"A Cedar Cove Christmas" by Debbie Macomber

I received a text for Christmas from a coworker from an author that writes a novel every season. This was the Christmas story for 2008, not to be confused with THE Christmas Story.

A young woman named Mary Jo Wyse is unexpectedly pregnant and due 2 weeks after Christmas. She and her 3 brothers live together, and they fell obliged to take care of her since their parents' died, and the father of her baby is scum bag. She is sick of them being over protective, and discussing how they will "take care of" said scum bag, so she decides to go to his home town Christmas Eve to inform his parents of the baby, and that she has no intentions of involving Scum Bag. While in his hometown, she is stranded, and there is no hotel rooms for her. A librarian named Grace offers to host her for the night, but only has room in her apartment located in the barn. However, while Grace's family is at Christmas Eve service, Mary Jo unexpectedly goes into labor. Meanwhile, her brothers (the 3 Wyse men) learn about her trip, and are on their way over ... bearing gifts. They get lost, and further misdirected from King's bar. Luckily, they saw lights in the sky, that bring them right to the home where Mary Jo has given birth (at least there's an EMT in this version) in the barn. Everything turns out to be the most wonderful Christmas Eve for all involved.

Cute story, simply and fast read, I appreciate the gift, but I won't be looking for the 2011 version. I'd rather read it from the Bible.

Fixing My Gaze: A Scientist's Journey into Seeing in Three Dimensions

While sitting in the waiting room at the eye doctor, a book on the reading materials table caught my eye. It was titled "Fixing My Gaze: A Scientist's Journey into Seeing in Three Dimensions." While waiting for my appointment, I glanced through the book and added it to my book list. Somewhat technical in the scientific language, it still provided a very interesting perspective on the continuum of vision and what can and cannot be done to improve the way people see.

Susan Barry was born cross-eyed. Through her childhood, she had various surgeries to correct the appearance of her eyes. With the corrections, she had 20/20 vision. While listening to a lecture in college biology, she came to realize that even though she had 20/20 vision she only saw the world in 2 dimensions. This is a condition referred to as "stereoblind." It explained why she had such a hard time focusing while reading, watching TV and driving. To her dismay, the medical paradigm at the time (and continuing as a myth today), was that people who were stereoblind would never see in 3D. The thought was humans start to see in 3D as infants, and if the right neurons weren't making connections during this "critical period," there was no hope for seeing in 3D later in life.

As a neurobiologist, Susan grew restless with the notion that nothing could be done about the way she sees the world. With her background, she believed it was possible to get the brain circuitry to re-connect and change her vision. As she conducted her research, she learned of an optometrist in the somewhat obscure field of vision therapy. Her optometrist worked with her on weekly basis over the course of a year with various vision exercises to train her brain to see in 3D. After a year, Susan describes her amazing experience of finally seeing something in 3D. She was leaving a therapy session, and the steering wheel of her car suddenly popped out at her. Her descriptions of how this changed every day life were amazing. She didn't have depth perception issues while driving, which alleviated much anxiety; her tennis game improved; she craved nature walks and art shows to appreciate the space between objects. She shares the stories of many others with similar experiences in this book.

"Fixing My Gaze" is an inspiring book that demonstrates as much as we know in science, there is still much to learn and explore.

The Professor and the Madman

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester is exactly what it sounds like: a story about the making of the OED and some of the circumstances surrounding the involvement of American Dr. W. C. Minor and the Scotsman Sir James Murray (I won’t spoil which is the professor and which the madman). These two men were one of hundreds of people involved in what turned out to me the monumentally intricate and exhausting task of the creation of the OED in Victorian London.

As one can imagine, the creation of any reference piece, be it an encyclopedia, atlas, or dictionary, is a task not taken lightly. Prior to the compilation of the OED, no one had endeavored to put together a complete and exhaustive dictionary of the English language. Attempts had been made, the books gives a few examples of individuals who had put together dictionaries of rare or difficult words, some by subject rather than alphabetically, but none had attempted to catalogue the entire English language.

Furthermore, the reasons cited for the creation of such a document were interesting. One of the more interesting motivations, held by Gulliver’s Travels author Jonathan Swift, was to preserve the language as it was, to fix it and hold it in place from changing linguistic trends for the maintenance of its purity. it was with relief that I read the rebuttal of Benjamin Martin who wrote that No language as depending on arbitrary use and customs can ever be permanently the same, but will always be in a mutable and fluctuating state; and what is deem’d polite and elegant in one age, may be accounted uncouth and barbarous in another. Well spoke. And Samuel Johnson, editor of A Dictionary of the English Language, which pre-dates the OED by nearly fifty years, wholeheartedly agreed, but probably because he knew it would be a truly impossible task to do what Swift suggested.

It wasn’t until Dr. Richard Trench, at a meeting of the Philological Society at the London Library identified seven principles that recent dictionaries lacked. Above all it had become clear that the editors of the new project would need to maintain their objectivity. Dr. Trench’s sentiment was that “It was an essential credo for any future dictionary makers…to realize that a dictionary was simply ‘an inventory of the language’ and decidedly not a guide to proper usage.”

The work put in, by hundreds of people all over the world, must have been appallingly overwhelming. I appreciate Winchester’s method of making the process move swiftly through the text. The stories of Dr. Minor and Sir Murray are enjoyable, though sometimes heartbreaking, and the brief look at their relationship is actually quite lovely. The most meaningful part of the book for me was the Author’s Note, where Winchester quite lovingly and with admirable respect, dedicates the text to one George Merritt, whose involvement in the creation of the OED was nil, but whose death was nonetheless an impetus for its successful completion.

If the minutiae of trivia and obscure bits of history or language interest you, I think you’d rather enjoy this book. It is another text full of names that I suppose I could have taken notes on in an effort to better keep track of them, but I figured that anyone important would be mentioned enough times for me to remember them on my own. I was surprised at how quickly I was able to finish the book, though I think being home sick for three of the last five days may have helped.

Best Books of 2010

If you believe the commercials on TV or in the paper, EVERYTHING is the #1 in its class. This post does nothing to dispell this notion. Amazon has posted its top 10 and top 100 lists.

Some of the books our group has read and posted about are on these lists. I'm happy to see The Immortal Life of Henrietta Slacks at the top of the list. See Lindsay's post for more info. And Angela's post on At Home is featured at #26.

I'm looking forward to what will be fantastic reads in 2011!

Bill Bryson

Reading my first couple Bryson texts was a “where have you been all my life?” kind of moment. Of course I love Bill Bryson, why wouldn’t I? Why haven’t I heard of him before? Why haven’t I loved his books always?

Having received a text for my birthday that I already owned from a dear friend (thanks to a kindred traveler, Miss Kari Ann Grieman), I opted to exchange the book for another that captured the spirit of our love of travel. I had been hearing about Bryson’s newest product, At Home on NPR for so long that I felt compelled to give him a chance. Having received an advance copy of “At Home” from a very generous co-worker (and former B&N Inc. employee), I purchased Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe and called it a day.

What a door a book can open! Rather, how many splendid doors! I have never read a book that was, at times, as informative, joyful, irreverent, and heartbreaking as some of the travel literature I’ve read, and I’ve read so little! There is no way I could give a proper review of these two texts so I’ll just leave you with these few thoughts:

Bryson has a way with maps and strange places that make them accessible. His books illuminate without illustration, inform without overburdening the reader with facts, and delight without becoming gaudy or crass. Furthermore, they are immensely readable and, I am sure, wholly unappreciated unless one has read them twice or more. I am certain that the next time I pick up one of these books I’ll notice much more than I possibly could, especially in At Home, than I did on the first perusal (which is really all one can do the first time they read such a book).

Field Trip!

The Riverview Book Club shook things up tonight, meeting at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts rather than the Riverview Wine Bar that has been so hospitable these last few months. Amanda suggested the change in venue to explore two exhibits: Basins, Baskets and Bowls; Women Explore the Vessel and Beware her Wiles; Woman as Temptress in the Renaissance Tradition which I particularly enjoyed. I did take some photos and if my camera and my abilities sync, they’ll be posted for our readership’s pleasure.

Our next meeting will be January 14th at the Riverview Wine Bar and to celebrate the success of our little group we’ve decided to share a meal rather than just get drinks. The fare at the Riverview has always looked wonderful so I’m looking forward to it! Our chosen text is The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester. Please feel free to join us whether you read the book or not, we’ve had so much fun and look forward to entertaining other promiscuous readers!

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Amanda and Angela had nice posts as usual. I agree with them both fully. I am not in the mood to write a nice collective prose format of my thoughts, so I will add my thoughts in outline format.

• A timeline is a nice suggestion. Here's one that was last updated 2005, but it gets you through most of the book, and the website has some other nice information: http://www.afghan-web.com/history/chron/index4.html
• I, too, am very grateful for the many blessings in my life, including my ability to be the blunt person I am known for. Even if I remained mute, I am sure I'd get killed for my facial expressions!
• I REALLY enjoyed this book, especially the development of the bond between Mariam and Laila. 2 women in any situation will eventually realize that we are all sisters. However, it was very difficult to continue to read about the hardships (to say the least) they endured. At one point, I wanted to keep reading because I knew it just had to end at some point. I almost cheered out loud when it did happen (if you've read the book, you know the point I am referencing). Only that bond of sisterhood and motherhood allowed them to endure.
• "One could not count the moons that shimmer on [their] roof[s], or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind [their] walls." Together they lived the darkest part of their lives, darker than most people can imagine, but it was "shimmered" by their bond with each other and the children. But they were both full of hope, determination for what's right, and above all, love, that they knew deep down in the brightness of tomorrow.
• Point for discussion: Could you do for a friend what Mariam did for Laila? Could you allow a friend to do for you what Mariam did for Laila?

A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns is one of those books where you should be required to have multiple resources by your side to enhance the reading. Here are my recommended tools:

• An atlas. And not just any atlas. It turns out my version from college was not a huge help. It featured countries by region, and Afghanistan and Pakistan did not appear in their entirety on any given page. I guess that is what the internet is for. Turns out B&N has a gorgeous National Geographic atlas for the price of $80.
• A notebook. I kept track of the regime changes and timelines with a rough outline. It did not come as big news that the country has been through much turmoil, but I learned, in detail, of some of the large of the political parties that ruled Afghanistan from the 1960s to early 2000s. It was no easy feat to keep track of, especially with the intricate, foreign sounding names.
• A dictionary or glossary. Seriously, this book would have benefited greatly with a map in the front and glossary in the back. Again, I guess the internet should suffice.

This was not a 100% joyful to book to read. In fact, I found myself reading large portions of it during the day. While reading in the evening, my brain had a hard time letting go and falling asleep while mulling over the graphic, and often sad, scenes. This is one of the benefits of book club - pushing ourselves to read challenging literature.

One of the main themes that stood out was Mariam and Laila's issues with their mothers. Both of the daughters were very different from their mothers, and had different expectations out of life. There weren't the in your face dramatic outbursts that may characterize some American mother daughter relationships. I found myself appreciating when Mariam and Laila found friendship, and then a sisterhood with each other. After all, Mariam was separated from her half siblings during her childhood and Laila didn't know her brothers well before they became casualties in the war. Some of the sweetest moments were when they bonded over Laila's child, Aziza.

Mother-daughter relationships are universal. But another new concept for me with this book was the burqa. Through their childhood and adolescent years, Mariam and Laila went unveiled. In fact, Laila's parents were on the opposite end of the spectrum as her future husband Rasheed. It was flinchingly hard to read Rasheed's demand for them both to wear the burqa after marriage. Nothing about him was likeable, but that was one more log on the fire with his awful treatment of his wives. Both Laila and Mariam had their outgoing, adventureous moments before marriage, but both characters mention how the burqa brought welcomed anonymity. Yet the one time they try to flee, while veiled, the initial anonymity did not save them in the short run.

With the way most of the book proceeded, I did not expect a happy ending. None-the-less, Khaled Hosseini brought as much resolution and peace to the characters as I could have hoped for.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

It is a good time of year for lists of blessings and things we are thankful for. After having read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, I’ve come up with a rather sober one:

1. I am thankful for having had the fortune and opportunity to partner myself with a person who does not hit me, rape me, isolate me, threaten me & my children, or shame me in any way, shape, or form. He has never put a loaded gun in my mouth, made me eat gravel, or kept me from my family.

2. I am thankful that I live in a country where the government values the equity of people regardless of their gender (in broad terms); that as a woman I am extended the right of an education, a profession, rights to my body, my children, my home, and the vote.

3. The simple fact that I am writing this, adding hyperlinks to other sites, and posting it on the Internet without fear of retaliation by my government is actually quite remarkable in the global climate that we live in. I’m allowed to do keyword searches of “Taliban” and “Al-Qaeda” in safety (although questionable anonymity).

Reading A Thousand Splendid Suns did not make me aware of these things for the first time. Rather, it magnified the political and social climate in Afghanistan in a way that reinforced a previously held, though perhaps underappreciated, gratitude. It is the story of relationships between women and the sacrifices many women in war zones are forced to make. It plots the trajectory from rival to friend to ally that many relationships can take. It is absolutely outrageous that women anywhere in the world are treated as Laila and Maryam, the protagonists in Hosseini’s illuminating tale. This seems like a story that one might introduce as not being true, but nonetheless has happened; truth through fiction.

In the book, we follow Laila and Maryam alternately as they come of age in Kabul and Herat (respectively). Their paths begin on different slopes of the same hypothetical mountain, and when their lives cross, it seems they’ve arrived at the same poisoned mountain stream. The story of their survival in the face of an awful marriage and the sacrifices they make for one another and for their children is heartbreaking, and at times, covertly uplifting.

Throughout the story, Hosseini details Afghan politics. As someone with almost no knowledge of modern Middle East politics, I had a hard time keeping track of the various individuals and political groups they represent. Among the dozens of names of politicians and warlords, none of which I recognized, there are communists, Taliban, Al-Qaeda, the Russians, and the US. I think this difficulty added to the story however, it created a chaotic background to set the story against: it didn’t matter who was killing whom, the point was the Afghan people were living with fear, violence, and frighteningly dwindling resources every day, for years.

This was the first book I’ve read from the flood of literature that uses the Middle East (Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, specifically) as a setting. I look forward to learning more and reading others. It is terrifying to process these books in the context of real wars (i.e. Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn), real US and NATO soldiers, and knowing that we might really be on the wrong side. As I think critically however, I am forced to wonder if there ever is a right side. The US isn’t at war with a country; it engages militia groups, rogue fundamentalists, and people who don’t represent anyone but themselves. The trouble consistently is that to get to our enemies, we must first step over the lives of innocents; blameless people who are our sisters and brothers and who are victims not only of the US’s retaliatory actions, but of the same global violence that inspired it.

The line by seventeenth century poet Saib-e-Tabrizi from where the title originates explains the brilliance in any community, as well as giving a context for the heartbreak of war:

“One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs,
Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.”

October

Last month flew by with extraordinary speed. As a group we read The Journey to the Well by Diana Wallis-Taylor, which we decided last night was not an altogether fantastic book. A lovely story, certainly, but not well written nor uplifting. We appreciated the author's efforts at breathing life into the Samaritan woman from the Christian Gospel story of the woman at the well, but found it to be a bit out of touch with reality when, at the end, the entire cast meets Jesus and is instantly transformed into a peace loving and compassionate utopia where nothing bad ever happens. Additionally, the ending was very abrupt.

That having been said, it was with good intention that the book was chosen. After having read (and thoroughly enjoyed) The Red Tent by Anita Diamant and Mary Called Magdalene by Margaret George, we were looking for some Biblical fiction that gave flesh and soul to another marginalized female. Does anyone have other suggestions?