Joanne’s Book Club

Before she died, Joanne selected the books that her book club will read for the next year or so. Following is the list of books:

Middlesex (Jeffrey Eugenides) Feb 4 – March 4, 2008
Slammerkin (Emma Donoghue) March 3 – April 8, 2008
Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures (Vincent Lam) April 7 – May 6, 2008
Saving Fish from Drowning (Amy Tan) May 5 – June 3, 2008
Whitethorn Woods (Maeve Binchy) Aug 5 – Sep 9
Atonement (Ian McEwan) Sep 8 – Oct 7
Crow Lake (Mary Lawson) Oct 6 – Nov 4
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) Nov 3 – Dec 2
Birth house (Amy McKay) Dec 1 – Jan 6, 2009
Birth of Venus (Sarah Dunant) Jan 5 – Feb 3, 2009
Eat Cake (Jeanne Ray) Feb 2 – Mar 3, 2009
Suite Francaise (Irene Nemirovsky) Mar 2 – Apr 7
Memory Keeper’s Daughter (Kim Edwards) Apr 6 – May 5
Marley & Me (John Grogan) May 4 – June 7

Darryl

27 March 2008

Amish Grace

Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy by Kraybill, Nolt and Weaver-Zercher.


I asked my friend Janice to send me this book when she was finished with it. About 10 years ago, I went on a little "jag" of Amish reading - novels and a bit of non-fiction (this is something I tend to do farily frequently actually). I think it started when my friend Annette lent me a series that was basically Christian fiction, and then I kept going into other novels and a few academic things. I got quite fascinated with the cultural and spiritual beliefs, which are sometimes really hard to reconcile to an outsider.

So, when this topic arose (follow up to the Amish school shootings) I was interested. And... it was interesting - for about 3-4 chapters...... and then I actually just found it fairly repetetive and not a very good book, considering 3 academic "experts" wrote it. It is very worthwhile knowing about a people who have woven forgiveness (and it seems to be true forgiveness) into the fabric of their lives, faith driven. I do suggest that for all... learn that and ponder it. It just isn't a book.

Particulary when there are meaty challenges along the lines of forgiveness that are (in my op;inion) glossed over, such as practices like shunning and excommunication, which seem so foreign and UNFORGIVING to an outsider, and I cant' say much illumination was to be had there.

I happened to know much of what was presented in terms of the customs and practices and that in fact cannot be grouped together anyway since Amish churces are locally govered to begin with. SO I did not find this book enlightening. And I've read others that improved my regard for these gentle people much more than this book.

So.... even too long a review for TOO LONG of a book............ if you can borrow it, great. Otherwise, not sure.......... 3/10. Not enough meat.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

This was just a really good story and novel.

In a nutshell, it is about a successful female author in Great Britain, who hires an unknown writer to write her biography. Up until that point the successful author had not allowed any info about her private life to be revealed and in fact makes up many versions, so that there are literally dozens of life stories associated with her.

In fact, her true life was bizarre and quite unexplainable, you'll have to read the book to find out why! Since she tells her life story at a ripe old age, it mostly takes place sometime around the early 1900s although I'm kind of guessing, I probably missed that detail. English mansion, noble and highly unusual family. There is even a ghost story in there, which usually has me out in the cold right there, but it actually fits and is well written into the book.

There's quite a bit of drama in the book, related back to the unknown author's life, a lot of the mysterious bonds of twins..... BUT...... for the most part it is just a really good book. Kind of a mystery, too.

Anyway, I liked it, very readable...... It won't make my top ten books of all time or anything, but in a time when there is so much junk to read, it was nice to have something that was just an interesting story, well written.

My rating - this is hard, but I'd have to rate it high.......... 8/10

Maeve Binchy in general, but Victoria Line/Central LIne

Maeve Binchy. One of my favourites for those times, when you really need a light book, but you don't want to be totally insulted either. She is just a good old storyteller, which she also admits freely. Although in her novels, I think she used to do a great job of developing characters, her later stuff is less satisfying in that way.

Now this is an early Maeve Binchy, and not her best, but it was IDEAL HOSPITAL reading. Short storied, each based on a person from a stop on the London "TUBE"..... they do connect up here and there in the end, but in my hospital state, I totally missed it.... I know I caught the somewhat clever connections when I read this whole thing the first (or second time) year and years ago.

I can't rate poor Maeve, the book itself is likley only about a 3-4 but the role it and she have played for me over the years is like one of those VISA commercials: sappy but priceless !

Tuesdays with Morrie

You know, here's the thing about "Tuesdays with Morrie". Everyone should just read it. Because. It has a good message, and (in a very hopeful way) examines end of life issues with grace, dignity and some delight.

THe story isn't much - middleage, lost former student of Professor Morrie (Mitch Album) begins visiting on Tuesdays, during the final months of Morrie's life. Both banal and profound life wisdom offered mostly by Morrie to Mitch, always in a loving and gentle way.

So, I say, just read it and enjoy, for what it is and what you will take away. And then, the other half of this recommendation is to stay the heck away from anything else Mitch Albom puts out because it is pretty well junk. His gift was in transcribing Morrie's words and his essence.... his other books of "wisdom", such as "The Five People you meet in Heaven" are just bad, in my humble opinion.

How can I NOT rate this up there....... 7-8/10 a generous score

Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay

This novel just won the Canadian Giller prize, so it was with much hype (of the CBC variety) that I picked up this novel.

I think it deserved the Giller. Well written. A little weird/unique characters/ lots of plots and subplots within what is a character driven book about life in the Arctic, over a time span of just one year. It is all a little weird, if I describe what happened, but if you just read it, and make your own decisions, I think that is the best. Having read some of the other nominees, this one would still be my favourite so far of the entries.....

Interesting characters, well written, and enough weird and quirky stuff to satisfy the critics I think. Personally, I have not read much about our own Artic, so I enjoyed adding this one to my "list".

Joanne's Rating: 8/10 Very good.

THe Glass Castle by Jeanette Wallis

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Wallis

I actually enjoyed this memoir, by Jeanette Wallis, about a totally complete dysfunctional family growing up throughout the United States..... a group of totally innocent children being dragged through a life of homelessness, aided by addiction, mental illness and just plain neglect. Oddly enough, there is still to be love to be found in the family, however, the picture we are given simply could not be much worse in terms of the survival of these children. How they escaped social services, could only be descrbied by frequent moving, and the fact that a mom and dad (more or less happlily married) head up what might just look quirky until you took the time to open a door or two, which apparently did not happen.

It is a memoir, so snippets of her memory and not the entire biography. I have to wonder how much liberty she took with the story, HOWEVER, unlike some of my friends, I did find the story to be believable, I do believe there are children living in these circumstances.

The most amazing thing is that the children have mostly grown now, stumbled along, one or two has sort of thrived, the rest are still being watched over by the other siblings.... And the parents CONTINUE to choose to live on the street, even when they no longer have to.

The book is well written and very readable, and gives an excellent glimpse into another world entirely. Made me remember once again about the determinents of health, and how poverty, ignorance and mental illness just negate any effort to provide relief to a family in need.

I recommended it, even knowning that many people I know did not like it very much at all. Maybe they'll post with the other side of things! Hope so!

Joanne's rating (completely gut based): 7.5/10 Worth it.

Expecting Adam

I loved this book. In a way it suprises me that I liked it so much, because there is a bit of an emphasis on the supernatural, and that is generally not my cup of tea. However, the writing of this book was just so good, with the author skeptical herself, and so somehow, the whole supernatural stuff was tolerable.

This is a memoir, written by Martha Beck about the time that she was pregnant with her son, Adam. Adam is known to have Down's Syndrome from about her fourth month of a difficult pregnancy. Within her environment (Harvard - both are PhD students) she and her husband receive almost no support for their decision to keep the child. The book basically chronicles her experiences, thoughts and her journey. I found it to be just wonderful, with many insightful thoughts that would apply in any person's life.

Martha's name was familiar to me, and I've since remembered that she writes articles for several magazines (I just read one in "O"), I think they are mostly about parenting, life, humorous stuff. And I just loved her writing style, very engaging, very funny and insightful.

High marks from me and I would recommend it: 9/10

Under the Banner of Heaven by jon Krakauer

Non-fiction work about the history of the FLDS (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints).

I continue on my FLDS theme with this work of non-fiction tracing the history of the mormon church, and then specifically the fundamentalist break-away (which basically happened over the practice of polygamy).

I found this book fascinating and it really helped to link and clarify the other personal stories I've been reading about women who escaped their lives in these communities.

It is dark in places, but I think that is simply the truth of the history of this group, like so many other religions and particularly religious zealots.....

High marks from me, but perhaps only due to all my other recent reading? 8.5/10

Escape by Carolyn Jessop

Wow. This was quite the book. Along my mom and I's theme/obsession this fall with the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, this book stands out as an incredible story. It is about a woman who eventually left her polygamous husband, and he was a pretty high-up church guy, high up with Warren Jeffs.

This book gives a nasty view into a world where women and children - boys and girls are systematically abused in the name of religion. And Carolyn Jessop's account is so frightenly similar to the other memoirs and books we've read, that I cannot just dismiss her story as a "one-off". There is evil flourshing in those remote FLDS communities, and the states of Utah/Arizona are only recently beginning to do something to protect these citizens (who usually have their own FLDS police and judicial system).

I found this memoir to be well written, interesting, personal and also absolutely haunting. I do think that more people should read this type of book, I had no real idea of what really was going on in these cults and it is not good.

Worth reading, in my humble opinion, but difficult at times: 8.5/10

Deadly Appearances by Gail Bowen

This is a mystery, written by Regina author Gail Bowen. I believe it is her first novel...... I found it easy to read, and sort of engaging, but I did not find her characters very believable or real, especially her three mostly perfect teenage children (Huh?).

Also, I was so distracted by the Regina setting, disguised for some reason known only to Gail Bowen. The book is clearly set in Regina, yet she changed names - and no, she did not invent new names, she just scrambled them so that they were just weird...... She named the Cathedral "Little Flower Cathedral" for example, she put landmarks on the wrong street, that's just one little example but it drove me crazy..... also she put a Piggly Wiggly in Regina, and the characters smoked Kool's Marlboroughs and Camel's...... I was just irritated.

So...... about a 5/10 from me, but perhaps I am harsh for a first novel?

The Almost Moon, by Alice Sebold

Alice Sebold is the author of "The Lovely Bones" which is such a well written, interesting and vivid book, that a person couldn't help looking forward to this one, despite the fact that the first line of the book divulges that the main character kills her elderly mother. You kind of expect that she would work with another difficult topic with dexterity and maybe grace or insight, etc..

WRONG. This is a dreadful book. It is unrelentingly grim and alternatively just stupid and unbelievable. I did not find one redeeming thing to like about the novel, the characters, the plot - nothing. I think it will be a huge bomb, unless there are a lot of people out there who appreciate some kind of hidden meaning in an absolutely bleak and unbelievable outlook.

Joanne's rating: Bad. 1 / 10 (It gets one point because at least it was short)

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

I'm not the biggest Jodi Picoult reader, although I have read most of her books and they are a very nice easy read, I find them a little "formula" like, and that is a pretty big word for me and book analysis.

Anyway, this is one of her better ones, and certainly most people LOVE it, I always hear it recommended. It is about a family who chose to "breed" an additional child in the hopes of saving an existing child from a blood disease. We had a great discussion at our bookclubs, and one of my good friends has a niece who had a disease similar to the character (sister) and it is so interesting always to note how people's life experiences change they way they see the world.

Worth reading, but isn't my favourite by a long stretch....

My score: 7/10

Cloud Mountain by Aimee Liu

This historical fiction is set in the early to mid 1900's, between San Francisco and China. It follows the marriage of a Chinese man (Paul) and a white woman (Hope) as they marry in the USA (where that is mostly illegal) and then live much of their lives in China, where Paul is an active revolutionary (or counter-revolutionary, or some such political reformist) admidst his family's history of wealth and status under the old empire. The story is loosely based on the author's grandparents real lives, and weaves political events and upheavals along with the ups and downs of their unusual and challenging marriage.

I thought it was a great novel, very well written and very descriptive, as well as being strong in the character development of several main characters. The historical timeline I found at the END of the book would have been helpful for me to have at the BEGINNING, along with the maps of China, which I did find useful. My only complaint was a rather vague ending, so if you read the book, let me know how YOU think it ended!

It seems easy to recommend this one! 8.5/10

Shattered Dreams by Irene Spencer

Recently, my mom and myself have become hooked on the HBO series "Big Love" which is a summer series on the movie channel. It is about a polygamist family living secretly in mainstream society in a suburb of Salt Lake City (rest assured even though the family lives in mainstream SLC, they are still mixed up in the polygamist cult that some of them grew up in, complete with whacky leaders and crazy goings-ons, so that's all in the show too). This fictional show has sparked in us an intrigue about polygamy, fundamentalist mormonism and the likelihood that there is some reality in the show's premise.

Then, my mom spotted a review of this book, which is a real-life memoir of a woman who lived as a polygamist for about 40 years, as a child, and then again as a wife, complete with a nutty polygamist husband and a great variety of cultish communes and settlements in Mexico.

The book is fascinating and frustrating in equal measure. It is easy to get really tired of the main character, Irene, as she continually returns to this abusive, poverty stricken, demoralizing life, over and over and over again. She is completely conflicted between her unhappiness here on earth, and the promise of celestial glory (or eternal damnation if she does not cooperate). At times (most times in fact), you would just like to slap her, and I was fed up with the loser husband well before they were even married.

Still, I found the book to be a page turner. And for anyone with an interest in totally different cultural norms operating within our society, I think it a great descriptive book. She is also still living, touring and speaking, so the whole thing has a very "real" quality.

Joanne's Rating: 8/10

Angry Housewives Eating Bonbons

I would say that most of the member's of my book club, about 2/3 or so, liked or loved this book.

I, however, disliked it fairly intensely. The novel is about a book club over the span of 25 yrs or so, and therefore the lives of the several women who are in this book club. Theoretically, sounds like I should love it. But I found it too long, the characters to be too shallow, some of the situations just too scripted and all that could have been forgiven if not for the lack of discussion about the many books this bookclub had read. They were used as markers for time, no real content about any of the books..... disappointed me in a major way. Perhaps a trivial complaint, but it is what make me feel so passionately negative about this book.

Joanne's rating: 4/10

Consumption by Kevin Patterson

I'll never be able to summarize this book properly, so I've copied excerpts from the publisher:

Consumption is a haunting story of a woman’s life marked by struggle and heartbreak, but it is also much more. It stunningly evokes life in the far north, both past and present, and offers a scathing dissection of the effects of consumer life on both north and south. It does so in an unadorned, elegiac style, moving between times, places and people in beautiful counterpoint. But it is also a gripping detective story, and features medical reportage of the highest order.

Consumption is tuberculosis, an illness previously unknown among the Inuit that wrenches Victoria from her home as a child, changing her family relationships, her outlook on the world and her entire future. As such consumption is a harbinger of the diseases of affluence, such as diabetes and heart disease that come to afflict the Inuit over the four-decade span of the novel. Consumption also defines the culture of post-industrial, urban North America, captured here through Keith Balthazar’s troubled relatives in New Jersey. And when the diamond mine opens in Rankin Inlet, its consumption of northern natural resources seems to symbolize Canada’s relationship with the Arctic and southern encroachments on the Inuit way of life. Consumption is a sweeping novel, of the kind one rarely encounters today: it is an essential book for Canadians to linger over, learn from, and remember.

I don't always agree with publisher's assessments of a book, but I have to say that this one is pretty accurate. I found this book a little difficult to get "into", but it was well worth the read. It was really well-written and it was both a goood story and a insightful commentary about the north. I have not read much set in northern Canada, and so I am quite glad I read this book.

Joanne's Rating: 8/10

Middlesex

Honestly, I have put off posting about this book, and I am still not sure what I think. It won a Pullitser Prize, and there is no doubt about it, the writing is really good. The novel is about a person who is born as a girl, but has a medical syndrome that means she/he is really a hermaprhodite, with male sex characteristics presenting at puberty.

I'm still not sure if I really liked it though, and I'm not sure I really believed the choices the main character makes. But I'm still not really sure.

Mixed review for me...... more like a 6.5 / 10. I can see why others would really like this book though. I'm still not sure.

Miss Julia Speaks her Mind

A fun book. Light, funny, and yet subtly layered. Everyone in my book club loved it.

8/10

If Today Be Sweet by Thrity Umrigar

I enjoyed "The Space Between Us" so much that I couldn't wait to read this newer book, and it did not disappoint. I found it very enjoyable and an easy read.

I noticed that my friend, Fiona, from Sydney, Australia has a great book club and they rate their choices 1-10, so I figured, heck, I'm going to do the same....

Joanne's rating" 8/10