Twilight and New Moon by Stephanie Meyers

OK I saw the movie Twilight and confess that I rather enjoyed it. I even liked Bella the 17 year old heroine in the movie. I also liked the Vampire/Native American legend. Jacob the Quilleyute teen was so cute. So I started the series of books - hey it is set in Forks - green, damp and nothing to do - I felt a need to be supportive of that sad little town we breeze through on the way to beach and forest hikes. It's not a "Harry Potter", ugh the dialogue sucks, but it was a fast read. Alas in the books Bella is much more wimpy- low self esteem always needing to be around men or else doing something so dumb it is ridiculous. In this day and age, please girls this is not a good model. I liked Edward the Vampire more in the books as he shows his self restraint but stop telling Bella to be safe! I see why girls like the forbidden. The age old tale of Romeo and Juliet. The attraction to Vampires...sex...yeah it's there. Will I read the other books? Yes even though really this is a bad use of my time! Sorry Carson, there are times when I just have to read a bit of junk.

Hotel Bemelmans by Ludwig Bemelmans

I read this book after rave reviews in the NY Times Book Review. A reminder to self - rave reviews do not mean I will like it myself. I did like the Madeline books which Bemelmans wrote so I thought I would read this to learn about his life. And some of it was interesting - he grew up on Austria- hated school, went to work for an uncle in the hotel business and then managed to make every mistake he possibly could including shooting a waiter (he lives). Ludwig is sent off to New York with a few names from his uncle to make a new life. He lands eventually at the Ritz and has a long career there as a bad waiter and then caterer. There were some funny spots, but this was so old fashioned 1940ish that I had trouble doing much more than skimming his antics. Note to others - don't waste your time with this one.

Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz

The last book I read by Tony Horwitz- Baghdad without a Map was pretty funny and I was in need of some comedic relief so I got Confederates in the Attic. I enjoyed Tony's travels through out the South to examine why southerners today still ponder the Lost Cause. It was full of some good laughs as Tony follows a reenactor "hardcore" named Robert Lee Hodge through his civil wargasm.

" The pleasure the Civil War gave me was hard to put into words. ' You're talking about a period rush,' Rob said, when I tried to explain all of this during the final mile of our Gettysburg March...with a live chicken slung over my shoulder.. But childhood fantasy kept colliding with adult reality...and the discomforting adult questions that remembrance kept raising...For many Southerners I'd met, remembrance of the War had become a talisman against modernity, an emotional lever for their reactionary politics. The issues at stake in the Civil War -race in particular- remained raw and unresolved, as did the broad question the conflict posed: would America remain one nation? Socially and culturally,there were ample signs of separatism and disunion across class, race, ethnic and gender lines. The whole notion of a common people united by common principles -even common language- seemed more open to question than at any period in my life time." pp. 387 and 386

Tony travels through 15 states meeting Daughters of the Confederates who keep small museums full of confederate soldiers' uniforms, guns, and letters home; attending a number of tense meetings in a small town where a black young man kills a white young man for the confederate flag that drapes his truck and visiting the last surviving confederate widow who as a teenager married an 80 year old confederate who did not talk much about his service and turns out to have been a deserter. And then participating with all those hundreds of reenactors who show up at the Battle of Shilo and other battle sites on the anniversaries of the battles to engage in reenactment. Tony's greatest talent is how he describes what he encounters without judging the people he meets allowing the reader to draw his/her own conclusions.

The Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo

My friend, Rich, loved this book. I usually like his taste in books so I took it on our trip to Argentina. Let's just say if you have read one Richard Russo book on small town life that might be enough unless you were really into small town life where not much happens. The narrator Lou C or lucy is a guy who runs several small groceries in a small town in upstate New York and thinks a lot about his childhood -- his mother, father, school and the dreaded time he was locked in a trunk by some bullies. Intertwined are stories from his "best" friend's perspective and from his wife's perspective. The ending was very dissatisfying and a bit unbelievable. Alas I was stranded in a country with Spanish books and forced to plow through it... sigh!

Unlikely Destinations by Tony and Maureen Wheeler

The Lonely Planet books over the years have been our guide posts, starting with our trip around the world 27 years ago. We used to joke about the gringo trail of people who would go eat oatmeal in Penang where Tony ate oatmeal. Aside from our snarky comments, the Wheeler books provided a fresh way to look at traveling for young people shouldering back packs and looking for cheap and interesting travels to unique places. So our traveling grew up with the Wheelers. Alas, the book is a bit of a plodder. Nonetheless it was worth a skim to read how long it took them to turn a profit, the challenges they had with each other and raising their traveling kids. I would have liked to hear more about their adventures traveling than the type of computers they bought as the business expanded. They are giving back with their foundation to the people in countries where they have travelled. A nice touch!

The Earthsea Wizard by Ursula Le Guin

This was my second time reading this book. Ursula Le Guin was coming to read from it at our community center. I realized all of a sudden that this was the book that J.K Rowling had used as a model for her Harry Potter books. It is about a boy wizard who has no mother and goes off to wizard school where he unleases a shadow (in his youthful pride to show how powerful he is to a rival) that haunts and taunts him through out the book. Ursula Le Guin's reading was wonderful. She is a tiny 78 year old person. She wanted to write about a boy wizard "Ged" because growing up she only read about old men with flowing white beards. Ged's good friend Vetch from school helps him on his journey and Ged spends time at Vetch's house and quite likes his sister (sound familiar?) In the end after going from island to island, conquering a few dragons, and venturing out to sea where none has ever gone, Ged conquers the shadow and good once again triumphs over evil. This is a pretty simple story but nicely written with many sequels, which I have not read. Le Guin makes all her characters in this book dark skinned. The Earthsea world is full of islands with funny names. Names are important to Le Guin who makes them up and only uses them if they feel right. Le Guin says it was not until the fourth book in this series that she found her feminist perspective and stopped trying to be a man writer. It was very touching to see many of the audience members tell her how deeply influenced they had been by her books. I hate to think of books disappearing from our interior lives!

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

This books tells the true story of Dr Minor (a Yale graduate, civil war solider, doctor, and a murderer) who resides in an insane asylum in England and reads through many thousands of English literature books to help write word definitions for the Oxford English Dictionary. If he had been alive today, his condition, paranoid dementia, would have been treated by medication today and perhaps if he had had such medication he would never have found the solace he did in writing all those thousands of word definitions. The book is written with each chapter starting with a word such as Sesquipedalian - adjective of words and expressions that have many syllables. I liked learning about how this first comprehensive dictionary was written- it took 70 years and the fact it relied on many volunteers- sort of a wikipedia project. I had not thought that Shakespeare did not have access to a comprehensive dictionary in his time. An interesting book although the style made it a little hard to read!

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

When you read this book about Jeannette Walls and her crazy family, you wonder -- is this really true? Her parents were vagabonds and dreamers who certainly would not know the meaning of the words helicopter parent. They drag their four children through a careless, almost abusive childhood. The kids have to fend for themselves to find food. They rarely have baths or clean clothes. And yet there is something occasionally magical that happens such as when Jeanette's dad takes her out on the stoop of their house on Christmas Eve to give her any star she wants and name it after her as a present or when she goes to Barnard on her own and he and her mother are homeless in NYC - he wins $1000 at poker and gives it to her to pay the last $1000 she owes for college.

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, is a Somalian woman who seeks refuge in the Netherlands from her harsh life as a Muslim woman in Africa, and eventually becomes a member of the Dutch parliament. After reading this book I had to ask myself would I really be this brave and willing to risk my life for speaking out against the way Islamic women are treated in Africa? I hope so, but it would not be easy. Ayaan grows up with a mother who beats her and a father (anti Somalian government activist) who is rarely present in her life. At age five she learns to recite her ancestors 300 years back. Knowing their names will make you strong says her Grandmother. Life for a young girl and woman in an African Islamic household is full of submissions, whippings and covering up your body. Ayaan moves with her mother, grandmother, brother and sister between Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Kenya. She is luckier than many girls because she gets to go to school and her father (though rarely present) loves her very much. She flees an arranged marriage and seeks asylum in the Netherlands. She is disowned by her family for her dishonor. Her father refers to her as deceitful fox. After experiencing the freedom of life in Holland, Ayaan becomes an outspoken advocate for the rights of women who like herself grew up in repressed Muslim families. This leads to a film called Suppression which she produces with Theo Van Gogh which describes a woman veiled who must submit to the way of Islam and then uncovered with Koran writings on her body. Theo is murdered and Ayaan is subjected to death threats and under protection from the Dutch government. I found myself agreeing with her that the Dutch had gone too far in providing funding for separate religious schools and community centers for the Muslim immigrants in their country. Many immigrants do not become fully integrated into the Dutch society and they continue to beat their women and live their lives as they would in Africa on the generous public welfare system. Eeks I am sounding like a conservative, but I do think there are some lessons to be learned here about how immigrants need to be encouraged to adopt the values of the country they choose to live in. I really enjoyed the fast pace and amazing story Ayaan shares about her life in this book.

Alice Waters Chez Panisse by Thomas McNamee

I can't believe I am reading another foodie book. Really I am NOT a foodie. But I was curious about Alice Waters as her restaurant in California spawned the locavore movement in the U.S. Alice loves food, cooking and men. The restaurant business requires hours of time and the complicated meals she prepares exhausted me. She has some interesting boy friends and friends. I would love to go to one of her dinner parties at Chez Panisse. Her initial dream of a restaurant where neighbors come to eat and socialize, mushrooms (no pun intended) into a mecca for foodies thus displacing the neighborhood feel. Alice struggles most of the time to turn a profit. I would like to be her daughter, Fanny, and have delicious school lunches packed for me (I had cream cheese and jelly sandwiches every day for 10 years).  I skimmed a lot of this book but appreciated reading how dedicated someone can be to a passion they have...similar to Greg Mortenson. I am looking forward to our weekly produce box from our local farmers Annie and Sue coming soon!

Attachment by Isabel Fonesca

This book got a lot of hype in the NY Times book review. I just had to read it as it seemed about a woman about my age. Alas it was a bit of a disappointment- the story of Jean, an American married to a Brit, who suspects her husband is having an affair. They live on an island in the Indian Ocean but seem to bounce around from London to NY with ease. I read Isabel's earlier book  Bury Me Standing about gypsies, which was non fiction and interesting. While I liked her writing style in this book and the twists at the end, the story jumped around too much for me. I would not recommend this book. 

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Relin

While Greg Mortenson is a bit full of himself, I admired his dogged pursuit to build schools in remote areas for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. I liked his non judgmental approach. He is always living on the brink, needing money or escaping death narrowly. His ability to learn languages easily and relate to all different kinds of people is cool. Part of me is envious for his passion and ability to make some real changes. On the other hand, I had trouble with how he placed his family at a lower priority than his work in Pakistan. This book is not very well written, but it tells an inspiring story.

The Wind Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami

This book was like reading a long dream, which vacillated between interesting and nightmarish stories with quirky characters.  The protagonist, Toru Okada, who calls himself The Wind Up Bird, quits his job and hangs out at home doing chores and waiting for his wife, Kumiko, to come home every night from her work. One day she does not return.  He sets out to find her and runs into a series of very odd characters ranging from Lieutenant Mamiya who serves in the Japanese Army during WW II witnessing some horrible atrocities such as the skinning of a live compatriot to Malta and Creta Kano, sisters who are clairvoyant and spend a lot of time listening to Toru's ruminations. In much of the book, I spent trying to figure out what is real, what is a symbol and what is pure fiction. It is a book about a young man finding himself and his strength of character after many years of aimless drifting (with periodic meditations at the bottom of a dry well).  The ending ties many of the complicated parallel stories together that revolve around Toru's life. I like weird endings so I particularly liked this book!

The Mormons by Wallace Stegner

Wow I realize it's been quite awhile since I have made an entry for books I have read. I have tried a number of them recently, but quit many of them as they just were not that good, including The History of Love. Dave and I went on  a vacation to Utah and stopped in Salt Lake City. I became a little obsessed with the Mormons. The Temple Square is interesting. I loved seeing the Tabernacle- it is a shiny gray dome building with a big organ inside. All this made me want to buy a book about Mormon life, plus recently in Texas a cult of Fundamental Church of the Latter Day Saints were busted for their polygamous ways (or multiple marriages as they call them) and forcing young teenage girls into marriages with older men. 

I saw this book by Wallace Stegner who is one of my all time favorite writers. So naturally I paid $17 at the Capitol Reef Ranger Station bookstore to read it. Each chapter deals win a vignette on Mormon life. Stegner spent part of his life in SLC and hung out with Mormons - going to their social events, etc.  He is attracted to the family fun they have and is not overly critical of them as they were so welcoming to him.  I was most interested in how Brigham Young sent out little groups of people to found new towns all over Utah and near by states. We went through many of these tiny towns - Orderville, Torrey, Dixie, etc. And it was fun because I had read a little bit about them. Orderville operated on communist principles where the Mormons gave up their personal wealth for the common good and ate boarding house style for all meals. In Dixie, the Mormons grew cotton to support the Confederates during the Civil War. I learned that for Utah to become a state, the Feds forced the Mormons to give up multiple marriages, which is not exactly what Sister Laura (young woman on a mission as a tour guide at Brigham Young's house) conveyed about the end of multiple marriages to our tour group. So while this was not a book for everyone, it was a good read as we travelled the small towns of Southern Utah and pondered how the Mormons could move into these areas and start from scratch to make a new life under trying environmental conditions.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Okay this will be my last book for awhile on the environment and healthy eating! I was interested in how Barbara Kingsolver managed to feed herself and her family on food they grew for a year. While she inspired me to sign up for a CSA and to think much more about what I eat, I don't think I could do what she did to raise all that food, weed the garden, harvest the garden, can it and cook it (much less kill the chickens and turkeys). She and her family clearly took a great deal of pride in what they did but seem almost too consumed in it. While the book is not too preachy and she has a great sense of humor about her turkeys and daughter Lily raising chickens, there were times when her husband's political bits he must share with his college students and her daughter, Camille's musings on eating healthy made me fast forward. In the end, I admire what they accomplished. The point that we eat food trucked from all over the world burning fuel with little regard to eating within our own season is well taken. I like the idea of supporting farmers in our area through buying a CSA share. I will even work on eating organic meat and chicken from the coop. However, I could not resist the blueberries from Chile that were at  Top Foods the other day. They were some of the best I have ever eaten!

Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee

J.M. Coetzee is a South African (white) writer. This story is about a twice divorced man, Prof David Lurie, who seduces young women  (often his students). His obsessions catch up to him when a complaint is finally filed and he is tried by his colleagues who try to help him repent, but he declares himself guilty and unwilling to repent and thus looses his teaching job. He heads out to the country to reconnect with his daughter, Lucy, who eeks out a living farming on a scrap of land. While he is there, a roaming group of young black men come to the house, rape Lucy, kill her dogs and steal David's car. Lucy's reaction to the event "I am staying and not filing charges" baffles her father. His anger toward the young men who commit the crime is full of ironies considering his conquests of young women. Life in the new South African and the relationships of men and women, whites and blacks made this short book a good quick read.

The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard

While this book is not high prose, it is a riveting story about a mother, Beth, whose three year old son, Ben, is kidnapped from the lobby of a hotel when she takes her family to her high school reunion. Beth's plunge into severe depression and fixation on the loss of her son create disintegrating relationships with her family but most especially Vincent, her older son, and Pat, her restaurant manager husband. This books has a surprise twist, which seems a little implausible when the lost boy is found nine years living nearby with a "step dad".  The  mother  in me was affected at  a gut level...I don't know how I would ever cope with such a loss, but I might have taken on some of the same behaviors of guilt and resentment toward those I lived with that Beth does. It reminded me of The Good Mother by Sue Miller. Life can be perfect one day with your young child and the next day a turn of events makes your life hell and you cannot think of anything else but the loss of your child. 

White Oleander By Janet Fitch

I started out liking this book a lot. It was the heart breaking story of a young woman, Astrid, who grows up with a free spirited poet mother. Her mother kills an ex lover and goes to prison leaving Astrid to struggle through a number of foster families in search of  a normal family to love. Many things happen along the way -- she first lives with a born again woman "Starr" and has an affair with her boy friend and "Starr" shoots her in anger, then she lives with Marvel and her family with 2 kids whom she is the live in nanny, but finds an interesting woman, Olivia, next door whom Marvel does not approve of. Then she lives with a woman who padlocks the fridge and starves the girls living there. Then she moves in with Ron and Claire who give her love and attention, but that ends with Claire's suicide...by this time I am in the "enough already" mode and had to skim very lightly the rest of the book. Janet is a good writer but does not know when to quit.