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.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
No time to wave goodbye
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.
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.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Same kind of different as me
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Looking for God
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.
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.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Elantris
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.
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.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Lost in the Amazon
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.
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.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Andean folk knits
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.
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.
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