reading the story about how her determination to save an ancient redwood tree led to an over two year tree-sit. This in itself is an accomplishment, but she was presented with many challenges in the two-plus years and still her dedicated to the tree and the environment kept her in that tree until the tree was safe and promised to be preserved. It's a nice story of the triumph of the human spirit and activism. I had five pages left when I read the story in the weekly regional newspaper about the destruction of trees in an area forest preserve.
I thought about Julia Butterfly Hill and about how part of me wanted to do something big like that to halt the devastation of a place that was technically designated to preserve a forest. I didn't, of course, and settled with sending letters of outrage to board members. But then again, I just received a reply back from the president of the board saying it's done, too late, all the trees have been cut down. It's so sad. I suppose sometimes the only way to affect change is to do something bold, like a tree sit, and stand your ground. But over two years in a tree... can you even imagine?

The Submission

I've been waiting for the chance to blog about the kind of book that's so good that I can unequivocally recommend it... and here it is. I looked on NPR's website for their best books of 2011 and Amy Waldman's The Submission made the list. I was intrigued by the brief description and found it at the library. There was good reason for it to make the top ten list... it was definitely one of the best books I've read in a while.

The story is set post-9/11. There is a competition to design a memorial for the victims of the attack and the panel has one victim family member, Claire Burwell. Claire is adamant about choosing one of the designs, a garden, and convinces most of the other jurors. After the design is selected, the jury learns that the designer is named Mohammad Khan and that he is Muslim. The racism towards Muslims after 9/11 is brought to life in an amazing, vivid way. Waldman looks at it from every possible angle in a way that is so rare and feels like a true gift. You begin to feel for all these characters deeply and because of that the book moves pretty fast. You want to know what will happen with this design-- which side will eventually prevail. I left the book feeling like I learned about something I knew only briefly about (the intense racism towards Muslims after 9/11) and felt richer after having finished the book. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone. There is a website for more information about the book if you are interested:
http://www.thesubmissionnovel.com/

Fist Stick Knife Gun

I picked up Geoffrey Canada's Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence at a yard sale because I thought Alan would like it as he loves memoirs. "This sounds good," I said, thrusting it at him. He glanced at it, nodded, and tucked it under his arm. So when he bought the book, I thought it was for himself. One night he was looking for a book to read and I suggested Fist Stick Knife Gun. He picked it up and read the back. "Sorry, not my kind of book."
"What do you mean, 'not your kind of book'? You picked it out!" (OK, not technically true.)
And then we replayed the yard sale scene and realized it was classic miscommunication. Neither of us was interested in ever reading the book.
Fast forward a couple months and I learned that Geoffrey Canada was coming to Rockford and that I would get the opportunity to hear him speak. I picked up the book and began reading. (Though I never did finish it before he came.)

Geoffrey Canada

Fist Stick Knife Gun is his story of growing up in the Bronx amidst violence. The title comes from the progression of violence-- beginning with a fist and culminating with a gun, the deadliest weapon. Again, this isn't really a linear story, but a collection of small (sad) tales of life in the Bronx and the gun violence that grips that community. He also adds commentary, about failed gun laws and what could be done to stop so many innocent people from being shot in communities like the Bronx. Canada is not a writer, so the prose leaves something to be desired, but the story he tells is compelling and powerful.

A Visit From the Goon Squad

Ever since I saw that Jennifer Egan set one of her novels (Look at Me) partially in Rockford, I've meant to read her work. It wasn't until I learned that she won the Pulitzer Prize last year for A Visit From the Goon Squad that I decided to actually check her out. I absolutely loved the first two chapters and then began to get a little frustrated with it, only because I didn't understand the format when I began. Perhaps if I read the back of the book closer or had read a review, I would've understood the concept of the book and could have enjoyed it all the way through. It wasn't until almost halfway through that I finally "got" it. So here it is to save you the frustration: the novel is a portrait of two people's lives, but you only get their perspective once. (I kept waiting to hear from Sasha again and it was making me crazy that I didn't get to.) There is an entire cast of characters of people who know or meet these two characters, even if only briefly. So essentially the novel is a collection of related short stories that don't make up a linear story at all.

Overall, I loved the novel. Egan is a smart, witty writer and I liked what she was able to accomplish with the book. I have this habit of flipping through books before I read them and I saw there was a long Powerpoint presentation within it. I was a little worried about that, but turned out to love it. It was one character's chapter and she used Powerpoints as a way to journal which is a fascinating idea to me. I generally do not like short stories and yet, like The Women of Brewster Place, I can love small vignettes pieced together into a novel. (Though I can understand how some people could dismiss this concept as being overly literary.) I don't know what books competed with this novel for the Pulitzer, but to me, A Visit From the Goon Squad was entirely worthy of the honor.

The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint

It was around the time that I read The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall that I learned that Alan and I have completely different taste in books. Yes, the signs had been present for a while. I'd adore a book and he'd pick it up only to put it right back down. The times he'd finish, he was usually unimpressed. And yes, I've never read anything that he recommended that I loved the way he did. But it was with this novel that it finally sunk in-- we like different kinds of books.

Alan loved this book and couldn't put it down. Me, I had a hard time picking it up each night. (And I never read it during the day.) Part of it was the cover. I really don't like the cover. I know you can't judge a book by its cover, yet in truth I do. It's hard for me to get past awful artwork and print or anything that screams "self published!"

It seemed like a story line I would like-- a Native American kid gets hit by a car and goes to a boy's home and into foster care. The story is told from his point of view and he's positive and doesn't feel sorry for himself. And I will say that the ending is absolutely wonderful. It was the bulk of the book that was the problem for me. It dragged on and there was so many random stories that I didn't feel helped me get to know the character of Edgar any better and that seemed meant only to entertain. Entertainment is great, but it bothered me in this novel as I believed I'd be reading about the boy's plight, not random stories about this and that. The writing wasn't bad and the characters were interesting, but I just couldn't get into it until the very end. The ending did redeem the rest of the book for me. But even then, closing the book I felt more satisfaction because it was over than for the book itself.

A Place of My Own

Ah, a new year. I have always loved this day each year as a new beginning, a fresh start. Oh, but I'm carrying around the burden of being behind in this blog and so I'm vowing to catch up with it this week. To begin, I need to write about the last Playaway I listened to, which was the last I'll be listening to in a while. (My brain can't handle the constant influx of words that happened with the Playaway in those times when my mind is usually idle. I've found a nice sense of balance with cranking music while washing dishes rather than listening to a story.)

Michael Pollan's A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams is not the kind of book I would have picked up to read in book form. However, I was looking for a Playaway and love the author so I thought I'd give it a go. The book is about how Pollan decided to build a house in the woods for himself to write. His wife was pregnant and had a barn where she was able to paint alone, but once the baby came, he would not have that space of his own to work. Pollan goes into the idea of a writer wanting a room of one's own, quoting Virginia Woolf. And then begins the story of the process of actually executing this plan for a simple house that he had a hand in helping to design (in a way) and build. The book is not boring, but it's not the most exciting topic either. Yet Pollan is such a good writer that he can get away with it. There were parts that dragged on and times I was ready to give up. ("The house gets built. I know it does. Why see its tedious construction to the end?") But I like his voice (I'm not sure if I would have liked it as much had someone else read it) and so I pressed on. Overall, it was pretty enjoyable.

The finished writing house

Here's the inside-- doesn't this look like an amazing space to work? Maybe I should build my own...