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Before I Forget...

I read some memorable books last year and wanted to list them before I forget!

The best three books that I read were Sarum, London and New York by Edward Rutherford. Sarum is set in southern England near Salisbury, and the other two, of course, set in the respective cities and surrouding areas. Well-written historical fiction as these are is such an easy way to learn a little more about the history! And, talk about history: Sarum and London start thousands of years ago when man first happened upon these parts. In each book, Rutherford takes a hand full of families down through the generations all the way up to the late 20th century. New York begins when it was still in Dutch hands in the 1600's and was called New Amsterdam and ends with 9-11. Believe it or not character development is quite good, as families pass along traits from one generation to the next, and conveniently there is a lot of relationships and marriages amongst the families. Rutherford has a silky way of starting chapters off with a little history and then before you know it, the story is happening. I loved all three and recommend all three. In fact, I just checked out another of his books, The Forest, and can't wait to get started on it.

I also read some Ken Follett last year, including Eye of the Needle and The Key to Rebecca. Both were set during World War II and both kept my attention to the very last page. I'm currently reading The Man from St Petersburg, set during World War I.

My sister-in-law had given me The Hunger Games for Christmas in 2010, and I read it last year and could not put it down. It was much more compassionate that I expected.

My cousins recommended Charles Martin to me and I read When Crickets Cry and The Dead Don't Dance. Quite good, but as far as Christian fiction, no one compares to Jamie Langston Turner. 

Finally, I read Finding Salvation at the Dairy Queen, set in Ringold Georgia about a girl coming of age who has to come to Atlanta before she figures out that everything she wants and needs and loves is back home in Ringold. It wasn't bad; mostly predictable. There was, however, a plot twist at the end that was so unreal it left a strange taste in my  mouth.

 

 

 

What happens along the way

I read a novel this weekend that has made me rethink the role of strangers in our lives. The name of the book is Flies on the Butter by Denise Hildreth. The theme of the book is how hard it is to go home after you’ve grown up and left it in the dust, as Rose, the main character has done. As a child in a small town in South Carolina, “Rosey” was raised by her mother and father and loved by her Mamaw and Grandaddy. She played day in and day out with her brother, cousins and best friend Jenny. There are probably people who would pay for a childhood as idyllic as Rosey’s. Contrast Rose’s life a generation later when she’s a high-powered stressed-out lobbyist in Washington, D.C. As you can imagine, she looks good on the surface but underneath is a mess. A family event calls her home. You can tell where the book is probably heading, can't you? And you're right.

Rose is dreading the event as it means she’ll have to interact with her mother. Something happened to estrange them later in Rose’s childhood. You don’t know what until the end. You do know that Rose is becoming more and more tense as she sets out toward home in her fancy car wearing her fancy clothes and clutching her overworked Blackberry. On the way she faces physical obstacles: rain and traffic and the quest for a “healthy” restaurant. And there's something about driving by herself back to her roots that dredge up the full laundry list of all her bad choices and the mess they've gotten her in.

What intrigued me about the story, as I alluded to earlier, is how the strangers that Rose encounters along the way sense that her life is a mess. In one case, Rose lends a hand to a lady named Lilly and her baby who are stranded along the side of the road. After Rose drops them safely home, Lilly kneels in prayer for both her own struggles as well as for Rose’s. In another case, a waitress serves Rose a good ol’ Southern lunch, much to her protest but ends up quite satiated. After Rose pays and leaves, the waitress and her co-worker slip to the back room and say a prayer for Rose.  There are numerous other occasions during the trip home, where strangers pray for Rose. The one involving Abigail is so powerful that it will reduce you to tears.

It’s making me more aware of strangers and how God places them in our lives. How many times have I missed the opportunity to pray for a stranger because I was too caught up in my own routine? Conversely, how many times has a stranger prayed for me when I was having a bad day? How many times did that prayer make a difference, and I wasn’t even aware? I vow to be more aware of strangers and pray for them, especially ones that are looking sad. I’m also going to ask God to show me and give me signs as to who to pray for.

Denise Hildreth, the author, has a clever writing style. Rose has alternating flashbacks during the drive home of happy childhood memories and unhappy adulthood events. You’re wondering what could possibly have happened to such a well-loved little girl. In that respect, the book is suspenseful. The author uses clever phrasing throughout. For example, during one flashback of 10-year old Rosey and her cousin smoking their first (and only) cigarette, the author describes the children’s hands “encrusted with dirt from their earlier project of mud pies.” I thought that was cute. Later in the book, the conversation that Mamaw and Grandaddy have that explains “flies on the butter” (the title of the book) is priceless. The love that these two old people have for each other is so apparent in their words to each other.

The ending is somewhat predictable but very satisfying.

I’m so glad my sister-in-law lent me this book! I’ll probably pick up more books by Denise.

Another good book

Books that have emotional endings are my favorites. They don’t have to be sad, just touching. I love reading about people who go through ups and downs... some their fault and others not...  and still come through stronger, closer to God, or at least more philosophical. (Better… not bitter!) I prefer women characters… but every now and then, a male character fills the bill.  

Jayber Crow, by Wendell Berry, definitely fills the bill! This is the fifth book I’ve read by Berry, and all have been set in the town of Port William, Kentucky. What I love about Port William is how connected everyone is to each other and how you see that God so subtly uses imperfect lives and circumstances to ultimately draw us closer to him. Plus, I like reading one book and having characters from previous books pop up.

Anyway, Jayber became the barber of Port William and remained so for over thirty years. The book is basically his life story. He grew up near Port William and ended up enrolling in a Bible college near Lexington, but he couldn’t reconcile some of his perceived inconsistencies in the Bible, so he figured it was best not to preach and ended up in a round about way back in Port William. Jayber never lost his faith, however, and in some ways the questions he asked about the Bible and faith in general made him stronger and a more compassionate man.  

The book is all about relationships… both the ones Jayber has as well as the ones he observes from his perch as town barber. My favorites are the relationships between husbands and wives. There are some exquisite marriages in Port William and it’s inspiring to see how some husbands and wives “just click.” On the other hand, there are some bad marriages and you wonder how the couples survives together. What’s interesting is that so far, I haven’t come across a divorce in Port William. I guess marriage is for life in Port William.

You have got to read the book, if for no other reason to get to know Mattie. She was my favorite character; what a trouper! I won’t say much except she made a poor choice early on but held her head high and made the best of it. Mattie will inspire you. I’d like to be more like her.  

You’ll like Jayber too. He hits the nail on the head in terms of his observations about life; and being from a small town, he uses a lot of country analogies. This one is the best: “Faith puts you out on a wide river in a little boat, in the fog, in the dark.” But in the end, wouldn’t we rather be in the dark with faith than there without?

Searching for Eternity

I just finished a very good book: Searching for Eternity by Elizabeth Musser. (You may have read her other books, both set in Atlanta: The Swan House and The Dwelling Place.) This one is set both in France as well as Atlanta, and it begins in the mid 1960's. A French boy, Emile, is swept from his beloved home in Lyon to Atlanta under very mysterious reasons. He doesn't know where his father is, and his mother is very protective but not very talkative.

Of course, by the end of the book, you know exactly why Emile was taken to America so abruptly, and although you get the feeling that maybe he should have been given a little more detail, the vagueness certainly makes for a great story.

There are so many threads running through the book, and they all eventually weave together quite nicely. In France, we get to know Emile's family who were French resistant fighters; and some have become Nazi hunters. In Atlanta, we see Emile learn a new culture and face bullies and racists. But there are many nice people he meets too! One family, in particular, becomes very special to Emile, but the children in the family are dealing with child abuse, rape and an alcoholic mother. Since the book spans over twenty years, we get to see the effects of rape and child abuse, and it's distressing. So there's a lot of sadness in the story, but a lot of redemption too. I liked the mixture of history and family relationships. And the ending definitely brought everything full circle.

A good day for Chicken Soup

With the rain and the chilly air, it's a good day for Chicken Soup... Chicken Soup for the Soul, that is. I picked up the latest one last weekend: Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tough Times, Tough People. It was published this year, so you can well imagine that a lot of the stories are about surviving layoffs and foreclosures and reduced incomes. Most people do survive, and most even come through stronger and more confident.

There was a story about a lady facing life after her husband had been convicted of securities fraud. She could have lived the life of a victim or decided to move on. You can guess what she did. She pointed out that most of the time it is actually easier to move on: "You can sweep your troubles under the rug, but eventually you will trip over them."

Not all the stories are about financial crises. There are cancer and brain tumors to face, hurricanes and fires. In fact, a powerful story involves a little girl who accidentally burned down her family's house. The father, mortified himself, summons up the power to forgive his daughter on the spot. That story reminded me of a few times when my parents also forgave me for doing stupid things like totalling our car and breaking some good china. The love that you feel after being forgiven is not soon forgotten.

I'm about half way through the book and am trying not to read it too fast.

Some good books

I've read some good books lately, and thanks to a buying spree of used books on Amazon.com, I still have a couple in the bank.

Here's what I've read lately:

1) A World Lost - by Wendell Berry, an author recommended by my sister in law. It is about a little boy who lost his dear uncle. The title of the book pretty much sums it up: this little boy is devastated. Most of the book is spent describing the effect that the uncle had on both the boy and his family, while he was living and even after he died. The dead uncle is my favorite character! I love how his carefree way of life really gets the goat of many of his family. They are both exasperated and charmed by him!

2) Nathan Coulter - by Wendell Berry! This book recounts the boyhood of Nathan (who grows up to marry Hannah Coulter who has her own book too). Without giving too much away, one of my favorite parts of the book is when Berry recounts in such evocative detail the funeral of one of the family members. A favorite character in the book is the carefree uncle; he will make you laugh. (Wendell Berry must have had a funny uncle in his family to model!) I'm still reading this book.

3) Embrace Me - by Lisa Samson. This has a couple of major plot lines. One involves a group of misfits who belong to a road show. One of them is at her wits end. She is depressed and mad. The other major plot line centers around a former preacher who is also at his wits end. In some some amazing plot twists, they end up in the same town and just when you think they are going to metaphorically crash and burn, God's amazing grace and love come pouring through. Forgiveness is also a dominant theme in the book. It's a little uncomfortable to read, but I'd totally recommend the book.

Here's my still to read list:

1) Tiger Lillie by Lisa Samson - I'm beginning to like Lisa Samson!
2) Searching For Eternity by Elizabeth Musser - I've read The Swan House and The Dwelling Place by her, and I like her books, particularly since they are set in Atlanta.

So many books, so little time! Hmm... I wonder if I should try some non fiction one of these days?

Another good book

I just finished reading another good book by Wendell Berry: The Memory of Old Jack. Berry has written a whole slew of books about the inhabitants of Port William KY and the impact that living in a closely-knit community where most everyone depends on each other; everyone knows each other's "good, bad and ugly", and they still support each other. Most of the community are farmers, and no one is perfect, but everyone is endearingly human. The community reminds me a bit of William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County, but Berry's characters are way less dysfunctional and a whole lot more believable.

In this book, Old Jack is about at the end of his life and spends a lot of his time recollecting past events. The book shifts poetically between the present and the past. For example, seeing his nephew Mat reminds him Old Jack of a scene several decades earlier when Mat was a youngster and Old Jack himself was still relying on the wisdom of Mat's father.

Jack's life was far from perfect, and he was the source of many his own hardships, but he's just so darn likeable! And, he accepted his hardships like a man. Oh, and the ending is, well, let's just say it's emotional.

I read Hannah Coulter, another book by Berry last month, and I believe my next book of his will be Jayber Crow.

Paperback swapping

My friend highly recommended an online bookswapping site: paperbackswap.com. I signed up last week, posted a few paperback books and so far, someone has already requested one of them. When you send a book, you get a book credit, which means you can request a book. I haven't yet requested any because I have a whole stack of books in my to-be-read stack. At this point, for me, I'm elated to give some of my paperbacks away, for although I enjoyed most all of them, they are not worth the space for keeping. (If you live in a 2-bedroom condo like I do, you'll understand!)

This is exciting for me! I love books and I treat them like fine china, but they pile up, about as fast as souvenir cups do. For books I've read to go on to a good home gives me a go-green kind of feeling.

This might be something you're interested in too!

Hannah Coulter

I was sorry to see the book Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry come to an end. What a story full of the circle of life and death. Hannah marries into the community (or rather "membership" as they call it) of Port William and becomes its staunchest supporter! Port William is a small Kentucky town full of farmers along with other townspeople who hold it together. Life is hard and death and grieving follow, but what do you do but "live right on"? In other words you face it and do the best you can! That's what Hannah has done all her life, and lucky for her, she married a man who had the same philosophy. By the way, this was Hannah's second marriage as she was widowed by the war.

Wendell Berry is such an elegant writer. It was hard to believe that he could write so aptly from a woman's point of view. Berry has been compared to William Faulkner with Port William being the Kentucky version of Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County. (The big difference though is that Port William families are not nearly as dysfunctional as Yoknapatawpha's, though they  they certainly have their fair share of struggles.) Berry has written several books about Port William and since it's a small town, you can imagine that the other books contain the same characters from a slightly different perspective. I'm trying to figure out which book of his to read next!

If you like Southern fiction, books about husbands and wives who depend so beautifully on one another, and books that make you want to connect more with those you love, then I'd recommend Hannah Coulter!

Books and more books!

In the past month, I've read some good books:

• Sisterchicks Go Brit by Robin Gunn Jones, which got me in the mood for our trip to London and got me reading the book of Jeremiah again because she references it a few times in the book. (Jeremiah is actually a very positive book in the Bible; there are lots of promises from God to give us hope!)
• Sometimes a Light Surprises by Jamie Langston Turner, a novel about the effects of long-term bitterness and how it impacts our lives and those around us. The way Jamie portrays what a person is really thinking is just amazing and clever. And, even up until the last chapters, I had no idea how the book was going to end! (I can't wait for her next book!)
• Quaker Summer, by Lisa Samson, which actually won a Book of the Year award a couple of years ago for some genre of Christian fiction. It was thought provoking. A lady is struggling with her life: her husband is a successful doctor and her son is an adorable teenager, but something is missing. She is caught up in material possessions until one day, God gets her attention via a kangeroo! (That's all I'm going to say, except that I couldn't put this book down. And, like Jamie, Lisa Samson has a way of capturing a person's thoughts and she makes them part of the plot, and some of them are pretty funny too!)

Thanks to my generous, gift-giving sisters-in-law, I have a few more books to read now:

• Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes, by Robin Gunn Jones, which is definitely a light-hearted book, but the theme of most of her Sisterchicks books, and this one will probably be no different, is that God is good and he wants our relationships on earth to bring us closer to our relationship with Him.
• Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry, which is about a lady, Hannah, who is reminiscing about her life over the past 70+ years and her life has not been easy. Her wisdom looking back is is almost poetic. I've actually already started reading this book, and have already cried at least twice. (That's a good thing: I love books that make me cry!)
• On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson, which is a fantasy, probably a little like The Lord of Rings. This is definitely a type of book that I'm not used to reading, but the book looks so charming and there are good illustrations throughout. (Maybe I'll do better with this book than the Rings trilogy, which I never really quite understood.)
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows which is a novel set on the island of Guernsey during WWII and right after. The book is basically a series of letters! I like it already, because it'll be a fun and painless way to learn more about the German occupation there.
• Embrace Me by Lisa Samson which is a book about some very interesting (that's an understatement!) characters whose lives collide, and then I bet we can watch what God is able to do! I've read the first couple of chapters and look forward to getting back to it.

Do you have some good books, too, to read this summer?