The Bone People

The Bone People
by Keri Hulme
1983
450 pages, paperback

The Bone People is the third book now that I have read about New Zealand.  As the first two books were more about New Zealand facts, I was ready for a novel that combined facts along with a story that I found hard to put down.  This is a griping novel that is meant to be read slowly, in my opinion, slowly enough to take the time to look up the Maori meanings to words and phrases in the glossary at the back of the book. 
Kere Hulme does an incredible job of character development, bringing to life on the page, three people whose lives intersect to form a type of a family.  Abuse is a major theme throughout the story and because of this, I was unsure if I would be able to read it, but it was also filled with devoted love, a fascinating description of the New Zealand wild country, birds, trees, sea-life, food, and a wide range of language (poetic imagery, profanity, slang, and Maori). 
Kerewin, the main character, is a poet, artist and somewhat of a hermit.  She is intellectual, brave and drinks way more than is healthy.  She is a pale-skinned Maori, very independent, quick-witted, and gets great pleasure from playing the guitar.  Her home is a tower by the sea. 
Joe, a Maori with dark skin, is a young widow, works in a factory, rides a motorcycle and spends lots of time in the local pub.  His extended family live near-by and they are woven into the story just enough to provide more texture.
A young boy named Simon brings Joe and Kerewin together.  Simon is a sole survivor of a boating accident, has golden-white hair, green eyes, a small frame and is mute.  Joe becomes his foster father and devotes his life to caring for Simon's many unique needs yet disciplines Simon far beyond what is good. 
The book is not an easy read for many reasons; the punctuation is challenging, the use of Maori words add depth yet makes one need to concentrate more on the flow of story, thoughts are recorded as if they were conversation, poetry is intertwined, and the Maori belief of the spiritual realm shows up at various times. So the reader really needs to stay committed to keeping everything straight. 
However, I really liked the book (it was winner of 1885 Booker Prize). I did find the ending to be a bit too abrupt.  I would have liked a few more of the novel's questions answered more fully.  I'm not sure who to recommend this book to.  It gave me plenty to think though concerning how people think, respond and interact to each other, to crisis, to loneliness, to life, to death.  A friend from the Grove loaned me her copy of The Bone People and I am thankful to have had the opportunity to read it, especially after time in New Zealand.  Thanks Leanne!

Papa's Wife

Papa's WIfe
by: Thyra Ferre Bjorn
1955
hardback, 305 pages

I found Papa's Wife to be a refreshing story. It is a step back into time before I was born and yet because "Mama" is the main character and I am a mom, there are lots of points of interesting connection for me.
As a housekeeper at age 16 Mama knew she loved Papa, who was a minister and 21 years her senior.  But it took a while for Papa to know he loved Mama.  The daily life of marriage make up the the bulk of the 300 page story.  They add eight children to their happy household, one after the next, and in time the family take a long voyage by boat from Sweden to America, the land of education and hope.  For Papa, who loved his little Swedish church in the land of the midnight sun situated in beautiful mountains, it was a big sacrifice to leave all that was familiar to move to America, even if it was Mama's dream.  The peppering of Swedish words throughout gave flavor to the story as did the mini-sermons that were not always preached from a pulpit.   Although at times there are patches of predictability, the slow-paced account of life, season upon season, felt comfortable and I'm tempted to look up recipes for some of the Swedish foods that filled Mama's kitchen with tempting odors. Thanks Chriss for your recommendation and I'm thankful to Height's Library that did a fine job in tracking down this hard to come by book.  I liked Mama and her dedicated life to her husband and children, she was an inspiration of hope and strength.  The dedication page reads:
To My Mother
Maria Wickman Ferre
This Is Lovingly Dedicated
I recommend Papa's Wife to those that would enjoy a glimpse of motherhood from another time.   A few lines from page 187 when Papa goes fishing makes me wish for a less electronically dependent society.  "The trees were faintly green against the silver-blue sky, and along the path wood violets lifted their delicate heads.  Birds twittered a hymn of joy that winter had passed. "   

The History of Love

The History of Love

by: Nicole Krauss

2005

hardback 252

The fresh and very unique writing style of Nicole Krauss drew me in and kept me on my toes as i tried to connect the characters to their countries and sought to detect how it was that they interconnected with each other.  I had not read a novel in several months, maybe half a year, so i found the experience again fun as a little escape.  And now that it is over, it feels like guest that have been visiting the past week have moved on from our home.  Sophie got hooked on the novel with a line from page 11, " Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laugher was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering."  When she left for Africa, she asked me to return the book to the library as she was not going to be able to finish it and i thought i would go ahead and give it a go.  

Great description was given not just of things but of feelings and thought processes. The two characters i liked best were Leopold, an old man who had escaped Poland when the Nazis invaded and Alma: an almost 15-year-old that was named after the gal in Leopold's book that he loved since he was 10 years old in Poland.   There is a bit of a mystery to solve as the pages give way to the rich development of both Alma and Leo and others they both know.  And you learn a lot of this and that as you read along like a person can starve to death by eating rabbits and that a lamed vovnik is one of 36 super-powered Jews that live at any given time.  (Alma's younger brother, Bird, thought he was one of these).  

In my opinion, the story was not as proportional as it could have been and for all the build up and investment, it ended far to quickly... maybe i just was not ready to be finished reading about these endearing friends and wanted it to go on a bit more.  With the title being "The History of Love" do not expect a very romantic book, or a happy book, yet i did laugh a time or too. It was realistic and sad told of missed opportunities and made me want to live life fully for it ends for some before it is really over.     

A Painted House

 A Painted House
by: John Grisham
294 pages, hardback
2000

I have never harvested cotton, listened to a Cardinals game, painted a house, or written a letter to a solider serving in Korea  but after reading John Grisham's novel it feels as if I have experienced all these things and more. (This is my second book from renown author John Grisham and neither involved a lawyer).   Told from the perspective of a 7-year-old boy named Luke, the 6 weeks or so of harvest season in the Arkansas low-lands came to life almost as if I had lived it back in the 50's.  Great story-telling, super character development and action I would not have guessed kept the pages turning.  Before leaving on my trip to Michigan, Melanie gave to me this novel and another one called Winter Garden (I will also give my review on that novel) and I read one chapter from each book most nights before going to bed (sometimes I gave in and read more than one chapter).  Luke, became like a son and I loved his relationship with his mother.  Actually, as an only child living in the same home with his parents and his paternal grandparents, he had good and healthy interactions with his whole family.  Life was far from dull and the secrets told and kept in this story made me feel like one with the  inside scoop in this country/small town settling.  The book contrasted interestingly with the other novel which was set present day on an apple orchard business in Washington state. Fun to read like that and Melanie I recommend both books...thanks for giving them to me to read!

 

Playing for Pizza

Playing for Pizza
author: John Grisham
pages: 258 hardback
2007

Oh my goodness!  I read this book then totally forgot it even before I could review it!  As this was my first John Grisham novel I had high expectations and hopefully someone somewhere else down the road will recommend to me another one, as this one did not appeal to me.
One thing I do remember were the good use of description of food, the descriptions of small towns in Italy and that the story was about American football (not a sport that holds my interest).  I did enjoy Grisham's ability to kind of make me feel that I was there in Parma, Italy, but I guess I did not really want to be.
It may have been that I was in the process of moving out of Thailand so my thoughts were on other things as I read about this footballer trying to hold on to his sport any way he could.

Until We Reach Home

Until We Reach Home

By: Lynn Austin

428 pages paperback

2008

Russell and I were living at a condo on at least 11 non-stop lanes of Houston highway and excitedly just signed a rental agreement for a charming home built in 1894 and nestled near a park in Brenham, TX… then the deal fell through and I knew on that rainy, sad day a good book would help.  The title, Until We Reach Home, caught my attention in the church library and I recognized the author from the first novel I read in 2011 so I gave it a go.  The story begins in rural Sweden in January of 1897 and concludes in busy Chicago, IL about nine months later.  Three sisters go through noticeable individual change as they journey together, leaving the familiar for the unknown.  The novel had several twists and turns that one can expect to make up a 400 plus page story, and when the last page was turned I was thankful that there was not a sequel as I have read enough of the three of them.  To be fair, there is a good deal of description (and I like how the author threw in some words in Swedish here and there) among the sappiness, preaching and silver- lined clouds.  It did hold my interest as a decent distraction and it was hopeful to read of other sojourners and how they made it.  Maybe one day Russell and I will reach home too.  “We’re going to trust God, just like Mama did.  Even when she was dying, she trusted Him and never doubted His love, remember?  Things might still be a mess right now, but He can make everything right.  He is already making it right.  We thought everyone in our family was gone and that it was just the three of us, but now our family is starting to grow again….”  This optimistic outbreak from the youngest sister is worth holding on to.    If you are looking for a light, journey kind of story, reading about Elin, Kirsten and Sofia could be the book for you. 

Siddhartha

Siddhartha

Author: Hermann Hesse

152 pages; paperback

Originally written in 1922

 Translated into English in 1951 by Hilda Rosner (several others have translated this work at later dates).

While in Branson, MO this summer, we were with Hannah in an antique shop and Russell spied the book Siddhartha and bought it.  He had read it in high school and liked it.  Later, when he and I were traveling I did not have a book to take so he recommended I give it a try.  I started it, lost interest, read several other books after reading the first chapter,  then recently started it again reading through to the conclusion.  Here are my thoughts of Siddhartha.

Born in Germany, writer Hemann Hesse traveled to the East several times before he wrote his novella Siddhartha (in fact his parents were Christian missionaries to India).  Siddhartha, (the name of the Buddha as well as the story’s main character) is a story of the struggles and triumphs of a man in India that lived during the lifetime of Buddha. Concepts of Buddhism, Hinduism and existentialism are touched upon throughout the telling of how one can strive to reach self-awareness, wisdom and ultimately peace that can be attained with the ceasing of seeking, according to Siddhartha.    This dense short story provides much to think about with each page.  However, the telling of the many transitory passages of life (from young boy to old man) is discouragingly sad and in my opinion does not offer lasting hope.  Where is the meaning?  What really matters? 

In the first chapter we get a glimpse of the sadness of a father who allows his son to go on a spiritual quest that will mean he will never see his son again and in the end Siddhartha himself feels this same anguish when his own son leaves him for a life away from the river that became Siddhartha’s greatest teacher.  Hermann Hesse’s character Siddhartha is consistent and authentic in his desires and because of this you care about him as a friend.  I wonder what it would have been like for Sidd to have met Jesus as he was searching for Truth.  I cannot help thinking his life then would have had the meaning he was pursuing all along. 

At the close of the book, Siddhartha, now an old man, again meets his boy-hood friend and he asks Siddhartha for a word of hope, something that will help him as he continues on his quest.  I smile after reading Siddhartha’s several pages of reply when his friend simply says, “I thank you, Siddhartha, for telling me something of your thoughts.  Some of them are strange thoughts. I cannot grasp them all immediately.  However, I thank you, and I wish you many peaceful days.”  Inwardly, however he thought: Siddhartha is a strange man and he expresses strange thoughts. His ideas seem crazy… 

Critics claim that this book is one of Hermann Hesse’s most influential works and that it will linger in both one’s mind and spirit for a lifetime.  I would not recommend reading this if you are in a depressed mood but I do think reading it for the purpose of discussion would lead to many interesting ones.  

The Help

The Help
By Kathryn Stockett
530 pages; Paperback
2009

Many gals have recommended this book to me, so I was really excited when Mint came for Christmas break she had nearly finished the story and said i could read it next (I'm sure Hannah found a day to read it too during the holidays).
This story is written with such wonderful description that I’m not sure I ever want to go back to Mississippi again, but I do hope that many changes for good have taken place since the 1960’s when The Help took place. Set in a very volatile time in US southern history, this novel draws the readers in from the beginning as you meet in the first few chapters three women whose lives intermingle throughout the course of 500 plus pages. Abileen is who I like best as she is kind, honest and brave. She has a wonderful way with children and although her only child, a son, died as a young adult, she has raised nearly 20 children over her life-time as a maid for various families in Jackson, Mississippi. Minnie, also a maid (and a sassy one at that) is a friend of Abileen’s and her tenacity and spunk jump right off the pages. Skeeter, young, single, white and desiring to be an author, embarks on a project that changes her life and the lives of many in Jackson forever.
Richly told in the vernacular and from the point of view of these three women, readers gain insight into the values, fears, families and friendships of those who live on both sides of a very definite line, a line that seldom was crossed. Early on in the story, Abileen describes the woman she works for and concludes with the statement, “But the help always know.” And that is exactly what we discover in the story that turns out to be a book inside of a book and an insightful look at the day to day realities of those that live in a society that was on a brink of important change.
I loved how the ending of this book offers fresh beginnings for each of three main characters and how they grew closer to each other and grew in confidence and courage to face the new unknowns before them. I generally do not like sequels, but I feel like I know the women in this story so well, that I would enjoy reading the next chapter in their lives. Or maybe better yet, to hear from their perspective as they look back to these days from the 60’s when each of their lives is at its end. I would love to hear the difference they saw (and lived) due to their heroic contribution.
First time novelist, Kathryn Stockett has earned the praise of many for her #1 New York Times Bestseller book. She has offered a glimpse into the past with genuine and courageous openness. The fact that she as a child was raised in Jackson, Mississippi, with the help of a maid, adds to the authenticity from which she writes, and I agree with what she sees as the point of the book: “We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I’d thought.”

Shades of Blue

Shades of Blue

Karen Kingsbury
333 pages paperback
2009

Because I had not yet read a novel by Karen Kingsbury, when I asked for assistance at the library at Houston’s First, I was shown the shelf of her many novels.  I chose Shades of Blue because of the subtitle, “sometimes hope lies somewhere in the…shades of blue”.  The story does offer hope and allows readers to really feel the situation of life lived without hope of a young teacher who ten years earlier made a decision where the consequences left deep scars and daily pain and a sense of unworthiness.  The story basically takes place over a three-day weekend at a North Carolina beach in present day.  And if you tried, you can picture the blues of where the water and the sky meet.  Restoring hope is offered.  Will it be accepted?  Will there be the kind of forgiveness and redemption that allows for full life to go forward?  If so, what does that look like for this teacher and her returning high school boyfriend (who at this time is engaged to another woman)? 

Karen Kingsbury does a good job with character development and through these characters she is able to bring about awareness of looking at circumstances from several viewpoints. This was a very fast read for me because in a way I felt drawn into these circumstances and I wanted to see how life would unfold for these new friends of mine.
After reading the book, I wondered if Karen Kingsbury was aiming at a particular audience.  Was she preaching to the choir so to speak, or trying to persuade young people to be careful in their choices or seeking to admonish older people how wise council and compassion is needed to help others?  I wonder, do most authors have particular readers in mind when they write?  I was surprised that at the end of the book, the author writes a letter to her readers sharing personal information that spurred her on in the writing of the novel.  I am unsure of whom to recommend this novel to, although I was thankful that I read it. I was even teary-eyed in a few places and yet at the same time glad that there was not a sequel, for the conclusion left a strong enough sense of closure.

Deadline

When we lived in China we took a train to Beijing from Kunming and back again.  At the time, Randy Alcorn's novel Safely Home (about Chinese Christians) added great food for thought as we covered many miles of Chinese terrain and I would highly recommend it. So, when I was ready for a novel to read Alcorn's name stood out on the library shelf and I choose Deadline.  Instead of having a write-up of the story line on the back cover, the space was used to say how good the book is (and how good his next book is too.)  That should have tipped me off, but I chose it anyway. For a first novel, it was not bad, I just did not connect well with the characters or their life choices and when the last page was read, I felt more like, "glad that is done" rather than "oh, I'm going to miss them all".  But, if you would like to read about a selfish 50-year old Vietnam Vet who is now a columnist, whose two best friends (one a radical Christian, the other a radical pagan) die in a car accident that was not an accident, than this book might be just for you. It is a detective story and does well to give all the pieces to solve the puzzles, bit by bit. As life is complex, so are the issues covered in this story and it did try to cover quite a few.  In my opinion, the main character, Jake, begins to have some healthy self-awareness on pages 282-283 and I will write what was written to give you an idea about the "hero".  Jake had never thought about Rory's family.  Rory was a one-dimensional fixture in his world like the holodeck images on Star Trek:The Next Generation, as when Jake left Lou's Diner, Rory didn't have a life.  He existed just to round out one little corner of Jake's world.  Open-minded as he liked to think of himself, Jake was beginning to realize he seldom saw any place or anything from someone else's point of view.  He was always the main character. The rest of the world had a supporting role or no role at all.  It struck him as a strange and selfish way to live.   But he goes on living that way for nearly 100 more pages.
The other dynamic to the story is the spiritual dimension that the dead (now fully alive) Christian friend brings interspersed throughout the chapters.  I found it ironic though that readers need to wait until the end of chapter 28 to get a glimpse of the life-after for the pagan friend.
Published in 1994, the story was written in present-day style. It consistently depicts awareness of life as it was lived and offers hope for a society in need.  According to pages of reader's responds to Deadline, many really loved this book, for me it fell a bit flat.

Deadline
by Randy Alcorn
426 pages, paperback
1994

The Story Teller ~ Promises

Promises was recommended to me by my friend Raffia who received it from our friend Kellie and although it has taken me forever to read (first started it on a plane to Burma, then took it on into China and finished it up in Thailand) I'm so glad that I read it on  through, enjoying several chapters as I hula-hooped.

The man with a hundred wrinkles tells the history of Israel in an ongoing camp-fire chat with small gathering of freinds from the People of Promise. He begins with king Jeroboam II all the way through to the birth of the One who "shall be a great king of the royal line of Shepherd. He shall conqueer every kingdom and heal every hurt and bring peace to the Blue Planet."

This book comes complete with a glossary for important names and places and the reading of the story then is fresh and intriguing.  Promises is one book of four in the Story Tellers Series.


Promises
by Steve Stevens
paperback 204 pages
2000

The Princess

If you are looking for a light, make-believe, modern-day fairy tale (but without the fairy, well other then Fairy Cakes, a white cake and frosting confection), then The Princess might be just the read for you. Hannah loaned to me her paperback copy saying I would like it.  Author Lori Wick never kept me from sleeping but the story was a great one to pick up and set down again, reading a page here, a chapter there until the happily ever after ending 294 pages later.  It all begins in the kingdom of Pendaran with a king and queen and a prince in need of a wife.
 
Interspersed throughout the the story is prayer for and from just about all of the major characters, who, by the way, are quite likable.

Without giving away too much, here is a little summary of a speech that Princess Shelby gave to the August Garden Club, for one of her new responsibilities is to be involved with kingdom events.  She begins with sharing how she grew up with memories of her parents enjoying their flower gardens each spring and how the sound of the honey bees would send her mother running for fear of being stung, but her father, who was deaf from birth did not flee the noise of the bees.  Shelby then goes on to say, "I found myself asking, 'What do I listen to that causes me to fear?  It might seem like a small thing to you, but over the years the sight of flowers or trees has often helped me remember to whom I should listen when it comes to the subject of fear..." You can read more of her garden talk on pages 84-85, and the response she receives from Prince Nikolai, who is still acutely mourning the death of his first wife as he is getting to know his second wife from an arranged marriage.

The Princess
Lori Wick
294 pages, paperback
1999 (republished in 2006)

The Secret Life of Bees

I do not know if I would have ever chosen this book by reading the back cover. However, I wanted a novel to take with me on vacation (to Vietnam) and I while visiting my friend Regina, she said this was one her daughter Tanya had wanted her to read because of the love portrayed between mothers and daughters. So on that recommendation, I gave it a go.

The Secret Life of Bees takes you back to the summer of 1964 to the hot days of South Carolina as the Civil Rights Movement heats up. It was easy to get caught up in the smell of Carolina jasmine, the dialect of the locals, feel loss and love and taste the sweetness of honey as the story moves in a non-rushed way allowing you to experience life right along with Lily. Lily, a 14 year old white girl won my affections immediately as each page drew me into her life and her fears. Because I did not read the back of the book, i had no idea that i was about to meet 3 wonderfully eccentric black beekeeping sisters (named August, May and June) and I felt like a part of the sisterhood in their pink house. How was I to know Black Madonna worship would be involved? But I could picture it just as easy as I could May's self created wailing wall. August and her patient wisdom shows throughout the book and here is an example of it with Lily about the color of their house:

"All this time I just figured you liked pink," I (Lily) said. She (August) laughed again. "You know, some things don't matter that much, Lily. Like the color of a house, how big is that in the overall scheme of life? But lifting a person's heart--now that matters. The whole problem with people is--" "They don't know what matters and what doesn't, " I said, filling in her sentence and feeling proud of myself for doing so. "I was gonna say, The problem is they know what matters, but they don't choose it. You know how hard that is, Lily? I love May, but it was still so hard to choose Caribbean Pink. The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters."

While reading this coming-to-age-story of love, forgiveness, prejudice, pain and healing, I learned a whole lot about bees and honey in the process. I will never eat honey again without thinking of the bees that make it and I have a feeling August and her sisters will come to mind for quite some time too.
Oh, and another delightful thing about the book was the brief interveiw at the end with the author and a short guide for discussion
.
The Secret Life of Bees
author: Sue Monk Kidd
302 pages; paperback
2002

Home

"Home" is the sequel to the award winning book Gilead. Hannah gave the novel to me to give to Dad when I was in TX whilst visiting her. The author made an appearance at her school and is an exquisite story teller.
So, did i like Home? hmmmm... I first started reading it in November 2010 but then it got packed away and I got interested in other books. Then in Jan 2011 Russell and I tried to read it together... but did not get far. Almost every time I picked the book up I fell asleep reading it, but I could not stop picking it up again and again. Actually, there is good insight all the way through the book but the last 1/5 of the story is wonderfully well-crafted. I never laughed nor did I cry as I turned the pages, and I was hoping for more closure than what was offered, but I found myself caring deeply for the three man characters (Jack, Glory and their father-Reverend Boughton) and I wanted the best for each of them. I'm not sure if I have encountered the word "flummoxed" before this book, but I read it a few times within the 300 plus pages.  Here are some of the choice quotes, in my opinion, "How oddly holiness situated itself among the things of the word, how endlessly creation wrenched and strained under the burden of its own significance." Then a little further, "Weary or bitter or bewildered as we many be, God is faithful.  He lets us wander so we will know what it means to come home."  Midway through the story Jack and Glory are getting to know each other as adult siblings and they were talking about kindness.   Glory said, "I know a little bit about that," and he nodded, and the lilacs rustled, and the sun shone, and there was quiet between them, a calm that came with being of one mind.  This is just one example of how you can wonderfully feel the place as you read the words. Then their father, at the end of his life, says some very meaningful things about family on page 261.  Home has no fairy-tale bits to it, but is a slow, real life read as life really happens and all the pondering that goes into guarded reflection of what makes a person who they are.

Home
author: Marilynne Robinson
325 pages; paperback
2009