I wasn’t sleeping well the last few nights before setting off on our big adventure –  a 17-day trip to South Africa! I was too excited/nervous/stressed – I’m sure you know what I mean.

I barely slept on the flights either way.

I also tend to wake up very early on trips (not at home!) so I read quite a bit before the trip, on the trip, and upon returning.

Since arriving home, I have mainly been listening to audiobooks and reading print a bit less – when I have free time I go over my “gazillion” photos! After which I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow…

So, some quick comments on some books:

“Meet Me in Another Life” by Silvey

I wanted a light read for a sleepless night flight and it started off just right. Engaging without demanding too much concentration. Two young people meet over and over again in different versions of their lives.

However, somewhere around the middle, the book became incredibly repetitive and even boring. I didn’t like the ending at all. I don’t even know why I bothered to finish it…

“Lawrence and the Arabs” by Robert Graves

“Lawrence of Arabia”, the film from 1962 was actually one of the options of the in-flight movies. Not only hadn’t I seen it, but had completed the book about him by Graves just a few days before we flew out. I thought it was a stroke of luck!

Well, reading the book made me find the movie sorely lacking and I gave up on it at some point. Now the book, that’s where it’s at. It is FASCINATING!

Just to be clear, I had no particular prior interest in “Lawrence”. But when I saw that the book was by ROBERT GRAVES I knew I had to read it. Graves’ “I Claudius”, which I read years ago, left a big impression on me. His writing is engaging, clear, and down to earth while being informative and well-researched.

AND…

Unlike the Roman emperors, Graves actually KNEW the person he was writing about this time, and personally interviewed many of those whose lives crossed paths with Lawrence, including Lawrence’s mother!

Did I say it was FASCINATING?

“Euphoria” by Lily King

This was a good choice as a travel book. It’s engaging and interesting. Three young anthropologists are caught in a love triangle amongst themselves in New Guinea, in the 1930s. Their own lives influence how they live and interact with the native tribes they are studying. while studying /entangling themselves in the cultures of the tribes they are studying. The story is loosely based on Margaret Mead’s character and from what is known about an incident that she was involved in.

The ending was quite dramatic.

A good book but not amazing – not the kind I think about for some time after I have read it.

“Record of a Spaceborn Few” by Becky Chambers

Comfort food!

I listened to this as an audiobook (the reader is excellent, it feels like a play).

Chamber’s books are so comforting – yes there are real hardships when living in space and angst, but the overall vibe is optimism. A better society, a more inclusive society can be attained, a better world is possible.

Comfort food.

I enjoyed every minute

“Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?” by Frans de Waal

I can tell you right away – the answer is NO WE ARE NOT!

Absolutely not!

It’s mind-boggling to read of the assumptions people made in an effort to prove, no matter what, that humans are always better and smarter than animals.  I’m not a scientist and certainly am no animal expert, but some tales caused me to say “Really? Someone thought that? Someone lectured about it without even observing the animals in the wild”?

I read this after returning (after seeing so many animals it seemed a good choice).  The writing is very engaging and accessible to the non-academic public. I found it very interesting yet only read about 75% of the book. The point was very clear and I found that there was a limit to the number of examples of intelligent animal behavior I could take in.

I was convinced!

More books to come in a new post!

Happy Reading!

 

 

 

 

My grandmother always said that someone could (and should!) write a book about her.

In a way, I think Angie Cruz did!

It’s such a cleverly written, well-told book and I was so fortunate to have chosen it as an audiobook – if you can, that’s the way to go!  Listening to the manner in which Cara Romero answered questions the way SHE wanted to answer them, getting to the point via 100 other stops along the way, stopping to emphasize that no one could do it /understand it the way she could – it felt so very familiar!

No, my grandmother wasn’t Dominican, though she did speak Spanish. She was from Brest – today’s Belarus, part of Poland and Russia in the past. Along with the Yiddish, Polish, and Russian of her childhood, she spoke Hebrew, and Spanish learned during her 7 years living in Cuba.

Both women immigrated to New York from a Spanish-speaking island.

But that’s just the beginning.

 

Cara Romero always had to fend for herself and look after others, a resilient woman who had to struggle without the support of a husband. A woman who made some bad choices, managed to fall out with a lot of people, yet still retained a zest for life, and the energy to start over. Yet again. Then again.

Both women craved approval for their effort, for being who they were, and for the life they managed to create despite all odds, as both of them never got any such approval at home. Cara Romero of the book had a mother, who did not want to have children and was not interested in them. My grandmother was orphaned at the age of two and had the classic evil stepmother. Both Cara Romero and my grandmother stated repeatedly that they never had a childhood.

The desperate plea for approval shows up so clearly in those repeated statements (I’m not quoting verbatim, it was an audiobook!): Write this down. Everyone knows that Cara Romero does it better – if it is quieting the baby, being the one everyone turned to at work for advice, cooking, you name it…

I’m sure Cara Romero and my grandmother would have hated each other vehemently – two strong-willed women like them would have clashed within five minutes of being introduced…

Thank you, Angie Cruz! I loved the book!

 

 

Timing is everything, right?

In light of all that has been going on recently, listening to the audiobook “A Psalm for the Wild-Built” by Becky Chambers was just what I needed.

I really enjoyed putting on my headphones and spending four hours (it’s a short book!) in a world where:

• people and nature live in harmony.  I don’t care if it’s a naive or unrealistic vision. It’s nice to “spend” some time in such a world. A world in which “going green” doesn’t mean living as people did in medieval times.
• drinking tea is important. It’s a world in which it is acknowledged that people need to take some time out and drink tea.
•  a young person taking a journey into the wild to find themselves (plural is used in the book)  is 29, not 18, which makes a lot of sense nowadays. In addition, it’s no spoiler to say that the young person in the wilderness does not die.
• there is a super cute robot!

And…

I enjoyed the style of writing. In fact, I have placed a hold on the next book (it’s a duology, a two-part series) on Libby. I don’t mind waiting a while – I prefer not to read two books in a row by the same author.

Oh! One last thing:

Having a friend is always a good thing – that takeaway is absolutely true!

 

Do you know the genre of books in which a troubled/sad/lonely person’s life improves dramatically, as you read, mainly because he/she began reading books?

This isn’t that kind of book.

The narrator of this book has read voraciously for most of her 72 years. These books, their characters, and authors (not to mention some composers) have become the lenses through which she views life, struggles to make sense of life, or perhaps escapes from it.

This comes with a price.

And Aaliya, the narrator knows it well. Immersing herself in literature from around the world does not make her any less “an unnecessary woman” – a point she examines, perhaps “discusses” with her literary world.

Aaliya not only reads books but is a “closet translator” (completed translations are boxed away) – there are fascinating commentaries on translations and the process of translating.

But that’s not all there is in this book.

A life unfolds.

In a city.

Books and the City – that could be a subtitle.

Aaliya has spent all of her life in Beirut. Since she was born in the late 30s, she has lived through a great many very turbulent times. She watches the changes in her city, noticing, commenting, and often criticizing.

In fact, every element of life in the city, along with her colorful neighbors her relatives, and every character in Aaliya’s life, quite literally, comes under scrutiny using an amazing variety of literary characters.

The ending surprised me, in a good way.

I really enjoyed reading this book!

The unique style of writing drew me in immediately!

I’m not going to give you any more details – the author does it so much better than I, so why spoil the experience for yourself?

ENJOY!

 

 

I had already read more than half of THE BONE FIRE when the war in Ukraine began.

It was certainly a timely book to read.

The story doesn’t take place during a war. It’s a book about the generation/two generations after a war. About generations who not only have grown up dealing with the war scars of their parents/grandparents but have spent their lives behind the iron curtain.

The story takes place in an unnamed Eastern European country that has very recently been freed from life behind “the iron curtain”.  Those who know claim that it’s Romania.

The book is a combination of a coming of age story of 13-year-old Emma, recently orphaned, living with her mystical grandmother. While dealing with typical teenage angst (first menstruation, clothes, first crush, etc…) she must also deal with the harshness of an educational system scarred by the unforgiving brutality of a communist regime and the ghosts of war haunting her grandmother.

Yet her grandmother has special gifts and wisdom to pass down to Emma, gifts that become her own.

Beyond everything, the writing is unique and absolutely captivating.  Except for one part in the middle when I felt the author got too bogged down in details of teenage angst for too long, I was very taken by how the story is told and the manner in which the plot progresses. I can’t analyze the storytelling technique the way the New York Times Reviewer does (a review I read after reading the book!) but I don’t feel I need to. What matters is how it made me feel.

Fortunately, my son purchased the book following the New York Times review and suggested I read it as well.

I’m so glad I did.

I only wish that war in an area that had experienced life behind the iron curtain wasn’t taking place as I was reading the book…

This is a very engaging non-fiction book about A specific library and about libraries in general. While highlighting the role of libraries in our lives, Orlean takes us through different time periods, to different countries and cultures, to times of war, of book censorship, to the surprising connection between billionaires and the advent of women librarians and to beloved writers whom we never would have heard about if they hadn’t had a library in their lives.

And so much more…

The book’s framework is investigative journalism, researching the unsolved mystery of who set fire to the Los Angeles Central Library in 1986, and why. Not only were more than 400,000 precious books lost, it became a mythic fire in its proportions and unique characteristics, the kind most firefighters, thankfully, have never seen. How does a library recover from such a devastating event?

The answer to the question of why most of us have never heard of this incredible fire is interesting too!

The author also discusses the role of public libraries in homeless people’s lives. This was new to me as it is not something I have encountered here.

The book could have been a bit shorter, but otherwise, I really enjoyed it!

I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to read this book as the title is rather off-putting. However, after seeing both my husband and our younger son get excited about the book, I decided to give it a try.

I’m so glad I did.

What a unique book!

The style of writing captured my interest right away – I was hooked within minutes.

The book is written so cleverly that the story is, at the same time, all of these things and more:

•  a vivid personal account of thoughts and events as seen through the eyes of an unusual woman who lives on a fairly secluded mountain top.
• a murder mystery full of action and suspense.
• a relentless cry to respect and protect animals and nature
• keen observations on human nature, society, and bureaucracy.
• humorous moments
• a homage to William Blake
• a fascinating window into the joys and complexities of translating poetry
• a delightful use of language.

There, I haven’t spoiled anything for you – give the book a chance!

I’m looking forward to reading other books by Tokarczuk.

“The Children’s Bible” by Lydia Millet

WOW.

This is certainly a clever book that packs a punch.

Remember when Greta Thunberg thundered:

One review that fits two different books.

Now that’s a first.

I just feel pretty much the same about both books.

“The House in the Cerulean Sea” by T.J. Klune and “Britt Marie was Here” by Fredrik Backman

Both books have a basic plot that is clear from the beginning and it isn’t a spoiler. You know  that the main character, a person who lacks self confidence, is ignored by everyone and leads a limited existence,  will learn to spread his/her wings.

In both books the issue is ” the how”  – more than “the what”.  I particularly liked the  self dialogue the main characters held with themselves in both books. In the book about Britt Marie the commentary is also delightful. In the other book the dialogues with the children are a real treat!

Both books promote inclusion and learning to see those who are different from you. Linus, the case worker, teaches others that “magical beings” (as far as I’m concerned, that reads as “children with special needs) should be respected and integrated into society.  LGBQT as well.  Britt Marie meets people whom society would rather not see – you miss them a bit when you have finished reading the book since you now care about their lives.

In short – well written “feel good books”.

Note: I saw the trailer for the film “Britt Marie was here” and I wasn’t pleased. Britt Marie NEVER did jumping jacks with the children, she spread her wings but in a way that was consistent to who she was. I may be judging hastily but the movie looks as if it crossed the line between “feel good” and “Kitsch”…

What a unique book!

It’s difficult to define exactly what makes this book so special – it’s like the difficulty in defining what exactly “umami” is, which is something not only discussed in the book but plays a role in the story as well.

It’s a novel which mainly takes place in Mexico City. It follows the intertwined lives of the different people who live in “Belldrop Mews” (I had to look up the term  “mews”!). It’s written from the point of view of several characters, some of whom are children. Their “voices” are so real, that I now miss them a bit – as if they were people I had met.

While all the neighbors are dealing with grief,  this is not a “depressing” book. There are very sad moments along with ones of wonder and amusement.

More importantly, I found the combination of “voices” relating the same events, particularly the children’s voices, to be a powerful storytelling method in this context. The children questioned, wondered at, or even directly challenged the adults’ way of handling grief, and highlighted the many layers and aspects of how life moves forward after a tragedy.

And yes, there is hope, and new beginnings in this book. Slow changes for the better that start small but mean a lot (no fairy godmothers here…).

I recommend that you don’t read too much about the book in advance – it’s best to understand things as they are presented.

Enjoy!