A Series of Fortunate Events

Reading is something that is so natural to me, it is not forced upon me and I never find it a chore. I am lucky in a way since many people do not find a love for books and reading appealing. Books are my escape from reality, I live within those pages while I am reading, the characters become family and when I finish a book (especially a good one), I am often left feeling empty. This is quickly remedied as there are more books that I want to read than there is time. 

Time has been pretty good to me the past five years; a lot of personal and professional growth. I am now married to a man who I absolutely adore and would do anything for. I am a mother to a four year old black Labrador/Great Dane/Shepard mix. I spend my days back in high school, helping teens find their passion through reading. I can now add M.Ed next to my new last name, a goal that I never thought I would ever accomplish. Time has been good to me. Time is also fleeting. 

My promise of reading a book a week became a reality. According to my Nook I have read over 500 books in five years. I do not discriminate with my reading so I read anything and everything (However, I do have an aversion for Dystopian themed books). I know that I need to write down my thoughts after reading because I often forget how passionate I feel after reading the books. 

Although it is February, I am making a resolution (of sorts) to write down my thoughts after reading. This is an exercise that is purely personal and even if no one reads them, I feel this is something I must commit to. 

I look forward to discussing some of my favorite books and authors including:

Jonathan Irving

Joyce Carol Oates

Erik Larson

Donna Tart

Jeffrey Eugenides

Sue Monk Kidd

And many many more....

My baby Max (about 4 years ago). 

 

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Occasionally I am at a loss for words when I write about books. I like to say that I enjoy most books and I give most of them the benefit of the doubt and I can appreciate the writing, story telling, and overall effort it took for the author to patiently spend hours writing and editing his/her masterpiece. I for one, could never imagine painstakingly sitting hunched over a computer writing page after page of fiction. I do have to give credit where credit is due, Ms. Niffenegger did write a novel, and that is about the nicest thing I can say about it.

I probably had great expectations from this book given that her previous book, The Time Traveler's Wife was probably one of my top 10 books from the last decade and this book was a total let down. The adjective fearful is the perfect description of the book, although I would have probably used creepy. This book was creepy.

The story began with the death of a woman named Elspeth, who had a younger lover named Robert. Elspeth is an identical twin (her sister's name is Edie). Edie has identical twins named, Julia and Valentina. Elspeth left her twin nieces her flat in London and asked that the twins live in the flat for a year. The only clause is that their mother, Edie is not allowed. Edie and Elspeth have not spoken in years.

The twins are very close and have an almost incestuousness relationship. The are so dependent on one another that they are rarely alone. Upon arriving in London they meet one of Elspeth's neighbors, Martin who suffers from OCD, (Martin is the only saving grace in all of the characters of the novel). The novel continues for another hundred or so pages with boring scenes of London cemeteries, dead people, a cat, animal cruelty, ghosts, a weird love affair, more weird ghosts, and a really weird ending.

In summary if you want to force yourself to read something that when you finish, you will ask for your time back, then this is the book for you! I actually read this book twice, just in case I missed some higher, deeper meaning but I used all my analytical powers, even read my notes on existentialism and I could come up with nothing! it was just weird and creepy.

I give it a 2.

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

I get into moods where I read a lot of World War II books, (mostly Holocaust stories, memoirs, or psychological insights) where I sit for days or weeks and read one after another. Then, for some weird reason I stop. It is a love/hate relationship. I suppose it has to do with my own family perishing in the Holocaust, knowing that my family could have been bigger or that I may not have been in this world if things had turned out differently. In any case, when I saw that one of my favorite historical fiction writers, Erik Larson, had written his newest novel, In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin, I knew that I had to read it. Erik Larson is one of the best historical fiction writers that I have come across. He manages to introduce us to historical people that will probably not be remembered (other than a Wikipedia page) and become completely vested into their lives.

In the Garden of Beasts in summery recalls the American Ambassador to Germany, William E. Dodd and his daughter Martha Dodd’s experience in Germany during Hitler’s Chancellorship. This period in time was the birth of the Nazi party and the beginning of the anti-communist sentiment and the vapid anti-Semitism that spread throughout Germany in the 1930’s. As a history nut it was so interesting to see all actual incidents that occurred during that time. One that will always stick in my mind was when a non-Jewish woman wanted to marry a Jewish man and she was dragged by a group of SS and shamed in public. Of course as the years progressed things did get worse. It was also interesting that concentration camps were mentioned, mainly Dachau as well as the castration of the disabled and mentally impaired. Larson managed to show the reader the United States response by memorandums sent from different departments and how their personal beliefs affected the US’s decisions to intervene or not.

Larson did a tremendous job with William and Martha. William is a very uptight Southern Democrat who has very opinionated ideals. He is almost puritan in his work ethic and moral orders. His passion in life is the old South and his book he has been trying to finish. He doesn’t get along with the rest of his colleagues at the Embassy as he likes to watch his money and does not like to waste his money frivolously on such things as entertaining dignitaries and even likes to walk to work. The antithesis of his character is his daughter Martha. Martha loves the good life, but not as much as she loves men. She has several affairs and has numerous engagements. The famed astronomer/poet Carl Saigon is even mentioned as one of her beau’s. In Germany she falls in love with a communist, who we later learn is a Russian spy. When first arriving in Germany she is amazed and enthralled by the fervor that has engulfed Germany and is dying to meet Hitler. As the story continues she is appalled by what she see’s and realizes how mistaken she was. The Dodd’s only last in Germany for less than two years but their time there permanently changes their lives forever. William Dodd dies shortly after, Martha marries a Jewish American banker who is a communist and during McCarthyism relocates to Europe where she lives today.

Usually after reading a Larson book I do a lot of research about some of the events and the people he mentions in the stories. I love an author that teach you something new, that to me is the definition of reading. Reading opens you up to new worlds, new people, experiences, and points of view.

Thank you Mr. Larson, Keep them coming.

I give it 8 out of 10.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

There is something to be said about authors who write books from a child's perspective. I am not sure that I could ever be capable of such a feat as it is very hard to remember how a child thinks (even if I am a teacher). Markus Zusak not only can embrace the inner child but he can do it as a little girl. I love reading books about the nostalgia of childhood and even about those hard times that we all went through (no matter what decade we all lived through).

Although essentially the book is told by death (yes you read correctly) by death (or the grim reaper as I pictured it in my head) it follows death just before and during World War II. As most of us know during that devastating time death was very busy and he came across our protagonist (Liesel) a couple of times. Death first meets Liesel just after her brother dies and that is when Liesel finds a copy of her first book about grave digging and steals it. She is then sent to foster care and we find out that Liesel cannot read. Liesel's foster father teachers her how to read and she then develops a love for reading.

Liesel's life during the war is somewhat placid. She plays with the neighborhood kids and she helps her foster mother with her job of doing the laundry. Liesel's job is the deliver the laundry. Liselel develops a relationship with the mayors wife and is amazed by her library. Liesel starts stealing books and although the mayors wife knows she dosn't mind but Liesel feels very guilty. During a Nazi book burning Liesel even steals a book.

Her foster parents hide a Jew in their basement. The Jew, Max Vandenburg , becomes very friendly with Liesel and she learns to respect and admire him.

The story continues (I will not spoil the ending for you), however my favorite line that I have ever read in a book comes from death when he says: "I am haunted by humans."

I was speaking to my friend Greg the other night and he had a good point about authors. he said that they [authors] are either great story tellers or great writers. I believe Markus Zusak is both. The book Thief is a wonderful yet very simple story about childhood innocence, life, death, and right vs. wrong or good vs. evil and even redemption. I recommend this book to anyone who is willing to invest time into a story and to people who have an open mind as Zusak writes in very short stanzas (that took a while for me to get used to).

Overall I give this book a 7 out of 10

There are some great lines and quotes from the book, some more memorable ones that I highlighted are:

"I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right."

"I witness the ones that are left behind, crumbled among the jigsaw puzzles of realization, despair, and surprise. They have punctured hearts. They have beaten lungs"

"I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race - that rarely do I even simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant...I AM HAUNTED BY HUMANS."

Great House by Nicole Krauss

Every once in a while I will read something that affects me on a personal level. It becomes so intense that it is like a relationship, a secret relationship that I have with the characters of the story. It is not only that I can relate to the characters, feel their pain, happiness, anger, and fear it is that the author allows me to feel that way in a very subtle and almost sneaky sort of way. There are only a couple books that have made me feel that way in the past, The World According to Garp, She’s Come Undone, and Lolita are just to name a few. Those books took me to places in the human psyche where I never thought I would ever go. Sometimes while reading about these characters I start to imagine who they are in my life, inevitably I believe that authors model their characters after real people in their lives. My favorite authors are ones that make me reread the sentences to make sure I understand their full impact. I also love when I have to research exactly what the author is talking about. Often times that research leads me to other authors that have inspired them and I in turn engulf their work just to see how the influence exists. Nicole Krauss is a fairly unrecognized author in the mainstream, but I have read one of her other books, The History of Love , and was so inspired to read Great House. Krauss has an amazing way with words and reading her books is like listening to Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” for the first time. She invents characters with so many flaws and internal struggles that you start to question your own internal struggles. With sentences like, “When you die, are you Hungry” or "Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering,” I almost have to do a double take to make sure I really understand their impact. Krauss makes you wish that you could use simple words and weave them into these sentences that take your breath away. I must admit that I had to read The History of Love twice because it was really intense and I wanted to make sure that I grasped the characters and the essential meaning of the book. I am sure that in a couple of years I will reread The Great Room. Krauss has a formula for her books and she tends to write in a choppy sort of way in that each chapter is the story of another’s life. It is sort of like she threw the pages up in the air and where they landed is where she unravels the stories. At first it is hard to keep up with the characters; a fifty year old woman who is telling a story to a judge about her life and a desk that she fostered, A father and son gripping with the death of their wife and mother and trying to understand each other, A professor who is trying to unlock the secret of his wife’s past, and a tormented thirty something who is in love with an antiques dealers’ son who has depressive tendencies. All these stories surround this desk that was stolen from a Jewish family when the Nazi’s came into power. What I love about this novel (and her other books) is how she is able to connect all the characters together for brief chapters, yet you are still able to relate and connect to the characters on a deeper level. I must admit that at the end of the book I got upset because it was ending. I didn’t exactly like the way it ended, and I had some questions and I had to reread certain pages to fully grasp the novels conclusion. The persona stories within the novels are marvelous and any author who can see a perspective from another sex (other than their own) is a great story teller. I am glad that Nicole Krauss exists and I hope to read more of her work. I give this book a 8 out of 10.

The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve

Anita Shreve has a wonderful way of ending her novels. Once you finish the last paragraphs you usually find yourself dumbfounded and sort of feel like you do the first time you saw the Sixth Sense. I will not give away the ending but I admit that I did have to go back and reread parts of the book.

The story in a nut shell is a love story. I usually don't read love stories but I read the Pilots Wife and I did enjoy that book. The story is about Linda and Thomas who are old lovers and rekindle their relationship sometime in the future. Their story begins in the end (or so you think) and then goes back in time to when they were in Africa and both cheated on their spouses. After the story about Africa (which includes more interesting plots) the story goes even further back in time to when they first met in high school. You learn about how their love started and how a car crash changed their lives forever.

In the midst of the story Thomas is a writer and wrote a book about his relationship with a woman whose life story is based on Linda. This is a somewhat meaningless fact but makes a lot more sense in the end of the novel.

The first couple of pages were sort of slow. I wasn't sure about this book but I kept on going and it got a lot more exciting. Shreve describes Kenya beautifully and you can almost picture yourself there. The story of how they met is the typical high school Romeo and Juliet situation where they come from different worlds. In the last couple of paragraphs you learn the true story and like I said it really is a profound ending.

I really enjoyed this book and it is one that I will definitely remember and probably read again. I give it an 8 out of 10.

I just downloaded my new book to my Nook the only clue I am giving is it is by one of my favorite authors (and I met her mother-in-law.... long story).

London by Edward Rutherfurd

I truly believe that if you are a reader then you are able to learn just about anything. Although I was a fairly good student and took honor classes, certain things never interested me in school. I do love history, and I certainly know a lot of American History and in school they touched on World History but it wasn’t highly in depth. Since this whole Royal Wedding excitement is happening I thought it would be great to learn about the History of England (well more specifically London). Edward Rutherfurd is a wonderful historical fiction writer and I read one of his books New York a couple months ago. Rutherfurd likes to build a tapestry of a fictional family tree(s) while writing about the history of the time. About two weeks ago I bought London and started reading it.

As expected the book has over 1,000 pages. I knew it was going to take me a couple weeks to finish it, especially because of the historical aspects. The first pages of the book contain three maps starting from the Roman times of London, Shakespeare’s’ London, to the current map of London. There is also a very detailed family tree, explaining the major families in the story; Duckets, Doggerts, Silversleeves, Barnikle, Penny and Carpenter to name a few. Rutherfurd is very talented in creating these characters and often helps you identify who is related to whom by some similar characteristic (for instance the Duckets have a silver streak in their hair and have webbed fingers, as do the Doggets). The families ranging from the very wealthy to the very poor show us the different ways that people lived during that time.

London begins with the formation on the River Thames and the introduction of a fishing family who settled in pre-Roman London (then called Londinium). This family interacts with several interesting characters like the Norman conquerors, the Anglo’s and the Saxons and creates their own history. Shortly after other families are introduced and all their lives are intertwined within the backdrop of the relevant histories that took place in London.

I certainly learned a lot about London and the English culture. For instance that high tea is a new thing that was brought to London from Asia. I loved learning about the building and formation of the Globe Theatre. I especially loved the tragic yet thrilling separation of Catholicism and Protestant religion during Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.

I do admit there were some really boring parts as well. I was also confused a lot by the family tree and was always looking back at the tree. I felt a little cheated because with about fifty characters you can’t really form a really emotional and strong relationship with the characters.

I recommend this book to anyone that likes to read about history but not in a history book and recommend that you have a lot of patience as it is over 1,100 pages. I didn’t really enjoy the ending and I feel that Rutherfurd ran out of things to say and didn’t exactly tie in the loose ends.

I give it a 7 out of 10.

For all those wondering my next book will be a lot lighter, with just over 400 pages