What Carol Reads

New Testament audio version

2009-03-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

The official title of this Thomas Nelson product is The word of promise : next generation - New Testament, which is quite a mouthful. This audio Bible is available on CD in regular audio format (20 discs) or MP3 format (4 discs) which is what I tried out.

MP3 format is handy for loading onto portable players. I played it on my computer and routed the sound through the stereo system so sound quality was excellent. It's also nice to have only a few discs to keep track of and not so many disc changes to break up the listening.

I have had no trouble understanding any of the readers. Their voices are different enough to make it easy to tell them apart. There's a reasonable variety of regional accents, and a good mix of high and low, male/female, soft/loud voices. I don't always agree with their pronunciation of proper names, but there is a lot of room for variation with some of those names. The background "music" does not overpower the speaking so it's easy to catch every word.

"Music" is in quotes because it's not what I would call music. There are instruments and they are playing notes but there's not much in terms of melody or lyricism. It reminds me of background sound tracks on low-action computer games. If I could turn it off, I would. It occasionally conveys a mood, but most of the time, it's just there.

Although the cast was chosen to appeal to a young teen audience, this production is certainly not only for teens. The relatively young age of the readers, however, does limit their interpretation of some of the characters. Jesus, for example, never raises his voice despite the fact that some of the situations clearly call for that. Paul is also overly earnest at times. On the whole, however, I enjoyed listening to the clear reading of the New King James text.

The word of promise next generation New Testament dramatic audio Bible. Issued in 2008 by Thomas Nelson and Falcon Picture Group. Product # 23755 40222.

Look-alikes

2009-02-27T08:04:00.000-08:00

There's not much reading involved in the Look-alikes books but you'll still spend hours with them. Creator Joan Steiner uses thousands of household objects to make models/collages of homes and community scenes. Pretzels become chair backs, dress shoes turn into top-down cars, dry lasagna noodles hang as ruffled curtains, a ghetto blaster morphs into a school bus with chocolate glazed doughnut wheels. Don't ignore the background - there are surprises there too.

Photographer Thomas Lindley has captured every detail in his beautifully clear photos. (Unless, of course, there are structural details we're not supposed to see.) Although your first impression is that the glove is a hill, you don't have to strain to see that the hill is, in fact, a glove.

These books are wonderful for stimulating creativity in young (and older) minds. They are fabulous for entertaining a broad range of ages all at the same time. They make you look differently at your surroundings. (They are also dangerous for anyone with even slight packrat tendencies because now everything can be saved "for a craft.") Teachers, children's group leaders, caregivers, and creative types can use these books as springboards for projects. Just imagine what you can do with a digital camera, a simple storyline, a bit of glue, some working space, and a whole lot of formerly useless stuff! (Best of all, once you have the pictures, you can ditch the model.)

Look-alikes books are by Joan Steiner. Published by Little, Brown and Co., starting in 1998. There are now at least 7 titles in the series, some, unfortunately, out of print.

Shakespeare : the world as stage

2009-02-25T07:17:00.000-08:00

If anyone were to describe an author or speaker as capable of delivering 200 pages of text on virtually nothing, it would not generally be interpreted as a compliment. Bill Bryson, however, has managed to do just that and it is interesting and informative to boot.

There is very scant information about William Shakespeare in the historical record. Of course, the less information there is, the more room there is for speculation and the theories about Shakespeare's life and works go a long way toward filling out this volume.

Bryson begins with background information about the time, place, and society of Shakespeare's day. We learn about food (only the very poor ate vegetables; tea and coffee were unknown), schooling (early morning to late at night, six days a week), landmarks (London Bridge could qualify as a city on its own), health (or, more accurately, the lack of it), and, of course, entertainment (bear-baiting and other blood-sports were the recreation of choice).

Contrast today's behaviour at St Paul's cathedral with what was standard in the 1600s:
"...the cathedral was an infinitely noisier and more public place than we find today. Carpenters, bookbinders, scriveners, lawyers, haulers, and others all plied their trades within its echoing vastness, even during services. Drunks and vagrants used it...as a place of repose; some relieved themselves in corners. Little boys played ball games in the aisles until chased away. Other people made small fires to keep warm." (pg. 52)

Or compare their badges of affluence to ours: "Such was the popularity of sugar that people's teeth often turned black, and those who failed to attain the condition naturally sometimes blackened their teeth artificially to show that they had had their share of sugar, too." (pg. 55)

Although there is scant information to provide details on exactly where Shakespeare lived or which school he attended, we do have a detailed picture painted of what life was like in his day.

As that picture is revealed, Bryson summarizes the major theories of how Shakespeare might have fit in that world, and then evaluates those theories based on whatever information he has been able to assemble. We are regularly reminded that this is mostly conjecture, rather than knowledge, but we are told why the author endorses some theories and dismisses others.

On the whole, I found this an entertaining book. Although it is packed with information, it is not dry. Bryson has done an admirable job of pulling out memorable details about the culture. The vivid cultural picture not only provides a background for suppositions on Shakespeare's life, but also frames a context for his plays and other works.

Shakespeare : the world as stage by Bill Bryson. Published in 2007 by Atlas Books (HarperCollins imprint) as part of their "Eminent lives" series. ISBN: 978-0-06-074022-1

The dead beat : lost souls, lucky stiffs, and the perverse pleasures of obituaries

2009-02-23T10:17:00.000-08:00

Reading non-fiction is like a treasure hunt - books refer to other books which, when read, refer to even more titles to follow up on. In no time at all, you're in another subject area completely, and not entirely sure how you got there. I can't tell you how I ended up with The dead beat in my hands, but it has sent me in pursuit of two poetry books and a volume on newspaper history.

Author, Marilyn Johnson is an obituary reader. Let me clarify that. Johnson reads, collects, discusses, critiques, and writes about obituaries from newspapers published around the world, every day, for several hours each day. That's not a hobby - it's an obsession (which she freely admits). While traveling in London, Johnson was more interested in reading paper copies of her favourite British newspapers (usually read on-line), than she was in touring castles or seeing other sights. She attends an annual obituarists conference and participates in obituary newsgroups online. Marilyn Johnson is truly immersed in the world of obituaries.

In The dead beat, I expected a collection of strange tales from a rather morbid world but, while the strange tales are there in profusion, morbidity is not. Obituarists consistently describe their work as uplifting, refreshing, hopeful, regenerative, and purposeful. They see their jobs as avenues to help families through the grieving process, and build people up rather than tearing them down, which is what most of the rest of the newspaper world does. While the death of a person triggers the writing of an obituary, the focus in the writing is on the life, not on the death.

Librarians are often described as inveterate collectors of arcane knowledge but I now think obituarists could give them a run for their money. All kinds of people die and all kinds of information must be collected to write about them. The challenge then is to distill those facts into a brief portrait of a (formerly) living breathing person.

Generously interspersed with obituary excerpts, this book is an interesting look at a hobby I didn't even know existed and a career few aspire to. I'm not about to join them, but the book is a worthwhile and entertaining read.

The dead beat : lost souls, lucky stiffs, and the perverse pleasures of obituaries by Marilyn Johnson. Published in 2006 by HarperCollins. ISBN: 978-0-06-075875-2

The almost true story of Ryan Fisher

2009-02-19T07:08:00.000-08:00

A novel that defies pigeon-holing - what a pleasant surprise, especially from the usually predictable "Inspirational" publishing industry! The almost true story of Ryan Fisher is a sarcastically funny look at churches as industry. It is not a story for Inspirational readers only. In fact, some Inspirational readers will find this book upsetting.

Ryan Fisher is a run-of-the-mill real estate salesman who desperately wants to boost his career. A scan through late-night TV offerings prompts him to try marketing to Christians who, in Ryan's eyes, appear wealthy, naive, and nice - any salesman's preferred customer group. While networking his new church contacts, Ryan decides that the real power position is that of pastor so he decides to start his own church. The fact that he has not gone to seminary or even read the Bible doesn't dissuade him. Ryan doesn't even believe in God, but he wants to lead a mega-church.

If you saw the movie "Catch me if you can," you probably remember Frank Abagnale Jr. watching TV to learn what he could about the professionals he was impersonating. That would be Ryan Fisher's strategy as he works to build his empire.

Author, Rob Stennett, raises many questions about church leadership and North American consumer-Christian culture. The cynics among us will welcome the story, saying, "I knew it - they're all frauds!" Traditionalists will see it as a warning against the dangers of confusing religion with entertainment and loosing theological underpinnings in the process. I found it made me think about what we do and why we do it, and in my books, any novel that makes me think is worth reading.

The almost true story of Ryan Fisher by Rob Stennett. Published in 2008 by Zondervan. ISBN: 978-0-310-27706-4.

Old Herbaceous : a novel of the garden

2009-02-17T16:07:00.000-08:00

It's the time of year for reading and dreaming about being out in the gardens that are currently inaccessible. When the sleet flies across my window instead of falling down, I have very little ambition to be outside. This is perfect weather for curling up with a gardening story.

Old Herbaceous is a delightful little story about an English manor gardener who rises through the ranks to become head gardener at the manor and a well-recognized figure in horticultural circles. The time spanned runs from the tail-end of the 19th century through to mid-20th century.

Although the gardener's life span matches that of the author rather closely, we are told that the novel is not autobiographical. Author, Reginald Arkell, grew up on an English farm, trained as a journalist, and worked for many years in the magazine industry. He was recognized for his light-hearted plays and his garden poetry long before he started writing books. Arkell was in his late 70s when Old Herbaceous was published.

Having lived through the late Victorian era, two world wars, and the huge changes before and after those wars, Arkell was well-suited to write an old man's reminiscences of the same time period. The story is written as reminiscences but is not sentimental or heavily introspective. It is a crusty country gardener we're reading about, after all.

Classic in style (but not in length or wordiness), the book has recently been re-issued as part of "The Modern Library gardening series" and I'm glad they did that or I would have missed out. Michael Pollan is the series editor. Penelope Hobhouse has written an introduction with information about the author and his work.

If you're looking for a "gentle read", especially one that does not drag on forever, you might want to give this one a try.

Old Herbaceous : a novel of the garden by Reginald Arkell. This edition published in 2003 by The Modern Library. ISBN: 978-0-8129-6738-0.

Miss Manners' guide to domestic tranquility

2009-02-12T17:01:00.000-08:00

It's not a farce, this is a genuine etiquette guide to life in the messy lane, but it's easily one of the funniest books I have read in a long time. That's not to say that Judith Martin (aka Miss Manners) is ridiculous, or that her advice is unnecessary - quite the contrary.

With the messy relationships and intertwined families prevalent in our society, it takes a lot of wisdom, humour, and backbone to maneuver through many social situations. Knowing that Miss Manners has deemed your actions "proper" certainly helps in the "backbone" department. The situations described are appropriately convoluted for our culture and the solutions proposed are both proper and satisfying. Allow me to summarize a favourite example:

An engaged couple wants to include a family member at the wedding but doesn't want anything to do with that person's boorish, offensive, and still-married-to-someone-else long-time companion. The question is, can that be accomplished without being rude?

"Certainly," replies Miss Manners. There are two rules at the bride's disposal: the first is that established couples are customarily invited together to formal events such as weddings; and the second is that whether or not one likes the spouse, it is considered obligatory to invite married couples together to weddings. Therefore, when inviting the family member in question, the bride should state that while she would like to invite the companion, she wouldn't dream of doing so without inviting his wife.

I can see a full season sit-com based on this book, and the advice is useful to have tucked in your back pocket.

Miss Manners' guide to domestic tranquility the authoritative manual for every civilized household, however harried by Judith Martin. Published in 1999 by Crown. ISBN: 978-0517701652

Feeding the future

2009-02-10T16:26:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot of interest over the last little while in food security - knowing we all have enough to eat and that what we do have is safe to eat. The slow food and local food movements are growing worldwide, and questions about altered food (genetically or chemically) are getting louder and more frequent.

For many of us, it's hard to know who to believe when we hear food safety and food supply discussions. Some of those discussions are quite heated and few of us have the training necessary to follow all the arguments. At times we're not even sure we know what all the questions are, let alone who's got the (believable/reliable/responsible/realistic) answers.

Feeding the future is a collection of expert opinions on a variety of food security issues including tainted beef, over-fishing, genetically modified foods, the obesity epidemic, and worldwide food distribution. Each author gets one chapter and the various authors don't necessarily agree with one another, but that makes the book more useful for the reader. Footnotes provide references to continue research on subjects that catch your interest or verify points you find hard to accept.

Editors Andrew Heintzman and Evan Solomon have done a good job of pulling such disparate voices together into a cohesive whole. They begin each chapter with a brief author/subject introduction that I found tremendously useful. They are also responsible for additional content added as sidebars to the main text.

Although the subtitle of this book (from fat to famine, how to solve the world's food crises) promises solutions, I would liken this book to a survey course. Solutions are certainly proposed but if resolving the issues were that simple, we would already be there. Instead, I would call this an excellent starting point for a self-directed study, or, at the very least, enough information to get you through a number of earnest conversations.

Feeding the future : from fat to famine, how to solve the world's food crises edited by Andrew Heintzman and Evan Solomon. Published in 2004 by Anansi. ISBN: 978-0-88784-744-8

Diary of a compost hotline operator

2009-02-02T12:37:00.000-08:00

After 10 days of very run-of-the-mill books, I finally have something to write about. The sun is shining and the seed catalogues have been showing up in the mail so it's time to read books with a gardening theme.

Diary of a compost hotline operator is a quick introduction to the world of urban horticulture. Spring Gillard (not a pen name) wears several hats on the job at the Vancouver-based City Farmer's garden where their aim is world change through education. The demonstration garden teaches visitors about composting, companion planting, organic pest and disease control, water conservation, vermiculture, and a host of other small space garden practices. Visitors come from all over the world for a hands-on look (and feel).

The book is an easy to read combination of newspaper article excerpts, journal musings, humourous anecdotes, how-to notes, and lots of contact information - websites, organizations, more books to read, people to consult, etc. Gillard is not afraid to write about failures or near-failures along with successes. She's also not afraid to reveal that much of their knowledge comes from other experts. The philosophy at City Farmer appears to be "learn with me as we explore" rather than "learn from me as I show you how it must be done."

I've been composting as long as I can remember. I've been gardening almost as long, and I've read a lot of gardening books over the years. I expected to read this book for the stories and amusement factor but I ended up learning a few new tricks to try as well. Vancouver weather is very different from south-western Ontario weather so some of the problems are different and some of the solutions for common problems may not work in the cooler, dryer climate, but I do have some new ideas to play with and that's always fun.

Many of the contacts are local to Vancouver, or at least BC, but there's still a lot of valuable information packed into this small book, even for those of us who live far away from the Pacific coast.

If you have written off the possibility of gardening or composting because you live in the city, or, worse yet, live in an apartment, think again. There are still options to explore and Spring Gillard is happy to point you in the right direction. Even if, like me, you consider yourself a veteran, give this book a try. The stories are amusing, it will get your brain thinking "spring," and you might end up with a new technique to try.

Diary of a compost hotline operator : edible essays on city farming by Spring Gillard. Published in 2003 by New Society Publishers. ISBN: 978-0-86571-492-4

The attack

2009-01-22T16:42:00.000-08:00

Raw, powerful, emotional, bare, hard-hitting...certainly the anti-thesis to "Austenland." The attack by Yasmina Khadra has been on my "to read" list for months but it took the right frame of mind to start the book. Once I started, I was drawn in right away, but it certainly wasn't a pretty world to be drawn into.

Dr. Amin Jaafari is an Arab-Israeli surgeon at a Tel Aviv hospital. Right away, that tells you that his priorities are for life and health and certainly not for continued racial/religious conflict. Jaafari spends his days putting people back together. He has friends and relatives on both sides of the conflict but, for the most part, they aren't active participants.

In chapter one, Jaafari and colleagues work long and hard to save those wounded in a nearby suicide bombing. By the end of chapter two, he finds out that his wife is among the dead. Three pages into chapter three, he's told that authorities suspect his wife was the bomber. What follows in the remaining 220 pages is Dr. Jaafari's struggle to make sense of the accusation.

Jaafari thought his wife was happy. He thought she, like him, was religiously lapsed. He thought she enjoyed their life together. He loved her more than life itself and thought she felt the same way about him...so how could this have happened? How could there be any truth in what they were saying? Could he be that ignorant of the inner struggles and desires of someone he had lived with for so long?

As I said at the outset, this novel is raw and hard-hitting but it's also illuminating, thought-provoking, compelling, personal, real, and strong. What does it take to make a suicide bomber? Who pays the toll? How do you break the cycle of conflict? Those are only a very few of the questions that flood this novel, and some of them get answers.

Not for the faint-of-heart, but very highly recommended for all others, if you like this one, you should also try "The cellist of Sarajevo" by Steven Galloway as well as Khadra's earlier book, "The swallows of Kabul."

The attack by Yasmina Khadra (translated from the French by John Cullen). Published in 2005 by Doubleday. ISBN: 978-0-385-51748-3.

Austenland

2009-01-20T16:07:00.000-08:00

Definitely a light read, Austenland by Shannon Hale is a perfect feel-good novel for the Jane Austen fans among us.

Fictional New Yorker Jane Hayes is obsessed with Mr. Darcy of "Pride and prejudice" fame and has a string of failed relationships to prove it. In an effort to help Jane kick the obsession, a distant relative sends her to the ultimate role playing game - three solid weeks (504 continuous hours) of constantly-in-character Regency re-enactment at an isolated estate in England. Against her better judgment, Jane goes.

While the characters in the re-enactment are based on Austen characters, the novels themselves are not played out exactly. It is up to the participants to interact with each other, always within the boundaries of Austen-style propriety, and establish their own story lines. Paid staff, however, do fill in the basic personalities, albeit with different names.

It doesn't take Jane long to realize the benefits of her own time period, but she makes the best of her three weeks.

This anti-escapist bit of escapism is light and fun. Author, Hale, has written previously for the young adult market including her New York Times bestseller "Princess academy" [worth reading]. Given the current popularity of all things Austen, and Hale's previous successes, this first novel for adults should do well also.

Austenland by Shannon Hale. Published in 2007 by Bloomsbury. ISBN: 978-1-59691-285-4

Peter Pan in scarlet

2009-01-16T10:17:00.000-08:00

When I saw Peter Pan in scarlet touted as the "official sequel" I wondered what that presumption was based on. What makes any post-humous sequel official? J.M. Barrie clearly didn't select Geraldine McCaughrean to write this book. Just inside the book, all was made clear in a brief explanation.

In 1929, J.M. Barrie gave all rights to "Peter Pan" to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children. Every royalty penny earned from every copy or production of "Peter Pan" went to the hospital. In 2004, the hospital decided it was time for a sequel to this well-loved classic so they launched a contest soliciting plot outlines and sample chapters from authors around the world. McCaughrean was the winner and Peter Pan in scarlet is the resulting book. That made it one I had to read.

Peter Pan in scarlet is a playful book and very visual in its descriptions. The descriptions are not long and drawn out so young readers are not likely to skip over them, but the language is clear and evocative. The plot is new with the return of many familiar characters and the introduction of new ones. (Be warned, some "new" characters turn out to be familiar ones in disguise.) There's a lovely mix of magic, imagination, and dreaming and the lines between them are blurred leaving you wondering what is truly real. There are references to the first book but they are not so dependent that I felt I should have re-read the first book just before reading this one.

Despite all those wonderful qualities, I found this a rather dark and foreboding book. Much of the drama is psychological rather than swashbuckling. Neverland has been poisoned and the effects pervade the land, its inhabitants, and people outside its borders. The weight of that destruction coupled with the personal struggles of several characters clashes with the light and friendly writing style. We see bullying, social ostracism, poor leadership, and harsh, irrational decision-making all coming from a childhood hero. The resolution at the end doesn't erase those memories and I found myself feeling betrayed even after the book was finished.

If you're looking for a launchpad to initiate some difficult discussions with a child, this would be an excellent place to start. If you're looking for a light-hearted sequel to a treasured favourite, I would look elsewhere.

Peter Pan in scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean. Published in 2006 by Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978-0-19-272620-9.

The post-American world

2009-01-14T10:14:00.000-08:00

Halfway through this audio-book, I decided that I was going to want to listen to it a second time before it went back to the library. The post-American world is a look at major world powers in the past, present, and future. Author, Fareed Zakaria, examines history, culture, religion, language, commerce, politics, economics, warfare, technology, and government in an effort to understand the past and predict the future of our world.

Although the presentation is not academic in tone, there is so much information packed in here, that I know I didn't get it all the first time through. As editor of Newsweek International, best-selling author, and international affairs columnist, one expects Zakaria to communicate well and he does. He is thorough and methodical with a good measure of anecdotes to balance out the theory.

Zakaria is well-positioned to provide analysis of non-Western culture and history. Born and raised in India, he moved to the United States for post-secondary studies and stayed put. He has experienced two vastly different cultures from both inside and out. I think that goes a long way toward explaining his facility for explaining the basics of widely differing foreign mindsets. Instead of just reporting what China did or how India voted, he explains how those actions were logical outcomes of the Chinese or Indian (or some other country's) way of thinking. Those patterns are then projected into the future for a look at where things will be if change does not occur.

There is no crystal ball here. The post-American world was written before the U.S. mortgage crisis hit and that collapse was not expected by Zakaria. He wasn't the only one to miss it though, and I don't think the value of this work is negated by that omission. That's because the primary benefit I gained from "reading" this book was a vastly improved understanding of other cultures and their histories.

The post-American world by Fareed Zakaria. Published in 2008 by Simon and Schuster. Audiobook ISBN: 978-0-7435-7685-7.

The subversive stitch

2009-01-12T08:44:00.000-08:00

This is definitely not a general interest book. One must be a follower of needlework and/or women in history to make it through an academic book like this but it is a fascinating chronicle.

Author Rozsika Parker has studied European art history with an interest in women's art and feminism. In The subversive stitch : embroidery and the making of the feminine, Parker brings her art history knowledge, and research skills into an examination of work that has for a long time been regarded as feminine. Centuries ago, men were very involved in embroidery but that changed. Parker asks why and how that happened. She studies how embroidery and the "essence of femininity" shaped each other. She looks at how young girls and women quietly rebelled against the strictures of that feminine ideal by their selection of images and texts for their embroideries and how those selections were influenced by their social culture. As women grew stronger, their rebellion became more blatant. Parker also examines assumptions made by early embroidery historians and, in several cases, tries to set the record straight.

The book is generously illustrated and the photo captions explain why each photo was included. I do wish, however, that the photos were in colour and that some of them were larger. Colour is such an integral part of needlework that it's a real shame to leave it out completely in a book like this. That was likely a budget decision but I would dearly love to see some of those illustrations in blazing full colour. This book has already been reprinted twice so maybe that will happen in a later edition.

The subversive stitch : embroidery and the making of the feminine by Rozsika Parker. Originally published in 1984 by Routledge. ISBN: 0-415-90206-1

The tale of Despereaux

2009-01-09T09:08:00.000-08:00

Kate DiCamillo, the author of "Because of Winn-Dixie" has another book soon to hit the silver screen and this one has a Newbery medal for children's fiction. "The tale of Despereaux" is told in an oral narrative style with the narrator speaking directly to the reader and adding her own commentary on events as they unfold. Although the phrase is over-used, "contemporary fairytale" certainly fits this book.

The title character is a free-thinking mouse who falls in love with a princess and ends up defending her against the schemes of a rat and an ambitious yet dim-witted servant girl. It's all set in a castle with the requisite dungeon full of moaning prisoners. The king is feeble-brained enough to ban soup throughout his land but he loves his daughter as only a doting father could.

Despite the stock characters and setting, DiCamillo comes up with a fresh light story with a lovely moral at the end. The charm is in the writing itself. The freshness comes from examining the internal battles that each of the major characters fights. We get a brief exploration of motivation and feelings behind the actions of good guys and bad guys. As a result, the line dividing the good guys from the bad guys gets blurred and we learn that mean actions don't necessarily indicate a wholeheartedly mean person. What a revelation!

Despite the moralizing, this book is primarily a story, not a sugar-coated lesson. It's definitely written for the younger set but it works as a bedtime story for adults as well. If you are a Roald Dahl fan, you should give this one a try.

"The tale of Despereaux" by Kate DiCamilla. Published in 2003 by Candlewick Press. ISBN: 978-0-7636-1722-6.

The book of negroes

2009-01-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

If you read or watched and enjoyed Alex Hailey's epic "Roots," you won't want to miss Lawrence Hill's equally ambitious book, The book of negroes. While "Roots" tracked an enslaved family through generations, The book of negroes is the story of just one woman, Aminata Diallo, from her earlier years in Africa, through her capture, enslavement, and the many journeys and experiences that follow from there.

Aminata is a very strong woman who refused to be cowed by slavery. Extreme losses put her in despair at times, but she always came back to fight against injustice, cruelty, and bondage. She fought for literacy and woman's rights, long before those were popular public discussions. Her fighting spirit made her a target, but she also earned the respect of many around her. It's too bad she's entirely fictional.

Author Lawrence Hill has poured huge amounts of research into this book. As well as reading and travelling widely to gain background information, Hill grew up with parents who helped pioneer Canada's human rights movement and who were themselves descended from Africans enslaved in the United States. I suspect Hill ate, breathed, and lived this story long before he even had ambitions to become a writer. The book certainly reads that way. It's over 400 pages long but still feels like it barely contains the story - it's bursting at the seams with more untold details - all those many events that you know make up a person's life but can't be told in a mere 400 pages. That's not to say this story is lacking. It's just that its main character is so real and interesting that you know there's got to be more to learn about her, if only you could sit down and talk to her.

The slave trade was (and in places still is) a harsh and cruel way of treating people and doing business. In looking back, we often focus on the horrible things that happened - the brutality, the deprivation, the family and community destruction - and temper that with reassurances that not everyone was that cruel to their "workers." We perpetuate the myth of "good" slave owners. One of the things that is made clear in this book is that there is no such thing. Literacy, education, health care, commerce, and travel were all touted as benefits to those who were forcibly removed from "the dark and savage continent," but none of them count for anything without freedom and the people you love. Just ask Aminata.

"The book of negroes" by Lawrence Hill. Published in 2007 by HarperCollins. ISBN: 978-0-00-22507-3.

No time to wave goodbye

2009-01-04T20:04:00.000-08:00

Ben Wicks, beloved cartoonist and journalist, grew up in England. He was from one of the poorer districts of London but did much of his growing up in rural England. Wick and thousands of children like him were evacuated from the city just before England formally entered World War II.

No time to wave goodbye is an assemblage of commentary and letters from former evacuees, collected by Wicks from Britain, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, and Canada. Some of the correspondents had never told their stories before - not to parents, spouses, descendants, or counsellors. Some were grateful for the evacuation and the way it shaped them as people. Others think it should never have happened. All agreed they would never send their children away.

This was a very difficult time for children, parents, and foster parents and, as a result, the book could have been an emotionally harrowing one to read. Wicks manages to avoid that by filling the text with brief excerpts from many letters. The stories and still poignant and the struggles clear but it's not nearly as overwhelming as an uninterrupted narrative would be. For that I am thankful.

I wanted to know more about the evacuations. I knew there would be both good and bad experiences, but I didn't want to carry the weight of a 70-year-old trauma with me for days afterwards. After all, there was nothing I could do to change it now. This book was exactly the format I was looking for - personal and direct but limited to brief glimpses of the long ordeal.

I'm glad these stories haven't been lost. They don't all have happy endings but some of them do and that's encouraging. It's hard to believe some of what passed as "normal" behaviour then. Unfortunately, I know people haven't changed much since then. That makes me wonder how I would behave under similar pressures. I'm not sure I want to know just yet.

I would recommend this to history buffs, social students, and brave child welfare advocates.

No time to wave goodbye by Ben Wicks. Published in 1988 by Stoddart. ISBN: 0-7737-2215.

Same kind of different as me

2009-01-01T19:20:00.000-08:00

Big black homeless man meets major league art dealer and helps him change for the better.

Sounds like a feel-good Hollywood production, doesn't it? This is actually a combined biography of two men and the woman who brought them together. Denver Moore, formerly homeless and illiterate co-author, tells a story we don't want to believe could be true - especially not in our "enlightened" times. Ron Hall, the other major player in this book, makes it clear that if Moore is guilty of anything, it is understatement.

We're not talking about the down and out scruffy guy with a heart of gold or a high flyer who just needed a little nudge to fine-tune his focus. We're talking about an ex-con (armed robbery) who hated everyone around him, and an ambitious social-climbing money-hound who sold out or betrayed everyone who mattered to him. Add Hall's wife, Deborah, to the mix and you have a fabulous story of change, love, redemption, forgiveness, caring, growth, healing, trust, and interconnectedness.

The story alternates between Denver's and Ron's viewpoints. I particularly liked that format because it made it easy to compare their early years, and later in the narrative, it was interesting to get the two descriptions of one situation. At times it was hard to believe I was reading about the same event.

Lynn Vincent has done a wonderful job of pulling two vastly different narrative styles together into one cohesive story. Instead of smoothing out the differences, she plays on them and uses them to distinguish between narrators. These men don't have easy stories to tell. It took a whole lot of fortitude to go back through their pasts and lay everything bare for others to gape at, but these men are survivors and their story is inspiring and gut-wrenching all at the same time. Same kind of different as me should definitely be on your reading list for 2009.

Same kind of different as me : a modern-day slave, an international art dealer, and the unlikely woman who bound them together by Ron Hall & Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent. Published in 2006 by Thomas Nelson. ISBN: 978-0-8499-1910-7.

Looking for God

2008-12-30T18:49:00.000-08:00

I was at a bookstore sale and had accumulated an armload when one of the clerks pointed at Looking for God and said, "If you buy anything, you need to get that book. It's the best book I've read in a long time." I had glanced at it in passing already but I decided to buy it based on the clerk's recommendation. I'm glad I did.

Do you ever read those books where the author tells you how wonderful his/her life is and how yours can be just as great if you only follow these __ easy steps? Those are annoying books. You know that real people who are fully aware of their surroundings don't have lives like the ones in those books. Only plastic people have all of their problems solved by the end of the last chapter and I, for one, am not plastic so their solutions don't apply to me.

Nancy Ortberg isn't plastic either. She hasn't solved her problems and she's not about to tell you how to fix your life. She is, however, willing to tell stories about how she jumped over, plowed through, or crawled under some personal hurdles, with the hope that her readers might be encouraged, and maybe even possibly learn from her successes and failures. We don't have a perfect-on-the-outside-but-completely-hollow figurehead pointing at herself here. Instead we have a disarmingly open, honest, wise, and passionate woman eagerly pointing her life towards God.

Each chapter in this book is its own freestanding essay. Although they work well together, they don't necessarily have to be read in order. It's a bit like scrolling through a blog - more formal than a journal, but still very personal. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and plan to re-read it in a few months' time. If you're looking for discussion group starters, you might find this material useful.

Looking for God : an unexpected journey through tattoos, tofu & pronouns by Nancy Ortberg. Published in 2008 by Tyndale. ISBN: 978-141431332-0.

Elantris

2008-12-28T13:38:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed Alcatraz versus the evil librarians so much that I had to see what else Brandon Sanderson has written. That's how I ended up with his 622 page first novel, Elantris.

Elantris entered the fantasy market in 2005 with wonderful reviews. Sci-fi/fantasy veterans like Orson Scott Card and Simon R. Green are quoted as saying this far surpassed their expectations. Independent reviewers like Publishers Weekly called it "outstanding" and "refreshing." All of this gave me hope because I don't generally like fantasy, I like science fiction even less, and here I was with a whopper.

I think what discourages me most about sci-fi/fantasy is that so much needs to be defined at the beginning. Instead of setting the scene as Paris, 1933, or backwoods Canada, 19th century, the author has to spend pages and pages on description. It's not just the details of setting and characters, it's everything. Who and what are the characters? What is the landscape? Is it on Earth? Is it in our version of time or completely separate? How do creatures relate? Does Earth exist? How do communities work? Who holds power and why? How are right and wrong determined and judged? Is there history that characters (and reader) know about? The questions go on and on and all of them need to be settled before much of the story can happen.

Not only is that a lot of description to get out of the way right at the beginning, but it's a lot for the reader to keep track of. Add to that names that look unpronounceable and secrets that are revealed as the story develops, and it's a lot of work to keep the story straight.

I kept that in mind as I waded into the first 125 pages. I was introduced to characters, settings, social, political, and religious history, and secrets on all sides. It was a steep learning curve but the storyline caught my interest. I read in short bursts until I got about 200 pages into the book. By then, I was hooked and ended up finishing the rest in just two evenings.

So what do I think? As I said the story caught my interest but that's not all I enjoyed. Elantris doesn't consist of one story but of several, all intertwined. I was often surprised at how situations turned and how the resolution of one issue would affect another part of the story. I was also impressed by how the characters change and grow through the course of the novel. Not only did I learn new things about them, but they learned new things about themselves.

This is a story that examines lots of deep questions without feeling like an introspective tale. It asks questions like "What is faith?" and "What makes a person good or evil?" and "How should power be allocated and used?" and "What does a person truly need to be happy?" and "Where does pain come from?" and "What does dead mean?" If it weren't 622 pages long, it would be wonderful for a novel study. Its very length makes it hard to become familiar enough with the text to facilitate active discussion but the discussion would be fascinating.

If you liked Lord of the rings and would like to see a strong female protagonist, you might want to give this one a try. I still wouldn't call myself a fantasy fan but I'm considering reading the sequel. In case you're interested, it's called Mistborn and it came out in 2006.)

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. Published in 2005 by Tor. ISBN: 0-765-35037-8.

Lost in the Amazon

2008-12-26T13:17:00.000-08:00

I've never wanted to explore the Amazonian jungle and this book has certainly not changed my mind. I enjoy looking at the photos that come out of expeditions like this one but I don't even want to go on a tourist trip there after reading this account.

Stephen Kirkpatrick is an independent wildlife photographer (read "no budget") who is hoping to get some great shots and thereby solidify his career. That career is his driving force and has cost him his marriage. The question he wrestles with in this book is whether or not it will also cost him his life.

Because Kirkpatrick has written (with help) his story, we know he survived the ordeal but he doesn't know that when he's in it. We are privy to his struggles - mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual - while he's lost in the jungle. At least, we're privy to his version of his struggles.

I didn't find myself liking this guy or trusting his impressions of others. While the story was interesting, Steve Kirkpatrick is one of the authors I would rather not meet socially.

If you want a real life adventure story with poisonous critters, nasty food, foul swamps to wade through, isolated natives, and much, much more, you could give this one a try.

Lost in the Amazon : the true story of five men and their desperate battle for survival by Stephen Kirkpatrick as told to Marlo Carter Kirkpatrick. Published in 2005 by W Publishing Group (division of Thomas Nelson). ISBN: 0-8499-0015-8.

Andean folk knits

2008-12-22T12:52:00.000-08:00

I used to be a knitter. I love detail so the more intricate the pattern, the more fun I had. I played with colour, texture, and lacework, and made up a lot of my own patterns. Apparently knitting was one of the things I did too much of and my hands have protested as a result. I no longer knit but one of my daughters does so I still have reasons besides sentiment to look at knitting books and this one is a gem.

Andean folk knits is written by Marcia Lewandowski who used to live and work in Bolivia. She and her family were there for eight years doing community and agricultural development work with the Mennonite Central Committee near the end of the 20th century. During her time in Bolivia, Marcia learned a lot about local knitting both there and in the surrounding countries. She shares that knowledge with us and works in a wonderful combination of ancient and recent history, culture, and geography lessons as well. That makes it a useful resource for the soon-to-be tourist who would like local crafts information as well as an introduction to the area.

Instead of just getting patterns for specific articles, I learned who the different articles were traditionally used by, why certain fibres were used for certain projects, what regional variations might be seen, and how I might adapt the pattern for my preferences. I learned what to look for and what to look out for when selecting yarn for the various projects. Everything is well illustrated and accompanied by notes on basic techniques to accompany the patterns.

If I were still buying knitting books, this is one I would get. There are a few projects I am trying to talk my daughter into making for me so maybe I should buy a copy for her shelf instead of mine...

Andean folk knits : great designs from Peru, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador & Bolivia by Marcia Lewandowski. Published in 2005 by Lark Books (a division of Sterling Publishing). ISBN: 978-1-57990-953-6.

The occupied garden

2008-12-17T14:55:00.000-08:00

I first stumbled across Kristen den Hartog's fiction as a short story in Canadian Living magazine. I was skimming the magazine while waiting in a doctor's office and was intrigued to see a name I recognized - the den Hartog girls were in school with me and my siblings many years ago.

A few years after reading the short story, I saw one of Kristen's novels at the library and had to see what it was like. I first read her work because I once knew the author. Now I read her work because I enjoy her writing. I'm pleased to see that she's been getting noticed in literary circles.

The occupied garden is a departure from her usual fiction because it's not fiction and it's not written by her alone. The garden is co-written by Kristen's sister, Tracy, and is a beautiful account of their grandparents' and father's lives in Holland around the time of the German occupation.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this book is the parallel drawn between the events and circumstances of the den Hartog household and the events and circumstances of the Dutch royal family at the same time. Getting married and having children at the same time heightens a feeling of connectedness between the two families despite the fact that their lives should be considered a world apart. I also appreciated the view of ordinary people surviving extraordinary times. We're not looking at master spies or war heroes here, but ordinary people at a time when daily life required daily acts of heroism and despair didn't always stay around the corner.

The research was thorough enough to provide insight into several different people's points of view which made this account much more interesting than the narrow view one usually gets when reading biography. It's hard enough to recover personal papers and anecdotes to document a famous person's life, but the authors here had access to letters, journals, and pictures from several of the families in the story, as well as personal interviews with surviving family members and friends, and all for the story of a middle class family. It's a welcome addition to the large collection of World War II stories and you don't have to be a WWII fan to enjoy it.

The occupied garden : recovering the story of a family in the war-torn Netherlands by Tracy Kasaboski and Kristen den Hartog. Published in 2008 by McClelland & Stewart. ISBN: 978-0-7710-2622-5.

Uncharted

2008-12-15T14:14:00.000-08:00

Angela Hunt is an author who likes to play with your mind. The cover of Uncharted says "expect the unexpected" and that could be said of any of her novels. The stories aren't always pretty, and you won't necessarily agree with her theology/worldview, but that's part of the attraction.

There are authors I read for their luscious writing, and others I read when I want to spend some time in someone else's head. Some are good for a laugh, some make history come alive, and some play games with you. Angela Hunt is definitely a game player.

I started Uncharted, thinking I knew where this story was going, but discovered that my ending was really just the introduction for the real story. Basically some 25 years after college, a formerly inseparable group of friends re-united. The cast includes your typical prom-queen, a jock, an over-achiever, a rebel, Mr. Ambition, and the peacemaker who held the group together. The friends went out on a boat and ended up in trouble on an island...but the similarity to Gilligan's Island ends there.

I can't tell you a whole lot more about the plot without ruining it for you. I can tell you that I've seen people get mad reading this book, and I've seen people who loved it. I haven't met anyone who read it without reacting to it. You won't be blown away by her writing style or her characterizations, but if you want to play head games, Angela Hunt is an author for you.

Uncharted by Angela Hunt. Published in 2006 by West Bow. ISBN: 0-8499-4484-8.

Home : a memoir of my early years

2008-12-12T08:38:00.000-08:00

I don't read a lot of show business biographies but when Julie Andrews' memoirs showed up at the library, I had to take it home. Julie Andrews never struck me as typical Hollywood or typical Broadway. As a child, I was sure she was somehow related to royalty. She had that air about her. As an adult, I could take the book home and find out. What a revelation!

If pressed for an answer, I would now have to say that Julie Andrews most reminds me of my grandmother - not in a warm grandmotherly way, or even because they were of the same generation, because they weren't - but because both of them were survivors of very difficult home situations, and both tell their stories with virtually no self-pity or blame.

Julie Andrews' memoir does not come across as a cold re-telling of the past, but it is very matter-of-fact. She writes about her growing up years and early stage career with clarity and detail, but without destroying other people's reputations. The classy persona that you see in public and on stage must be an integral part of her character because it comes through in her writing.

A quick overview might classify this as a typical rags-to-riches story but it doesn't read that way because you get the impression that Julie Andrews doesn't see herself as a star. She certainly recognizes that she has worked with stellar people and performed for big names but she portrays herself as a struggling girl/young woman with an oddly talented voice. It's as if the voice is its own entity and the rest of her life is just there to support it.

The early parts of the book are a little disjointed as we jump from one memory to another. We all know that our earliest memories are flashes and brief episodes, usually unconnected to an over-riding storyline. That's how these come across, but the story becomes more fluid as we move into later years.

I wouldn't put this in my current top 10 list, but I did enjoy reading it and I'll probably read its sequel when it comes out.

Home : a memoir of my early years by Julie Andrews. Published in 2008 by Hyperion. ISBN: 978-0-7868-6565-9.

The wee mad road

2008-12-06T05:48:00.000-08:00

"Our children grew up and left home. Before they could come back, we sold the house and ran away to a foreign land." (pg i)

Thus starts the "runaway" adventures of Jack and Barbara Maloney, who escaped from mortgage, jobs, and house in the US to a crofter's cottage in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. Jack and Barbara realized that they were old enough that their children had left home but young enough that their health was excellent and their parents didn't need special care. If ever they were going to take off on an adventure, this was the time. Jack was a freelance writer so he wasn't completely abandoning his career - just his contacts. Barbara ended up leaving her job at an art gallery. They sold their house and most of its contents, gave away or stored the rest, and headed off to a tiny village called Coigach.

The wee mad road is a reminiscence of their time at the cottage. The basic text is written by Jack with sketches and journal excerpts from Barbara woven in. Having read and re-read Lillian Beckwith's books about her 20 years in the Hebrides, I looked forward to what I hoped would be new but similar stories.

Although the Maloneys will not replace Beckwith, I did enjoy their book. Once again, I felt drawn into a tiny community I have never seen except in my imagination. They spent only 2 years at their rented cottage compared with Beckwith's 20 on Bruach, so there is less time (and fewer books) to get to know the people of the village, but I still feel I know them, nonetheless.

Jack and Barbara were intent on participating in village life and learning whatever new skills that might require. Their willingness to learn without criticising and to look foolish for the sake of helping their neighbours earned them the respect of the locals...and makes for some good stories. I hope you enjoy it too.

The wee mad road : a midlife escape to the Scottish Highlands by Jack and Barbara Maloney. Published in 2008 by Tasora Books. ISBN: 978-1934690024.

If you enjoyed this one, try some of the following titles by Lillian Beckwith: Lightly poached, The hills is lonely, The sea for breakfast, or About my father's business.

Tasora Books, 2008 ISBN: 978-1-934690-02-4

Boomtown

2008-12-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

Most of the reviews in this blog will be positive. After all, I don't see much point in writing about a book I didn't enjoy when I could spend that same time reading one I like a whole lot better. Every once in a while, though, there are books that must be reviewed for one reason or another and this is one of them. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it.

Boomtown by Nowen N. Particular (a.k.a. Marty Longe) is aimed at 8-12 year old boys and looks very promising. It's full of inventions, explosions, silly stuff, and bumbling adults who are rescued by children. Silliness is a core virtue in our household and I grew up with a brother who was forever inventing things and blowing things up so I was all set for a fun read but was disappointed.

For starters, the narrator/main character, Arthur Button, is an adult who doesn't have a clue to what's going on in his family or his new town. Since everything is observed and recorded through his eyes, the reader doesn't have a clue either. Two of the Button children are full of mischief and adventure and are the right age for readers to identify with but we only get to see what their father knows about their various escapades and thus end up missing out on a lot of the fun. We get bits and pieces of adventures and story lines but no real sense of involvement.

There's also not much in the way of plot development. Lots of things happen in the story and we're told about lots of wonderful inventions (like hen grenades and inflatable sky campers), but most of the bits and pieces feel jammed in there. It's as if the author has all these fun bits he wants to get into his story and isn't willing to sacrifice any of them for the sake of telling the story well. If this were a movie, it would be filled with special effects and explosions, very low on character development, and almost without plot - not my kind of film.

The illustrations were promising. I like the air of authenticity the faked photos and newspaper clippings give to the text. There are, however, some gaffs, the worst being a supposedly authentic ancient Chinese note with the text running in rows from left to right, and punctuated as if it were English. Many of Nowen N. Particular's readers will know that Chinese writing goes in columns from top to bottom, organized right to left.

If I were part of the editorial group for this book, I would suggest that the author cut out at least half of the escapades, string what's left into a proper story line, and tell it from the point of view of one of the children. Use the leftover bits in the next book. Be careful with the language, too. Over the course of just two pages, we had a sequestered jury and a venerable lawyer who liked to pontificate and decry. Rather challenging vocabulary for 8-14 year olds.

Boomtown, by Nowen N. Particular was published by Thomas Nelson in 2008. ISBN is 978-1-4003-1345-7.

Bent hope : a street journal

2008-12-03T07:44:00.000-08:00

Bent hope is more triumphant than sad but don't try to read it without a box of Kleenex handy. Don't skip straight into the main text without reading the foreword and prologue either. This is a book where every word counts. It may not seem that way at the very beginning, but you'll want to get the full effect.

There are lots of street-worker journals on the market these days and I've read many of them. They are full of stories of survival amidst broken hearts and dreams and frequently feature reminders that, broken as they are, street folk are people too. We are admonished to love them for many reasons - because they have had a rough life, because the system has failed them, because we might just as easily be in their shoes, because love can change a life, because Jesus was poor, because "loving the unlovely" brings blessings, because they've endured great loss, because they're fellow human beings,... but in the end, it is always "us" loving "them." This is the first book that asserts, from the start, that there is no "us" and "them."

"Either we are all beggars, hookers and junkies, or none of us are. There is no in-between...Every day I play the role of a beggar. I look to the charity of others, seemingly wanting something for nothing to feed my ego and the overwhelming need to belong. Every day I play the role of a hooker. I try to sell the words, ideas and actions I think might make me desirable to others, often against my own better judgment, in order to get the emotional validation I need to survive. And every day I play the role of a junkie. I feed my addictions, supplying relentless cravings with products, entertainment, daydreams and relationships that are bad for me." (pg 15) Can you deny it?

Tim Huff respects and learns from the people he meets on the street. He is impressed by the strength and dignity of people who have been dealt unimaginable blows. Pity is not a theme in his writing, although sorrow, anger, and indignation appear. So do humility, awe, and a deep appreciation for relationships without pretense. One by one we are introduced to his friends as Tim shares with us what so impresses him with each person.

I couldn't read this book in one sitting. Each chapter is dedicated to one person's story and I found, especially at the beginning, I could only "meet" one person at a time. It took some time to process that person's story before I went on to the next. Some made me cry, some made me very angry, many made me wish I could meet that person face to face for a big hug. Every story helped chip away at that invisible wall between "us" and "them." I hope it does the same for you.

Bent hope : a street journal by Tim Huff. Published in 2008 by Castle Quay Books. ISBN: 978-1-894860-36-9.

Elijah of Buxton

2008-12-01T07:06:00.000-08:00

Buxton, Ontario was founded by Rev. William King who bought land to provide homes for escaped and newly freed slaves. Elijah of Buxton is a fictionalized account of the first child born free in Buxton. Elijah himself is a kindred spirit to Tom Sawyer. He gets involved in all sorts of escapades involving family, friends, and community members - practical jokes, fishing, money-making schemes, even kidnapping and daring rescues.

Author Christopher Paul Curtis, has received multiple awards through his writing career including Newbery Honor and Medal, Coretta Scott King Honor and Medal, the Golden Kite award, and, most recently, the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award for Elijah of Buxton. It was the TD announcement that prompted me to read this book and I'm very glad I did.

Eleven-year-old Elijah does a fair bit of growing and learning through the course of this story but this is not a heavy coming-of-age story. There are a lot of laughs but it isn't just a comedy either. Neither is is a history book although I learned some history by reading it. Elijah of Buxton is a brilliantly-told view of the world through the eyes of a boy - sometimes brave, sometimes "fra-gile," sometimes wise, sometimes dangerously naive, but always interesting. It's written and published for children but I would recommend it to any adult as well.

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis. Published in 2007 by Scholastic. ISBN: 987-0-439-93647-7.

When necessary use words

2008-11-27T09:57:00.000-08:00

The greater the object in motion, the more difficult it is to change its direction. This description of momentum also applies to non-physical bodies. For years, now, critics have been urging the Christian church to shift its focus from fighting over who's right on doctrinal details, to focusing instead on caring for hurting people in this world. There is a lot of hurt in our world and it's not confined to any particular demographic or location.

We are seeing a change in direction in North American christendom, especially in the last five years or so. One of the more vocal proponents for change has been Mike Pilavachi who has been working with disenfranchised people (ie those who hope to someday reach the poverty line) in the US.

Pilavachi's book, When necessary use words, looks at the establishment church and contrasts it with offbeat congregations, grassroots outreaches, and personal stories of people struggling to make sense of their difficult lives. It's not so much a condemnation of where the church is now, as it is a call to step up and move forward, treating people as people rather than conversion targets.

If you're looking for heart-warming stories, there are a few woven in. If you're looking for a how-to manual on setting up a project, you won't find it here. What you will find is a firm but mostly gentle push towards a more obviously caring church.

"...it's vitally important that we stand up for righteousness and don't water down biblical truths to fit in with society, but we seem to have so poorly represented Jesus that most people couldn't tell you what He is for.
"...Jesus is loving, compassionate, full of grace and mercy, kind, humble, forgiving, and passionate. Would people outside of the Church say the same about us?" (pg 64)

When necessary use words : changing lives through worship, justice, and evangelism. Written by Mike Pilavachi. Published by Regal in 2007. ISBN: 978-0830738144.

Out of the question...into the mystery

2008-11-25T09:14:00.000-08:00

Leonard Sweet is recognized as a theologian/philosopher. Theologians are noted for dealing in rules and details, and philosophers for playing with theories and ideas, but Sweet doesn't live in that box. In Out of the question, Sweet very quickly makes it very clear that he is disenchanted with rules-based- or theoretical religion:

"...we need something more biblical than higher standards. We need higher relationships. We need less to be 'true to our principles' and much more to be true to our relationships...Our problem...is that we've made rules more important than relationships." (pg 2-3)

This theme continues as he looks at how religion has so often been used to excuse or justify horrible behaviours:

"There is a world of difference between superficial obedience and substantive relationship, between obeying orders and doing the rught thing. You can do the right thing in a strictly ethical or juridicial sense and still be wrong...Sometimes obedience is an abdication of moral responsibility, as the German church discovered through the lessons of World War II." (pg 53)

This is not a new theme. We're hearing it all over the place these days. What makes this book stand out is where Sweet goes once he's made his case for change. Most of this book is spent in deep examination of how we relate to each other in contrast to how we could be relating to each other. There's no denial that relating to people is difficult. Sweet at times describes relationships as chaos, porcupine-like, full of conflict, misunderstandings, and tension, and just plain hard work but the bottom line is, it's all worthwhile.

This is not a "Seven easy steps to..." workbook. We're not talking about patching up a few cracks on the surface. Being a philosopher, Sweet digs, exposing the roots of why we do what we do and shows us what changes in our foundational beliefs are needed to truly bring about change in our day-to-day interactions with others around us. Digging down deep is not easy but the change that results is genuine.

Out of the question...into the mystery : getting lost in the Godlife relationship. Written by Leonard Sweet. Published in 2004 by Waterbrook Press. ISBN: 978-1578566471.

The caliph's house : a year in Casablanca

2008-11-24T08:11:00.000-08:00

Anyone familiar with Peter Mayle's huge hit "A year in Provence" will know what to expect with The caliph's house by Tahir Shah. At least, the format and situation will be familiar. Shah, a struggling author of Anglo-Afghan descent, uproots his young family from their stifling British existence and moves them to Morocco. What follows is a tale of renovations gone very, very wrong, and a struggle to move with and in and around the new culture without being completely taken over by it.

The author's blurb at the back of the book jacket reveals that Shah and his family still live in Casablanca so you know they stick with the move despite circumstances that would have sent me packing a long time ago.

This kind of writing is less about long-term plot development and more about stories of day-to-day events so knowing the pattern and the outcome don't detract from the reading. If you're curious about life behind the walls in Muslim north Africa, here's a peek at what goes on. Granted, it's from a Western point of view but that only makes it easier for Western readers to understand.

Shah does not write himself in as a hero in this story. In fact, there are times he shows himself behaving badly. There are times I want to wring his neck on behalf of his wife and children but the story itself is fascinating. If you enjoy armchair travel or misadventures of (almost) normal blokes, this could well be the book for you. If you're at all squeamish, there will be some sacrifice descriptions you will want to skim over.

The caliph's house : a year in Casablanca by Tahir Shah, was published by Bantam in 2006. ISBN is 987-0-553-80399-0.

The omnivore's dilemma : a natural history of four meals

2008-11-19T13:15:00.000-08:00

"'What am I eating? And where in the world did it come from?' Not very long ago an eater didn't need a journalist to answer these questions. The fact that today one so often does suggests a pretty good start on a working definition of industrial food: Any food whose provenance is so complex or obscure that it requires expert help to ascertain." (pg. 17)

Michael Pollan will have you asking those same questions. Pollan is an investigative journalist with several book credits under his belt. Not all of them are about food but he does explore the theme further and with good reason. One of the things that has changed significantly in our world and within our collective memory is what and how we eat.

By and large, we are a trusting population. We assume that, barring any recalls, if it's on the grocery store shelf, it must be safe to eat. We can't pronounce half the items on the ingredients list but they're in everything so it's no big deal. Besides, we're constantly bombarded with conflicting health information so it's easier to just ignore it all.

In bite-sized pieces (I had to work that in), Pollan takes the reader through his experiences in looking deeper into four representative meals - ranging from MacDonald's drive-through dining to gathered from the wild. Although the facts are clearly stated, this is not a heavily analytical book. It is more a looking-over-the-shoulder-of-the-author/adventurer read. Pollan is a story teller whose mission is to pass along what he's learned.

Now he may not tell you what you should or shouldn't be eating, but he will make you think about it. If you read and like this one, you may also want to try The botany of desire : a plant's-eye view of the world, (2001) or In defense of food(2008).

The omnivore's dilemma : a natural history of four meals by Michael Pollan. Published in 2007 by Penguin. ISBN: 978-0143038580

Walk on : the spiritual journey of U2

2008-11-18T01:00:00.000-08:00

You don't have to be a U2 fan to get a lot out of this book. The purpose behind writing may have been to chronicle U2's spiritual journey, but there's a whole lot more at stake here because Walk on takes you on your own journey of spiritual evaluation. Author Steve Stockman, doesn't pull punches when describing U2's relationship with the church.

"The Christian community seems to have confined its definitions of faith to various precise behavioral patterns and cliched statements of faith. In getting caught up in the minutia of behavioral codes that have had more to do with respectable middle-class behavior than biblical guidelines, many have been so obsessed with the cigar hanging out of Bono's mouth that they are missing the radical biblical agenda that has fired his life and work." (pg.3)

It's hard to read words like that without thinking about my own response to taboo behaviour. What's really important? and how well equipped am I to make that judgment on someone else's behalf?

The church isn't the only group U2 has fought. In fact, they've been hit on all sides:

"The press...have been quick to have a go at [Bono] for his do-gooding, telling him to stick to the music. Condemning someone for trying to save lives and help others is a remarkable indictment on third-millennium priorities. It is remarkable how human beings can be so belligerent about people trying to do good. Let us lambaste people who are trying to feed the hungry or fight for drugs for the dying. When did it become a crime for someone, no matter how successful or rich he or she is, to love their neighbor?...How far from the hippy dream has music moved when it is more useful to make a number-one single than keep people alive?" (pg. 193)

I don't know about you, but if I were being attacked on all sides for what I was doing to help someone else, I'd wear out pretty fast. Bono is often characterised as the quintessential brawler - someone who jumps into the fray with both arms swinging and without considering the consequences - but I think he must be a very patient and steadfast man to continue fighting for causes we all know are right while the rest of us would rather snipe at the workers than get our hands (and hearts) dirty by helping.

You don't have to know the music or agree with the methods. The book is still worth reading. It made me think.

Walk on : the spiritual journey of U2 by Steve Stockman. Revised edition published by Relevant in 2005. ISBN: 978-0976035756

Some lighter reading

2008-11-17T09:18:00.000-08:00

I like stories that feature real people in true to life situations. The people can be fictional as long as they come across as real. Cookie cutter characters with interchangeable names frustrate and confuse me. (How do you tell them apart from one book to the next?)

Sometimes, though, I look for something much lighter. I don't want cardboard but I don't want the weight of someone else's struggles on my shoulders either. That's when I go looking for diversionary reading and one of the top series on my diversionary list is Elizabeth Peters' series about Amelia Peabody, Victorian feminist, Egyptologist, and amateur detective rolled into one.

Amelia was first introduced in 1975 in Crocodile on the sandbank. Set in 1884, Amelia decides to spend her recent inheritance on travel and ends up rescuing a young woman from kidnapping. The women also participate in some excavating much to the frustration of men who are working in the same area. Amelia is as opinionated and bull-headed as her friend, Evelyn, is gentle so the two work well together while infuriating the men.

18 books later, Amelia is still going strong. The cast of regular characters has grown and the characters themselves have grown and matured over time. While each story stands on its own as a mystery, the stories combined provide a wonderful (though somewhat unbelievable) family narrative. (How many dead bodies can one family deal with before the local authorities start asking new questions?)

Most, if not all, of the series is available on audiobook. Barbara Rosenblatt is narrator par excellence. Her voices are wonderfully done and they don't get in the way of the story. Some of the audiobooks have conversations with the narrator at the end. Those are well worth listening to.

Elizabeth Peters herself has a PhD in Egyptology and has received awards for her mystery writing so you know the background information is solid and the writing is well done. Peters' other mystery series stars modern day art gallery curator, Vicky Bliss.

For a full listing of the Amelia Peabody series, check out http://www.ameliapeabody.com/bookshelf.htm

Alcatraz versus the evil librarians

2008-11-10T13:16:00.000-08:00

The target market for this book may be pre-teens but put "evil librarians" in the title and I had to at least take a look. I saw Alcatraz versus the evil librarians on the audiobook shelf at work and took it right home to listen to. Author, Brandon Sanderson, is the reader and does an excellent job. Like the best children's movies, there was lots of humour for the adults too. The premise was innovative, the plot fun, and the details made it all work.

Take a ward of the State, who has been bounced around from foster home to foster home, and tell him that the klutziness that drives him and his guardians crazy, is actually his greatest asset. Tell him that he is not a societal misfit, but a hero in the making with undeveloped superpowers. Tell him that the rule makers and enforcers who have governed his life and made him miserable, really are evil. Tell him that he is surrounded by friends and people who need him. - Tell him all that and then watch the story unfold.

That's Alcatraz - It's fun, it's subversive (in a fun way), and I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel.

Alcatraz versus the evil librarians by Brandon Sanderson. Published by Scholastic in 2008. ISBN is 987-0439925525.

Where the river ends

2008-11-07T12:16:00.000-08:00

Most of the people who like stories centered around people rather than events or action are women. Even among biography readers, men tend to gravitate towards the events and accomplishments while women tend to focus on feelings and character development. That makes Charles Martin, author of Where the river ends, an anomaly.

Where the river ends is Martin's sixth book and all six books detail the inner struggles of a (usually male) protagonist as he comes to terms with difficulties in his life. The difficulties are usually major losses and the protagonist emerges battle-scarred and weary, yet stronger for the fight. I'd like to think that Martin is providing his largely female audience with a sneak peak/inside view of the average man. Granted, that average man looks like a hero by the end of the book, but Martin's underlying message is that, given the do or die options, any man would do the same. Any man could be a hero.

In Where the river ends, Doss Michaels, takes his wife for a promised canoe ride, from start to ocean, down the Moniac River in southeastern USA. The ride is complicated by the fact that Doss' wife, Abigail, has advanced terminal cancer and a powerful and possessive father who would rather see his daughter "safe" in a hospital bed. Doss has essentially kidnapped his wife from the hospital and stolen enough narcotics to keep her comfortable so Abigail can complete her own "bucket list." Backwoods muggers, state troopers, and an impending tropical storm all wreak havoc on the journey.

Following a brief prologue, the story starts with the departure for the canoe trip. But it's not long before you're carried into the past as memories of how they met, and how they ended up together are interspersed with narrative of the trip. It's a journey within a journey as the past explains the present and pushes inevitably into the future.

We see Doss reap what he sowed in his youth - he didn't have an easy life and he certainly got into trouble, but he built strong relationships, garnered respect, and developed a solid work ethic, so people were and are there for him when he needs them most.

What I like most about Charles Martin's writing is that, when his stories end, the trials aren't over. These aren't neat little episodes tied up in happily-ever-after packages. You know there was stuff that happened before the book and more stuff to happen afterwards. It leaves me feeling like the character is more alive and real than many other storybook characters are. However, as a reader you are left satisfied that the story has been told. I hate cliff-hanger/soap opera books where the reader is left on a hook until the next book comes out. When I finish a book, I want to be at the end of the story, not in its middle. The character may live on for more stories (we all have many stories in us), but I want each story to end when the book is done, not just stop.

Although I love his books, I have to be in the right mood to read something by Charles Martin. He doesn't write easy-read stories. He takes his readers through strongly emotional journeys. They aren't always heavy or negative, but they are emotional. Pick your time wisely, and have something light to read as a chaser, but do give him a try.

Where the river ends by Charles Martin. Published by Broadway Books in New York, c 2008. ISBN 987-0-7679-2698-0.

The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society

2008-11-06T11:08:00.000-08:00

You must admit, the title alone is intriguing. What is potato peel pie, who would eat it, and what does it have to do with something as pretentious as a literary society? The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society is a novel written by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It's set up as a collection of letters exchanged in post-war England starting January 1946. Juliet, the central correspondent, is a newly popular published author struggling to start her next book. On the one hand, she doesn't want to disappoint her fans. On the other, she doesn't want to write more of the same.

At the same time, Juliet, like the people around her, is trying to come to terms with life after the war - why is there more rationing now that the war's over? how long until my flat is resurrected from that pile of rubble? why didn't I know what happened in Guernsey? and above all, how can I make up for the lost time?

You can't regain lost time but you can try to make sense of what happened and that's exactly what Juliet intends. A letter from someone who found her name and address in the flyleaf of a book he bought secondhand, starts a whole new set of friendships with island dwellers who were cut off entirely from the mainland during German occupation. These people are hungry for news, both old and new and Juliet is happy to oblige.

I found this to be a wonderful story and a thoroughly enjoyable way to learn a little history. It doesn't take long for the characters to come to life. I learned as much about them through their writing styles as I did through the contents of their letters. Their many stories are varied so the novel doesn't come across as a heavy or hopeless book despite the fact that horrible things are talked about. Hilarious things are talked about too.

I enjoyed the structure of the book. Although I wouldn't want a steady diet of reading other people's correspondence, it's fun when well done and this one is well done. No other text is inserted except for an introductory line before each letter telling you who wrote it - much better than skipping down to the signature for each letter.

Two other books I would recommend in a similar format are Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn, and Life on the refrigerator door : notes between a mother and daughter by Alice Kuipers. Don't read the refrigerator door book without a box of tissues handy.

If you like fictionalized history or reading about ordinary people's lives, The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society is a must read. I've seen it in hard cover and audio book. It's published by Dial Press, August 2008. ISBN for the book is 987-0-385-34099-1.

Get me a book!

2008-11-03T17:17:00.000-08:00

I don't sell or distribute books except when I'm working at the library. This blog is not a book distribution forum. If you want to read something that I have recommended, you can borrow it from a friend, borrow it from a library, buy it from your local bookseller, or buy it online.

I can't tell you who your friends are or what books they have, but I can tell you that if you don't see the book you're looking for on the library shelves, and you can't find it in the catalogue, you should ask library staff to get it for you. They might be able to borrow it from another library or, if enough people ask for it, they might decide to buy it themselves. If you don't ask, you won't get it.

If you want your very own copy and can't find it at your local bookstore (assuming you still have one of those wonderful places in your neighbourhood), ask for it. They might have more copies in the back. It might be on back-order. They might special-order it in for you. If you don't ask, you won't get it.

If you don't have a local bookstore, or they can't help you, you can still purchase online and have books delivered right to your doorstep. Here in Canada, our favourite online bookstores are chapters.indigo.ca and amazon.ca They also connect you with more reviews than just mine so you can get a second (or tenth) opinion.

If the book you want is older and hard to locate, try alibris.com - it's like ebay for second-hand books. (I know, very dangerous!) Again, more reviews plus a choice of vendors, prices, etc.

As a last resort, you could try contacting the publisher of a very elusive book to find out which of their distributors has the last copies of that gem. If no copies are available, they might tell you if a re-print is likely. If you don't ask, you won't know.

So get on out there, ask for books, and READ!

Carol

Who cares what Carol reads?

2008-11-01T16:11:00.000-07:00

Reading is not generally considered a social activity but I like to read and I like to talk about what I've read so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that much of my social life is centered around books. In fact, much of my life is built around books - I work in a library, I volunteer in a different library, I teach library skills, and I hang out at the library or book store when I have time on my hands. There are books in every room and hallway of my house - on shelves, piled on tables, on the floor, beside the bed, under the bed, on the couch, beside the chair, in the cupboards, but not in the dishwasher...We don't have a dishwasher.

I was 3 years old when I learned to read, and 6 when I first organized my books into a library, complete with spine labels, and a sign-out system. (It was the only part of my room that showed any sign of order or organization.)

I'm a compulsive reader - I read junk mail, cereal boxes, magazine covers in the cashier lines, and the fine print on just about anything, provided it happens to be in front of me. I would rather read than go shopping, talk on the phone, play on the computer, go out for dinner, watch TV, go to a movie, or play sports, which goes a long way toward explaining how I end up reading 300-400 books a year.

The scary part for me isn't the sheer volume of stuff I read - after all, I can't imagine it any other way. What scares me is how much of what I've read and liked or didn't like still rattles around in my head! In my life, most conversations either revolve around or at least refer to books so the data is constantly being reinforced. However, I'm beginning to think that it would be safer to store some of the information in an external file - something accessible to the people who count on me for book recommendations but can't always find me when they need something new to read.

I can't guarantee that we'll always agree on what constitutes a good book, or that your reading tastes are as eclectic as mine. (I tagged one of my all-time favourite books on Library Thing and discovered that no-one else had ever selected it.) I'm not fond of pulp fiction and I have a very low tolerance for violence, horror, or smut but that doesn't mean they will never appear in something I recommend. (I can skim obnoxious paragraphs in the interest of continuing with a good story.)

I read adult books, picture books, and stuff for all ages in between. I read fiction, non-fiction, and reference, (and in my home collection I file biographies under fiction).

Some of the books will get "real" reviews. Others will just get a sentence or two, possibly accompanied by a quote or two. I'll try to include complete information re author, title, publisher, ISBN etc but that might not be available for some of the older books. Please do not try to order books through me. Suggestions for getting your own copies will be in my next posting.

The bottom line for this blog is to encourage you to find and read the good and great books in the vast sea of reading material out there.

Carol