The Queen of Water

I'm starting a new label today for recommended books since I have one I positively loved, The Queen of Water by Laura Resau and María Virginia Farinango. It is a novel based on a true story, one of those amazing tales that you almost can't believe really happened. It is both heartbreaking and heartwarming and brought me to tears.

 It takes place in Ecuador, a country and culture which I am fascinated by, and the reason I picked the book up in the first place. I didn't even look to see what it was about, I just opened it up and started reading... It is the story of Virginia, an indigenous girl who is taken from her village to serve a mestizo couple. She doesn't only leave behind her family, but her language and culture. Virginia is treated horribly, but is so spirited and determined. My heart went out for her and what she was going through, but this spunky character was also someone I cared deeply about and wanted to see triumph. It is a story about being caught between two cultures and a journey to self-discovery.

Laura Resau, author and cultural anthropologist, met María Virginia Farinango and the two wrote the book together, using Farinango's story, but fictionalizing it. (The two can be seen pictured, right.) The end result is nothing short of amazing. The Queen of Water is an absolutely beautiful book that I highly recommend.

Silent Spring

I had plans to audit an environmental literature class this semester, but backed out when I saw how doing so would leave me with little to no time to write. I dropped the class and vowed to read everything on the syllabus on my own. That decision was made in January and until now I haven't read any of it. I haven't really been in the mood for the books and have never liked feeling forced to read something. But as April came around, I picked up one of the books, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.

On the copy of the book I read it says, "the classic that launched the environmental movement" and I can certainly see why. The stories and evidence Carson presents about the damage that pesticides and insecticides are wreaking on the environment is startling. Thankfully DDT, which she focuses on, is no longer used, thanks to this book. However, many other chemicals are still in use and new ones have been developed. Considering the magnitude of the effects of these chemicals that Carson so eloquently outlines in her book, it is surprising that there wasn't a larger shift away from their use. This book wasn't a light read, but it was, for the most part, quite readable and a real eye-opener.

Wayside School Is Falling Down

I recently read Wayside School Is Falling Down by Louis Sachar at the urging of one of my CASA children. I was a big fan of Sideways Stories From Wayside School when I was a kid, but I wasn't exactly enthusiastic to pick up the sequel. I offered to read it to my children, but there were no takers. I read without consent to my middle child, who was pretty disturbed by the first story. (This statement is more telling about my son's serious nature than the content of the story.)

If you haven't read either Wayside book, the books are full of short, silly stories full of irony and humor. But I really think their virtues are best appreciated by the under eleven crowd. (Not that I didn't chuckle at a few of the stories...)

Diet for a Hot Planet



I picked up Anna Lappé's Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It because she's going to be speaking at a food conference I'm going to later this month. (Well, that and I thought it sounded interesting.)

As the subtitle suggests, the book is about the connection between what we eat and climate change. Lappé divides the book into three sections: Crisis, Spin, and Hope. The first section (which was a bit dry for me) outlined the problem of global warming with more science jargon than my brain could easily comprehend, the second is how the food industry has spun the problem and have even profited from climate change (really interesting stuff), and the last section is how to make food choices that are not harmful to the planet. I can't say much of the third section was anything I didn't know, but it was a good reminder nonetheless. I enjoyed the book and found it inspiring. I'm looking forward to seeing her speak.



Anna is the daughter of Francis Moore Lappé, the author of Diet for a Hungry Planet.



Also: I found a short video of Anna Lappé speaking about the connection between our food choices and climate change that's worth checking it out.

out of the girls' room and into the night

My temporary inability to commit to a novel was forgotten with Thisbe Nissen's out of the girls' room and into the night. I read Nissen's first novel about ten years ago and her second novel last summer. I like the way she writes-- nothing earth-shattering, but it's good. It seems like she's comfortable with her voice so the writing comes off very natural. I found this collection of short stories used a while back and decided to give it a try when I was in my reading slump. There weren't any stories I didn't like, though there were a couple of two page stories that were lacking and felt unfinished to me. I especially enjoyed "The Mushroom Girl," "Flowers in the Dustbin, Poison in the Human Machine," and "819 Walnut." It wasn't the best short story collection I've read, but I wasn't disappointed either.

five books abandoned in a single night

The problem with reading a book like The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is that it's hard to find a book to follow. I was in this crazy mindset and it was tough to find something to match it. Here are the five books I tried reading after I finished it...

An Atlas of Impossible Longing by Anuradha Roy- A friend of mine is reading this for her book club that I'd like to participate in from afar. I enjoyed Roy's writing and loved that the book begins with a who's who list of characters, but I couldn't get into it, but I'm going to give it another shot after the Mara Dyer dust has settled... So I may be blogging about this again in the near future.

A Partial History of Lost Causes by Jennifer Dubois- Again the writing was good, but I just wasn't in the right mindset for this one. I will probably try picking this one up again some day, but who knows when. I had picked it up (knowing nothing about it) solely because I liked the title. But the praise listed on the book does make me think it might be worth reading.

The Train of Small Mercies by David Rowell- This book's spine kind of jumped out at me and the front cover includes praise by Ann Patchett, whom I love. Unfortunately, it didn't do anything for me and is going right back to the library, where I may never check it out again. The writing was decent, but nothing about it pulled me in.

Boy Minus Girl by Richard Uhlig- I thought for sure a YA book would help cure my inability to read anything. It was a YA book that got me into this mess, perhaps only another YA book would dig me out. But this book fell flat.

Say You're One of Them by Uwen Akpan- I figured short stories might help, since I was having trouble committing to a whole novel. I think this collection was too topic-heavy though for my state of mind. I'll definitely be reading this sometime in the future because there is real beauty in his writing, but not now.

It was indeed a collection of short stories that I was able to settle into. I'll be writing about it soon.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

For anyone who liked Twilight, have I got the book for you--Michelle Hodkin's The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. There are absolutely no vampires, so those who steered clear of Twilight for that reason, may still like this book. I bring up Stephenie Meyer's bestselling book though because it also has a heart thumping romance in the center of a plot chock full of danger. But the similarities end there. (And I have to say, Hodkins is a better writer than Meyer.) 

So to give you the story, in as little detail as possible since there is power in the mystery of the story and the way it unfolds...
Mara wakes up in a hospital room to learn her best friend, her boyfriend, and his sister are all dead, but she doesn't remember what happened. I hate to give too much away because one of the book's virtues is its mystery and the way it unfolds. It's part psychological thriller, part paranormal drama, part romance... and it's really, really good.

If you're intrigued, you can check out the trailer. (Not for the movie; publishing companies are putting out trailers for books now. Interesting, huh?)

Books I've Abandoned

I'm starting a new label today as I'll now be keeping track all those books I've abandoned. It happens more often than anyone knows--I pick up a book, read a bit of it, and put it back down. Now to be fair, sometimes it's not the book's fault. I really think you have to be in the mood for certain books. I think the reason some books are so wildly popular is that you can come to them in pretty much any kind of mood and enjoy them. Others may be just as good but have mental requirements for the reader to be able to sink into them. So please don't think the books that fall under this new label all suck. It may be that I was just finicky (or feeling brain-dead) at the time I picked them up.

There are two books I recently started, then abandoned:

Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa- I picked up this book because when researching agents I saw one that said this book was her all-time favorite because it had quirky characters and an element of romance. I came across the title somewhere else too before deciding I really should read it. I had to request it via inter-library loan, which makes me feel wildly guilty about abandoning it, but it just wasn't grabbing me. It's an older book and there was no back cover description to give me some context. Maybe if I had that, it would've helped. (I couldn't figure out which South American country it was set in and was too lazy to Google it and look it up.) Then again, maybe not-- like I said, it did nothing to pull me in.

Arcadia by Lauren Groff- I read about this book in Book Page and was intrigued with the life on a commune storyline. The writing is beautiful--but wasn't enough to keep me turning pages. I didn't feel like I connected to Bit, the child protagonist, nor did I see much of a plot developing. It simply didn't interest me, though I kept trying to push through since the writing was so good. I'd definitely like to read her first novel, The Monsters of Templeton, (though I have no idea what it's about) because I did love her writing. Arcadia was just moving too slow for me.

I may pick up both of these books again sometime in the future, but for now, they're getting returned to the library and I've found something that succeeded in getting my attention-- a YA novel that is more up my alley for the time being.

The Dissident

I picked up Nell Freudenberger's The Dissident after liking her responses in The Secret Miracle. I was not disappointed. Freudenberger tells the tale of a Chinese performance artist and political dissident who comes to L.A. for an artist residency and teaches at a girls' school. He stays with an affluent family with a slew of problems and the story switches back and forth between his perspective and members of the family. There are several stories going on and the dissident has two stories--his past in China and what is happening in L.A. I don't want to give too much away because there is a nice twist I'd hate to spoil. I was just reading a review that said she tried to tackle too much in this book and I'd have to agree. It's true that she starts a couple story lines and does not tie them up. This book isn't for everyone-- the review I read said it was "annoying," but I really liked the book and Freudenberger's writing style. I'll definitely be checking out her short story collection sometime...

Lone Wolf

I think of Jodi Picoult as a guilty pleasure. For those not familiar with her, she writes high-drama, fast paced novels that usually contain some kind of courtroom trial two-thirds of the way into the book. Her books are very plot-driven, but unlike most plot-driven novels she actually has round characters that don't fall flat--and she is meticulous with her research and tends to tackle heavy issues. As soon as I saw she had a new book out, Lone Wolf, I placed it on hold and devoured it in several days, as is the case with her books. (They pull you in so much; you're turning pages like a madwoman, neglecting everything that needs to be done until you've reached the last page.)

Lone Wolf is about a family, the father (a famous wolf biologist) gets in a serious car accident and is in a vegetative state. His son Edward left the family (and the country) six years earlier, but returns home when he hears the news. Younger sister Cara was in the car accident too and carries more hope for her father's outcome than her brother does. The novel weaves in stories of wolves (such fascinating animals!) to tell this tale of what a family ultimately provides--not only love, but protection and strength. I think fans of Picoult won't be disappointed with her latest, but if you haven't read any of her books, I don't think this is the novel to start with. I'd suggest perhaps My Sister's Keeper for the uninitiated.