Foreign Body

Foreign Body
Robin Cook
436 pages hardback
2008

Foreign Body is one of many that Robin Cook has written in the Medical Thriller genre.  A fellow Menchie worker told me that he liked Robin Cook books so I went to our local library and there were only 2 on the shelf (neither of which were the titles that he had read).  The one on medical tourism caught my attention and it was set in India.  The story started out pretty fast-paced for the first chapter or so, then it became a bit of a labor to read and I found the characters lacking depth.  The ending, although predictable, again picked up in pace but there were a lot of pages in the middle when the same situation was being described time and again from person to person.  I found it hard to really connect with any of the characters and yes the bad guys were clearly bad, but the good guys were neutral and when I finished the story I did not find myself missing anyone like I sometimes do with a really good read.  The book does seem authentic enough with its use of medical terms and those desiring a glance at India will not be disappointed and I liked the intent of the last sentence (but writing it out would give away the ending).  Over-all, it was too many pages for the good that came from it, I hope that does not sound too harsh.  Robin Cook is known as a #1 New York Times bestselling author and has written at least 27 novels so maybe i just did not pick his best work.

Lethal Harvest

Lethal Harvest
by: William Cutrer, M.D. and Sandra Glahn
Paperback, 407 pages
2000

Dr. Bill Cutrer taught Russell and I in our newly marrieds Sunday school class, rescued Hannah and Sophie from traumatic birth experiences and was recovering from his own heart surgery at the time of Isaiah's birth.  A remarkable man in so many ways that when he died recently in Kentucky where he and Jane had moved to after their Dallas years, I found myself missing him very much.  His first medical thriller novel, Lethal Harvest, I had read years ago, but it was a joy to reread it and get a fresh glimpse at an old friend.  The meaningful funeral in the opening of the story made me wonder about Dr. Bill's own funeral.  In this novel he drew heavily on his own personal experiences as a doctor, a husband, father, missionary and a man of great care for the needs of others and reading the book helped me to see this all over again.  The story dealt fairly with the ethical questions of life and research particularly as it affects cell stems and the medical part of Dr. Bill shown brightly in the writing, even with the fictitious disease.  The love-story part of the novel was believable as well and made for a nice balanced read.  The on-going mystery concerning a law-suit, made me more aware of various aspects of a doctor's world and motives that can drive people to action.  So, the general setting: 3 doctors at 1 clinic over about a 7 month period of time told in modern day (modern for 2000, when computer use was just becoming more available for normal people).  There is decent character development and an intriguing plot.  Somewhere toward the end of the book I remembered that there was a sequence to the novel but I was very satisfied at this story's conclusion.  I have a feeling that down the road I will read Deadly Cure (#2 in the Bioethics Series) or maybe one of his books on marriage.  Thank you Dr. Bill for putting some of what God has gifted you with down on paper so that many can be blessed by reading what you have written.  You are an inspiration to me!

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. "   

Ribsy

 Ribsy
by: Beverly Cleary
1964
paperback 192 pages, larger kid-print

One evening after a great pizza at new restaurant in the Heights, we took a walk with the couple we ate with.  On the walk there was a red box that caught our attention and it turned out to be a local book box... like a very mini library.  Kristina and i browsed the books and as there were not any she had read to recommend to me, i chose one that i know i had read years ago when i was a kid.  Ribsy was written one year before i was born and it was interesting to me to think back to how life used to be lived... like new station wagons, phone numbers that began with two letters, the Pledge of Allegiance at school, show and tell in the class room, and so on.  I liked how Ribsy was a dog of great patience and as i am presently seeking to be more patient he was a good teacher.  The book is "a boy and his dog" kind of story, but in chapter one they get separated and in the 6 chapters to follow the story tells of Ribsy's adventures before the inevitable ending to wrap things up nicely.  It was fun to read things from the dog's point of view and i think most pet-lovers would enjoy this step back in time look at a month in the life of a dog and how he is joyfully reunited with his boy.

Elvis & Olive

Elvis and Olive
by: Stephanie Watson
2008
Hardback, 230 pg, kids print size

I've noticed that we have some after-school home-work doers pop into Menchie's so yesterday I asked one of the young boys (the one with glasses) what was a book he read recently that he liked.  He thought and said, Elvis and Olive.  I asked him if it made him laugh and he said yes.  So he wrote it down for me and today i went to check it out from the library and it just happened to be on display!  I rode home pretty excited and read chapters in between doing Saturday chores while icing my neck.
Oh, what a disappointment.  I was not disappointed in the author's attempt to communicate cleverly and effectively a story told from the viewpoint of two 10-year-olds.  What made me sad was the story line.  Summer vacation for kids should be fun but what i read was disturbing to me as a 47 year old reader and i thought i would never want my soon to be 10 year old niece reading this.  These kiddos experienced abandonment, deceit, infidelity, betrayal, hate, sadness, theft, confusion, destruction of property, invasion of privacy... and then a few pages of somewhat reconciliation at the end.  Looks like i need to become more familiar with books at this age-level so i can recommend a good one. 

Left to Tell

 Left to Tell
Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust
by: Immaculee Ilibagiza
2006
210 pages, paperback (with a few photos too)

There are gaps in what I know about history, the world, and the people who live in it.  How did i not know of this awfully tragedy that took place in my own lifetime?  In 1994, over 1 million people were brutally murdered in about 100 days in Rwanda, many died at the hand of what had been a friend or neighbor.  Tragic indeed.  Thankfully Immaculee's retelling of her own survival story has a redemptive tone.  Yes, it was very hard for me to read, yet i read through it quickly and will think about it maybe for the rest of my life.  Stories like these change one's perspective on so many things.  
One Tuesday in my ladies prayer time we were discussing various aspects of Col. 3:12 (putting on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience) and one of the gals used this book to to further explain elements of compassion.  She loaned Left to Tell to me, and as I wanted to learn more about Africa while Sophie was living there, I began to read it.  Then I put the book down for these images were too much for me,  then i thought i can not simply stick my head in the sand.  I read on.  It is a very sober, straightforward firsthand account giving just enough background to make some sense of two tribes Hutus and and the Tutsis that have for years lived with a form of unity including intermarrying within  Rwanda.  Hope springs from the pages; hope in God, hope of forgiveness, hope of healing. 
It is a book worth reading. 

No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency The Limpo Academy of Private Detection

The New No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency 
The Limpo Academy of Private Detection

by: Alexander McCall Smith
hardback 257 pages
2012

I just now realize that i have skipped a few mysteries in the detective series written by Alexander McCall, for i was at the library and thought i reading a book about Africa would be nice as i seek to picture Sofi living there.  I found the No.1 Ladies Detective Series but because I was without my glasses a could not tell which one was next for me to read.  The Green book looked good so i chose this one and right away i was transported back to an Africa that i have never been but one that i had read of in Thailand when i first was introduced to these delightful books.
Life goes at a slow pace and it is easy to get into step with Mma Romostwe and those in her life in Botswana.  The biggest news is that Mma Makutsi is now married (that may have happened in the book called The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party) and she and her husband are building a home.  The matron of the orphanage, Mma Potokwane has been forced out of her role...there is a need for a detective here and how wonderful for the author of the "bible" of private detection, Clovis Andersen, to have arrived in Botswana and to be involved with the progress. 
i always learn a new word or two when i read the detection stories as Alexander McCall does a wonderful job in creating Africa in his descriptions and in using a few local words to add to the flavor of all the bush tea that gets consumed through the pages of the mysteries as they are solved.  "Pula, pula,pula!" is what i learned this time and as page 187 tells, it "is the cry of triumph, of joy, that was universal in Botswana.  It mean rain, rain, rain,--just the right cry for a dry country that lived for the day that the first life-giving rains arrived-- that day of ominous purple skies, and heat, and the wind that precedes the first drops of water spattering on dancing on the baked ground."
Another great read, not too ambitious, but with good insight to human character as seen through the eyes of a traditionally built woman who has a heart as big as the country.
in my opinion, the books do not need to be read in order, for each story gives enough detail for you to enjoy it on its own and each has a satisfactory conclusion.  For a closing remark i will quote Mma Romostwe's thoughts on friendship, "New friendships can be every bit as strong as old friendships, and of course became old friendships in due course." 
These books are like spending time with a good friend.