Jane Austen

Blog about a Spark writer reading Jane Austen for the first time: http://community.sparknotes.com/2010/08/27/blogging-pride-and-prejudice-as-if-it-were-a-teen-novel-part-1

Eat Pray Love

I've been wanting to read this book for several years now, as it slowly grew in popularity. I have finally snagged a copy to read in between book club books. It's a light hearted, quick moving, short chapter book that is easy to enjoy.

The book is one woman's journey of herself. However, unlike the usual sappy memoirs (Tuesdays with Morrie, The Last Lecture) that I had read previously, this story didn't literally lecture me on how I should live my life. Instead, it was a woman sharing her personal journey, and simply reflecting on it ... and fortunately for her, it turned into a best-selling book and I am sure it will do well in the theaters. She tells the tales of the lessons she's learned, without instructing her readers to do the same. Why should she? They are HER lessons. And she leaves it up to her readers to go discover their's.

And the next book club book could be...

The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan was recommended to me. As I sat on a boat cruise with local industrial hygienists, safety professionals and occupational health nurses, I somehow steered the conversation to the topic of books. Is anyone surprised? I mentioned the next genre was to be historical fiction and The Twentieth Wife was recommended. Here is a review: www.curledup.com/20thwife.htm

It looks like there is a sequel available for further reading if it turns out to be an interesting read.

Until Wednesday, happy reading!

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

I was excited to read this book, as suggested by my personal librarian, Angela. I was hoping for a lighthearted kid book with deeper adult messages.

I was never a big fan of the Disney movie, but scenes reappeared in my head as the story went from tale to tale. Reading the introduction made it all sane for me; understanding that Lewis Carroll was really just a kid at heart and always imagining. But for someone as practical as I, the tales got stranger and stranger, and by the end, I was ready to be done.

What I did really enjoy was home much like a dream he wrote it. Through The Looking Glass did it more, but how each tale seemed to transform into the next without any transition, just like in dreams.

I am glad I bought a hard-cover copy. I will save it to read with my children to get them started into "chapter books." But I don't plan on recommending it to anyone else in any other scenario, so it will probably collect dust on my book shelf until then.

Alice in Wonderland

We are all familiar with the little girl Alice who fell down a rabbit's hole and found herself in a bizarre world of backwardness. As a child, the Walt Disney version of this tale made me very uncomfortable; it had no plot line that I could see and it's lack of structure made me bristle. Then, loving Johnny Depp the way I do, I rented Tim Burton's version of the film and loved it. Here was something I could get behind: not only was there a plot, but Burton et al presented a story of a young woman's journey toward muchness, a substance many young women these days lack.

So I suggested to the Club that we read the story by Lewis Carroll, knowing that most of our generation probably hasn't. As I read I was sorry I had suggested it, mostly.

The story itself has much more in common with the Disney film than I was anticipating. Strange world, when Disney gets most of it right, eh? There was almost no plot, save for a thinly written bit about trying to become a queen. Most of what happened was absolute and pure nonsense, which is fine when it leads to a conclusion, but I don't feel this did. The entire book seemed to me like an infuriating riddle with no answer to be had.

The parts I enjoyed the most were bits and pieces that Burton et al pulled out to put the more recent film together. At one point, Alice is heard to tell a Queen that "one can't believe impossible things." To which the Queen replies: "I daresay you haven't had much practice,...sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." This is a lovely habit of childhood that so many grow out of as they progress, yet still missing their opportunity to develop their muchness. This theme is used by Burten et al to develop a sense of aimlessness in their Alice, and built a back story involving her dead father (aren't there always dead parents? Isn't that how storybook children find appeal on the shelves?).

The story Burton et al build around principally concerns the Jabberwok poem. The book is full of songs and poems and riddles, many of which the reader would recognize from the Disney film. Burton et al pieced together a totally new Alice story, one that makes sense, is empowering, is visually appealing, and still manages to preserve Carroll's general ideas. My conclusion: read the story, it is easy enough and you might love it. However, given the choice, I'd rather Tim Burton had written it.

Of Love and Shadows

Of Love and Shadows written by the brilliant modern-day Scheherazade that is Isabel Allende (ah-YEN-day) was not as wonderful as I wanted it to be, but it turned out to be just as spellbinding as I would expect of her. Let me begin...

I was told by an history professor who I admired that his favorite author was Allende. This alone made her writings seem intimidating, but I feared not and read The House of the Spirits, Eva Luna, and The Stories of Eva Luna; three of the most brilliantly written books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. They are magical and desperate and violent and erotic. She continues Latin America's tradition of magical realism and wields her pen with precision, turning out stories that are absolutely fantastic, dreamlike, and very real. It isn't enough to say Allende is my favorite author, I adore her books; she dashes any goals of authorship I may have because I simply am not good enough. Of Love and Shadows wasn't what I expected because in it Allende cast off the gauzy shroud of magical realism in favor of a brutal and honest look at human suffering. I was looking for an adventurous fairy tale and got a heavy dose of why living in the United States with the Bill of Rights is such a treasure.

That having been said, Of Love and Shadows is one of Allende's shorter novels, relating a story of desperate love and a psyche awakened to the horrors of living under a military dictatorship in Latin America (read: Chile in the 1970s following the coup that ousted Allende's uncle, socialist president Salvador Allende). Irene Beltrán is the protagonist and Francisco Leal is there too. He's lovely. He rides a motorcycle and has long hair and is called Francisco. Mmmm...

Sorry. So there is a mine and there are corpses and lovemaking and desaparecidos. Allende manages to pull the reader into a story of covert grave digging, people being "disappeared," and the families they leave behind, all in a way that makes it believable. This is an important element because while the story in the book may not be fact, it nonetheless happened to thousands of people, and thousands of families, and continues to happen all over the world, today, right now, as you're reading this. This is the kind of thing we never studied in high school in the US because there wasn't enough time, or it didn't relate to the US, or we all partook in an outrageously racist history curriculum, or because the CIA doesn't want us to know (you decide, get back to me). I am thankful to a Spanish teacher in high school who wove language, culture, and history together in a way that gave me an understanding of the world as a global place and kept me from feeling academically confined (te agradezco Sra. Laporta).

If you are looking to get to know Allende and her books, don't start with this one, but do get around to reading it. Then learn more about Oscar Romero, Charles Harmon, the CIA, and Latin America in the 1970s and 80s. It will fill in some gaps and teach you another meaning of the word freedom.

Book Suggestions

Fear not, I have finished Alice's Adventures and will soon embark Through the Looking Glass.

In the meantime, there are so many other good books out there! I recently finished Subterranean Twin Cities. It is written by Greg Brick, a geologist/urban explorer. Chapter by chapter, he takes the reader through a series of man-made and naturally occurring caves. From his vivid descriptions of raw sewage and creepy crawlies, I found it an experience best read about versus taking a live trip. He gives you plenty of geographic locations, which lead to many moments of "I didn't realize there were SO many caves under Nicollet Island, where I happened to spend 4 years of my life."

And with perfect timing, the library's automated system sent me an email this morning with an alert for a new book in for me. Its called "The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks." Many biology students and researchers over the last few decades have used "HeLa" cells, which are named after their donor, Henrietta Lacks. The book tells the tale of Henrietta, the unknowing donor of these cells, the shock of her family finding out about her cell line use years later (without any consent), and the medical advances that have helped society. Can't wait to dig in!

Practical Advice from Alice as she Adventures in Wonderland - Summarized by Amanda

We are embarking onto another new literary genre - literary nonsense. While many of the characters in this book seem immature or illogical, young Alice offers sage advice that people of ages should read and heed. Since most are more familiar with Alice than some of the other characters we are reading about, I thought it would be fun to delve into advice from Alice with some modern day applications.

• ...and she had never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked "poison," it is almost certain to disagree with you sooner or later.
• This nugget of trugh would work well as an example in my day job - we are always harping on clear and accurate labels. Does anyone remember the Mr. Yuk stickers? Those were enough to keep me away from the bleach.

• She generally gave herself very good advice (though she very seldom followed it).
• We all have the little devil and little angel sitting on opposite shoulders. How many times have we listened to what each had to say (good advice or bad) and then take another path all together?

• Shall I never get any older than I am now? That'll be a comfort, one way - never to be an old woman - but then - always to have lessons to learn! Oh, I shouldn't like that.
• Alice is in such a hurry to grow up, yet she is constantly eating and drinking items to make herself grow and shrink, rarely finding the happy middle ground. Many children's play-times are filled with playacting roles of various adults - kings, queens, chefs, doctors and vets. And as adults we remember the care-free days of childhood. And I hate to tell you Alice, but you continue to have lessons to learn as adults.

• If it had grown up, it would have made a dreadfully ugly child: but it makes a rather handsome pig, I think. And she began thinking over other children who might do very well as pigs.
• Or all the politicians, CEOs of gas companies or fill in the blank people who might do very well as pigs.

• The King's argument was that anything that had a head could be beheaded, and that you weren't to talk nonsense.
• Enough said



• Tut, tut, child! said the Duchess. Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it.
• This is probably my favorite advice in the entire book. It urges us to look for some moral, no matter how tough the situation. I just heard about another book called "The Message" and is about finding the nugget of advice or learning in various sorts of communication. This may be great for a future blog post. And even the kids in South Park look for a moral at the end of most episodes.


• I don't see how he can ever finish, if he doesn't begin.
• Sometimes a situation seems so intimidating, it is tough to even know where to begin. Then the finish line become that much farther, and you don't make any progress. In these cases, it is surprising how much progress can be made if you put 5 or 10 minutes of effort into planning.


• That's the reason they're called lessons, because they lessen from day to day.
• If only. Instead they grow from to day to day.

• Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end, then stop.
• See the third to the last bullet point

Frank McCourt

"Trilogy of Human Tragedy Turns Thoughtful and Uplifting" would be the title most appropriate for a review on Frank McCourt's three volumes: Angela's Ashes, 'Tis, and Teacher Man. Each illuminates the dark tragedies that exist in life and poignantly show the humble humor in each sad existence.

I snubbed Angela's Ashes for a long time, put off by the foreboding title and slightly eerie reference to my own name. When I finally got around to reading it it made me want to fly to Limerick and adopt sad little boys with names like Eugine, Alphie, and Malachy, bring them home with me, give them names that are a little less ridiculous, and feed them waffles with bananas, Nutella, and whole milk. I might still do that. At any rate, Angela's Ashes is an "Oliver Twist with a mother and no happy ending" sort of a story. And, truthfully, it doesn't so much end as it stops and gives you time to decide whether or not you want to continue traveling with this despairing man and read 'Tis or if you'd rather leave well enough alone.

'Tis is McCourt's follow up to Angela's Ashes and I found myself irritated by the author's whiny, lonesome, self-loathing tone until it occurred to me that I was reading the heart and soul of a homesick, self-loathing, twenty-something alone in the world for the first time. I would have been miserable too. In fact, I've been there and it is miserable. Ok, his whining was excused. This volume just got a bit long. He couldn't figure out why so-and-so liked him enough to sleep with him and truthfully, neither could I.

Teacher Man, however, was a bit better. At this point he has narrowed his focus off of himself and onto his subject matter: teaching English in various high schools in New York City. It made the book easier to read and it led me to feel two things:
1. I'm so glad I'm not teaching any more, and even more thankful I didn't pursue it as a career. There are fantastic teachers in this world, I married one and have had the privilege of learning from many others. I would not be a good teacher. You're welcome schoolchildren of America.
2. I want to do exactly what I'm doing here: reading everything I can get my hands on and engaging with people in conversation about what I've read. "You'll love it" "You'll hate it" "I thought it was fantastic/pretentious/tragic/bullshit."

Beyond that, having researched Mr. McCourt a bit, I found that his brothers Alphie and Malachy also wrote memoirs, and Malachy even a history of Ireland. I've requested them all from the Augsburg Park Library. I'll let you know.

Wednesday's Wrap-Up

Cheers to another great book club session. It was one half book discussion, one half catch-up on life session and one half choose another book chat. So I'm not a math major... It was great to re-hash the content of 100 Years of Solitude for a better understanding of the plot and what the author was trying to convey.

As to our future book selections, here is a smattering of our ideas:

• A biography, but with each one of choosing a different book on the same subject. This could also apply to a significant event.
• Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters Who Ruled Europe
• Historical fiction
• Career advancement (Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office)