Book 7 (2015) Half Broke Horses: a True-life Novel *** by Jeannette Walls

Another stunning book by Jeannette Walls who also wrote The Glass Castle.   Both are must reads.

This one is about her grandmother, a very strong and unusual woman, written in the first person by Walls.  Her style as again very rigorous and powerful, suitable for the horrific stories of grit and determination.   

One of my personal takes was the contrast of poverty and hardship and deprivation with the comparative luxuries they had, compared to my own upbringing. I had to fight the feeling of "this doesn't ring true", making me mistrust my opinion that my experience was not typical or my memory defective.   For example, having horses was a rare luxury in my upbringing.

Book 6 (2014) March **** 1/2 by Geraldine Brooks

Australian writer, Civil War story --- mixed with Little Women. She won the Pullitzer Prize for this novel.  I found it riveting.

She also wrote Year of Wonders and People of the Book.

Book 29 (2012) By Whatever Name *** by Elizabeth Reimer Bartel

She's a first cousin of my mother Evelyn Reimer Doerksen.   This story is fictionalized history of her mother's family bringing in the history of the "holdoman" church (a very strict sect of Mennonites).    The family moves from Manitoba to Kansas and becomes entangled in the US conscientious objector laws, which were much more onerous than in Canada.   Treatment was prison and torture.

She's a wonderful writer but this one's tops them all.   That subtle forboding atmosphere suggested when the all the world seems bright, happy, and prosperous for the Mennonite farmers and business people.   Oh yes, she is 86 years old and apparently getting better.

Book 20 (2012) T is for Trespass ** by Sue Grafton

Another good one.

Book 15 (2012) We Need to Talk About Kevin *** by Lionel Shriver

It's about a boy who murders fellow high school students.

A difficult read in some ways, following the mind of a mother through pregnancy and raising a child in her endless analysis and justification.   Is this a skillful explanation how an evil child can be born and deceive everyone or the revelation of the harm a mother can do. 

Lionel is an amazing writer, but there were parts where the story was forced.   I read it too long ago to remember what exactly.

Awards -- Orange Prize

Movie --- haven't seen it yet.

Book 11 (2012) V is for Vengeance ** by Sue Grafton

As with A to U, all good reads.

Book 25 Cry of the Owl *** by Patricia Highsmith

Much better than average mystery.   You cannot guess what will happen on the next page --- all remains a surprise up to the very last page.  


Three stars for being unique.


Other great books by this author:
The Talented Mr. Ripley and its sequels (one of my favourite mystery characters).

Book 24 Freedom ** by Jonathan Franzen

A story of modern times, incorporating many events and personality types of the last half of the 20th century.   Franzen tells a great story and has deep insight into human behaviour.    I really tired of the characters who while interesting had many moral flaws.   


Flaws --- male writer's fixation on sex, Amerian writer's need to create larger than life characters, and extreme plots and events, happy ending.


I would recommend it but it's not flawless

Book 21 State of Wonder ** by Ann Patchett

Great story and writing by Ann Patchett again.  Farfetched, and not her best, but recommended.




Other books by this author:
Bel Canto 
Run

Book 19 (2011) A Widow for One Year (zero) by John Irving

537 pages --- how did I finish this book?
Funny, entertaining, good plot, -- I'll give it that.  Now I know the reason why I stopped reading Irving years ago --- typical American male writer of the era --- funny, lots of way out sex, unbelievable characters (also Philip Roth, somebody else??)
Characters --- interesting, but exaggerated --- always the more beautiful, the most or best or most amazing whatever.
But although several main characters are women, they did not ring true.   I could not identify with any of their feelings, actions, or experiences.  
The whole plot is a giant male sexual fantasy, every boy/man's dream come true.  
I read this immediately after I read After the Falls by Catherine Gildiner, in which she describes sexual experiences that really happen to people and most important, the aftermath of these typical experiences.   Maybe that's why this book seemed so phony.

Book 18 (2011) After the Falls Coming of Age in the Sixties **** by Catherine Gildiner

My first encounter with this author was at the writers' festival in Vancouver, when she was completely unknown, and had just published her first memoir, Too Close to the Falls.   She was the hit of the festival, like none other since, and catapulted herself immediately into the limelight by the strength of this one hilarious, witty, pithy talk.   She became instantly famous in Canada and I have always thought of her as Canadian.   However, she grew up in Niagara Falls and Buffalo, New York.   
Being a similar type of person and having similar experiences, I found the book redeeming.  But more important, this is an extremely well written, extremely funny, and extremely real memoir.   


Read it.   Then read Too Close to the Falls.   Better yet, read in reverse order.

Book 17 Run *** by Ann Patchett

This is another stunner from Ann Patchett of Bel Canto fame.  I hadn't expected it to be so riveting.
The setting is Boston and the theme is the everlasting American theme of race.   The story takes place over a few days, the dysfunctional family (the white Irish major adopts two black kids, wife dies, birth mother stalks them, car accident, hospital, 11-year old girl heroine).   

Book 11 (2011) Unaccustomed Earth **** by Jhumpa Lahiri

This is a collection of short stories (novelettes) by the breathtaking author of Namesake.   Lahiri writes about the experiences of educated professional Indian immigrants to the US and their adjustment to their new life.   But this is only the backdrop to her amazing stories and insight into the human mind and heart.   Every sentence is unexpected, interesting, and smoothly woven into the narrative.  

Other great Indian writers and books:
Anita Badami Rau (Tamarind Mem, Hero's Walk)
Bharati Mukherjee (Desirable Daughters)
Aravind Adiga (White Tiger)
A Suitable Boy (Vikram Seth)
A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry) 

Book 6 (2011) The Sentimentalists (zero) by Johanna Skibsrud

A father and daughter story (I think) about a man broken by alcoholism and PST ecxerbated by the Viet Nam war.   It takes place in the Northern Ontario and US midwest. There is also something going on about a town being flooded by the building of a dam.  A very disappointing book.   I skimmed the last 75 pages just to see what really happened in Viet Nam.   Just some killing of civilians --- nothing to distinguish it.  

The writing style made me think of the writing style.   Almost the same as the narration in the old TV show The Waltons. 

Too bad, a great idea.  

2010 Giller Price winner.

Book 89 White Shades of Pale** by Christian Lander

This book follows last year's Stuff White People Like, and is just as good.  Very clever.

Book 77 The Glass Castle **** by Jeannette Walls

This is a memoir of Jeannette Walls upbringing by two disfunctional parents.  I was avoiding this book as I expected another dreadful Frank McCourt slog through misery.   I was very pleasantly surprised.  

Walls' parents did neglect their 4 kids, but there was a lot of fun and good memories too.   I don't suggest that anything in their upbringing was justified anything but just meaning that the book is readable and stays with you, but doesn't deliver permanent scars to the reader's soul) .   The parents were dreamers and the mother depressed or bipolor and the father was an alcoholic.   They hung on percariously moving constantly on a whim or when the situation was untenable.   Finally, as the children fled to make their own way in New York, the parents followed and became homeless willingly.   The mother actually had property worth millions, but did not want to sell it.  

This is a must read because it is unique in it's subject matter, treatment and readability.   Wall's writing is amazing, in so many ways.   It is a fast read, every word essential and interesting.   The editing is rigorous and skillful.   The style is unique and consistent.   There is a consistency of design like Jane Austen or Frank Lloyd Wright.   Walls describes the facts and some feelings, and through the action.

Other books about bad/odd parents:

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress ** by Rhoda Janzen

Book 68 (2010) The Help **** by Kathryn Stockett

This is an excellent book about black maids and their white women bosses.   Most of it takes place in Jackson Mississippi in 1964.   Stockett captures the detail of this narrow and disgraceful universe in every sentence.   A deep racist attitude defines the US to this day (we have only to look at Katrina for proof).  

The story is told by several of the black maids and a young white women who wants to be a writer and decides to write their story.   Mississippi in 1964 is a dangerous place for anyone who dares even the slightest defiance of the white women's rules so the project must be carried out with great secrecy.   Even having a "high yellow" baby was not allowed as it blurred the boundaries of race.   The baby had to be put into an orphanage.  

Stockett's characters are wonderful and I was able to understand if not really feel the humiliation and fear of their daily lives.   I also felt some guilt and shame for being white and maybe not always being as enlightened as I should have been.  

I didn't put this book down.  

Other great books with US race theme:

Inheriting the Trade*** by Thomas DeWolf (non-fiction)
Slaves in the Family**** by Edward Ball (non-fiction)
Book of Negroes** by Laurence Hill

Book 67 Secret Daughter ** 1/2 by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

A terrific book, similar to other books with Indian desai theme.   In this one, the themes are infanticide of girl babies, and moving from village to Bombay slum.   A girl baby is rescued and put in orphanage and adopted by a wealthy American couple.   Highly recommended.  

The overall theme of cultural adjustments is no longer original and Gowda does rely sometimes on familiar and typical incidents.   However, it is a compelling story and suspenseful to the very end.  

Other great books with similar themes:
Namesake *** by Jhumpa Lahiri
Hero's Walk *** by Anita Rau Badami
Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? ***by Anita Rau Badami

Book 58 (2010) Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home* by Rhoda Janzen

Very funny book.   It's more too.   Janzen offers insight into the psyche of a woman raised as a Mennonite but not living as one.   For instance, why she stayed in an abusive marriage for 15 years.  The heroine is her mother, a very wise woman.   A lot like Loris' mother maybe.  

Book 55 The Reluctant Fundamentalist **** by Mohsin Hamid

My body was pounded by this book.   Read in a morning, it's astounding in all aspects.

Nothing to do with religion, but rather the disillusionment of a highly successful Pakistani immigrant to the US just before 9/11, and the changes in his life in the aftermath.   Fundamentalism refers to the financial fundamentals under which Changez works in a US valuation company.  

He falls in love with a beautiful rich American woman.   The book is horribly allegorical, quite painful in it's impact.

Hamid's writing is a masterpiece, every word perfect.