Author Archive
This year’s Wisconsin Book Festival begins tomorrow, October 7, and Madison book lovers should not miss this event. The theme this year is “Courage” and many Wisconsin authors are featured. The list includes Michael Perry, Lorrie Moore, Terese Allen, Linda Barry, Jane Hamilton and David Rhodes.
The Festival highlight will be the keynote from Wendell Berry, the famous essayist, poet and novelist. Unfortunately the tickets for that event are already distributed. However, there are many other great programs to look forward to including programs with: Gregory Maguire, Novella Carpenter and Michelle Wildgen, Lorrie Moore and Michael Perry at the Orpheum and Jonah Lehrer, Jane Hamilton and David Rhodes at Overture. For more tips on where, when and what, check out the Daily Page.
In addition to all the other book festival fun, there are also a few more opportunities to discuss and debate the UW’s Big Read choice - Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food - including one at the Central Library on October 11 at 2 p.m.
October 6th, 2009
Mary K. - Central
Jeffrey Zaslow is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal. One of his columns was about lifelong friendships that seem to exist primarily among women. The Girls From Ames: A Story of Women and a Forty-Year Friendship evolved from the responses he received, including one from the Ames group. The 10 women who were friends in high school (there were 11, but one died) and graduated in 1981 are now scattered throughout the country They have a reunion every year. Zaslow was invited to attend, and uses this time to update us on their current and past live. They have had tragedies, challenges and successes.
It is hard to describe exactly why this was a disappointing read. The 10 “girls”, now in their forties, seem personable enough and are very successful in their adult lives. And author Jeffrey Zalow (co-author of The Last Lecture), has a lot of facts about them, their childhoods in Ames and their lives since graduation. Perhaps the fact that Zaslow has all the details of their lives might be part of the problem. He is good at reporting but not as good at conveying feeling and emotions. Also for the most part these are ordinary middle class lives, and even though they are often eventful and rewarding, they are not that interesting to read about. A more general book about women’s friendships and how rewarding long term, life-long friendships can be would have been more interesting. Anyone else have a different response to the book?
September 26th, 2009
Mary K. - Central
The idea of growing vegetables on an abandoned empty lot in Oakland doesn’t seem too unreasonable; expanding to include rabbits, poultry, and even pigs makes it seem like a bigger undertaking, but Novella Carpenter and her partner take it all in stride. Carpenter documents their experiences in her charming and often humorous book Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer. This is more than a book about growing one’s own food; it also describes the neighborhood, the people, and life in what seems a dangerous and deteriorating place.
Novella and Bill relocate to Oakland, into a neighborhood referred to as “Ghost City” and one that could best be described as an urban ghetto. With permission from the owner of the vacant lot next door, they begin gardening there - with a growing season and variety of plants that would be the envy of any Wisconsin farmer or home gardener. Soon they add bees, chickens, and other poultry, and finally 2 pigs.
Although they learn as they go, for the the most part they are successful although they face some unexpected dilemmas with the animals along the way. When they purchase the pigs, they have no idea what they were getting into and, in what is the most amusing section, Carpenter details how they fed them. This involves the decision to dumpster dive for the food (for the pigs <g>). In a nice twist, the dumpster diving turns out to be advantageous. At an upscale restaurant dumpster, Carpenter meets a gourmet chef with experience preserving meat, who then helps her make salami and other sausages from the pig.
This was a fascinating read and an excellent audiobook. Karen White is the perfect reader, who reads as though it is her own story. And the best news of all, Novella Carpenter is on the presenter list for this year’s Book Festival. Her program will be a Book Fest highlight for me.
September 11th, 2009
Mary K. - Central
Post World War II Hong Kong is full of intrigue and danger in Janice Lee’s first novel The Piano Teacher. In 1952 Claire Pendelton, bored and trapped in a loveless marriage, takes on a job teaching piano to young Locket, daughter of a wealthy Chinese couple, Victor and Melody Chen. Locket is a lackluster and disinterested student, but Claire remains on the job because of her curiosity about the Chens and because of her affair with Will Truesdale, the Chen’s chauffeur.
Will, a British expat, was in Hong Kong during the war and has never recovered from his wartime experiences during the Japanese occupation. The story of what happened to him as well as his love affair with the beautiful Trudy during that period, is juxtaposed with current happenings in the city.
Like another recent first novel I read (and liked less), The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, The Piano Teacher explores a turbulent wartime period and gives us a fascinating look at Hong Kong, life in detainment camps, and the ability of some to take advantage of wartime for their own benefit. Of the two, The Piano Teacher is a much more complex and readable book, with a lot more depth in its depiction of turbulent war time history. So if you’re in the mood for some wartime angst and intrigue, give Lee a shot.
August 31st, 2009
Mary K. - Central
The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a very polished and readable first novel, set in Jackson, Mississipi in the early 1960’s. Eugenia ” Skeeter” has returned to her childhood home after graduating from Ole Miss without an engagement ring. She has no plans for her life, except for a vague notion that she might like to write.
Skeeter’s childhood friends are all married and settled, with social lives which feature bridge games and meetings of the Junior League. In their households, black women wear white uniforms and work as maids in white households. They do everything for the families, including raising their children, but are never considered to be part of the family. And Skeeter ends up splitting with her best friend Hillie after Hillie begins a campaign to have bathrooms designated exclusively for the black maids so that the maids do not contaminate the facilities used by the white family.
Unsuccessful in her search for a magazine job in New York, Skeeter takes the advise of an agent who advises her to move out of her parents’ house and get a job as a writer. Unfortunately the only journalism job available at the Jackson newspaper is a column on household hints. Skeeter knows nothing about housework, so she turns to her friend Elizabeth’s black maid Aibileen for answers. This connection, and her falling out with Hillie, prompt Skeeter to write a book about the lives of the black maids. With the help of a determined Aibilleen, she gets the life stories of many maids and is able to publish the book anonymously.
The story is told in alternating chapters by Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny, another maid which made listening to the audiobook a pleasure, with each character assigned a different narrative voice. I highly recommend this book for its portrayal of the time period, the racial strife, and the civil rights movement, as well as insider view of middle class white households in that era. The individual characters all show their strengths and ability to endure and Stockett makes them come alive for the reader.
August 17th, 2009
Mary K. - Central
Adults often enjoy novels that are written for the teen audience. Case in point: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the first young adult novel by Sherman Alexie is a perfect example of a book written for a teen audience that will appeal to all ages.
In Absolutely True, the very intelligent Arnold “Junior” Spirit, is encouraged by a math teacher to leave the sub-par reservation school, where he has often been bullied by fellow students, for the high school in Reardon. Reardon is 22 miles away from the reservation and the school has an Indian mascot and not-surprisingly, Junior is the only Indian student.
His story, told in the first person, is set in the different worlds of the reservation and the school. Junior’s experiences in the school are varied; he makes some friends, joins the basketball team, and has his first girlfriend. While on the reservation he witnesses a lot of poverty and alcoholism, but also strong traditions and family ties.
I listened to this book, but did have some difficulties. Alexie reads it himself and it took some time to get used to his accent. I was able to see him accept the Odyssey Award at the recent American Library Associaton conference and he said that he used his “rez” voice for the recording. So you may want to read instead of listen, especially since the print copy includes many charming sketches done by Ellen Forney.
Alexie uses some of his own experiences growing up on the Spokane Indian reservation and attending a white school to enrich the novel. And his website (www.fallsapart.com) is well worth a look for further insight. Happily for fans, he says that he is at work on a second book, about Arnold’s sophomore year, titled, The Magic and Tragic Year of My Broken Thumb.
July 20th, 2009
Mary K. - Central
When someone marries and settles in a spouse’s home country instead of their own, there will be many cultural differences, and that is true even when language isn’t an issue. These differences can be extreme enough that an enterprising writer may get a book from his or her experiences and perceptions. That is the case for Sarah Lyall, author of The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British, a sometimes entertaining but also sometimes very critical and almost mean spirited look at her adopted country.
Lyall is the London correspondent for the New York Times, married to an English man, and has lived with him and their 2 children in England for more than 15 years. She describes British character traits, with a few of her own experiences added in. The expected topics are covered: private school education and how difficult it was for most young boys, the British stiff upper-lip best demonstrated by the demeanor of the Queen after Princess Diana’s death, excessive use of alcohol, and poor dental hygiene.
It is always interesting to look at another country through an outsider’s eyes, and Lyall’s view is interesting if a bit biased. Many of the commenters on Amazon.com say that Lyall is too negative, and while I am not sure about that, I prefer Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson who also writes about the English, but with more humor. Almost French: Love and a New Life in Paris by Sarah Turnbull is a delightful look at the French by an Australian woman who marries a French man. Both of these writers tell more of their own story, which makes their books more real and appealing.
July 6th, 2009
Mary K. - Central
Peter Feldstein found a unique way to record the history of his small town in Iowa with his book the Oxford Project. It began in 1984 when he took a photograph of each of the town’s 676 residents. His plan was to display them all for the town residents to view. In the introduction, Stephen Bloom explains that Feldstein intended the project to be a social experiment, giving equal billing to each resident without pretense. The photos show the residents dressed “as you are” as Feldstein instructed. There is a wide variety of hats, uniforms, and costumes and even a raccoon and a lion. Every resident is included, even babies.
It seems that Feldstein never intended to return to this project, but it is his return to and resumption of photography more than 20 years later that makes this book so interesting. He decided to try to retake photos of the same people, as much as possible. More than 100 of the original group had died and some had moved away, but most of them were still in Oxford.
This time, along with the original photograph and the contemporary one, there is a narrative written by Stephen Bloom, based on an interview with the resident. Although the photos are fascinating, the brief stories combined with them are what makes the book so interesting. The years have brought many experiences and life changes and these are summarized in just a few paragraphs.
The Oxford Project could be called a coffee table book; it is certainly one that can be looked at and enjoyed repeatedly. It describes the values and life experiences of the interconnected residents of a small mid-western town, who display an unexpected variety of opinions and perspectives.
June 19th, 2009
Mary K. - Central
Fortunately for fans of Nevada Barr’s long running mystery series, featuring Ranger Anna Pigeon, there are many national parks all over the country for Anna to visit or work in. In her latest, Borderline, Anna is on a needed leave of absence following the stressful events of the past year. She is suffering from post traumatic stress and so far has not been helped by psychiatric treatment. Anna and her new husband Paul are in Big Bend National Park on the border of Texas and Mexico and have signed up for a rafting trip, accompanied by a guide and four young students.
Their leisurely rafting trip quickly turns tragic as the raft is destroyed after the crew hits some rocks. Then one of the young people finds a pregnant and dying woman in the water. Anna is able to successfully deliver the baby with a c-section, and as the group is trying for rescue, a sniper begins shooting at them. Anna and Paul work together to save the baby, and get the remaining rafters to safety. All of these events take place in the action packed first half of the story.
The second part of the book takes place on land in and around the park. Anna must care for the newborn baby and try to find out who her mother was and why someone was trying to kill them on the river. She and Paul are staying with the park ranger and his wife, and Anna is not sure what the ranger’s involvement has been in either the shooting or the death of the woman.
It doesn’t really matter that the resolution of the murder is predictable, and obvious about 2/3rd of the way into the book. Barr is an always readable and enjoyable mystery author. The real draw of the series are the national park settings and Anna Pigeon, the strong, durable, and personable heroine.
June 4th, 2009
Mary K. - Central
Some books become popular because readers talk about them and recommend them to others. Of course, there is also publisher publicity, and book reviews to spark interest (not to mention Oprah and other television shows). The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, a first novel by Jamie Ford, seems to be one of the quietly popular books. After a brief stint on the bestseller lists it’s still gaining momentum and has a long waiting list in LINKcat.
Henry Lee is a Chinese-American 12-year-old living in Seattle. He is a scholarship student at a private school where he has no friends and is often bullied and because it is 1942 and wartime, it is very important to Henry’s father that the family is recognized as Chinese; Henry has to wear a button that says “I am Chinese.”
When Keiko, a young Japanese girl begins to attend the school, she and Henry develop an immediate friendship and protect each other from the other students. Keiko’s family is soon relocated as part of the Japanese internment, and Henry is able to visit her at both the temporary housing and the permanent camp.
This story is told in flashbacks alternating between 1986 and wartime. In 1986, Henry is a recent widower, with an adult son, and he has not had any contact with Keiko for 40 years. He discovers that the Panama Hotel is being remodeled and a cache of Japanese family belonging are found in the the basement. These belongings bring back a lot of memories; Henry is actually able to locate some of Keiko’s possessions. With the encouragement of his son, Henry comes to terms with his past .
Parts of this book are appealing: the friendship between the two young people is believable, and the historical depiction is of a time that in many ways seems forgotten today. Jamie Ford has clearly done his research and has some personal family connections to that era.
Despite the buzz I did not enjoy this book as much as I expected. Besides the predictable plot line, there were several factual errors that got in the way. One big one is that even though the internet was not readily accessible in 1986 it still figures into the story. I also did not always find 12-year-old Henry to be a very credible, he is very mature and wise beyond his years.
Although I did enjoy parts of this novel and it has been favorably reviewed, I cannot recommend this book. That said, it may be an ideal choice for a book group, since there is much to discuss and opinions obviously differ.
May 19th, 2009
Mary K. - Central
Sudhir Venkatesh calls himself a rogue sociologist, and it is clear from the opening pages of Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets, that he is no ordinary academic. As a graduate student at the University of Chicago, Venkatesh chose to do his research in the places where the urban poor live. He learned a lot as he went along and often found that traditional research methods did not work. He tried giving a survey during his first foray into the housing projects, and it was a total failure. Venkatesh focuses on both gang life and the everyday life of the residents of the project.
Sudhir (or Mr. Professor as he was nicknamed) visited the Robert Taylor housing project in Chicago over a period of 6 years. Early on he established a relationship with J.T., a drug dealing gang leader. J.T. became his protector and his entree into the world of the projects and that of J.T.’s associates. Sudhir eats meals with the residents, attends meetings, and hangs out with them drinking beer. He is present for many everyday events and some frightening ones such as a drive-by shooting.
Venkatesh spent many hours with J.T. The gang, called the Black Kings, has elaborate structures and rules, and a hierachy that allows J.T. to advance. Sudhir told J.T. that his job looked easy so J.T. decided to prove him wrong by making him an honorary gang leader for a day. Sudhir quickly learns about the discipline and work needed to keep an organization like the Black Kings running smoothly and that a leader must be willing and able to use physical violence to keep the peace. The gang also controlled the project and contributed to the well being of tenants in many ways, not the least of which was to act as the police might, since the Chicago Police Department would not respond to calls from Robert Taylor.
The City of Chicago demolished the housing project in the late 90’s and the residents of Robert Taylor had to relocate. Closing the projects did not end the poverty and drug dealing and abuse, and probably did not improve living conditions for the former project tenants.
Read or listen to this book (also a good audiobook available on cd or through Overdrive) for an in-depth look at poverty and the lives of the poor. This is a first hand and fascinating look into a world that is very unfamiliar to most Americans.
May 5th, 2009
Mary K. - Central
One of the many joys of the Wisconsin Book Festival is the opportunity to hear authors that even avid readers might not be familiar with. I attended a reading with Tom Perrotta (The Abstinence Teacher, reviewed earlier on MADreads), Elizabeth Strout, and Sarah Shun-Lien Byum (also reviewed earlier on MADreads).
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout has been getting a lot of attention, and is deservedly showing up many of the “best of” 2008 book lists. The teacher in her book is retired, but she still is a person of importance in her small home town in Maine. The stories look at her past, and that of her husband and son. These are complex stories, all linked in some way with characters that reappear, so although these are technically short stories, the book reads more like a novel and there is more time to develop each character.
Strout writes beautifully and each story delves deeply into various life experiences. Olive seems to be a difficult and somewhat opinionated woman, but we also see her humanity and come to understand how she became the person she is. I expected to dislike her but it is not long before she becomes a very sympathtic character, as her strength and flaws are revealed.
Sarah Shun-Lien Byum’s Ms. Beatrice Hempel of the Ms. Hempel Chronicles is a young middle school English teacher, still finding her way in life as an adult and as an authority figure. Although she feels uncertain at times, her students clearly like her and relate to her in ways that they would not with an older more experienced teacher. It would be hard to imagine Olive Kitteridge behaving the same way in a classroom.
These stories are also interconnected, with a collection of individual scenes and vignettes. Some are amusing, for example, Ms. Hempel assigns This Boy’s Life to the 7th graders. Tobias Wolff stole school stationary and wrote letters about himself under teacher’s names in order to get into college. Ms Hempel’s assignment to her students to write about themselves on their school stationary has some interesting results. There is a very poignant last chapter set several years later when Ms. Hempel has a chance encounter with one of her students.
These are two excellent short story collections from two strong writers, and even those who rarely read short stories or don’t usually like them, will find much to admire in these books.
April 20th, 2009
Mary K. - Central
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