Two of my Favorite Holiday Reads

I love both of these holiday books and read them every year. I'd elaborate, but the holidays and abnormal snowfalls are taking over my life!!

My Favorite Knitting Books

These 2 books I used quite a bit about learning the process of knitting.

http://www.masondixonknitting.com/

http://www.lelanargi.com/

http://www.elizabethlenhard.com/

http://www.debbiemacomber.com/



I love fiction and these are some of the better knitting stories. Elizabeth Lenhard has three books about teenage knitters. Debbie Macomber is on her fourth Blossom Street Book. I loved the Lela Nargi book as it is full of quotes and is her journey about learning the process of knitting.

How Starbucks Saved My Life -Michael Gates Gill

Sometimes in the winter, I drive my kids through Starbucks for a hot chocolate. We always get a kick out of the friendliness of the baristas. They say things like, "Hey, how ya doin?" " I haven't seen you in awhile". It always seemed disingenuous to me, and a bit corporately contrived. The book was published in Sept. of 2007 and I remember at Christmas last year thinking it would make a good present, especially for my brother-in-law who works in marketing. Well I guess he got something else and I forgot about the book until spotting it at the library shelved under 647? I know it wasn't with the biographies, but I have no idea what dewey decimal 647 is unless I go look. I often find it interesting how "memoir" type books get shelved for sale and at libraries. It never seems obvious to me. My friend David wrote a memoir and they shelved it with the religious material? I read the book and did not find it to be partucularly religious oriented. If you know what you are looking for you can easily find it, but some days I like to browse and see what I find. I was glad to find this book again.

Michael Gill has been fired in his mid fifties from a well paying job and tries consulting on his own for ten years when due to a divorce and new young child he finds himself in need of any paying job. He is hired by Starbucks and begins to realize what work really looks like. I must say I found it a bit humourous to think of the "suit" cleaning a downtown NY Starbuck's toilet. It brought back fond memories of my own working days of cleaning the bathroom at Burger King. If everyone in society had to clean a public restroom once in awhile, the world would be a better place. I admired his desire to do any job given him and to be on time and try his best. I sometimes wish if our younger generation could learn anything from the older generation it would be this strong work ethic. There are also lessons of corporate culture and how that affects employee performance. I found this book to also contain inherent lessons of diversity due to age and color differences of the Starbucks Employees.

The book did not make me want to rush out and get a job at Starbucks or to shop there more often, but it was a lesson in the cliche that life is what you make it. It is important to keep moving with the times and you may have to reinvent yourself , but happiness is always available if you choose it.

The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle -David Wroblewski

A seven day express checkout book from the library is always hard because the pressure is on to finish it in a week despite all of your other obligations. I picked this book up last week as it was a "New York Times Bestseller" only later, after reading it, did I also learn that it was a favorite of Oprah's. I liked the character of Edgar and the dogs, but I felt that overall the story was weak and predictable. Some of the writing is very engaging such as: "You swam in a river of chance and coincidence. You clung to the happiest accidents -the rest you let float by." I found the character of Edgar's mother to be a man's view of motherhood--not at all believable to me a mother of two. There are some surprises along the way. I loved the character of Henry. I was not spellbound by the book I was forcing myself to finish it so that I could return it.

www.edgarsawtelle.com

Stradivari's Genius -Toby Faber

I picked this book up at the library last week and have enjoyed reading the history of five violins and one cello. Antonio Stradivari of Cremona Italy died in 1737, but his leagacy of making string intruments has survived 300 years. Antonio lived for 93 years at a time when normal life expectancy was about 50 years. He outlived 2 wives and three children. The first marriage brought six children and the second marriage five.

This book is a reminder that craftmanship is important. Stradivari constantly experimented with technique and took great pride in his work. It was his lifelong passion. The book's afterword looks at the varied analysis of what the differences were is in his process. Was the wood soaked in salt water? What were the varnish secrets? I think the book is a good reminder that science can't answer some questions. Antonio simply poured his heart and soul into his work and there is no formula to account for that.

The Cellist of Sarajevo -Steven Galloway

This story involves a period when a cellist decides that he will play for 22 days; one for each life taken as a result of a bomb falling on a group of civilians waiting in a bread line. The cellist witnesses the event and plays at the center of the bomb crater. He plays and the war continues around him.

The book follows three main characters through this time period. Kenan is trying to collect water for his family, Dragan's family has left the city, but he has stayed to work as a baker, and Arrow an assassin. They all mourn the city as it was and are desperately trying to cope with the city as it is. Crossing the street and avoiding sniper fire is the new reality. They all learn about the cellist and encounter his playing in different ways. This book is a reminder of the human capacity to rise above hatred. A favorite line from the book is: "She didn't have to be filled with hatred. The music demanded that she remember this, that she know to a certainty that the world still held the capacity for goodness. The notes were proof of that." Music does have healing powers and the cellist is trying to heal himself and to honor the lives that were brutally taken. This book is a quick life-affirming read.

Mary Margaret Meets Her Match and Mary Margaret Mary Christmas - Christine Kole MacLean

I had read the two previous Mary Margaret Books a few years back and couldn't resist making my reading collection complete. I was at Treehouse Books and see that Ms. MacLean will be signing her newly released Mary Margaret book on November 1.

Mary Margaret is a wonderful character. She is nine and very full of herself. I loved the Christmas book. She is the age where presents are the main reason for Christmas. The story leads up to Christmas with the daily struggles of an elementary aged child. I loved that Ms. MacLean works into the story issues of forgiveness and peace. Sometimes giving, even at Mary Margaret's age is "almost as good as" receiving!

www.christinekolemaclean.com

The World in Six Songs -Daniel J. Levitin

I've been thinking about my favorite Kindermusik teacher,Yvette Odell, and how she had to move from Holland to keep doing what she loves, so when I was walking through Barnes and Noble the other day I splurged. If she were still here, I'd give it to her to read next, but she's probably already heard of Mr. Levitin and his research. In the first chapter, he talks of attending the annual meeting of Kindermusik teachers. He has a very scientific approach to music and the brain. His first book was titled This is Your Brain on Music. This book classifies music into six categories: Friendship, Joy, Knowledge, Comfort, Religion and Love. I'm now thinking about this as I listen to the radio while picking up my kids. Is the song by Three Doors Down, It's Not My Time a comfort song? Sometimes the book got bogged down with science, but overall it was very enjoyable. My favorite quote from the book is:

"What distinguishes us most is one thing that no other animals do: art. And it's not just the existence of art, but the centrality of it. Humans have demonsrated a powerful drive toward making art of all different kinds--representational and abstract, static and dynamic, creations that employ space, time, sight, sound, and movement."

The book talks about some of the earliest cave paintings showing humans dancing. In the chapter on religion, he refers to a ballet that Joni Mitchell recently choreographed in Canada. You can watch a clip of it on You Tube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwNhhRhY1ik

It reminds me again of how intertwined music and dance are and I'm thankful to all of the teachers in the world who know this and practice it in their classrooms. My children have been fortunate enough to do Kindermusik and have teachers that sing and bring in banjo players and teach square dancing. How lucky they are!

If you want to know more about this book go to www.sixsongs.net I learned from his web site that he is coming to Kalamazoo what a treat that would be.

English Textbook

School starts next week. My tenth grader picked up her books a few days ago and I've been reading some of its content. It's good to know that after all of the hassles with the required reading, there is hope for the real English Class! I found the perfect essay in the book on reading lists! It is written by Francine Prose. I've wondered when books like "Life of Pi" became classics. It's good to know that another mother shares my view. Read her essay. It is excellent.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/1999/09/0060648

The next essay from the book I loved was by Anna Quindlen. So many of our high school students are so stressed now. The pressures are much higher than when I was in high school. There are tenth graders taking 4 Advanced Placement Classes. I think it's too much. No one seems to be focusing these kids on what they really want to do in life. It is more about the race to be top in your class. That being said, it does seem like curriculum overall has been watered down to meet the new high school graduation requirements. When will we learn the value of true education and stop focusing on test scores and requirements? I'm more worried about what is at my children's core than their test scores, as Anna writes, that is what will sustain you.

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/oped/Quindlen.shtml

Peeled -Joan Bauer

I loved this book! I've read a few books for this age group that involve freedom of speech and the power of the press, but I think this is one of the best. The story takes place in an upstate New York apple orchard town. The main character, Hildy, writes for her school newspaper. Developers are moving into a town facing tough economic times. I liked the references in the book to Poland's History. Hildy's friend Minska operates a restaurant in town where some of the scenes take place. Minska is constantly inspiring Hildy to carry on based on her own life's experiences. She has a plaque in the restuarant from when the Pope visited Poland which states "The future of Poland will depend on how many people are mature enough to be nonconformists." Minska then tells Hildy about how it felt to be there and hear those words.

The developers are preying on the fear of the townspeople, so there is discussion on fear and truth. Hildy has recently lost her father so she is dealing with her own fears and sees how easily fear can escalate. The story gets to the point where the school paper is shut down which affects the community. Hildy's thoughts about this are: "In case anyone wants to know what it's like in a community when the newspaper goes away, the good news is that it's missed. I'd never understood that without news, people aren't connected."

I think about that as I contemplate the reason why I initially started blogging about books. I was hoping that our local newspaper would take some interest. I've enjoyed my local newspaper for ten years, but it seem like the local flavor has really gone out of it lately. The economy is rough and cutbacks are everywhere and it seemed like they were on to something with "community bloggers". They didn't follow through and I couldn't give up the fun of writing about what I'm reading so I've continued. This sentence really made me think though--if the local paper was gone would it be missed? Can we replace the printed word with web sites? Reading the newspaper has become so much of my morning routine could I do without it? For me personally, it still revolves around the paper connecting me to the community. When I feel that it no longer does that, I will stop subscribing. Either way, my book blogging desire will be there. Minska wisdom from Peeled "My mother," Minska said, "always told me something when I was going to give up. She said, 'Sometimes just getting up in the morning and standing at the gate can bring the gate down.' " I'm not trying to bring any gates down, but it is a lesson in persistence. I'll keep writing about the books I read because I believe it has a value which is independent from a newspaper connection.

www.joanbauer.com

Touching Stars & Sister's Choice -Emilie Richards

These two books continue the Shenandoah Album series for author Emilie Richards. I enjoy how she incorporates Virginia history and quilting into her books. After visiting her web site, she is planning more for this series! They are very fun books.

www.emilierichards.com

We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For -Alice Walker

I picked this book up while looking for "Walden". Both are shelved under essays. The chapters come from different opportunities and speeches which Alice Walker has given. It incorporates some of her poetry and other work and at the end of each chapter is a time for personal reflection. Some of my favorite quotes which come from her poems are:

"We do not know the beginning

Or the end

We only see the middle of things

Which is our own life"

and from a different poem:

"This is the true wine of astonishment,

We are not

Over

When we think

We are."

Alice also calls for action on many of today's world issues. This book is worth picking up and reflecting on.

The Gate Keepers -Jacques Steinberg

"The Gatekeepers" is another book off the dreaded high school list. The book chronicles the annual admission process to Wesleyan University. The admission year is for 1999-2000. I thought some of this information is probably already a bit dated. I did not enjoy the author's style of writing at all. He swings back and forth between students too much. There are about five students who are more featured in the book than others. I found all of them to be annoying. I think of the five highlighted 2 choose Wesleyan and one Native American(chosen specifically for his heritage) doesn't make it through the first academic year there.

Knowing that this whole college game is in my family's near future, reading this book gives you less faith than ever in the processes used. The admission officer in the book has the territory of California and Wesleyan is in New England competing with the Ivy League. I thought as I was reading this how decisions might be much different in today's increased travel cost environment. The kids in the book from California were all flying east for college tours and some were from families with limited means. Will this be happening as much in my children's generation?

My daughter decided to read "Walden" off of the list which is probably a safe bet as the book has been in print for 154 years. Another one that I looked at from the list, but couldn't even finish was by Annie Dillard "An American Childhood" which is also a memoir. I've heard that her other work is good. The memoir is very slow. I thought I would enjoy it as it takes place in Pittsburgh, PA and I used to live there. I found nothing in her story to relate to. I think I'll try her fiction. Ironically, she used to teach at Wesleyan and did a thesis project on "Walden". I think I'll return to books that aren't on a teacher's list now.

First Boy -Gary Schmidt

Cooper Jewett has been raised by his grandparents on a New Hamshire Dairy Farm. When his grandfather suddenly dies, he is left to keep up the farm. At the same time strange things are happening in New Hampshire with the political primary season. One of the candidates comes to Cooper's school and proposes that Cooper join him on the campaign trail. Cooper faces an identity crisis similar to most teens, but complictaed by his grandparents denial to be upfront with him about his own parents. He loves his New Hampsire life, but wonders about the rest of the world as well.

I enjoyed the writing quite a bit. When dealing with his sense of loss, Schmidt writes, "..whatever it was that had stopped in him when his grandfather had died still hung broken. He felt it deep, like a stone too big to heft out of the garden. He just had to hoe around it and make do." I like that nurture wins over nature-- themes that Mark Twain obsessed over as well. I thought the story line itself was a bit far fetched. Nonetheless, it was fun to read.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius -Dave Eggers

I picked this book off of my daughter's summer reading list. She has chosen The Catcher in the Rye as her fictional work and then she had to pick from a list of 16 nonfictional books. It is worthy to point out that of those 16 choices, 10 were from male authors and 3 female. Of those 3 female author possibilities, one The Glass Castle was also on the list last year so she had read it for her freshman english class. So, for those of you counting that is 2 female authors, and 10 male! For those of you who may have never read The Catcher in the Rye, it is also about male adolescents.

With that prologue in place, I probably would have never come to this book on my own. It is good to get out of your comfort zone once in awhile. I can see why it is on the list because it too is the ramblings of a young man. Will my daughter enjoy it- no she will hate it. She is narrowing down the list trying to find something she can tolerate. I don't think this one will be it. This is a "heartbreaking" story of a 21 year old man who loses both of his parents to cancer within a few months and then becomes a co-guardian with his sister of their 8 year old brother. The setting is mostly San Francisco and some Chicago where Dave Eggers grew up and his parents died. The time frame is the mid 1990s as I often found myself wondering why he spends so much time going to pay phones! Cell Phones have absolutely exploded in use in the past ten years. He worries about his younger brother quite a bit, but also befriends him in the way only a brother could.

As with any memoir, I was curious what has happened since. The book was published in 2000 so it has been eight years. The brother seem to manage his growing up unfortunately the sister takes her own life. The author holds nothing back in his glimpse at the few years following the parent's death. We learn of the father's alcoholism and every sexual escapade the author has. Quite frankly to me, it got a bit boring after awhile. Granted I have never been a young male, but all of the brutal honesty about running naked on the beach and having your private parts hurt was a little much. Then of course there is the overuse of the word "fuck". A glimpse at the very last paragraph of the book will give you an idea, I counted 22 times in that paragraph alone.

Some of his ramblings I enjoyed and I realize that honesty makes for good writing. This book was a runner up for the Pulitzer Prize so some hot shots must have loved it. Towards the end of the book he goes back to Chicago for a visit and I could totally relate to visiting the house you once lived in etc. The scene of him scattering his mother's ashes in Lake Michigan is also very vivid. The author has talents as most of his descriptions are vivid and memorable. Some unfortunately fell under my current lingo of TMI(too much information).

Well looking up his current life on the internet, the most obvious things out there are that he won a TED Prize for "Once upon a School". If you have never been to the TED website:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dave_eggers_makes_his_ted_prize_wish_once_upon_a_school.html

I urge you to go there and listen to his speech. He obviously cares about the state of our schools and is working to involve local communities more. During that lecture, I found a "want to read" for my list it is called Waiting to be Heard it is written by high school students and what they think about today's world. It was written by students at Mr. Eggers tutoring center in San Francisco. I'll blog about it once I get my hands on a copy. In the meantime, it is back to the dreaded list with my daughter to find something she could get through for her school requirement. Maybe I'll even suggest a few for the teacher's list to balance the male female ratio a bit!

Drinking the Rain -Alix Kates Shulman

At 50, Alix Shulman decides to live remotely on a Maine Island while working on a book. I picked this book up on our recent trip east and enjoyed reading it. The book encompasses ten years of her life. I was amazed at how self sufficient she became in a short period of time. She learns to eat what is available near her small electricity/plumbing free cabin. I loved the way she began the book with this quote by Franz Kafka: " You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, be quite still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet." The quote was part of the reason I bought the book while on vacation and the memoir was equally as good.

www.alixkshulman.com

The Seer of Shadows -Avi

I read this book on the bus for my daughter's filed trip last week to Greenfield Village. It was a long day, but it was a nice charter bus and I finished the whole book. It was fun to be reading a story from 1872 at the same time we viewed many things from Thomas Edison of the same era. This book involves the early days of photography and a young apprentice named Horace Carpentine. I enjoy books that also involve historical themes and Avi does a good job of explaining life at this time. Even the concept of being "apprenticed" out must seem foreign to children of today. Horace starts to develop pictures that contain the image of a deceased girl named Elenora. He befriends the black servant girl of Elenora's aunt and learns more about the girl's tragic death. Pegg, the servant, and Horace work to solve the mystery of the images and help Eleanora rest in peace.

There is lots of description on the photographic process and how day to day life was at this time. I found the overall story to be a little weaker than some of Avi's better known books. My younger daughter loved the "Poppy", "Ragweed" and "Poppy and Rye" books. My absolute favorite Avi book of all time is "Nothing but the Truth". It is even more relevant to me today with all of the scandle over the West Ottawa valedictorian not being able to quote the bible in his commencement speech. Read "Nothing but the Truth" --it is a real education on freedom of speech!

My Favorite Maine Books

Here they are my favorite Maine books! While thinking about an upcoming vacation, I started the reminisce about time spent living there. My children were both born in Maine. What a beautiful state and you too can travel there in a book!

Harriet Beecher Stowe
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Rachel Field's "Hitty" is one of my all time favorite children's books. It is the travel adventure of a doll through 100 years.

"Miss Rumphius" is another children's treasure from Barbara Cooney. It emphasizes to children their responsibilty to make the world more beautiful.

Robert McCloskey's simple tale "One Morning in Maine" is about Sally and her lost tooth. I read it numerous times to my children when they were around five and fascinated with loose teeth.

Linda Greenlaw in the nonfiction book "The Lobster Chronicles" talks about being female in the very male dominated profession of lobstering.

"Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" is by Grand Rapids own Gary D. Schmidt. (No relation to me--Schmidt is a very common name!) It is a race relation book from 1912 in Phippsburg, Maine and nearby Malaga Island. The State takes the island from a poor community of interracial squatters. The story is aimed at middle schoolers and it was a "Newberry Honor Book" I loved this book and hope to get my soon to be middle schooler interested in it before we travel there.

"Charlotte's Web" speaks for itself . What a childhood treasure! E.B. White wrote the book in Maine.

Charlotte Agell was a favorite author of my daughter's when we lived in Maine. I read the season books numerous times. My copy of "I Swam with a Seal" is signed for Danielle. We went to a book signing while living there. Charlotte Agell still lives in midcoast Maine. Visit her at
www.charlotteagell.com

Memorial Day Weekend Reads

These are the three books I've plowed through recently. Two of them I felt a bit rushed on as I had an express 7 day check out from Herrick Library. I had been itching to read them though. I always feel like I've hit the jackpot when I come across a book I'd love to buy on that 7 day check out rack! "The Catcher in the Rye" speaks for itself. It showed up on my 15 year old daughter's summer reading list, so I dug a copy out of my stash and absorbed myself in the world of Holden Cualfield once again. The internet has made all reading so much fun! After reading "The Catcher in the Rye", I spent time looking and wondering what J.D. Salinger, the noted recluse, has been up to. I had forgotten that "The Catcher in the Rye" had played such a role in the shooting of John Lennon. From my limited research J.D. is still held up at 90 years old in New Hampshire. As my teenager watched the fervor of googling, she said I was an internet stalker! I'm just amazed how fast we can get information now--it doesn't mean I'll ever act on it. I just love asking questions that lead to more questions and seeing if my computer can take me there. I did have to tease her that perhaps on a planned vacation east this summer we should drive through J.D.'s New Hampsire town and see what's up? She thought that was a little creepy and I was only kidding. It was nice to visit with Holden Cualfield again. My perspective is so different as a mother not an adolescent. I found myself wondering at the parental philosophy that ships kids off to boarding school. I was obviously thankful that Holden still had his younger sibling Phoebe in his life. Siblings are so important as I hope my children some day realize.

It is kind of ironic that the other two books I read this weekend also have strong sibling connotations. "Run" deals with adoptions and sibling issues and "The Last Lecture" talks about childhood dreams. "Run" is fiction; "The Last Lecture" is a book about a Carnegie Mellon Professor who is dying and the lessons he wishes to leave to his three children.

I managed to make a trip on Memorial Day to visit my own two siblings. What a weekend!

The Aurora County All-Stars -Deborah Wiles

I bought this book at my daughter's school book fair a few weeks ago. I had read "Each Little Bird That Sings" by the same author a few years back so thought I'd give this one a try. By reading the jacket and looking at the picture, I knew I was in for a treat! The book combines baseball, Walt Whitman poetry, a drama queen and a pug dog! How perfect! House Jackson is the main character. He loves baseball, is motherless and reads to a dying neighbor while recovering from an injury. The book combines the fervor of a 12 year old boy, a girl named Frances (who prefers to be called Finesse) and the battle over which is more important a baseball game or a drama production. I loved it! I also thoroughly enjoyed her website/ blog entries and have copied a few of the gems below. Now -- maybe I can get my 11 year old to read it!


http://www.deborahwiles.com/


I took these quotes directly from Deborah Wiles website:

Blogging is how we are finding one another in this ever-bigger world, how we are discovering like voices and minds and hearts. I want to be a part of that discovery. So I'll write about what matters to me, and I'll keep looking for you, your voice, your mind, your heart. It's a symphony true, this searching, in whatever form it takes, as Walt Whitman wrote, as Norwood Boyd and Elizabeth Jackson said, as House Jackson learned. A symphony true:

After the dazzle of day is done
Only the dark, dark night shows to my eyes the stars
After the clangor of organ majestic, or chorus, or perfect band,
Silent, athwart my soul, moves the symphony true.




Frederick Buechner:
"My story is important not because it is mine. . . but because if I tell it anything like right, the chances are you will recognize that in many ways it is yours. Maybe nothing is more important than that we keep track . . . of these stories of who we are and where we have come from and the people we have met along the way because it is precisely through these stories in all their particularity . . . that God makes himself known to each of us most powerfully and personally . . . to lose track of our stories is to be profoundly impoverished not only humanly but spiritually. I not only have my secrets, I am my secrets. And you are yours. Our secrets are human secrets, and our trusting each other enough to share them with each other has much to do with the secret of what it means to be human."

A Three Dog Life -Abigail Thomas

This book is a memoir which chronicles Abigail's life after her husband is hit by a car and suffers brain damage. I picked it up at the book store as the title caught my eye and I too am a dog lover. The cover had an endorsement by Stephen King which says, "The best memoir I have ever read. This book is a punch to the heart. Read It." Pretty heady stuff! I'm not a huge Stephen King fan, but his endoresement was spot on!

The book is written as little vignettes of the author's daily life. Each chapter has a different title and the book is not set up chronologically. The flow of dealing with a before and after story is all still there. I enjoyed her writing of the memoir more as moments. One of my favorite quotes from this book is : "Well, now I know I can control my tongue, my temper, and my appetites, but that's it. I have no effect on weather, traffic, or luck. I can't make good things happen. I can't keep anybody safe. I can't influence the future and I can't fix up the past.

What a relief."

Sometimes, I can't even control my tongue, my temper, or my appetite! It is a relief to realize that nothing else "controllable" is even on the radar screen of reasonableness.

www.AbigailThomas.net

What Now? - Ann Patchett

I have been a huge fan of Ann Patchett for a few years. My favorite book by her is "Bel Canto" This is a very small book that comes from a graduation speech which she gave at her alma mater Sarah Lawrence College. This is a book which I would highly recommend as a gift to any graduate this spring. A favorite quote from the book is "Sometimes the best we can hope for is to be graceful and brave in the face of all of the changes that will surely come. It also helps to have a sense of humor about your own fate, to not think that you alone are blessed when good fortune comes your way, or cursed when it passes you by. It helps if you can realize that this part of life when you don't know what's coming next is often the part that people look back on with the greatest affection." I was crying by the end of this book. Wonderful, Wonderful Writing!!

http://www.annpatchett.com/

Fire in the Heart - Deepak Chopra

I bought this book at my daughter's book fair to give to my teenager for her birthday. I think it is hard to develop spirituality in Holland. There is alot of religion in West Michigan, but not much spirituality. The book focuses on learning about your own uniqueness and appreciating this great gift of life. I really enjoyed the lesson of the rainbow. The teenager asks his spiritual advisor why a rainbow makes him feel good and the response is "Because life is meant to be sweet, and when you see something as sweet as a rainbow, it makes you remember that."

I had never read anything by Deepak Chopra before, but I know that he has a huge following www.chopra.com

Ancient Futures: Learning From Ladakh by Helena Norberg-Hodge

My Friend Yvette loaned me this book. It was publiushed by the Sierra Club in 1991. When I first glanced through the book, I thought wow 1991 was before the explosion of the world wide web how must this "ancient culture" look now? I wasn't sure I would get much out of the book, but it is a wonderful study in sociology. It reminds me a bit of the more recent book called "Three Cups of Tea" which I read last summer. The theme of both books is that western culture and "development" are not necessarily the best way. The book "Three Cups of Tea" has a focus on education of children along western idealogies. Along the way, the author learns from the local people about the benefits to a slower pace of life. This book, Ancient Futures, focus is that we have much to learn from the way things used to be done. There was very little waste by the Ladakh people until they started to "modernize" their facilities. Interdependence was valued, but with the new more wetern ways independence became important. With the culture changes, problems of the west crept in such as depression and isolation.

One of the first things I thought of upon reading this book, was the stories about the Tsunami several years ago that killed so many people. Some of the more indiginous "boat" people in those areas were able to remain safe from the Tsunami as they had a vast culural knowledge of the phenomenon as it was occurring. I guess this was an extreme case of what happens to culture when the relationship to the environment and a respect of nature is lost. It also made me think of all of the "development" according to western standards that are happening in China today. How much of China's ancient ways will be lost in an attempt to modernize?

Closer to home, this book is a reminder to all of us to slow down and appreciate relationships with humans and the earth for what they are--life sustaining.

Fresh Water: Women Writing on the Great Lakes - Alison Swan, Editor

Last Night, I attended the readings at Herrick Library from this book. I had purchased the book last fall and read most of it. I enjoyed seeing the women in person and as they read I began to relax and appreciate the writing again. The book inspired me to try my own hand at an essay. I then submitted my essay to a project that the Holland Area Arts Council was sponsoring and am anxiously awaiting their final product.

It has been a wild week for me and books. I worked the book fair at my daughter's school yesterday and purchased several books that I'm dying to dig into. My friend Yvette gave me two books to read last week which I have begun and last week while at the library renewing a book which I hadn't finished yet, I picked up this wonderful publication called BookPage http://www.bookpage.com/ As I was waiting for my daughter to dance, I read through the book reviews highlighted within and now have several more desirable reads on my list. How will I find time to get anything else done?

Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth -Alice Walker

As an example, here is one stanza from the poem: "When You Look"

That heaven

Is a matter

Not of inventing

Glory

But of recognizing

It.

That the blue sky with its

Sunsets &

Clouds

Is simply

Beautiful. And that is enough.

A great quick read for poetry month!

Your Own, Sylvia a verse portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill

I checked this book out of the library recently to honor April poetry month. The book is written in poems by Stephanie Hemphill with footnotes that chronicle what is going on in Sylvia's life at the time. The book is a quick way to read about the life of Sylvia Plath, but the author has spent an amazing amount of time and research to come up with 246 pages of poetry to detail Sylvia's life. The author's note clarifies that although the book is based on real events and real people, it is foremost a work of fiction. It seems that society has recently been sensitive to the fine line between fact and fiction. Pretty soon all historical books will come with this disclaimer. One of my favorite reads in the past year or so was The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Defintely a fictional genre book, but I certainly learned alot of history reading it!

Inheritance -Natalie Danford

This story swivels between the past and the present. The main character in the book is Olivia Bonocchio. She returns to her father's birthplace in Urbino, Italy after she discovers a deed to a house there in his name dated 1940. The story also takes place in present day 1994 after Olivia's father Luigi has passed away. Part of the story takes place in a week as Olivia is in Italy trying to determine the validity of the deed. The other part of the story, spans Luigi's life as an Italian Immigrant in New York City beginning in 1945. Finally, the end of the book fills in the World War II era and gives a big picture of Luigi's life.

This book reminds all of us of evils in the not too distant past that affected so many numerous individual lives. The fact that Luigi does not become bitter and continues to forage a life for himself is a testament to the human spirit.

www.nataliedanford.com

Not Quite What I was Planning Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure - Editors: Fershleiser & Smith

I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed this quick read. Here are some six word memoirs from the book that embrace my life at the moment.

"I'm my mother and I'm fine." -K. Bertrand

"Secret of Life, marry an Italian." -Nora Ephron

"Fourteen years old story still untold." -David Gidwani

"I'm ten, and have an attitude." -Tillie Seger

That's one quick memoir for each member of my family. My husband is Italian and I have two children one 14 and one 10.

To learn more about this fabulous read go to www.Smithmag.net

The Winding Ways Quilt -Jennifer Chiaverini

This is the twelfth book in a series of books called "Elm Creek Novels". If you enjoy quilting or appreciate quilting as an art form, you will love these books. The character development over the series is amazing as well. You will quickly find yourself thinking of Sarah and Sylvia as your own friends. Sylvia is a Master Quilter who returns, after many years, to her family's estate in rural Pennsylvania. There she befriends a young woman named Sarah and together they turn the estate into a quilt camp. This book chronicles the lives of all of the founding members of the Elm Creek Camp. True to the title, Sylvia is working on a winding ways quilt pattern and the stories are about the different paths the lives of the eight founders have taken. One of my favorite quotes from this book is "..the bonds that unite us are so much stronger than the dozens of petty differences that divide us." Before you leave this book, you will also be thinking of Sylvia, Sarah, Judy, Gwen, Summer, Diane, Bonnie, and Agnes as your friends. If you live in Holland, you will also want to visit the Tulip Time Quilt Show in May. The beauty will inspire you whether you quilt or not!

www.elmcreek.net