Callithumpian Activities

Pick up any women’s magazine this month and chances are there’s an article about how to handle the stress of Christmas. I always assumed this to be a modern phenomenon until I picked up The Battle for Christmas by Stephen Nissenbaum.

In it he writes, “The Ladies’ Home Journal actually published an article in 1897 that acknowledged [women experiencing stress at Christmas] as a cultural problem.” Although I couldn’t find the actual article, I did come across this gem from 1898 that reminded me the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Throughout the book, Nissenbaum also makes the case that a commercial Christmas is also not a product of modernity, but was an integral part of the transformation of Christmas from a rowdy, drunken celebration of the annual slaughter to a more domesticated affair that included women and children. As he writes, “there never was a time when Christmas existed as an unsullied domestic idyll, immune to the taint of commercialism…indeed, the domestic Christmas was itself a force in the spread of consumer capitalism.”

If you’re curious to read more about the origins of American Christmas traditions - Santa Claus, Christmas trees, and “personalized” mass-produced presents - add The Battle for Christmas to your list. You know you have one.

"She wishes for new stories to read"

Way back in September, this story caught my ear. It was about a group of librarians who ventured into the mountains of Kentucky to deliver books to families on horseback during the 1930s.  

Wanting to read more, I went to my local library (by car) and found three informative picture books, not only about those librarians in Kentucky, but about people all over the world dedicated to delivering books to those without easy access to a library.

My Librarian is a Camel: How Books are Brought to Children Around the World by Margriet Ruurs

From Australia to Zimbabwe, this 2005 book pairs photographs and maps with descriptions of books being delivered by boat, mail, bicycle, and elephant to remote areas.

That Book Woman by Heather Henson, pictures by David Small

Told from the perspective of an Appalachian teenager, this book shows how his attitude changes from cynical bemusement to gratitude for the passel of books the book lady brings.  

Waiting for the Biblioburro by Monica Brown, illustrations by John Parra

Also based on a true story, this book magically captures one little girl’s excitement when she sees two burros carrying “so many cuentos!” to her isolated village.

It's All Geek to Me

Last week NPR released its 2018 version of their book concierge app. I thought I’d use it to generate book recommendations that correspond to some of my favorite shows.

Here’s what I came up with:

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (searched for funny stuff, ladies first, no biz like show biz)

Just the Funny Parts by Nell Scovell

My Own Devices by Dessa

You’re on an Airplane by Parker Posey

The Great British Baking Show (searched for cookbooks and food, realistic fiction)

Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li

America is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo

The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo

This is Us (searched for book club ideas, love stories, family matters)

To Be Honest by Maggie Ann Martin

If You See Me, Don’t Say Hi by Neel Patel

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

The West Wing (searched for the states we’re in, it’s all geek to me, eye opening reads)

Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

Palaces for the People by Eric Klinenberg

Oh my, it’s fruitcake weather!

I wrote this post back in December of 2008. It’s still one of my favorite posts (and stories). 

With her Texas twang, my aunt does a perfect rendition of that line from Truman Capote's “A Christmas Memory.” After first watching the movie version at her house, several years later I encountered the audio version on a long car ride to Arkansas. It wasn’t until I bought a copy of Breakfast at Tiffany’s at a church book sale that I read the print version. It’s always with a sense of delight tempered with melancholy that I turn to the story, sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, to follow Buddy and his friend as they buy whiskey from Mr. Ha Ha Jones, send fruitcakes to the White House, and craft homemade kites for Christmas morning.

Every year different details in the story stand out. The year my mom made homemade fruitcake, I could taste the citron as I read their recipe. Last year, when my daughter was infatuated with dolls, I could picture exactly the wicker buggy with wobbly wheels they use to haul pecans. This year, I noticed the prices of things in the Depression era story – two dollars for a quart of whiskey, fifty cents for a Christmas tree, a dime for a picture show. 

(As I reread this in 2018, my current pursuit of a theology degree drew my eye to Miss Sook’s reflections on seeing the Lord at the end of her life. As she says, “I’ll wager it never happens. I’ll wager at the very end a body realizes the Lord has already shown Himself. That things as they are…just what they’ve always seen, was seeing Him.”)

This story sates that yen you had for something rich and sweet and Christmasy, and like fruitcake, endures December after December. So after you've set up the Advent wreath, made the gingerbread cookies, and assembled some 15-odd nativity sets, it’s time to curl up with a hot mug of cider and “A Christmas Memory.”

There’s a Chef in My Family

Since we no longer live within driving distance of a family Thanksgiving gathering, we’ve had to develop some new traditions for a lunch for four.  

Last summer when my sister visited, she guided my son through the steps of the pastry dough recipe from his new cookbook Baking with Mary Berry.  So for Thanksgiving he decided to make pumpkin tarts on his own.  He made the dough, mixed the filling, and put them in the oven to bake. When they had cooled, he decided to sample one. It was then he realized there’s a difference in a ¼ teaspoon of salt (which the recipe calls for) and the 4 tablespoons of salt he had added. Scratch the tarts.

Undeterred, he went on to make Never-Enough Dinner Rolls from the children's cookbook There’s a Chef in My Family! by Emeril Lagasse. Although he did have to start over once on the rolls – mistaking the ingredients list for the directions and just throwing everything into a bowl – they turned out quite scrummy.  And, true to their name, there wasn't enough. 

Meanwhile, my daughter made Martha’s sweet potato casserole recipe, a fruit salad, and supervised the table setting. With my husband in charge of the slow cooker turkey, I just had to roast some Brussels sprouts and open the wine. 

And for that, I am truly thankful.

"There's no turkey in it"

Since I'm quite swamped with writing papers for my classes this week, I decided to dust off and repost this Thanksgiving recommendation from 2009. I'm very curious to ask what the now 13-year-old thinks of her four-year-old self. Although, I have to say she's still somewhat picky judicious in her reading material.


This was my four-year-old’s assessment after sitting down with the first Thanksgiving book in our stack - Nickommoh! - and flipping through the pictures. Then as soon as I began reading the first page (“Kautantawwitt, the Creator…”), my listener exclaimed, “English please!” After stumbling through the pronunciation of “Taqountikeeswush” and “Qunnekamuck” I too was thinking, “English please!”

Unfamiliar language aside, Jackie French Koller weaves together an intriguing story of a Narragansett harvest celebration. We watch as they build the lodge, prepare the nasaump pudding, swim in the river, and dress in paints for the singing and dancing in the Sacred Circle. The illustrations by Marcia Sewall are a pleasure to look at – from bold black lines outlining photorealistic features on one page to the rough figures sketched around a bonfire on another.

The other book we were able to procure from the library two days before Thanksgiving was Word Bird’s Thanksgiving Words by Jane Belk Moncure and illustrated by Chris McEwan. Despite the inclusion of a turkey, my (picky) listener decided this one is “not really cool because that turkey’s not cool.” Cool?

We decided to stick with this week’s Pre-K issue of the Weekly Reader for our Thanksgiving reading.

Gobble up some fun Thanksgiving Facts here.

“some images of historical smoking”

Apparently this warning has been around for about a decade, but I first noticed it a few weeks ago while watching a film on Netflix. 

Now, every time I read about a character smoking in a novel, the phrase pops into my head.

Most recently it was when I was reading The Best We Could Do, an illustrated memoir by Thi Bui. Bui chronicles her family’s escape from Vietnam in the 70s. After a winter in the Midwest plagued by illness, the family decides to move to California. As she and her sibling try to adjust to their new life, their parents continue to work and attend night school. Of her father, "I remembered he smoked a lot." The boxes depicting those afternoons with her father are bisected with somewhat menacing plumes of his cigarette smoke. Her childhood memories are framed by her experience as a new mom. At the same time, she is trying to figure out how to relate to her own parents now that she truly feels she is an adult.

Filaments of smoke also drift through a novel I picked up on the sale table at this bookstore last week. Amor Towles’ Rule of Civility is set in the 1930s. Katey Kontent and her roommate Eve strike up a conversation with a young man they meet in a bar on New Year's Eve. This chance encounter with Tinker Grey opens a small window into a posher social circle. Through Tinker’s connections, Katey finds work at a fledgling Vanity Fair type magazine and friendship, if not romance, with Tinker’s friend Wallace. Towles, a master at dialogue (and setting – be it a hunt club or “quasi-Russian demimonde”), whisks the reader into the action, leaving her quite breathless.

And not because of the second-hand smoke.  

Turning Ten

Like all good origin stories, this one begins in a garage. No, wait. With a birth.

Ten years ago, my son was born at the tail end of August. I had a semester off from teaching, so I felt like I had a little time on my hands to do some writing. A coworker suggested I try a blog. So I did.

Four cities, four libraries, four book clubs later, I somehow have kept it going – in all weathers.

Only recently have I begun sharing my posts on Facebook. Before that, I would intermittently  send out an email, casually mentioning the link. After I shared it with a Moms book club I belonged to, I heard about the following conversation:

“That blog M* sent out. It’s so funny and smart.”

“Morningstar writes it.”

 “She does??!!”

Since the blog turns 10 this month, I’ve compiled a list of 10 of my favorite posts I hope you’ll enjoy reading (or re-reading).

Because, well, that’s kind of the point.

2008 That thing is Toad!

2009 Candy, Nuts and Ladies Underwear

2010 One Night Stand (or the other)

2011 Under the Wire

2012 Happenstance

2013 Care of Wooden Floors

2014 “The pulse of the post-strip-club shopping crowd”

2015 In Storage

2016 I Have My Own Quirks

2017 “Barbie and Ruth”

Lost and Found

My introduction to archeology began (and until recently) ended with the Indiana Jones movies. Most especially I was entranced by the idea that those places we heard about in Sunday School really existed.

Enter Hebrew Scriptures, a course I’m taking this quarter. We started out by reading about the stylistic differences between Homeric epics and Biblical narratives as explained by Erich Auerbach. You can read a summary of his argument here. (How was this not on the reading list of every Lit Trad. professor at UD?) 

Then we dove into The Bible Unearthed by Finkelstein and Silberman to get a sense of the historical and theological backdrop of Ancient Israel. (Luckily our professor throws in a few videos to mix it up.)

While searching for books on a paper I’m writing, I came across From Eden to Exile: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Bible by Eric H. Cline at the local public library.

Cline walks the reader through seven mysteries of the Bible, giving us an overview of not only the historical and archeological context, but a round-up of what current scholars in theology, archeology, and history have to say on the matter. With just enough maps, drawings, and photographs to break up the text, it really is quite readable. He asks (and to some extent gives a satisfactory answer):

Where was the Garden of Eden?

Can Noah’s Ark be found?

Did Sodom and Gomorrah exist?

Did the Exodus take place?

How did Joshua capture Jericho (if he did)?

Where is the Ark of the Covenant?

Where are the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel?

Now, about that Holy Grail...

Thou shalt have no other…

 “Mom, can I believe in the Greek gods and still be Catholic?” asked my 10-year-old the other day.

After reminding him about a little list called the Ten Commandments, he seemed satisfied with my answer of “Ummm…No.”  

Apparently I have this series  to blame thank for so successfully capturing his imagination.

68.5 million

Did you hear this story on NPR?

Someone out there did and sent me the book it features, Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini.

The book follows one family, one out of an estimated 68.5 million currently displaced people, and their memories of before. And after.

Even if the one line that haunted me fades…

“I said to you,

Hold my hand.

Nothing bad will happen.”

the watercolor illustrations by Dan Williams will remain indelibly etched.

Author proceeds from this book will go to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and to The Khaled Hosseini Foundation. So thank you. 

Romero

“If they kill me, you can say that I forgive and bless those who do it. Hopefully they will be convinced it is a waste of time. A bishop will die, but the Church of God, which is the people, will never perish.” - March 1980

Blessed Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador martyred in 1980, is scheduled to be canonized on October 14.

In celebration, I offer a brief list of biographies, compilations of his writings, and reflections to inspire us all. Thanks go to my colleague Joe Hastings for the recommendations.

Biographies

Oscar Romero and the Communion of the Saints by Scott Wright

An accessible biography for readers of all ages, illustrated with quotes and photographs

Romero: A Life by James R. Brockman

A biography published nine years after his death

Writings

Archbishop Oscar Romero: Voice of the Voiceless

A collection of his four pastoral letters

Oscar Romero: The Violence of Love

A selection of his sermons

Reflections

Oscar Romero: Memories in Mosaic by Maria Lopez Vigil

A compilation of interviews with peasants, friends, theologians and pastoral associates

Oscar Romero: Reflections on his Life and Writings by Marie Dennis, Renny Golden, and Scott Wright

A reflection by three faith activists on the 20^th anniversary of his death

“I made endless vows according to their lights, for I believed them”

When you read a book once every thirty years, you’re bound to notice different things with each reading.

During that first read of An American Childhood by Annie Dillard all those years ago, I remember being fascinated by her introduction to the natural world, broken open by her discovery of the library.

“The Field Book of Ponds and Streams was a shocker form beginning to end,” she writes. “Where – short of robbing a museum – might a fifth-grade student at the Ellis School on Fifth Avenue obtain such a legendary item as a wooden bucket?”

This time around I was more attuned to Dillard’s awareness of the spiritual.

“It was not surprising, really, that I alone in this church knew what the barefoot Christ, if there had been such a person, would think about things –grape juice, tailcoats, British vowels, sable stoles.”

As she looks around the congregation of her 1960s Pittsburgh Presbyterian church, Dillard wonders if people are just pretending to pray. Aptly, she evokes her experience of the natural world to describe some new stirring within.

“I was alert enough now to feel, despite myself, some faint, thin stream of spirit braiding forward from the pews. Its flawed and fragile rivulets pooled far beyond me at the altar.”

As for the next reading thirty years from now?

I imagine the scenes featuring her grandmother Oma will resonate the most: “the expression on her thin lips was sometimes peevish, sometimes doting.”

He Said/She Said

It’s rare, but occasionally I’ll pick up a book on a whim that just happens to resonate with what’s happening in the news. In this case, the events of Frederik Backman’s Beartown eerily echo the allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

Backman, the Swedish writer best known for A Man Called Ove, goes deep into the hockey culture of a small town. As the novel opens, the town’s junior ice hockey team is headed into the semifinal. Resting on the team’s victory is the chance to open a new hockey school which will rejuvenate the economy, and spirit, of struggling Beartown.

We meet the players (both the stars and the third stringers), the coaches, the general manager and his family, as well as the has-been players and multiple fans and parents who will do anything to see their team (and its start player Kevin) succeed. There are no “almosts” in hockey.

When Maya, the general manager’s daughter, accuses the star player of raping her at a party the morning of the final, the crowd, literally, goes wild.

Although Backman presents us with the he said he didn’t/she said he did of the rape’s aftermath, the most striking portrayal is the fear. The fear the girl feels not just in the moment of the act, but in every waking moment after. The fear her parents feel in not being able to protect her. The fear his mother feels that he’s not telling the truth. The fear he feels of being found out.

In the end, Maya makes her peace with what happened through an unconventional means of revenge. As is repeated several times in the book, “People round here don’t always know the difference between right and wrong. But we know the difference between good and evil.”

If you haven’t already, Caitlin Flanagan’s interview about her own personal experience with attempted assault is worth a listen. And Meg Wolitzer’s The Female Persuasion examines the awakening of one young woman after an incident on her college campus. Find more stories on this subject here.

Or just open any newspaper.

Back to School Edition

After a three day teachers’ strike, school is back in session for my fifth grader and eighth grader. And the Mom Taxi is back in service. Between music lessons, cross country practice, service projects, and everyday errands, I’ve hardly had time to read. So when I can catch a few minutes on the Kindle, I want something I can dive in and out of easily.

These three authors fit the bill perfectly:

Jami Attenberg

Sarah Dunn

Jo Piazza

And since it’s been (more than) a little while since I relied on this to get in the back-to-school-mood, I’ve found a couple of YA authors that evoke the spirit of September:

Jenny Han – Start with her series that begins with To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (now on Netflix)

Alice Pung – Look for her novel Lucy and Linh

えぇー!

Wired after watching The Commitments one evening, we flipped through the Netflix suggestions and happened across this Japanese television show. Like most Japanese television, it’s somewhat bizarre.  Most likely, you’ll turn to your viewing partner a couple of times and say “whaaaa?!” Admittedly, it’s also strangely addictive.

Kanae Minato’s Confessions another product of Japan, has the same mesmerizing but perplexing quality. Even as you read about the book’s central tragedy from varying viewpoints, you might also find yourself thinking one or more of these expressions.

Confessions opens on the last day of school. After giving a brief lecture on being a “model middle school for the Health Ministry’s campaign to promote dairy products,” a teacher who is retiring slips into a long, painfully personal, soliloquy. She ends by explaining what revenge she’s exacted on the two students she blames for the accident involving her young daughter Manami.  One by one, these students, as well as their family members and classmates, recount the tragedy from his or her perspective as well as lay bare the horrifying consequences of her accusations.

Who knew reading a “book of genre fiction intranslation” could simultaneously evoke multiple senses of the word sensational?

True Crime

Challenge number 2 is to read a book of true crime. 

Again with the false starts. One was too chilling. Another involved graphic depictions of countless decomposing bodies. What I needed was a true crime that didn’t involve bloodshed. 

So I turned to American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land by Monica Hesse, based on a story she wrote for the Washington Post.

The book opens with volunteer firefighters being called to an abandoned building that is burning. In the first few pages, we learn about the cast of characters, including the identity of the arsonist. Despite this initial reveal, the action remains compelling, focusing on the investigators, firefighters, and arson experts as they are faced with fire after fire after…well,  over 70 fires.

Rather than describing the actual setting of the fires, Hesse follows the arsonist couple through their daily routines – he at the mechanic shop – she at her clothing boutique, as well as trips to Wal-Mart and nights out at their favorite bar. Part Bonnie and Clyde, part Backdraft, Hesse turns a crime spree into a riveting account of romance and remorse.

And the coroner isn’t called once.

“You ready, child? Let’s go.”

Narrated by “the Groove,” Rhythm Ride: A Road Trip through the Motown Sound by Andrea Davis Pinkney takes teen readers through the history, people, and songs of Motown.

Berry Gordy, Jr., rooted in Motor City, starts the label in part as a reaction to “white washing” - the practice of putting photos of white singers on albums of black singers. He also innovates the label sponsored tour, helping his acts to break out of the “chitlin circuit” and onto the stages of prominent halls and theaters.

Starting with singer-songwriter Smokey Robinson, Gordy slowly accrues a talented cast of writers, musicians, and singers. Recognizing the need for showmanship, he also brings on board Maxine Powell, the instructor who teaches the singers poise, and Cholly Atkins, the dance instructor who brings the smooth moves.

With hits by The Supremes, The Temptations, and the Jackson 5, the sound expands, and Gordy heads to Hollywood.  However, in the tumultuous years following the Vietnam War, Motown loses the Jacksons and Diana Ross to other labels.

The book ends with a selected discography. “Now it’s your turn to drive,” the Groove says. “You don’t need a license to listen, kid. Just sit back and let the music take you.”

"May. Entering Florida."

So we read in “Before: An Inventory,” a lyrical composite of images and experiences that closes out the collection of essays I read for this week’s challenge. Picking up various options in fits and starts, I finally settled on Sunshine State by memoirist Sarah Gerard.

 In the preceding essays, however, Gerard, interlaces her personal history with that of historical and contemporary figures who shaped, in some small part, her story.

 “In 1862, Mary Baker Eddy traveled…to see a famous healer named Phineas Parkhurst Quimby.”

“If it’s not your family who brings you in, it’s probably a friend.”

“I first saw G.W. in a 2006 documentary called Easy Street.”

“My father and I were pallbearers.”

In “Sunshine State,” the most mesmerizing essay of the collection, Gerard volunteers at the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary hoping to write an essay on birds.  In it, she writes:

“The cover of the August 1974 issue of Smithsonian shows a blue heron standing on a grassy bank in front of a calm lake. A hunter’s arrow dangles from its throat."

But coming across the sanctuary’s director, who wanders around shirtless and acts, well, a bit odd, she begins investigating the people who have been running the place since the early 1970s. She ends the essay with a few pages on Magnolia, a conure she and her husband foster for a few days before deciding they don’t have the energy to cater to her whims nor the tolerance for her mess.  

"This is like poetry"

Challenge #10. Read a romance novel by or about a person of color.

As the novel opens, Ifemelu is searching for a decent place to have her hair braided.  She has recently decided to return to Nigeria, shutting down her successful blog on race in America.  Even though she is confident she can easily find work back home, she is more nervous about running into her ex-boyrfriend Obinze, now married with a young daughter.

The novel traces their early relationship, Ifemelu’s departure to America, and the challenges she faces in finance, culture, and romance.  It also delves into Obinze’s story as he tries to make a go of it in England. When a marriage scheme goes awry, he is forced to return to Nigeria. Settling into family life and cultivating the relationships required to be a successful investor, he occasionally hears from Ifemelu but pines for more contact.

Although Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie may not be a bodice ripper, it includes plenty of steamy scenes. More than a novel of unrequited love between two lovers, however, its an examination of the complicated attraction of a woman to her homeland.

Looking for more romance fiction by women of color? Click here. 

“Who doesn’t want to save the parks and schools?”

From the recent decision on the salmon case that originated in the state of Washington to this week’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, SCOTUS has been much in the news lately.

Although if Kavanaugh makes it through the confirmation process, it’s unlikely his visage will appear in the pages of Dave Eggers next book.

Justice Ginsburg, however, does make several appearances in Eggers' most recent novel for young readers – The Lifters (illustrated by  Aaron Renier) – on the favorite t-shirt of Catalina Catalan. Catalina has been the only student at Carousel Middle School to acknowledge the new kid in class, who has the unfortunate name of Granite Flowerpetal.

Granite, or Gran (as he’s renamed himself), has just moved to town with his down-on-their-luck family. Although they have a roof over their heads, thanks to a ramshackle house passed down from his great-great-grandparents, they are short on cash since the job offered to Gran’s father as a mechanic never materializes. Actually, the whole town is in a depression of sorts since the main industry, a carousel factory, closed several years before. It’s also a town divided, with factions fighting for and against new propositions.

Gran soon discovers Catalina’s after-school job isn’t mowing lawns or babysitting, but lifting – placing new supports in the complex network of tunnels beneath the town. At first, Catalina rejects Gran’s offers of help, but soon realizes he’s a worthy nemesis rather than nuisance.  The two make a discovery well-below the surface which proves to be the boost the town needs to banish the Hollows forever.

Younger readers may appreciate the one page (and even one line) chapters sprinkled throughout the book and the imaginative excuses Gran thinks up to explain an overnight absence:

“Could he say he had been caught in a bear trap? That he’d been kidnapped by rogue scientists forcing him to test jetpack technology?”

Older readers may appreciate the nods to our current political divisiveness and syntax straight out of Hemingway:

“He had to go home. And he knew there would be trouble at home. But he had to face it, and he had to hurry.”

P.S.

If you haven’t had your fill of SCOTUS, I suggest checking-out Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s My Beloved World.

"Up can be down"

A few months ago, my fourth-grader had to write a book report on a biography of a famous person. So my son chose to read All About Stephen Hawking by Chris Edwards and Amber Calderon. When it came time to write the report, he was supposed to write about the person’s greatest achievements. Expecting to read something about Hawking’s physics research or perhaps a book title or two, I was tickled to find that my son had written that Hawking’s greatest achievement was…his children.

When asked about their greatest achievements, the couple in Lisa Genova’s novel Every Note Played would answer very differently. Early in their marriage, Karina gave up a career as a jazz pianist to care for their young daughter. Richard spent most of his daughter’s childhood away on tour as a concert pianist.

The couple divorces. Karina teaches piano lessons. Richard still tours. However, Richard has just been diagnosed with ALS. At first, he only loses the ability to play with his right hand, but sooner than he imagines, his left arm too becomes immobile. With the help of an in-home health aide, he gets through the day watching movies, sipping smoothies, and taking short walks. But that period, too, is short lived as the paralysis spreads to his legs. Reluctantly Karina opens her home to him and volunteers to be his full-time caregiver. As Richard’s voice and breath begin to fail, he literally struggles to find the words to express his regret and remorse.

Genova, as in all her novels, reveals not only the physiological, but emotional trials of people dealing with a neurological disease.  Recounted in excruciating detail, these trials are a good reminder to the reader to be grateful for the petty aches and pains of our own bodies and minds. And to cherish the moments we spend with our spouses and children.

Maybe my son was on to something.

Summer Slide

Even though summer didn’t officially begin until yesterday, I feel like I’m already behind on my summer reading. Hearing this story on the radio didn't help matters. 

Browsing this list, I can’t wait to check out the latest by Michael Ondaatje, dive into the short stories of Amy Bonnaffons (one of which I recently heard on TAL), and puzzle out the “fictional feints” in a crime thriller by Sergio de la Pava.

Then there’s the summer slide. While searching for summer reading lists for the kids, I stumbled across Brightly. This site abounds with reading resources and lists (like this ever so timely one) for kids, parents, and teachers.

Want to mix it up? Check out these reading challenges...

For kids

For teens

For adults

Not sure what to read? Here are a few recommendations...

For kids

For teens

For adults

Recollections

When I turned 12 or 13 my mom took me on a shopping spree that included picking out outfits at this outlet store and of course, a stop at Taylor’s bookstore. One book that made it into the bag that day, and still sits on my bookshelf, was a memoir by Jill Ker Conway. 

Conway, who would later become the first female president of Smith College, has written three memoirs. The Road from Coorain, a chronicle of a childhood spent in rural Australia, with no outlet stores in sight mind you, remains one of my favorites.

Conway died on June 1. She was 83.  This week, Fresh Air rebroadcast the interviews they’ve done with her over the years. It’s worth a listen. And her books, definitely worth a read.  

Family Life

According to Time magazine, the five BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries account for 40 percent of the world’s population and more than 25 percent of the world’s land. This week’s challenge was to read a book set in one of these five.

Family Life by Akhil Sharma opens with its 40- year-old narrator remembering the circumstances that brought his family from India to America when he was eight.

Ajay contrasts the perceived riches of life in America (“On an airplane the stewardess has to give you whatever you ask for. I’m going to ask for a baby tiger”) with the real ones (carpet, hot water from the tap, elevators).  The best luxury of all turns out to be the library.

After months of studying, Ajay recalls, his brother Birju is accepted into the Bronx Highs School of Science. The summer before he’s to enroll, the boys go to stay with their aunt. While Ajay spends his afternoons watching Gilligan’s Island, Birju prefers spending his at the neighborhood pool. A miscalculated dive, however, leaves him severely brain damaged. The rest of the novel depicts how each of his family members copes with his care.

Sharma evokes the sensory hallmarks of Ajay’s childhood:  saying goodbye to his grandparents in shadowy rooms that smelled of mothballs, drinking milk with rose syrup after afternoon naps, selling his brother’s bicycle to the barefoot milkman wearing rolled up pajamas. And he conveys volumes about the characters’ relationships with a carefully worded retort. When Ajay’s mother wants to get hearing aids, his father replies, “Why? If by mistake some good news does come for you, I’ll write it down.”

Although the novel shifts somewhat abruptly from the day to day to decades, it reminds us that in family life the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Ugh! What was her name?!

You know how that actress that plays Lindsay in Freaks and Geeks looks familiar? So you google, “who does linda cardellini look like.” The first hit? Ellen Page of Juno.  Bingo.

Published by First Second (thus meeting the challenge), Same Difference by Derek Kirk Kim takes us back to a time before iphones and instant gratification.

It’s the spring of 2000. Simon and Nancy are hanging out in Oakland, eating pho, and reminiscing about high school. Nancy reveals she’s been corresponding with a stranger named Ben who’s been sending obsessive love letters to the former occupant of her apartment. After receiving a more elaborate care package from Ben, Nancy convinces Simon they should go find this guy who happens to live in Simon’s home town. 

Simon’s reluctance proves prescient when he’s hailed as a long-lost buddy by former classmates who made fun of him in high school and runs into a girl who he treated badly. Despite these setbacks, they actually end up finding Ben. The consequences of coming clean to him, however, remain a little cloudy.

Although a few of the visual gags are a little over the top (i.e. “I felt like such a dick”), most of them cleverly reveal the self-absorption of our young adult selves.  References to Bill Nye, M.U.S.C.L.E , and Dead Poet’s Society evoke the early 90s. Simon also reveals what it was like to grow up in a Korean-American household: “What’re you talking about? Every Korean kid grows up eating raw ramen! It’s our Ritz!”

And in that time before iphones, Simon’s exuberance is palpable when he triumphantly remembers the name of the girl from Weird Science he was trying to think of 42 pages earlier.

Longstockings, Please

Picking a book for this week’s challenge of reading the first book in a new-to-you YA series was almost too easy. When it comes to YA literature, you can’t go wrong picking up something written by The Longstockings. Although they no longer maintain their blog, you can find references to them in the acknowledgment pages of each other’s books or interviews.

Jenny Han’s series The Summer I Turned Pretty begins (as all summer books worth their salt) with a family pulling up in front of a beach house. Belly and her brother have been spending summers with her mother’s best friend and her two sons for as long as she can remember.  However, this summer their relationship shifts as they begin looking to her as a peer rather than a little sister. As the teens relish their new independence, the moms take it easy, spending entire days indoors watching movies.  Distracted by a new boyfriend and an ongoing crush, Belly doesn’t realize until summer is almost over that not everything is as it seems.

Although the plot may seem predictable with its unrequited crushes and dying mothers, Han doesn’t dismiss the turmoil of teen emotions or neglect to portray the tensions of family dynamics. With flashbacks, she also gives the characters not only a shared history but depth as they mature. However, they all still have some growing up to do. As I’m sure we’ll see in the second book of the series.