Monday 26 February 2018

Gretchen Rubin

   I am struggling through the Canada Reads' choices for this year.  The theme is: 'Open Your Eyes' and I am finding that the books are not only opening up my eyes, but they are making me even more disturbed about the state of the world than I already was.  As though watching the daily news doesn't already affect me in that way.  Focussing on the horrors of the world is no good for my psyche.
  So...I picked up my copy of "The Happiness Project" to get me out of this angst.
  Well, I didn't really find Gretchen Rubin helpful even though she has done extensive 'happiness' research.

A friend recommended this Youtube song to help me out of my funk, and remind me that most people are good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-KsToawMJE


    With this cheery country and western song playing in my head, I just got back to the things that make me happy- family, friends and travel.  The books that I create, remind me of those great things in my life.


   So I planned some more trips and worked on books about past trips.  And I got back to reading my book club choices and thinking about all the book clubs that I have belonged to.  
   I have made two books about my travels with my friend, Terri on 'Bookwomen' trips. These trips combine books and travel. 
   These memories make me happy, so I better get busy creating more- memories and books.

Friday 23 February 2018

The Pearl Sister

How I love this series!
This is the fourth book in the series.
Another book filled with interesting storylines, moving to different locations in the world.
A family of sisters who were all adopted, are now finding out the history of their birth families.
Each book is a long saga and there are two main alternating storylines in this book-  Ce Ce's present life and the story of her ancestors as she is discovering it. 

The author, Lucinda Riley, is speeding up her writing.  Her first books were a year apart, but this book was out 6 months after the last one.
Here are the other three books.

The Seven Sisters :Maia. Read about it here.
The Storm Sister: Alcyone (Ally) Read about it here.
The Shadow Sister:  Asterope (Star) Read about it here.

The Pearl Sister:   Ce Ce has dropped out of art college and is at loose ends since her sister Star, who had always been her shadow, has moved on with her life.
  I am particularly enjoying this book because it takes you to Australia.  I have been there and remember many of the places that are mentioned in the story.
   The complexity of the plot is astounding, weaving historical events into the storylines, with so many fascinating characters.

Monday 19 February 2018

Sue Monk Kidd

   A book club choice for this month is "The Invention of Wings" by Sue Monk Kidd.  I have read it twice already, so this time I listened to the CD's.
   Click here for my thoughts on the book in 2014, the year that it was written.  I wrote in that blog that this book is missing the exquisite language of the author's previous books.  I now take that back.
   Everything about this book is marvellous!  Characters! Plot! Language! Setting!  It is inspirational and fabulous!  Perfect for February- black history month!

 "The Secret Life of Bees" is the first book that I read by this author.  I loved it! 
Location: peach farm in South Carolina
Lily Owens was four when she accidently shot her mother (while her parents were fighting).  Her father was cruel and eventually Lily ran away with Rosaleen, the black maid.  Lily and Rosaleen were taken in by the calendar sisters- August, May, June, April.  August had been Lily's mother's nanny.  This household of  black women nurtured Lily as she was able to come to terms with her life.  Marvellous, descriptive writing!  Couldn't put it down!  Strong, nurturing black women in the time of segregation. 


   I also loved this novel by Sue Monk Kidd.  A different theme this time!  
   Inside the church of a Benedictine monastery on Egret island, off the coast of South Carolina, there is an ornate chair carved with mermaids.  Jessie Sullivan returned to this island because her mother had cut off a finger and planted it in front of a statue of St. Serena.  She was consumed with guilt (after the assisted suicide of her husband) and followed the example of the saint.  The concern with the mother is difficult enough.
   BUT, speaking of guilt...Jessie fell in love with ...you guessed it, (it is a monastery) a monk!  Jessie was at a difficult time in her marriage: "Twenty years - when the marriage glue gets so old it starts to harden and crack".  And so, the affair began.  Brother Andrew said,"We'll be damned and we'll be saved- both".
  In fact, the affair brought Jessie to life.  She said,"I had the sense of being out on the furthest frontier of myself.  It was a surprisingly beautiful outpost".
  But she did return to her husband, where: "There would be no grand absolution, only forgiveness meted out in these precious sips.  It would well up from Hugh's heart in spoonfuls and he would feed it to me.  And it would be enough".
    This book is filled with metaphors and similies.  Fabulous writing!

  
   And here is the author.  Sue Monk Kidd- fabulous author!  She has written other non-fiction books, but these novels are extraordinary!
   She lived most of her life in Georgia, but is living in Florida now.  I hope she is working on another novel!
   Her husband is a minister and some of her non-fiction books are of a spiritual nature.
   She was influenced in her 20's by the writings of Thomas Merton.

Friday 16 February 2018

" Do Not Say We Have Nothing" by Madeleine Thien



   Three interesting covers for this complex, extraordinary story of China during the Cultural Revolution.  Actually the novel goes back and forth in time over decades. 
   


   Each of the three covers focuses on different characters in the novel.  The first cover shows the main character La Ling.  The third cover represents her father's friend, known by the name "Sparrow", who was a composer.  The middle cover, I believe, represents La Ling's great aunt and uncle who endured the cruelty of labour camps.  Actually, the great uncle went missing (portrayed well in the cover photo). 
   
   The most extraordinary thing about this book is the theme of classical music that weaves throughout the plot.  The early characters were involved in the Shanghai Conservatory, until the drastic changes of the Cultural Revolution.  The music constantly ran through the heads of the characters, especially Bach's Goldberg Variations, played by the Canadian musician Glenn Gould.  I greatly enjoyed listening to this music on YouTube.

  The title of the book comes from the Chinese song "The Internationale": 
          "Arise, slaves, arise!
          Do not say that we have nothing
          We shall be the masters of the world!"

   Can you believe that I was entranced with this novel?  I cannot believe it myself.  How the author drew me into the lives of these characters and entwined me into the complexity of the story.  Sometimes I had no idea what was going on.  There was so much chaos, violence, separation, and death.  The storyline was also chaotic- back and forth through the generations.  Of course, it was so much more heart-breaking, because it was based on fact.   But the beauty of the writing held me captive.
Madeleine Thien- author

Monday 12 February 2018

"A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen

classic book club choice:
Setting: Norway, 1879
Characters: Nora and Torvald Helmer, married for 8 years with 3 children
Plot:  The marriage is the focus of the play.  Torvald treats Nora like a child, calling her his little squirrel, as they frisk around.  She is never taken seriously and Torvald claims to love her and desires to protect her and 'teach' her.  She plays into this role, since she was also treated like a child or doll in her relationship with her father.  
  At the climax of the play, Torvald is expressing his love for Nora by saying that he wished that she was in danger, so that he could risk his body and soul to save her.  Strangely enough, she is in danger and she finds out how he really reacts to a real dangerous situation.  Whoops!  Be careful what you say!
Nora reacts in a way that you would not expect in 1879.
What was the reaction?  Wikipedia says: "It aroused a great sensation at the time, and caused a storm of outraged controversy that went beyond the theatre to the world newspapers and society".

 
  This is a play and, although the words are wonderful to read, it is even better when you can see the facial expressions and tone of voice.  Very powerful!
  It is available on Youtube in a movie with Anthony Hopkins and Claire Bloom.  It is spectacular!

Friday 9 February 2018

"Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business"

  Dolly is such a conundrum- so fake and glittery on the outside and so sincere and sweet on the inside.  I enjoy her music and have visited Dollywood.
  I was just in the mood for some 'downhome stories' and I also thought it would be fun to read about the Country and Western singers of the past.
  I smiled at her story of a 'pie supper'.  The girls took pies and the guys bid on them and sat with the girl whose pie they bought. It never happened in the town where I grew up, but I have read about it in other stories.  Living in the country has its benefits in their creative attempts at entertainment.
  Of course, the real creativity was with the mother who gave birth to 12 children before she was 35.  She sewed up gashes and kept her family safe and healthy while making games of everything- like making 'stone soup' for supper.
   The peddler came in an old school bus, with pots and pans rattling, people got their false teeth from the funeral home (really?), school clothes were made from flour sacks.  wow!  The stories she can tell about living in the 'hollers' of the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee!


Another reason that Dolly is a conundrum is that she exudes sex, but has been married for 51 years and, by all accounts, is a one-man woman, although she admits that they are not together much because he stays away from the limelight.  But she always goes home to him.
She just turned 72.  Can you believe it?

Monday 5 February 2018

A simpler life: part 6
   

  You may be pleased to know that I am ready to come out of that rabbit hole.  I have rambled on about antimaterialism, radical simplicity, living off the grid, sustainable living, the solitary life, ecological footprint, organic gardening, and on and on.  Perhaps it has been of interest to you, and perhaps not.
   One thing is clear.  Every life is different and we can appreciate but not evaluate another person's life.

  I will end with another Thoreau quote: "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.  Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away".

  And a quote from "The Man Who Quit Money": "It's possible to compromise.  The gamut of those who take to heart the concept of living simply is wider than Suelo and the freegans. And it's crammed with people who don't want to boycott everything; they just want to buy less junk and do less harm."  
A good slogan is:
 "work less, live more, and consume more consciously".


   Well, I am ready to climb out of the rabbit hole, but will continue to consider "What makes a good life?"  Part of my 'good life' is reading.  Where will I go next?

Friday 2 February 2018

"Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

A simpler life: part 5
  We cannot leave this topic without mentioning another popular book on this topic.

   "Into the Wild"(c1997) is the true story of Christopher McCandless.  He graduated from university in Atlanta in 1990, gave his money to charity and headed out 'into the wild'.
  He didn't leave many records, but there are passages that he underlined in the books that he took with him, showing his desire to test himself in nature.



    Here is a picture of Chris in his teenage years.  He discovered that his father lived a double life, with two families.  Chris pulled away from his family and never contacted them.  He hitchhiked across the country and headed for Alaska.  After 113 days in the Alaskan wilderness, he was found dead.
    
   
  This story was made into a movie in 2007 and the McCandless story became a modern myth, with many people, inspired by his story, desiring to hike to see the bus in Alaska where Chris died. They camp there and write essays in the logbooks that are kept there. "They ponder the impact that McCandless' antimaterialist ethic, free-spirited travels, and time in the Alaskan wild has had on how they perceive the world"(quote from the internet).  It is also reported that some of these pilgrims suffer the same fate as Chris. They are as unprepared as he was for the dangers of the wilds of Alaska.



   The author, Jon Krakauer, tells about his own reckless mountain climbing alone and tries to explain the appeal of 'the wild' for a young man.  The issue of 'finding oneself' seems to be prevalent in young men.  Do they feel a need to distance themselves from their families for this purpose?  Do they need to be alone?  Do they need to 'prove something'? What does make 'a good life'?