February Reads

Another month comes to an end. I didn't think I would get too much reading done in February, but it must be those long cold winter nights are conducive to reading in bed. Here's the list for February:
Books-February 2011
1. Beachcombers by Nancy Thayer
2. The mysterious circus by Jane Langton (gender study)
3. The hunger games by Suzanne Collins
4. Nightmare at the bookfair by Dan Gutman
5. Lucy the good by Marianne Musgrove
6. Glorious by Bernice McFadden
7. Chicken Friend by Nicola Morgan (gender study)
8. Cactus Soup by Eric A. Kimmel (gender study)
9. Our kind of traitor by John le Carre
10. Walking into Murder by Joan Dahr Lambert
11. The hidden people of North Korea by Ralph Hassig and Kongdan Oh
12. My reading Life by Pat Conroy (audio book)
13. Wading into murder by Joan Dahr Lambert

1.Nancy Thayer writes women’s fiction. Her characters are almost all women and she writes from a woman’s perspective. I generally like her books, but don’t LOVE them.
2.This was one of the gender books I read this month, a medium length chapter book where the main character is male. The author had a balance of males and females to a certain extent, but it’s those walk-on roles that seem to trip up many authors. The policemen, for example: all male. Passersby, in this novel, some are female, but more are male. End verdict: 32 males, 22 females.
3.The hottest children’s novel series right now. They are currently making this into a movie that may be pretty scary if it follows the book closely. Well-written and compelling reading. I will read the next books in this series soon.
4.I read this on the recommendation of my fifth grade buddies. It is a pretty silly book. But, if it gets them reading, then it’s got something!
5.One of the new books I received this month about children with “issues.” In this case, Lucy seems to have ADHD. By the end, Lucy thinks of herself as good rather than bad, even though she has a hard time controlling her impulses. But, the author fails to address the fact that there are two bullies in the book and they are never really confronted as bullies. Lucy is the only one who has to adjust her behavior.
6.February’s book club choice. Read it, think about issues of race; and whether you are black or white, try to imagine the life and choices open to a black woman in the 1930s.
7.This one had a female main character and the final tally was 20 females, 19 males; just barely winning the count. At least the parents in this book do not following gender stereotypes. Becca, the main character, has a strong voice and learns important lessons through her mistakes. Wish it was that easy for all of us!
8.A picture book that retells the story of Stone Soup set in Mexico during the revolution. Dominated by males, not surprisingly, it is still a clever rendition of a favorite story!
9.I read this because John le Carre wrote The Constant Gardener and while I did not read this book, I loved the movie. I read all of Our Kind of Traitor, but I didn’t enjoy it. The story was too non-linear, had too many characters and none were that likable. le Carre won’t be on my list after this.
10.The first in a series of mystery novels set in England with an American protagonist. I like that the series is about a woman of a certain age who speaks her mind and races into danger with little thought. This was a inexpensive buy from Amazon for the Kindle.
11.While I prefer fiction to nonfiction, this book was definitely worth the time and effort to read it. The poor people of North Korea, literally and figuratively. I hope this terrorist regime will soon come to an end.
12.My top pick for the month. This is a regular book, but I listened to it on my ipod mostly while I was waiting for buses in February. There are a myriad of great quotes in this book. Conroy spends chapter after chapter discussing some of his favorite books and the people who influenced his reading life. What a great concept and great fun to read (listen to).
13.The second in the series by Lambert, the same main character, just a different mystery and set of bad guys. However, Laura has not learned anything from the dangers she faced in the first book. And she continues to get captured, knocked on the head and propositioned. Don’t know if I’ll go for the third or just let it go at two.

RIP Carol

From my eulogy for my dear cousin, Carol Anne Patt, who died unexpectedly on February 17, 2011. Carol, I will miss you as a reading partner and as a friend. You are beloved by so many:
One of the greatest memories I have is going to the national book fair on the DC mall. There we could listen to some of the greatest authors of our time, buy books and if we had the patience of Carol Anne, get books autographed. Many of you here today probably have a book that Carol waited on line to get autographed. The lines were long and the waiting could be up to 2 hours, but if Carol had a book to be autographed, she would wait. Last September, I did as I usually did and went to listen to an author or two, coming back from time to time to visit with Carol while she waited on line to get books autographed by Katherine Paterson. I got some good pictures of Carol while she was meeting Ms. Paterson. She told me she was getting books signed for Kerri and Kaitlin, which I am sure was true. But, at Christmas, I realized she had also snuck a book in there for me, signed by the author while I was snapping pictures. Sneaky, Carol, real sneaky!

Gym reading

When I go to the gym, I exercise because I feel I need to to keep my body healthy. But, I always take a book, I can read while riding a stationary bike, walking on the treadmill or using the stair master. It makes the time go faster and makes me feel more productive. Generally, I read a simple book, preferably a children's book, so it does not take too much brain power to comprehend. I just finished Hunger games by Suzanne Collins about a future dystopian society where the TV show, Survivor, is taken to a new level. Children are pitted against each other to the death, while the whole country watches them for entertainment. I read most of this in 30 minute increments, until I got so involved with it that I had to  take it home and finish it in one spurt. I started a new young adult novel today called After summer by Nick Earls. This is one of the gender studies books and it is a romance told from the perspective of the boy, giving a new twist to the girl pining for a boyfriend teen novel. It will probably be my gym book for a few weeks at least. Now if I could figure out how to read when I am swimming laps.

Understanding Culture

One of the things we know about reading is that we always read from our own perspective. This became clear to me last night when our local library book club discussed the book Glorious by Bernice McFadden. One of the main events in this book happens during the Harlem Renaissance. Easter, the main character, has written an outstanding novel, but her white benefactor steals the novel and enters it as her own in a writing contest. Easter also enters the same novel in the contest. The judges know that one of these women has stolen this novel and they ultimately choose to publish it under the white woman's name. Easter does not fight for her right to "own" this writing. The white women in my book club were outraged that she is not standing up for herself. The black women and I felt that Easter could not stand up for herself at that time in history and she knew no one would believe her. It was astounding to me that the whites could not understand how oppressive it was (and maybe still is) to be black in the 1930s, how beat down Easter was by her encounters with white people (some of which are described in detail in this book) and how she knew she could not fight the system.
We spent at least 30 minutes going round and round with the discussion and the final word from one of the white women was: She just needed to get a lawyer! As I stated at the beginning: we read from our own perspective. It was clear that we all saw this novel from very different perspectives!

Great Quotes

While waiting for the bus these past few mornings, I have been listening to a book by Pat Conroy called My Reading Life. It is read by the author, making it doubly enjoyable. I keep having to stop the ipod, mark the spot and come back to it later because he has so many great quotes. For example, in the first chapter where he is explaining his love of good literature, he says, "Books contain powerful amulets that can lead to paths of certain wisdom." In the second chapter, writing about Gone with the Wind, a touchstone book for him,  he says, "There is no passion more rewarding than reading itself, ... it remains the best way to dream..." I love the way he uses language. And I especially love hearing him read it himself. There are times when a writer's prose makes me want to stop and notice, to think about the way words are put together, to really marvel at the choice of vocabulary, sentence structure, and take the time to give credit to the author for such exquisite writing. Most times, I don't do this, but with the listening, especially with this book, it has seemed more compelling.  Either reading or listening, it is difficult to stop, to take the time to mark the place, to come back to the pieces of writing that pierce your heart. But, when I do take the time, it is always worth it!

Fiction versus nonfiction?

On this gorgeous Super Bowl Sunday, I have been blessed with time to read a few books. I have two non-fiction that I am reading to learn and two fiction, one for my book club and one to explore an author new to me. Although it is a tough read, the most compelling right now is called The Hidden People of North Korea by Ralph Hassig and Kongdan Oh. I have only read about 50 pages so far, but it is both fascinating and repellent as I read about the power of two men (Kim Il-Sung and his son Kim Jong-Il) to hold 20 million people hostage. The authors have interviewed hundreds of North Koreans who have escaped to the south or to other countries and have done extensive research to be able to verify the accounts they have heard. The people of North Korea have been kept in ignorance, are poorly educated, poorly fed and receive health care that is both antiquated and sporadic. All while the current leader, Kim Jong-Il, lives in one of his dozen modern, western-style villas complete with more food than most of his subjects see in six months. He publicly decries the starvation of his people, yet in private seems to not be affected by the hardships they face. What is it that makes a person able to ignore the rights of those less fortunate?

Kindle, ipad or traditional book?

Most of my reading is done the old-fashioned way, because I am too cheap to buy all the books I read, so I get them from the library. But, I have totally enjoyed reading on a the Kindle over the last few years and now, I am permanently attached to my ipad. The ipad has the option of reading on apple's book reader (the ibook, of course), the nook (Barnes and Noble), the kobo (Borders) or the Kindle for ipad. Maybe it's because I started e-reading with the kindle, but the kindle for ipad is my favorite on the ipad. And, customer service at Amazon beats the others hands-down. Every week or so, I go through the free book list, the $2.00 book list, etc. and see if there is anything worth my time. I try to keep two or three back-up books on the ipad, so if I get caught waiting for someone at a meeting, or just get caught in traffic, I always have something to read. Anyone like reading e-books more than regular. What's your fancy?

In hardcover this week, I am reading The Mysterious Circus by Jane Langton, an intermediate fantasy for the gender study, and The Beachcombers by Nancy Thayer. One thing that I find interesting is that the story is about three sisters who are close in age to my three children. Yet, I identify with them much more than I do with the older characters in this book. Is it because of my connection to my own sisters? Or do I just not want to admit that I am in my 50s (fast approaching 60) and still feel like a youngster? I like Thayer's books, although you could say they are fairly predictable. She writes character well and she gives me people to read about that I think I could be friends with.