Happy December! BOOKS OF THE MONTH

Happy December dear Readers,

I have done everything I could to avoid writing to you all this morning since I  had no real 'good' idea for the December  BOM.  Maria is currently reading Room and says it is awesome.  That is on my list but I don't want to select a book knowing that some of you have already consumed it.  Last year we read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and that was a struggle to read the old English and yet it was fun.  Last night we watched Family Man with Tea Leoni and Nicholas Cage and it reminded me how fun and touching remembering the importance of family and of being present in the moment.  So ... this month for our Book of the Month I suggest two books:


As you may have guessed, this year I have an affinity for children's books.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is written by another Barbara, although we have never met, her husband and mine worked together years ago.

The Polar Express has become a modern icon in the Christmas realm and yet I don't remember seeing it or reading it before.

Well, there it is dear readers, this month's selections.  During the month please chime in with your favorite Christmas books, movies, stories, or memories.  Tonight ELF is on one of the stations and we have our DVR set to record - how about you???  It is a wonderful story!

Until next time, keep reading!

Barbara

Happy Thanksgiving dear Readers!

I hope you are enjoying the beginning of the holiday season with your family and friends.  Ski season is upon us and we are so eager to be back on the slopes. 

I was very excited that Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult was a quick read since that freed me up to have the chance to read a couple additional books this month.  Since some of you may not have finished Lone Wolf  I will tell you about one of the books I read during November. 

These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf

Best quotation in the book: ‘meet the world with hope in your heart’

The basis for this book is Safe Haven Laws where people can ‘drop off their infants’ at a safe place and not face criminal penalties.  In my opinion this book covers the perspective of those on the giving and receiving end of these laws (unwanted pregnancies, teenage angst, adults desperately wanting to be parents, and those incapable of parenting).  This was also a quick read and I enjoyed it.  I read The Weight of Silence by this author a few years ago and would recommend it also. 

Both books are a work of fiction and lighter than some of the things we've been reading all year although the subject matter is relevant and enlightening.  December’s BOM will also be lighter fare since I needed a break from the memoirs we have enjoyed this year. 

Til next time,

Barbara

Final Guest Post Angela's Ashes...Whew!

Good Day Fellow Readers!

Well it took me 7 days into November to finish our October selection, yikes.  I do not understand how or when I soured on this "Pulitzer Prize" winner but somewhere after the halfway point I felt like "enough already"!!  As I said in my first post, I really liked the connection I made with the American-Irish culture that surrounded me in my youth.  But perhaps it was my sister-in-law's observation that Frankie's dad, Malachy, was really just a bum that made me dread the rest of the book.  I have to say that the last half found me checking constantly on how many pages remained.  The ending in Poughkeepsie NY was really weird.  I had an Uncle that lived in Poughkeepsie that we visited when we were very young (my guess about 14 or 15 years after Frankie's boat docked there!).  It was a very dysfunctional family (my Uncles that is), and so it fit well with the theme of the entire book.

Speaking of the entire book I do have one major unanswered question.  I might well have missed it and I refuse to crack the cover open to try to find the answer.  Just what the heck does the title "Angela's Ashes" refer to?  I do not remember her being cremated, and while I remember references to Frankie's Ash Wednesday experience I cannot recall anything specific about his Mam and ashes.  Can any reader help out here?

Now on to my "food for thought" segment.

First, we just went through a major election, and I think one of the issues the election highlighted is "how much" and "from who" does society in general owe it's citizens in supporting basic needs. Our country seems almost 50/50 split on this issue, and as I read the story I could not help but make some connections to today's issues and Frankie's family life.  We would likely agree that Malachy neglected his paternal responsibility and Angela was a very dysfunctional mother.  As a result some of her children died (and yet two of her son's went on to become successful author's in fact I felt Frankie was strengthened by his hardships).  What struck me was the reluctance of Angela's family to step in and help.  While I understand that times were tough for everyone, and that Malachy and Angela made their own bed, it seemed strange to me that they were reluctant to help the children.  I remember how my father's family took everyone in during the depression and I was somewhat amazed that Angela's family's general attitude seemed to be go beg for help elsewhere, and in particular from the government.  I have always felt that this was a recent phenomena (i.e. how so many families let the government take care of their elderly parents for example) and this gave me pause to reflect that maybe times have not changed all that much.

The second issue for me was the role of the Catholic Church. I have always held a fascination with all things "Catholic" ever since I used to sneak into Mass at St Martins with my friend Danny Pease.  Danny came from an Irish Catholic family, and lived across the street from me with his grandmother, Lucy O'Donnell.  He stayed there most of the time, because his immediate family was in many ways just like Frankie's, an absentee father, dysfunctional mother who lived in public housing "on the dole". He attended parochial schools, with the assistance of the local parish.  While he used to regale us "publics" with tales of getting hit across the knuckles with rulers, switches etc. I always sensed that the Nun's, priests and teachers loved the kids....and genuinely worried about their souls.  While all this may seem quaint now I still believe it was (and remains)  the Catholic Church that most people never consider anymore. Another friend of mine, Joey Judge, was an Irish Catholic from the Kensington section of Philadelphia.  He loved his priests in high school and at one time wanted to be one.  I knew Joey very well and there was never anything "perverted" in his relationships with these men. While it has saddened me (like everyone) to hear of these scandals I remain convinced that the Catholic Church was essentially a force for good in society and I saw this in McCourt's recollections as well.

So readers feel free to add your thoughts (even if you have very different views!).  I have enjoyed sharing my reflections and look forward to my plane ride home from Denver so I can start November's book.

Keep reading!

Murray Rider

November Book of the Month

Hello dear readers,

Are you all enjoying Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt.  Since I read it years ago,  I decided to just enjoying my month off from writing the blog and didn't attempt to reread the book.  I have been doing some lighter reading and getting pleasure from not thinking about what I am reading.  So much so that now I can't even remember what book I read without searching for it!  Goes to show you: the mind is a terrible thing to waste.  Maybe you should challenge yourself to write a paragraph or two into a reading journal about each book read to help you remember, think about and express your thoughts and feeling about the books you are reading and how they affect you.  Writing about these books each month had helped me to remember and recommend books to friends with clear distinction about each one and how stories from the same time period differ and are alike.  

I am ready to get started with the November Book of the Month.  DH and I will be leaving for a trip to Arizona and Colorado until mid November.  I have downloaded three books to my IPad and hope to read them all during the month.  I know, it is a imposing proposition and I will probably only finish one during the trip so I will only tell you one of them and maybe save one for December Book Club. 

All that and the book for November is:

LONE WOLF by Jodi Picoult

I have read many books by Jodi Picoult and have enjoyed them.  I am hoping this one is a thought provoking and interesting.  

Have a wonderful Halloween and catch up with you later.

Happy Reading,

Barbara

The Sandcastle Girls Part 3

This will be the last part of examining the Sandcastle Girls.  I welcome your comments and hope you are out there! 

What will the world become with recording on tape, disc, phones, computers and all the other systems of saving our memories?  Back in 1915 they had people’s memories (which we all know can be faulty) and photographic plates.  The world has changed a lot in the past century but now we have endless ways to capture history.  Now, at least in America, every person who is wronged by any thing can post it on YouTube and get satisfaction if you get enough people to view.  Can you relate to the German who preserved the photographic plates?  The jeopardy he placed himself in (I know it is fiction but think about if you would do it?).  In the end, isn’t this entire book about the adventures of these inanimate objects that tell a story? 

Chapter 12: History does matter. ‘There is a line connecting the Armenians and the Jews and the Cambodians, the Bosnians, and the Rwandans.’  There is a connecting line between all of us.  As I was reading this book I went to the nail salon and met an interesting young woman, Holly.   We discussed our recent books and I mentioned The Sandcastle Girls about the Armenian slaughter.  Well, it just so happened that she is Armenian and suggested I read: 

It will be on my short list as soon as I read some uplifting books. Anyway, as we were discussing the book and the heinous acts committed against the Armenians, she told me of Hitler’s comment when challenged about extinguishing the Jews.  Supposedly he said: ‘no one remembers the Armenians, they will also forget the Jews’.  Back to History – if we forget it we will soon relive it. 

Anyway, this entire subject is depressing me on the gloomy, rainy day I am writing it.  I will close the discussion of this excellent book with a quote used in this book and attributed to  Aldous Huxley who observed, ‘Every man’s memory is his private literature.’  Go out and create your own literature for your heirs to uncover.

Happy Reading,

Barbara 

PS:  Do you think the title of this book is appropriate?  What would you have named it?

Angela's Ashes Update

Good Day fellow Book Clubbers!

A cold, damp and rainy day here in Vermont and a perfect day for my promised first comments/entry on our book of the month.  I am about halfway through the book, and for those of you who have started reading Angela's Ashes you will know that such weather fits Limerick (no not where we used to live in Pennsylvania the original one) to a "Tea"(yes I know that is grammatically incorrect but it fits the Irish theme).

Speaking of Irish a couple of quick observations before our stimulating food for thought questions.

I grew up in an Irish Catholic neighborhood (filled with cops and firemen).  Granted they were mostly second generation Irish but I can certainly see some of their Irish cultural "traits" in McCourt's writing.  No doubt Irish men enjoyed a nip or pint often to excess.  Certainly my observation of our Irish friends and neighbors in Philadelphia was a genuine enjoyment in having a pint or a nip after a hard days work.  In addition as I read this I think often of a friend of ours who grew up in an Irish/American family in Philly (Kensington).  She described to us how her mother always asked for her medicine another term for a beer.  She also testified that gourmet cooking (or cooking much of anything but meat and potatoes) was not a part of Irish culture.  

Now  Frank's father, Malachy McCourt, is obviously a troubled man as respects his drinking and it's effect on his personal life, and for him at least the "curse of the Irish" is no myth.  Centuries of life in Ireland under English rule do not erase easily.  One can see in Malachy the sense of hopelessness he felt in coping with both holding a job and supporting a family.  His mantra to his children seems to revolve around dying for Ireland, and in an ironic way a few of them do.

Malachy is an extreme example (in my humble opinion). Those characters in the background reveal that most Irish men were able to cope while "enjoying the pint" in ways that did not preclude holding a steady job.  They did this despite the suffering that the Irish experienced in America and Ireland both before and during the Great Depression.  What I have found most interesting was even in the face extreme hardship the characters held to a strong sense that "begging" from others or taking what did not belong to you to survive was considered morally wrong.  Even Malachy had such pride, although it was OK for his wife to "beg" for help.  

OK enough with my overall impressions so far.  Now on to some specific questions to ponder:

1.  Early in the book Malachy enthralls Frank and his other children with tales of Cuchulain a mythical Irish hero.  He is described in one passage of having a bird or birds on his shoulder.  What type of bird where they?  Hint-I kept seeing a pirate with parrot, I was wrong!
2.  Within the Irish community there was a suspicion of those who "Drank the Soup".  This was symbolic of submission to who?
3.  The St Vincent De Paul Society played an important role in the community back in Limerick.  What is their modern day equivalent here in America? (Hint I am not looking for St Vincent De Paul of America).
4.  How many Chapters are their in the book? Added twist in your response please translate the Roman Numerals to binary code.
5.  The Irish are often thought of as the most "catholic" of all European countries.  For me this was humorously portrayed by Frankie's grandmother's  horror at his reaction to taking first communion.  What happened?

I will add this final comment and observation.  While I agree with Barbara's comments about reading Liberian slang I must interject that for me the Irish slang...forget about it!

Keep reading and I will touch base one more time before wrapping up!  Hopefully your responses will demonstrate your desire to have our real leader return to the bloggers seat!

Murray Rider

Sandcastle Girls Part 2

Hello Happy Readers,

I hope you are enjoying Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt.   I know Murray Rider is working diligently on some probing questions like what is the best Irish Whiskey!

To continue our discussion of The Sandcastle Girls by Christ Bohjalian I would like to interject a story that came from my mother.  Now I wish I had more details and could ask further questions about it.  For those of you who don’t know, my mother was of Greek ancestry.  Her story was that the Greeks and Turks hated each other for one reason or another (most likely religion – Christian vs. Muslim or land ownership).  Her father was orphaned at a young age.  The story follows that his mother or grandmother was killed by the Turks and that they had cut off her breasts.  So he had passed his hatred for the Turks to my mother and she also tried to pass that hatred along.  So my question to you is there reason to ethnically cleanse?  When you have a homogeneous group living together do they naturally develop a hatred of others?  Chapter Six begins with a wonderful statement:  ‘Ancestral bonds have a tendency to fray over time.  Our connections with the blood that once – generations past – was all that mattered become worn and snap.’

In Chapter 5, Silas Endicott states: ‘We came here to save these exotics, not romance them.’  ‘Exotics’ – defined is distant, foreign, outside the ordinary.  My though on reading this term used is that Silas thought he was saving some sort of flora or fauna. 

Diaspora – defined loosely as the dispersal of Jews initially from Babylon – is a word I had to look up while reading this book.  In most definitions it solely relates to Jews but Bohjalian uses it in relation to the Armenians and it can also be used in relation to the American slave trade.  Do you think we have read enough books dealing with diasporas in recent months????

Maria related that the beginning of this book was confusing without knowing what generation was speaking and the multitude of characters.  There were numerous characters to keep track of in this book and maybe a short diagram of them may have helped in the beginning – kind of a family tree.

For now I will close but I promise to be back in a short time. 

Happy reading,

Barbara

The Sandcastle Girls

Dear fellow readers,

Obviously my promise to get back to you about The House at Sugar Beach was a ruse – or I just didn’t get around to it!  Your choice!

Let’s get on with the Sandcastle Girls review by Chris Bohjalian.  Bohjalian never loses a chance to get into my psyche and teach and twist me into learning something new.  He never disappoints me – challenges my preconceived notions but does not disappoint. 

First let me say I was ignorant to the Armenian Holocaust.  Somewhere in my brain I know that people are cruel, dictators are heartless, and ethnic people have been persecuted from the time of humanity’s beginning.  However, history has never been brought to me doorstep as harshly as in the Sandcastle Girls. 

Ethnic cleansing – YIKES!  To rid the world of a people because of ‘anything’ is totally beyond my comprehension.  Jew, Christian, Muslim, Armenian, Russian, Indian, male, female, Downs Syndrome, Genius, one legged, six toed – I could go on and on with the people we could annihilate for the sake of ‘cleansing’.  So I am told that I speak from an American idea that we are better as a mixing pot of all peoples. 

So, how many of you read this book of the month?  What did you think??? 

Happy Reading,

Barbara

PS: I hope you will enjoy the entries of Murray Rider and hope you don’t mind me taking a month off.

October's Book of the Month

Good Morning fellow book worms, this is your old friend "Murray Rider", guest hosting this month’s Book Club selection.

Our fearless leader deserves a month's respite from the hard, intensive work of leading this demanding group.  Therefore I have volunteered (actually she plied me with alcohol one evening and when I woke up was told I said I wanted to lead a month) to host the discussions.

Our selection this month is Frank McCourt's Angela’s Ashes.  This won a Pulitzer Prize, and was also a winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the LA Times Book Award.  Now readers I know many may be wondering if this is another book about Armenians, or Russians, or Germans, or The French, or the Japanese, or Jewish people or even say The Liberians?  Do not to fear guys this is nothing like that!  No this is about the Irish!!

I have started it and it looks "good to go" so get going!  Oh and do not worry about difficult probing questions on the author's sexuality etc.  My quizzes will focus more on more important things most readers ponder, like the design of the cover, difficulty in reading the print fonts, and stuff like that!

So I will check back in say 10 days and will look to get a progress update from all.  Be prepared to give your thoughts on say chapter's I through VII (yes they are Roman Numerals...oops I spilled the beans on my first quiz question!).

Keep Reading

Murray Reader, oops Murray Rider

The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper Part 1

Hello dear readers,

How are you all doing now that ‘meteorological’ summer is over?  I heard someone use that term on the news and found it amusing since summer really doesn’t end until the equinox on September 22 at 2:49 pm.  We are great up here in beautiful Stowe awaiting the leaf peeping season and all the additional visitors to town.  While we are enjoying the wind down of the golf season I am still trying to finish this book.  Hopefully I don’t give up!

Here are some of my thoughts on Sugar Beach and Liberia. 

• I am so happy to be living in the USA!  I cannot fathom the living conditions of the people in some of these African countries and then to be on the right side, then the wrong side, then the right side of the law would be horrible. 

• I am not enjoying this book, especially the writing style.  The use of slang and words that I am not familiar with, or that just won’t stick in my head is difficult reading.  Do you read in varying voices?  Maybe it’s just me but when I read a British or Southern author I read with an accent. 

• Rogues, heartmen, negee, political adversaries don’t threaten our peace in America.

• I did not realize that our good old USA had such an organization to ‘give free blacks’ the choice to return to Africa.  As if that would be a good idea anytime? 

How about some questions about the book:

Ø      How did you feel about the history melted in with the story of Helene and her family?  Did it make the story more realistic?

Ø      What do you think of the Cooper’s ‘adopting’ Eunice so that Helene would have a sister to help protect her? 

Ø      At the end of Part 1 – Helene reflects: ‘For six years, Eunice had been my sister, a Bassa girl living in the same house with me, sleeping in the same room, sharing the same secrets.  We were the same, yet we were different.  In my sheltered existence I had never dug deep enough to wonder how much native Liverians resented us.  I had been shocked at the level of hatred expressed when those people started chanting as cousin Cecil was killed, who born soldier? Country woman.  Who born minister?  Congo woman.”  Did Eunice feel that way too?’  Doesn’t it seem strange that after all those years Helene finally recognized that Eunice may have been resentful and then when forced to return to her mother didn’t really want anything to do with Helene again?

Ø      How does Eunice become Bassa again after living with the Coopers?

For now, that is all the reviewing and contemplating I will do with this book.  Be back soon with some additional reflections.   Til then I hope you all are enjoying the BOM for September, the Sandcastle Girls.

Happy Reading,

Barbara

Book of the Month for September

Happy Labor Day Weekend Readers.

I am hoping I have time this weekend to get some intense reading done since I am not yet finished the BOM from August.  I have lots of excuses: golf, gorgeous weather, not enough rain, traveling and visiting PA and the NJ shore and an awesome week long visit in Vermont with our stupendous grandson, Alexander.  We all have priorities you know!  It's so much easier to get reading done during ski season which is right around the corner!

Since I mention ski season and Vermont we are reading a Vermont author for September.

BOOK OF THE MONTH FOR SEPTEMBER:
The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

Chris Bohjalian is one of my favorite authors and he has written some great fiction and non-fiction.  Some of it can be quite 'weird'  and have strange twists and turns and surprising endings.  My two favorites of his were Midwives and Skeletons at the Feast.  Both are worth reading.

(BTW: Don't click to look inside.  I can't get the picture without that phrase!)


Happy reading everyone.  I'll be back soon with the followup on Sugar Beach - as soon as I finish it!

Barbara

Checking in

Hello Readers,

I changed a few settings on the comment sections - now hopefully everyone can access.  Try it and let me know by email if you are still having difficulties,

Happy reading,

Barb

Who can make my shoes?

Discussion of The Shoemaker’s Wife Volume 2

To begin I will tell you that I thought this book should have ended when Ciro and Enza re-found each other and got married.  The content of the book up to then  was powerful.  It was an ‘epical’ book after that and I am not particularly found of those.  What do you think?  Maria says she likes epics.  What do you think?  What is your favorite ‘epic’ book?  Is epic even the correct type of book I am referring to?

The mixing of fact and fiction got out of hand in my opinion and the story became unbelievable after Enza & Ciro’s marriage.  The use of the telephone frequently and easy travel seemed too easy and commonplace in the book and I am not so sure it was so easy in the early 1900’s.

Now, onto some additional comments about the content of the books events:

How do you feel about Ciro & Eduardo’s mother being in a convent within a ‘few kilometers’ of them for all those years?  My heart breaks for the mother’s choices and the sons living without a mothers love & touch.  While reading the circumstances I found in my memory this event.  I was in Girl Scouts (probably around 10) and our leader (my mother) arranged for orphan girls to come and stay with various scouts for a weekend.  One of the girls, Joy, was left in the orphanage with her sister with the mother promising to return.  The mother returned and took the younger sister but Joy was still abandoned.  Sometimes I think we just don’t know what it is like to be desperate.    This situation could be a weeks long discussion in my head!

Laura and Enza getting to work in the MET was just an awesome experience for any seamstress.  Can you imagine being face to face with the greatest opera singer, rock star or politician and helping to make them look great?  This could be an entire book in my eyes. 

Enza did not want to be: ‘destined to wear a small simple hat or the gold knot pin, the marker of a single woman, the spinster….’  I never knew there was an ‘outward’ sign of being single.  How far we have come!

Spoiler Alert!  Ciro was sad to be dying and not having the opportunity to grow old with his dear Enza but his sorrow was deepest for his son who would grow up without a father – just as he did.  Ciro had found guidance and care with many mature men over his lifetime and wanted to be that for his son.  Such a sad end!

This book carried so much wisdom in it and on the very last page of the book:  ‘Beware the things of this world that can mean everything or nothing’.  My comments after – REMEMBER THIS.

If you want to learn more about The Shoemaker’s Wife you can go to Adriana’s website:

http://www.adrianatrigiani.com/home/the-shoemakers-wife/

There is so much information about her and her books you may find interesting.  Don’t you just feel like there isn’t enough time in the day to read all you want to read?  I am always torn between reading and quilting with my free time and right now sewing is winning. 

It does seem that I highlighted was too much in the beginning of this book and left out big portions from the last half.  If you have stuff to share please do by comment or email that I will be happy to post in your name. 

Enjoy the remaining days of August and I’ll post again around Labor Day.

Happy Reading,

Barbara

Discussion of:  The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani

A thought for you to ponder while reading my blathering:  Is this really a discussion if you don’t take the time to say anything?

‘Besides, in the years to come, Ciro would remember only the facts, while Eduardo would paint them with a soft brush.  Neither would be true so what did it matter?’

This is a quotation from the very beginning of the book and is relevant to the entire tome and lifetime is clear.  Sometimes it really is how we view an event that affects of memory and living.

Iggy says: ‘Pretty on the outside but so complicated within.  Don’t marry a beautiful woman, Ciro.  It’s too much work.”  ‘Then Fall in love with a plain girl. Plain girls never turn bitter.  They appreciate their portion, no matter how meager.  A small pearl is enough.  They never long for the diamond.  Beautiful girls have high expectations.”  Then Iggy goes on to say women are like pot de crème and you eat and eat and eat until it makes you sick.  ‘Love and pot de crème – the same.”    And Ciro responds with wisdom beyond his years that ‘love is the only dream worth pursuing.’ 

‘A man who need a mirror is looking for something’ – Ciro commenting on Don Gregorio. 

  

Sister Teresa: ‘Some of us struggle with vows; for others, it’s easier.  Humans are capable of divine acts but sometimes they sin.’ ‘I have no sway over the priest.’  ‘You cannot go by the costume.’  

            Maybe Sister Teresa could have poisoned this priest?  I am so sorry to be suggesting murder – maybe just some torture for an infidel.  This exchange conjured up the horrible priest sex scandal in America and it is almost like people stand by and are confused by the outrage.  I do know that since the beginning of man there have been perverts and perversions but when they are hiding behind the ‘costume’ as Sr. Teresa says it makes me infuriated.

So then it makes me think: is this behavior worldwide and people look the other way but in America we ‘get our backs up’?   If this event hadn't happened what would have become of Ciro and Eduardo when they ‘came of age’ in the convent – what did their future hold?  Doesn’t this really come down to the proverb about good things vs. bad and making the most out of every situation?  BTW: I think that is one theme of this book.

Ciro, along with Iggy, Remo and a few others smoked cigarettes but not all the time.  They had one in the evening while relaxing under the trees.  Knowing how 'anti-smoking' this country has become I wonder if lung cancer would be as prevalent if people only smoked 1 a day?   I know, you are going to say that Ciro died from lung cancer but what if it was from working with leather and glues all this American life?  Or what if it was from living in a polluted city?  

Now lets think about how far the medical field has come.  Enza almost died on the trip to America because of seasickness.  Can you believe that!  As motion sick as I get, I never realized that people could actually die!  How sad that she could never 'go back' and see her native land and family.  I am so happy I live in the time when we can travel and visit people and lands around the world and experience such varieties of cultures, being ever so grateful for my ancestors who traveled across the water to settle in America, grateful in the knowledge that someone invented Dramamine!

I am going to post these preceding comments now and continue in a week.  In the meantime, think about how this story is told and how the credits are dedicated to Adriana Tigliani’s grandparents.  When I go back and read the comments I have made to write this blog so many of them seem to come out of the mouth of an older person – say a grandparent from the ‘old country’.  Ciro always seemed to have an 'older, wiser' man in his life that could lead him in the 'right' directions.   The sayings, insinuations, and situations seem to be from an ‘old world’ perspective.  What do you think?  Did you have anyone in your life who gave you the ‘old world’ view?

See you in about a week and in the meantime, happy reading.

Barbara

Hello dear readers,

My DH (dear husband) was curious how I was able to remember and recount passages from book to include in the review space.  So, in this space I will tell you how I have fell in love with reading on my IPad.  Yes, I too love the feel of a REAL book in my hands and the smell of the ink and smoothness of the cover.  The artistry of putting a book together to reach masses of people is overwhelming to someone like me who knows nothing about the printing industry.  I appreciate the artistry and creativity of it all.  Thank goodness for man's development of the printing press.

Think back to when you read your first ‘chapter book’.  Were you like me in being disappointed that there were just a few pictures?  Sometimes at the beginning of each chapter there were some pictures, but not many.  Then you learned to see what the author was describing by letting your imagination run into the book and picturing the words in your own mind's eye. So, you fell in love with reading all over again!

Weren’t you always taught to wash your hands before picking up a book to read, no eating while reading and horror of horrors – NEVER, NEVER, NEVER write in a book!  I got over the ‘writing in books’ when highlighting text books but generally tried to buy used books that were already highlighted.  While attending Bible studies I learned to write margin notes for things I wanted to remember (watching other people whose Bibles were a mess because they had written and taken notes of things they wanted to remember) but I have never written in a novel or other book read for enjoyment.  Writing my name on the inside flap of a book took me years to overcome the trauma!

Then, along comes the IPad,  fun for games but never for reading a book. Then the library takes 2 weeks to get a book I want, the book store is 45 minutes away or they get the book but the library is 2 miles away… you know the excuses.  So I purchase my first E-book.  While reading I discover quite by accident that if I touch the screen a highlight will appear sometimes turning the whole page pink or purple or blue. Quick – get that color off of there!  Then I leaned this would be useful and I could also write a note making that passage relevant to my thoughts at the time.  So, I go from a person who never went near a book with pen & ink to a blogger who writes all over the book she's reading just so I can make relevant comments that will somehow hold your interest.  

Surely this is a long explanation on how I come up with passages and questions on the books we are reading but if you are using an e-reader, you could also make bookmarks and comments that will bring each book into your book discussion.

Coming soon – the discussion of:  The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani

Have a wonderful day and happy reading.

Barbara

July is gone and August is upon us

Hello dear Readers,


July is gone and August is upon us so it is time for the August Book of the Month.  This month's selection suggestion came from a golfing buddy who lives in Canada, Stowe and Florida.  She said of this book: 'I can't wait to get home to continue reading this book!'  Here's hoping that it is good!


August 2012 - Book of the Month (BOM)
The House at Sugar Beach 
by Helene Cooper


Keep me in mind if you have other suggestions for future BOM.  I am quite certain that I have selected one for August but am open to suggestions.


Have an awesome day and I'll be back soon with some questions on The Shoemakers Wife.  


Happy Reading,
Barbara

Jumping Jehoshaphat July

Jumping Jehoshaphat - It's July 15th already!

Quick - lets review Half Broke Horses and be done with it.  I am so enjoying the story in The Shoemaker's Wife I don't want to put it down.

So, what do you think about Half Broke Horses?  Personally I think that The Glass Castle was much more poignant and thought provoking.  If you haven't read that yet, give Jeanette Walls another chance and read it in a few months.  I was intrigued after the initial pages of the flood and the families recovery from that but the story never came to much in the way of conclusion or theme to me except as it led in to The Glass Castle which I think stands on it's own much better.  Does any of that make sense to you?  Agree? Disagree?


Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book and my thoughts on them:


At the end of Part I:  'Sometimes it didn't matter how much gumption you had.  What mattered were the cards you'd been dealt'.  Isn't that the truth about life?  We all experience life in different ways and as I have said in the past - It isn't that you get through something, it's how that makes you a witness to your faith (or morals).


Lily contemplating where her life should go at the push from Mother Albertina:  "Teaching is a calling, too.  And I've always thought that teachers in their way are holy -- angels leading their flocks out of the darkness."  When I read this passage my mind immediately went to Maria, with all her years of leading those preschoolers on a passage away from darkness into the light of knowledge.  Thank you to all those teachers who encouraged us to learn to read so we could enjoy such wonderful literature and stories and jokes, etc.  


Part III:  Lily is getting ready to leave home and her parents can't quite understand her desire to leave the comforts (sic) of home to travel the country.  He father especially doesn't like  the advancements of society. 
'What Dad didn't understand was that no matter how much he hated or feared the future  - it was coming, and there was only one way to deal with it: by climbing aboard.'    Are you a curser or grasper of the future?  Does it scare you?  Are there certain technologies you grasp while discounting others?  Don't you think this is the way humans have reacted to change throughout all time?  


Part V:  This chapter begins the healing after Helen committed suicide.  I liked this paragraph: 'I realized that in the months since Helen had died, I hadn't been paying much attention to things like the sunrise, but that old sun had been coming up anyway.  It didn't really care how I felt, it was going to rise and set regardless of whether I noticed it, and if I was going to enjoy it, that was up to me.'  Personally I think grieving is a process and the time when you finally notice the sun rising, or spring growth in the trees when before all was black is  life changing in its own way.  Goes back to climbing aboard life's adventures.  


I appreciate the times that Lily and her family lived in and gained some perspective on living through the depression out west as opposed to the city stories I have heard from family members.  Please tell me your thoughts on this book and Walls' other books if you have read them.


So in the end - why is the book called Half Broke Horses??  One reviewer says that Rose-Mary is half broke and that is explained in Glass Castle.  


Now, back to The Shoemaker's Wife......


Happy Reading,
Barbara

July Book of the Month - 2012

Hello dear readers,

Summer is here and is there dancing in the street?  Not here but there is golfing with gorgeous views of the mountains and concerts in the meadow!  Wherever you are - enjoy the weather.  Hopefully with so much of the country suffering with over 90 degree days (some of you over 100) we hope you all have AC.  Here in Vermont we are without AC for the next week or so.  We ran into some hot temps back a few weeks and discovered that our 25 year old fan on the 25 year old furnace is not replaceable.  That fan circulates the AC.  In the meantime we are thankful that we haven't exceeded 95 degrees yet and we are thankful for cool evenings and nights.  The sky has be so clear and the stars so beautiful.

I thought of making July a 'Beach Reading' month but maybe that will wait until August - what is your favorite summer reading.  I know Ethel loves to indulge in Janet Evanovich.  Let us know - maybe August will be a selection of easy beach reading.  

July's book of the month will be:

The Shoemaker's Wife by  Adriana Trigiani

As I have said many times before - I do not pre-read any of these books and take the recommendations from many people.  I try not to read the reviews too thoroughly because it spoils the book for me and I want to enjoy it right along with all of you.  

Keep watch in a week or so for the review of Half Broke Horses. 

Happy reading and Happy Fourth of July!  

Barbara

What color is water anyway?

Hello Readers,

Here it is the 11th of June and I am just getting around to my review and questions on The Color of Water.  DH birthday & celebration in Quebec City got in the way.  BTW DH - you may take a vacation from the blog if you want but I know myself too well, if I let go of this for 3 months my aged memory will let go of it forever.  Besides, it is really the only time I sit at my computer leaving my IPad on the sidelines!  All of you may take a break, as I said in the beginning - no pressure!


First off I want to say about The Color of Water, I found it refreshing, true to life, impossibly possible and inspiring.  For me the most poignant  idea is that this book is the way for James McBride to come and really know his mother and her life experiences.  Since I have been working on the stories my own mother has written, fictional and historical, this has struck a chord with me.  Now I have questions to ask her!  James is a lucky man to have his mother available.  The balance of that is that our children do not know our history and experiences.  Will it ever be important to them and will it be too late for us to respond? 


This book covers so many issues of society.  A few of my favorites follow:


When Ruth was having the tryst with Peter - they knew the risk of black & white together and I hesitate to add that in some areas of the country, in any decade,  this would be a hair raising event.  Ruth states: 'I always felt that was about the South, that beneath the smiles and southern hospitality and politeness were a lot of guns and liquor and secrets'.  My hope is that we have come further in this time and then I hear someone using the 'N' word and I cringe and wonder.


When Ruth's grandmother died (since it seems that Ruth was most likely shunned in the family) she was notified:  'we have three rooms worth of furniture.  Do you want it?'   Just like some families with horrible communication that lasts for generations.  Do you think it would be interesting to read this same story from the perspective of Ruth's cousins or aunts?  I think that is really where conflict comes in to play since everyone would have a different perspective on this history.  Just think how you were reared in the same house and have differing opinions about important events.


The McBride children's struggle with their identities led each to his or her own "revolution".   Is it also possible that that same struggle led them to define themselves through professional achievement?


"Our house was a combination three-ring circus and zoo, complete with ongoing action, daring feats, music, and animals." Does Helen leave to escape her chaotic homelife or to escape the mother whose very appearance confuses her about who she is?  Do you think the world would be a better place if we answered those 'hard' questions with 'what color is water'?


While reading the descriptions of the children's hunger, did you wonder why Ruth did not seek out some kind of assistance?  Is knowing hunger how the children had the impetus to fight their way to success?  

In closing I want to add this quote from the author at the end of the 10th anniversary book:

'Hard line intellectuals have already had a field day with this book, using it to promote every sort of sociopolitical ideology.  But at the end of the day, there are some questions that have no answers and then one answer that has no question, love rules the game.  Every time.  That's what counts.'

I say 'Amen' to that.  Thank you all for reading along with me and see you in a bit!

Happy Beach Reading,

Barbara

Hi everyone, This note just came in from Eileen via email. So glad that you picked Half Broke Horses.  I've been wanting to read it since reading The Glass Castle but haven't gotten to it.  I haven't read The Color of Water yet.  Will get to it though.  I seem to always be a month behind for some reason.  I just started The Great Bridge by David McCullough.  We went to the Roebling Museum with Sonshiners the other month and I found it so interesting that I decided to read the book (which I had gotten for Bob many years ago).  So far it's very interesting but not a fast read. I just finished I Never Promised You A Goodie Bag.  I thought it was really good.  Mother didn't like it much.  Also read Unorthodox - that was so interesting and informative re: Haisidic Jews (sp.).  There were so many comparisons with Amish Grace.   I  finally got Defending Jacob.  I enjoyed it.  Mother didn't like the ending.  I can't think of any better way for it to have ended.  Take good care.  :)

Jeez it's Jumpin' June!

Already June is here and the book blog writer is a day late.  I guarantee you that I do much worse with birthday cards & gifts!

The Book of the Month for June is:


Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls.  Some of you will recognize the author of Glass Castle.  I highly recommend Glass Castle to everyone.  It was not only a story of family but the complete leniency and opposite of the 'helicopter parents' of today. If you read those books I am sure you could classify both as being child abusive.

I am halfway through Half Broke Horses so I won't give away any of that book at this point.

A review of The Color of Water will be forthcoming in the next week.  I know that Murray Rider abandoned us for the month of May. He is so busy with golfing and working and .....  I do have so much to say about the last two books but with golf and quilting and....   Is anyone else out there?  I know Maria queried whether I had blogged in a while therefore --- here I am!  If anyone has book suggestions please post them.   We all know how life can get busy so in the meantime, happy reading.

Have an awesome day,
Barbara

Let's just consider the story: Henrietta Lacks

Hi Readers,

While reading the book on my iPad I am able to make notes, highlight, and bookmark passages from each book.  The following are some of my notes and why I marked them. Quotes are in red - my comments in black.

Cliff was showing Rebecca around the cemetery where many graves were unmarked.  'Used to be we'd mark them graves with a rock so we could find em, " Cliff told me. But the cemetery got cleaned out one time with a bulldozer so that pretty much cleared those rocks on away.  First off this reminded me of my grandfather's bones which lie somewhere unknown.  The cemetery was moved.  Then it seemed so sweet that still Cliff knew his ancestors were buried there and it was important to him.


As HeLa grew like crabgrass in laboratories around the world a virologist named Chester Southam had a frightening thought: what if Henrietta's cancer cells could infect the scientists working on them?   Then again why couldn't they infect humanity in an adverse way and what if we really aren't in control of experimental biologic elements?   What if these errant cells take over humanity?

There is a quote from a magazine Science 85 which we subscribed to although I remember every years it changed it's name to include the year.  I remember it back when it was called Science '79.  I got a chuckle out of that since we quote that magazine sometimes to each other.


The debate over the commercialization of human biological materials always comes back to one fundamental point" like it or not, we live in a market driven society and science is part of that market.    If a company and their research teams can't make money they won't do the research so is there a need for national research?  Then that cuts off the free market.  Deeply intriguing questions without good answers for me.  I think this is what is described as a conundrum?

And two questions from the study guide:
#6 This is a story with many layers .....  It certainly is an one that will challenge my thoughts for many years to come.
#11  Deborah says, ' but i always have thought it was strange, if our mather cells done so much for medicine, how come her family can't afford to see no doctors?  Don't make no sense."  Yeah, so much of this story don't make sense when it comes to the humanity of it but then there is the science of it and it's all twisted and turned - like cancer cells.....


Happy Reading til next time,
Barbara

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Revisited

Hello Readers,

In searching out some discussion questions for this book I am constantly confronted with the moral questions that face everyone.
           Was Henrietta treated differently because she was black, a woman, from the south, etc.?
           Was it wrong for Gey to pass on her cells for research to further advance science?
           Was the Lacks family treated poorly because they were black, poor, etc.?
Etc., etc., etc.

We can all sit here in 2012 and judge what happened in the 1950's but that is the way it was.  Bio-ethics is such an important part of our world today.  Just consider how many times you are sent and given privacy notices from doctors, banks, credit card accounts, etc.  If anyone wants to comment on the ethical questions in this book, please do.  There was an article online about the following organization while I was reading this book and it gave me great and little concern. Little if I don't really think too hard about the entire concept  - great when it comes to our bodies, property, national security.


Kopimi, an anti-copyright initiative developed by the Piratbyrån, a Swedish organization actively opposing modern copyright law and practices, and the previous operators of BitTorrent tracker The Pirate Bay, before it was spun off as an independent organization.
  Find more information at:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-copyright

I will have more to say in the coming days about the story of Henrietta Lacks.  In the meantime, have a wonderful day.

Happy Reading,
Barbara

Book of the Month - MAY

May-be you'll read the Book of the Month for May!
May-be you are stuck in a rut and need something new to read.
May-be you need to be jostled from your usual readings?
May-be you are overwhelmed with reading other things?
May-be you are too busy?
May-be you can take some time out of everyday for reading.
May-be you'll give our May Book of the Month a try.

The Color of Water by James McBride

If you open this link you can listen to some very nice Jazz by McBride while reading!
http://www.jamesmcbride.com/

Thank you so much Jen for getting back to me about those book suggestions.  Technology is great but sometimes it gets in my way.  I could have lost the piece of paper, too!

Happy Reading,
Barbara

I though this review was right on:


“Landay, a former DA, mixes gritty court reporting with Andy’s painful confrontation with himself, forcing readers willy-nilly to realize the end is never the end when, as Landay claims, the line between truth and justice has become so indistinct as to appear imaginary. This searing narrative proves the ancient Greek tragedians were right: the worst punishment is not death but living with what you — knowingly or unknowingly — have done.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Hello readers,

We here we are weeks after we all should have finished Defending Jacob and be well into the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  I find them both disturbing works of literature.  Gotta find some feel good books!

BTW: I was keeping a list of your suggestions for future books of the Month and I goofed.  I was cutting and pasting on my iPad and lost all of your suggestions.  So, Jennifer Christopher if you are still out there, please email me the books you suggested in February.  Maria, I have the suggestions from Penny but any others you gave me would be appreciated.  Eileen, I am not sure if you gave me some suggestions but if you have any please email me.   I hate when I am electronically challenged but do appreciate your cooperation.

So, how do you all feel about Defending Jacob?  As I said I found it very disturbing.  The family seemed too one-dimensional to me.  Landry in a small way tries to make the mom seems caring at the funeral  but I found her character to be flat, although when tragedy strikes a family like it certainly did this one, each person reverts to their comfort zone.  Maybe this is the reason I found the ending so surprising.  Could it be?     Was it really cleverness on the part of the author?

I would never want a relative or friend to defend me or someone in my family.  As the saying goes: a man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client.  In 'real life'Andy should have not been involved at all in the defense and looking back on the story now - maybe Jacob did it!  However, does that have anything to do with his heredity?  Can things like violence be passed from generation to generation?  Is maturity the ability to overcome our base impulses.

I know, bullying is a big no-no in our society now but sometimes the less smart, popular, athletic, musically gifted, etc. have to step up and defend their territory.  I don't know if this happened in the book but maybe Jacob and his friends were being bullied and as a group decided to stand up for themselves.  Maybe Ben was murdered by more than one of them.  Did anyone else think of that?

Usually movie editions of books I have read never live up to my expectations.  Two exceptions to that have been Harry Potter and Twilight.  Maybe those books are so description in a youthful way that the movies must be on target.  I can see the mom being played by the actress on Law and Order, Mariska Hargitay oand John Kusak for Andy.  The grandfather should be played by someone who gives us all the creeps - like Christopher Walken.

Write to the blog and tell us what you think.  Have a wonderful day and  - May is just around the corner so get reading!  I have to find something easy to read for May --- help!

Happy Reading,
Barbara

Y
You never know how someone will react to an event until it actually happens.
You can see how terrifying it would be to have your life rush so out of control. 


I
If you were Andy Barber, would you make the same decisions?  How would you differ the most?
If you were Jacob's mother - how would your reaction be in contrast to your spouse?
If Jacob was 25, 18, or 9 would your view of him be different?
Identifying criminal behavior was the focus of the 2002 movie The Minority Report where future criminals were disposed of before they committed crimes.  How does that thought sit with you after reading this book?


K
Keep in mind that we don't 'really' know  - do you think that Jacob is guilty? 
Knit together the evidence you saw in the book.  What leads you to innocent?  Guilty?


E
Environment vs. Nature is one of the themes in the book.  Which do you favor?  
Every kid has had bullying experience.  You cannot read a paper or watch the news without seeing something that is blamed on it.  That said - do you really think Jacob was bullied?  or was he the bully?  Does harassment sometimes run both ways?
Ethically speaking, what do you think of the ADA Neal Logiudice?  What about Andy getting 'fired' because of this event?


S
Sitting in that courtroom day after day would make anyone itchy!  How can any family endure the endless inquiry?  
Since Jacob's grandfather is an unknown entity to him - do you think it is possible that the 'underworld or criminal world' {don't know how to describe where he lives} can actually function like that?  
Someday soon you will be able to see this incredible book on a Warner Bros. movie.  They bought the rights to it this past March.  Could it possibly live up to your expectations?

April Fool's Book

Hi Readers,


You would think that I could find a clever book to present for April Fool's Day like:


April Fool by William Deverall or

Fooled You!  by Nancy E. Krulik (a cute children's book)  or      

                        

                                                April Fool's Day  by Bryce Courtenay

But alas, I am not that clever nor did I want to take a chance on non-recommended books.  Of course the children's books are always good for a chuckle.  

Did I go for another WW2 book?  No, even though The Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson sits on my nightstand.  I am hoping that this months book is a fast read so I can read this loiterer! 

You will be happy to know that this month's book was selected scientifically thought deduction and exclusion.  Two post it notes had initials of the titles and DH (Dear Husband) selected one not knowing which was which.  Then we come to the Book of the Month for April 2012:

                                   The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

                                                                Even though this photo says buy a signed copy of the book, I don't have any!  It's just a photo I borrowed from the Rebecca Skloot website.  This book was named as one of the best books of 2010.  So here's to Henrietta and the story - true - that Rebecca tells.  

Some posted comments about Defending Jacob will follow later this week.  I am trying to give DH time to finish but he keeps getting skitzzed out by the book and puts it down.  

Have a wonderful day and a great Holy Week!

Happy reading,

Barbara

I'ts almost April Fool's Day!

Yikes!  It is almost April 1st and I haven't picked a book yet.  Guess I'll get to it ASAP.

Hope you are enjoying Defending Jacob.  Once again I'll say 'YIKES'!  (It seems to be a favorite exclamation of mine lately.)  Next month we need a book that doesn't make me exclaim.  

I know that Maria has finished the book and Jim is halfway through.  Eileen is still waiting for it from the library. When I see her next week I'll have to introduce her to Kindle & Ipad - right Maria?  We are getting to the point where we prefer buying books on our Ipad so we don't have to wait at the library.  Hopefully next month I will select a book that is readily available.

Conversation in my house about Defending Jacob goes like this:

DH:  These characters are so engrossing

ME:  Really?  I don't like the characters at all.

DH:  I can't read anymore because I don't like what I see coming!

ME:  It's only a book!  You only have a few more days.  

DH:  How can you not be totally engrossed by this book?

ME:  How can you be totally engrossed by this book?

He hasn't finished it yet - just wait!  This author is on my 'definite need to read another' list.  

Ya'll have a wonderful weekend and hopefully your will get the next BOM on Sunday.

Happy Reading,

Barbara

What's the Defense?

Hello Readers,


So, how is Defending Jacob coming along?  This was a great suggestions Maria!  Thank you.  I am about 3/4 done.  It's interesting to me that the character development isn't as gripping as I thought it would be.  I am thinking that male authors just don't do that as well (?) as female ones.  What do you think?  For instance, Kristen Hannah's characters get to me from the beginning of the book.  I identify with them (sometimes all of them) and want to know what happens beyond the book.   In Unbroken, The Book Thief, and now in Defending Jacob, I appreciate the story, have empathy and understanding of the characters and the twists and turns of the plot but I don't become integral to to character.  Does that even make sense?  
Hope you are all reading and enjoying the book.  Just 2 weeks til April!  What will the April book be?  Male or female author?  Current era or long ago?  Fiction or non?  Stay tuned!


Happy Reading,


Barbara

I feel so old!

Hello dear readers,


Yes, I feel so old because what keeps going through my mind is 'where does the time go?'  I keep trying to convince everyone that the earth spins faster in Vermont!  No one believes me!   All this to say I should have written my review of The Book Thief sooner but just didn't get around to it.  
Let's see, what question do I want to answer first?  Death's visiting the living and dead.  Conceptually I loved it.  Death was loving, caring and sometimes not happy he had to collect a soul.  It's always good to have literary confirmation that we have a soul!  The interesting part to me was where did he take the souls.  Could death have been Jesus or God or one of the prophets?  I think I may have liked Death as the best character -- if (s)he was considered one.  
Max and Liesel were both rescued by Hans & Rosa.  Rosa is a hardhearted character that only has the shell of hardheartedness.  She is sympathetic, empathetic and deeply caring.  She accepts without question the entry of the refugees and cares for them as best as she could.  Hans is just one of those bleeding hearts who would do anything for anyone yet he does have his principles.
How many of us would allow a person to 'steal' into our homes to read, eat, or rest as Ilsa allowed Liesel?  Liesel was a waif, a orphan, a street urchin.  Bravely Ilsa allowed her to enter the home to read and steal books.  How brave!  The agoraphobia prevented her from living life for years and yet when necessity presented itself she stepped out of her shell to help Liesel.  Awesome!  
What must it have been like to live in Munich during this time?  Horribly frightening but without the ability to see what actually happened on a grand scale.  As I mentioned before Dachau was a horrible place on the outskirts of Munich and to envision those Jews walking down the streets makes my stomach roil.  Then, Hans tried to offer some kind of solace and was beaten.  How many times did the people try to stop the progression of Nazi Germany and were rebuffed, killed, and tortured.  Conscription of the fathers and brothers against their desire to serve and/or abandon their families.  ughh!  I don't know how to express my disgust and thankfulness that I didn't live in that time and place.  

As a child I learned 'sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me'.  And yet, the words followed by actions killed millions because of the built up hatred caused by those words.  The military operates by dehumanizing the enemy.   When do we listen to the 'other side' for what it is - just another opinion - instead of disagreeing immediately. We don't even listen to the words - even though they don't hurt - to avoid the nest step of stones.   We all try to live by what is right and good but fall short of our own expectations.  Is that why death says: 'Humans haunt him'?  We are a conundrum to death.


The Book Thief is one good book!  I couldn't put it down and couldn't keep reading, a total ying and yang, good verses evil, truth against lie.  I wonder how much of the story came directly from Markus' family story?  How much is truth mixed with fiction?  I would highly recommend this book.  Would you?


Have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day.

Keep on Reading,
Barbara