The Atlas of Love by Laurie Frankel

I finished this yesterday and immediately recommended it to a friend. It's not that it was the absolute best book I've ever read, but it had moments of such insight, clarity, and humor, that it captured me. I think one of the things I enjoyed the most was that this patchwork family of three women who come together to help raise the baby one of them has, are all English Lit grad students. The constant interplay of literature in their lives was like hot fudge on ice cream, certainly not necessary, but once added, turned that plain old scoop of frozen deliciousness into a sundae.

There were many, many moments that  captured me. I blogged about one here and then just nodded in agreement with a number of others. The author has a knack of adding little touches that made the characters and the situation seem very real. (Like the story of the candlesticks that Janey's grandfather gave her grandmother. He brought them back for her from Paris, instead of the perfume most men bring their sweethearts, because he remembered how beautiful she looked in candlelight, and carried that image, and the candlesticks, until he could return to her. I'm betting that's a real story, from Frankel's own family lore, incorporated into the story, with love.) (And, for the record, Janey's grandmother is a fabulous character, reminding me so much of someone close to my own heart, that I'd swear Frankel and I were related, though we're not.)

Anyhow, this is a novel both literary, and lovely. Thank you Laurie Frankel.

Tags: a-favorite-author, books-about-books, didn-t-want-to-put-it-down, first-novel-or-book, i-liked-it, read, satisfying, thank-you-charleston-county-library

I've just fallen in love

You know how you read a book, enjoy the way the author presents the tale, and decide to keep an eye out for other books by that author? Well, yesterday, I stumbled upon one of those "other books". I began reading said book. It's proven to have, at least in these early pages, an unfolding story which I like, characters who interest me, and the promise of a premise which can provide what some folks call "a good read".

Then, this morning, over breakfast, I read this excerpt:

                                                      From The Atlas of Love, by Laurie Frankel

I have found another author who has touched my reader's soul, and clearly had visited my childhood bookself and bookshelf.

The Bodies Left Behind, by Jeffrey Deaver

I usually don't post mass market books or older books to this blog, but since my public library played a big part in my ability to finish this book, I thought I would.  And it also give me the chance to post the reminder that very often, my reviews focus more on my response or thoughts about the book than to plot descriptors.  If I fail to do so, and you want the plot summary, there often can be one found on the inside cover or back of a book, or even on a book review site, or so I'm told. (Tongue firmly in cheek, there.)

I recently went on a trip and packed three books to read. Each one got cast aside for one reason or another, and I was left book-less (or at least as book-less as someone with 17 shelves of books in a mountain cabin be.) As a replacement read, I picked up The Bodies Left Behind. This particular book had been given to us a while back by a friend, recommended particularly for my husband, who had read it, enjoyed it and put it aside. (I just read an article that the art of sentence diagramming is dying, which, as I wrote that last sentence, made me particularly sad.) I apparently had brought it up to the cabin when we moved last winter, either to read it or to release it. I do like good thrillers, though it has been a while since I've read any of the more prolific American authors, but remember that Deaver could pen a good plot. Unfortunately, The Bodies Left Behind became "The Book Left Behind" because I inadvertently forgot to pack it when I went home. Thank heavens for Charleston County Public Library, so that I could check another copy out, find my place, and resume reading before the story grew cold in my mind.

As to the plot itself, nicely done. I was interested in the characters, though, never having met any cold-blooded killers couldn't judge how realistic some characters were. They shared characteristics with enough bad guys in other books to convince me that perhaps, maybe, this is how hired guns are. These types of books certainly are a good learning tool for anyone who wants to know what to expect from psychopaths, and other social deviants and politicians. And, I admit it. I didn't see two of the major plot twists/revelations coming, particularly the one around page 266 of the hardback copy (or 72% according to a progress calculator.) The other nice thing about reading this book? It reminded me that I've liked some of Deaver's other books, so I've got an author to delve back into when I want a thriller.

Tags: bookcrossing, i-liked-it, read, read-on-recommendation, suspense-thriller, thank-you-charleston-county-library 

Raising Cubby: A Father and Son's Adventures with Asperger's, Trains, Tractors, and High Explosives by John Elder Robison

If men are from Mars, and women from Venus, then John Elder Robison is from a whole different universe from me. That's not to say I didn't like the book, because I did, or that I didn't think he loved his son and tried his best to be a good father, because he did. Some brains are wired differently, and that difference makes it hard for those individuals to fit into the world where most of us reside. So when you get an intelligent, articulate, and observant man, who has a differently wired brain, telling the story of raising a differently wired son, someone (such as myself) with mundane wiring in my brain, can only marvel at the alternate viewpoint.

The main thing that jumped out at me, aside from how much Robison loved his boy, is the vast imagination of the man. The stories he told his son were marvelous: getting Cubby from a store that sold kids, rather than that vastly unbelievable "mommy and daddy made you" or "the stork brought you"; how Santa got started, what that stone figure of a child holding a lantern at the end of someone's driveway really was. The activities he and his son did together were wonderful, too, and the solution to getting past security guards who wouldn't let him take his son to explore stockyards, energy plants, etc that they wanted to see, was brilliant. It was such a different world view than my own, and so fascinating.

My favorite (as in most heartwarming for me) of the different wiring examples builds on that enormous love element, as well. When young Jack (aka Cubby) was born, Dad became obsessed with the idea that somehow, by accident or intent, the wrong baby would go home with them. So, in the delivery room, moments after fresh baked baby had emerged, he carefully drew a temporary tattoo on the baby's foot with a sharpie, so no one could run of with his son, and foist a changeling on him.

Robison was diagnosed at age 40 with Asperger's; his son was diagnosed shortly after that. The boy's mother also turns out to be on the autistic spectrum, as do several other people who appear in the book. (And while not on the autistic scale, Robison's younger brother has written about his own life in the memoir Running With Scissors. Finding a way to work in the mainstream world is a struggle and a challenge for such folks. I know people in my own life who also fall in this spectrum, some who have managed more successfully than others, but I do know the hard work it takes.  This book not only recounts the story of getting Cubby from babyhood to young adult (with a few minor blow-ups, pun intended, along the way), but it serves to help raise the awareness of those of us with the standard brain wiring of the gifts and challenges "different" folks bring to our world.

Tags: biography-autobiography-or-memoir, blogging-for-books, made-me-laugh-out-loud-for-real, made-me-look-something-up, read, taught-me-something, wow

Thank you to Blogging for Books and to the publishers for sending me a copy of this book.

In Search of the Rose Notes by Emily Arsenault

I picked this up because I've really enjoyed several others of this author's works. This one, however, I just found incredibly sad.  All the characters, both before and after Rose's disappearance, were deeply broken.  There wasn't a moment of lightness in the whole book. Writing was good, but I had to go sit outside on the dock, and feel the breeze on my face, the sun on my shoulders, to lift the darkness. Which only goes to show that though I found the book morose, the writing was evocative.

Why do so many books of late name a character Rose? This must be the eleventh or twelfth read, in recent memory, to do so.

Tags: a-favorite-author, made-me-sad, read, thank-you-charleston-county-library, thought-i-was-gonna-like

Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan

A bit too clever for my brain right now. I'm tired of girl-geniuses with sharp wits, but clumsy social skills. May try again later.

tags: put-aside-for-another-day, thank-you-charleston-county-library, ya-lit

Mambo in Chinatown by Jean Kwok

Lovely, lovely book. Tai chi, dancing, the sensation of swallowing a Chinese medicine brew made up of insect parts and floor sweepings, love between siblings, recovery from loss, all captured and pulled together like a heady tango or a joyful salsa. There were times reading when I'd have to put the book down to move through a Tai Chi form, feeling my qi flow, or practice a dance step, working my hips just a little differently.  I can't recall a book that caused such a dilemma in me before, where I wanted to read on to follow the story, but the sheer physicality of the dance or Tai Chi called to me. Oh the decisions! And, confession time, I picked up the book from the title, cover, and cover blurb, not realizing until I was almost done that I'd read and loved the author's first book. But, like that book (Girl in Translation), even though I am not Chinese, I felt a strong awareness of the culture of the American born Chinese, and those who have immigrated from China. I learned.  Kwok's words match what I have heard from friends of Chinese ancestry, and was portrayed with loving sensitivity.  As the granddaughter of immigrants, I was very interested, as well, to see how another culture blended into this country, even though it was at a very different time.

There were so many moments, so many gems, within the pages of the book. I only marked a couple:

"A true dancer dances from center to center"  He drew a lone in the air from his torso to mine. "We dance heart to heart. I am still amazed by the number of students who believe the steps are dancing. The steps are nothing. A true dancer moves with her body, her center, her heart, and the legs are only there to catch her so she does not fall. If the movement of the center is correct, the feet will be where they need to be."

“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” 

“The core power of tai chi begins with awareness. Our stance is the posture of infinity: not tense but relaxed and upright, expectant. From this nothingness, all things begin.” 

If you want a synopsis, I can't give it to you.  I can only say this book captured my soul.

http://www.jeankwok.com/book.shtml

tags: a-favorite-author, didn-t-want-to-put-it-down, great-cover, great-title, i-liked-it, made-me-look-something-up, places-i-have-been, read, taught-me-something, thank-you-charleston-county-library, want-to-re-read, will-look-for-more-by-this-author