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Favorite Poets: Walter de la Mare

Apr16

“A poet dares to be just so clear and no clearer; he approaches lucid ground warily, like a mariner who is determined not to scrape bottom on anything solid. A poet’s pleasure is to withhold a little of his meaning, to intensify it by mystification. He unzips the veil from beauty, but does not remove it.”
~E.B. White


The Listeners (1912)

“Is there anybody there?” said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grass
Of the forest’s ferny floor;
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveller’s head:
And he smote upon the door again a second time;
“Is there anybody there?” he said.
But no one descended to the Traveller;
No head from the leaf-fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
To that voice from the world of men:
Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,
That goes down to the empty hall,
Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken
By the lonely Traveller’s call.
And he felt in his heart their strangeness,
Their stillness answering his cry,
While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,
‘Neath the starred and leafy sky;
For he suddenly smote on the door, even
Louder, and lifted his head:—
“Tell them I came, and no one answered,
That I kept my word,” he said.
Never the least stir made the listeners,
Though every word he spake
Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house
From the one man left awake:
Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,
And the sound of iron on stone,
And how the silence surged softly backward,
When the plunging hoofs were gone.

So, tell me, who is The Traveller? And who are the listeners? And whom are they to tell that the traveller kept his word? Why won’t the listeners answer? A very mysterious poem indeed.

The Poetry Friday round-up for today is at Becky’s Book Reviews.

Sunday Salon: Books Read in March, 2009

Apr12

The Sunday Salon.com
I read a LOT of books in March, mostly because I wasn’t blogging, but also because of some personal stuff going on in my life that enabled/forced me to sit in waiting rooms and and other waiting places regularly. I’ve written about most of these books in my Lenten journal, and I’ll be blogging those thoughts and reviews soon.

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. Recommended by Megan at Leafing Through Life. I sent my copy of this book to Eldest Daughter in Nashville after I finished it because she likes cooking and stories related to cooking. I think she’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

The End of the Alphabet by C.S. Richardson. Recommended by She Is Too Fond of Books.

Change of Heart by Jodi Piccoult. Recommended at the 3Rs.

The Amazing Potato by Milton Meltzer.

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. I’ve been reading a lot of apocalyptic, dystopian stuff lately; this one and several others fit that description.

The Compound –Bodeen. Recommended by Jen Robinson.

Star of Kazan—Ibbotson Recommended by Jen Robinson.

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli.

Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen. Recommended by Melanie at Deliciously Clean Reads.

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. Recommended at The Book Lady’s Blog.

Saving Juliet–Susan Selfors. Recommended by Melissa at Estella’s Revenge.

John Adams by David McCullough. The March Semicolon Book Club selection. If you’re participating in the book club and you posted about McCullough’s biography of John Adams, or even if you’re not doing the book club but you’ve written about this book, please leave a link in the comments. I’ll be posting my thoughts about the book this week, and I’ll be sure to link to yours.

Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life by Michael Dirda. Recommended by Krin at Enough to Read.

Life As We Knew It–Pfeiffer Recommended by SassyMonkey.

Doomsday Book—Willis Recommended by Lazy Cow.

Maisie Dobbs by Jaqueline Winspear.

Birds of a Feather by Jaqueline Winspear.

Pardonable Lies by Jaqueline WInspear.

When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt.

Careless in Red by Elizabeth George.

In the Woods by Tana French. Recommended by Kelly at BigAlittlea. Also recommended at Whimpulsive.

So Brave, So Young and So Handsome by Leif Enger.

22 books read in March.

The best fiction of March: Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. I am now reading the sequel, or book set in the same world, To Say Nothing of the Dog.

The best nonfiction of March: John Adams by David McCullough. I was inspired to not only watch the mini-series, which was very well done, but I’m also reading Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, for a different perspective on the times.

The Love Letters by Madeleine L’Engle

Feb24

The Love Letters may be my favorite of Ms. L’Engle’s books. I just re-read it for my Semicolon Book Club, and it did not disappoint. I did notice a few new things this time. (I hadn’t read the book in several years.)

The story takes place in two time periods: a 1960’s present and 17th century Portugal. In the present, Charlotte is in Portugal on an unannounced visit to her mother-in-law, the great cellist, Violet Napier. Charlotte has run away from New York and from her marriage to Patrick, Violet’s son, for reasons that are not clear in the beginning of the novel but that unfold as Charlotte comes to identify with Mariana Alcoforado, a Portuguese nun (b.1640, d.1743) who is the purported author of a book called Letters of a Portuguese Nun.

I realized that in the book, in Charlotte’s story at least, not much happens. The story is mostly about Charlotte’s internal struggles as she comes to terms with the death of her marriage. Mariana’s story has more of a plot, but part of the interest of the novel is in finding out what happened to Mariana. So stop here if you want no spoilers.

The Love Letters is a book about vows and about keeping vows, and about that all-consuming philosophical question of the sixties that has continued to preoccupy people into the twenty-first century: “You think, then, that values change? That there are no absolutes?” And if there are moral absolutes, how do we as imperfect people relate to those laws of conduct and morality?

I think in some ways The Love Letters gives an inadequate answer to those very important questions. Both Charlotte and Mariana come to the somewhat reluctant conclusion that their marriage vows are irrevocable and inextricably bound to their personhood. However, Charlotte’s story, especially, is incomplete. How does one keep one’s vows to, keep loving, a person who is not keeping covenant with you? Mariana at least has God, from whom she has run away, but who has never, even in her darkest hours, deserted her. Charlotte is not even sure she believes in God, but in the end she turns back to Patrick, to her marriage, hoping that God will help her to restore what has died.

“Supposing,” she said, slowly, “you are sitting in a train standing still in a great railroad station. And supposing the train on the track next to yours began to move. It would seem to you that it was your train that was moving, and in the opposite direction. The only way you could tell about yourself, which way you were going, or even if you were going anywhere at all, would be to find a point of reference, something standing still, perhaps a person on the next platform; and in relation to this person you could judge your own direction and motion. The person standing still on the platform wouldn’t be telling you where you were going or what was happening, but without him you wouldn’t know. You don’t need to yell out the train window and ask directions. All you need to do is see your point of reference.”

Charlotte keeps saying throughout the book that she is looking for a “point of reference”. Of course, the only fixed point of reference for human beings is God Himself. Charlotte goes back to Patrick with God as her witness and strength, or else she can’t really go back at all. Am I saying that non-Christians can’t have strong marriages, can’t keep their promises, can’t love? In a way, yes. None of us can bear the pain of loving truly and deeply and vulnerably and sacrificially because our own brokenness and sin get in the way. Only God can enable that kind of love; only He is stable enough to be a point of reference. Maybe He does the enabling in some non-Christian marriages and relationships as a sort of common grace, but I am convinced that it is only He that holds this world together.

The monthly tea for the Semicolon Book Club will be held this Saturday at 3:00 P.M. at my home. We will further discuss The Love Letters by Madeleine L’Engle. Email me at sherryDOTearlyATgmailDOTcom for more information. The book selection for the Semicolon Book Club for March is John Adams by David McCullough.

Other books that may be of interest to readers of The Love Letters:

Mariana by Katherine Vaz. In this novel, a Portuguese-American author gives her version of the story of Mariana Alcoforado.

Certain Women by Madeleine L’Engle. Another book about marriage and keeping vows and in which another historical person, this time King David of the Bible, becomes a point of reference and identification for a modern-day man.

Letters of a Portuguese Nun: Uncovering the Mystery Behind a 17th Century Forbidden Love by Miriam Cyr.

Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Not because of the Portuguese connection, although that may be what made me think of them, but Ms. Browning’s poems of love are much more controlled and formed than Sister Mariana’s passionate outpourings and because of that, in my opinion, more profoundly passionate.

Biographies of the U.S. Presidents

Feb16

I’m participating in only a couple of reading challenges this year, and the one I’m most enjoying so far is the U.S. Presidents Reading Project. I have a goal of reading one biography of a president per month, and I’m on target, having finished a biography of Washington and having read about halfway through John Adams by David McCullough. Here’s a list of some of the biographies I plan to read for this project. If you have any suggestions for the presidents whose names have no biography listed, or if you think I should choose another book other than the one I have listed, please leave any and all suggestions in the comments.

1. George Washington, 1789-97 Washington: The Indispensable Man by James Thomas Flexner. Semicolon review here.

2. John Adams, 1797-1801 (Federalist) John Adams by David McCullough. I also plan to watch the mini-series based on this book.

3. Thomas Jefferson, 1801-9 (Democratic-Republican) I’ve taken a dislike to Jefferson after the Washington biography (not too much Jefferson in the John Adams book yet, but Jefferson probably won’t be a hero in that one either). So I’m not sure which Jefferson bio to choose, one that’s flattering to restore my faith in this rather contradictory and enigmatic president, or one that’s iconoclastic to reinforce my antipathy.
Beth Fish reviews Twilight at Monticello by Alan Pell Crawford.

4. James Madison, 1809-17 (Democratic-Republican) The Great Little Madison by Jean Fritz. Yes, this one is a children’s book. I plan to read children’s books for some of these presidents because sometimes they’re better than the adult tomes. And I may use the children’s biographies in future school years. And reading a children’s biography may tell me whether or not I want to read more about a particular president.

5. James Monroe, 1817-25 (Democratic-Republican) James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity by Harry Ammon.

6. John Quincy Adams, 1825-29 (Democratic-Republican) The Life and Times of Congressman John Quincy Adams by Leonard L. Richards.

7. Andrew Jackson, 1829-37 (Democrat) American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham. This one is displayed prominently in the bookstores, and it looks interesting.
Also, there’s Old Hickory: Andrew Jackson and the American People by Albert Marrin.

8. Martin Van Buren, 1837-41 (Democrat)

9. William Henry Harrison, 1841 (Whig) Mr. Jefferson’s Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy by Robert M. Owens

10. John Tyler, 1841-45 (Whig) John Tyler, the Accidental President by Edward P. Crapol

11. James Knox Polk, 1845-49 (Democrat) Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America by Walter R. Borneman.

12. Zachary Taylor, 1849-50 (Whig)

13. Millard Fillmore, 1850-53 (Whig)

14. Franklin Pierce, 1853-57 (Democrat)

15. James Buchanan, 1857-61 (Democrat)

16. Abraham Lincoln, 1861-65 (Republican) Whereas with several of preceding presidents there is a dearth of good biographies to choose from, for Abraham Lincoln, it’s more like an embarrassment of riches. Which biography of LIncoln should I read? Maybe, Commander and Chief: Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War by Albert Marrin. I like Mr. Marrin’s books.

17. Andrew Johnson, 1865-69 (Democrat/National Union) The Avenger Takes His Place: Andrew Johnson and the 45 Days That Changed the Nation by Howard Means.

18. Ulysses Simpson Grant, 1869-77 (Republican) Grant: A Biography by William McFeely.
Or, Unconditional Surrender: U. S. Grant and the Civil War by Albert Marrin.

19. Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 1877-81 (Republican) Fraud of the Century: Rutherford B. Hayes, Samuel Tilden, and the Stolen Election of 1876 by Roy Morris Jr. Read, 2014.

20. James Abram Garfield, 1881 (Republican) Dark Horse : The Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield by Kenneth D. Ackerman

21. Chester Alan Arthur, 1881-85 (Republican) Gentleman Boss: The Life of Chester Alan Arthur by Thomas C. Reeves.

22. Grover Cleveland, 1885-89 (Democrat) To the Loss of the Presidency (Grover Cleveland a Study in Courage, Vol. 1) by Allan Nevins.

23. Benjamin Harrison, 1889-93 (Republican)

24. Grover Cleveland, 1893-97 (Democrat) Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage by Allan Nevin. (2 volumes)

25. William McKinley, 1897-1901 (Republican) In the Days of McKinley by Margaret Leech.

26. Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-9 (Republican) Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt by David McCullough
Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Modern America by Albert Marrin.

27. William Howard Taft, 1909-13 (Republican)

28. Woodrow Wilson, 1913-21 (Democrat) Woodrow Wilson: Princeton to the Presidency by W. Barksdale Maynard.

29. Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1921-23 (Republican) Florence Harding: The First Lady, The Jazz Age, And The Death Of America’s Most Scandalous President by Carl Sferrazza Anthony (Read, January, 2105). Wow, Harding was a cad and a person of low character. I didn’t finish or review this bio because it was so depressing.
The Strange Death of President Harding by Gaston B. Means and May Dixon Thacker.

30. Calvin Coolidge, 1923-29 (Republican) A Puritan in Babylon: The Story of Calvin Coolidge by William Allen White OR The Autobiography Of Calvin Coolidge by Calvin Coolidge.

31. Herbert Clark Hoover, 1929-33 (Republican)

32. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-45 (Democrat) Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship by Jon Meacham. I rather like Churchill, FDR not so much, so this one sounds like something I could enjoy and learn from. *I actually read and enjoyed FDR and the American Crisis by Albert Marrin in October, 2015.

33. Harry S. Truman, 1945-53 (Democrat) Truman by David McCullough. 1993 Pulitzer Prize winner.

34. Dwight David Eisenhower, 1953-61 (Republican) Ike: An American Hero by Michael Korda.
My Three Years with Eisenhower by Captain Harry Butcher.
Crusade in Europe by Dwight Eisenhower.

35. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-63 (Democrat) I might just re-read Profiles in Courage in lieu of a biography of this overrated (IMHO) president.

36. Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-69 (Democrat) The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate, Volume 3 (2003 Pulitzer Prize for biography) by Robert Caro.

37. Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-74 (Republican)

38. Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr , 1974-77 (Republican)

39. James Earl Carter, 1977-81 (Democrat) An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood by Jimmy Carter

40. Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-89 (Republican) Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader by Dinesh D’Souza

41. George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989-1993 (Republican)

42. William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-2001 (Democrat)

43. George W. Bush, 2001-2009 (Republican)

44. Barack Hussein Obama, 2009- (Democrat)

I guess for most of the presidents I haven’t decided on a biography or related book. I’m taking suggestions, folks.

7 Quick Takes Friday

Jan30

1

The Guardian has a list of Ten of the Best Butlers in Literature, and it doesn’t include Jeeves. Is that because he’s a valet, not a butler? According to Wikipedia:

Jeeves is a valet, not a butler. However, Bertie Wooster has lent out Jeeves as a butler on several occasions, and notes that “if the call comes, he can buttle with the best of them”.

2

the-james-challenge1
I saw this idea at Beyond Homemaking’s Seven Quick Takes, and it looks like such a great mind-sharpener and spiritual boost. Only two problems: I already have 12 (huge) projects for the year, and If I do this memorization project, I want to memorize something else, not James. Maybe Philippians, as Sara mentions in her post.

3

Speaking of projects, Friday Quick Takes would be a good time to check in on my projects and update you and myself on how I’m doing.
Bible Reading Project: I have been reading II Samuel 1-8 all month, but not every day. I’ve decided that I don’t like David very much right now. His sons turned out rotten, and I don’t need that kind of discouraging example in my life right now.
February: I Thessalonians. Maybe I should take it as my memorization project.

4

For my Newbery Project, I was trying to read the Newbery winners and honor books in order from 1923 when the award was first given until now. I haven’t picked up on that yet, but I am reading Holes by Louis Sachar, the winner of the 1999 Newbery Medal. So far, I can say it’s fantastically weird, but I think I kind of like it.

5

For Operation Clean House I was supposed to clean out the dressing area and closet in January. I got the dressing area, but the closet is untouched. Maybe this afternoon and tomorrow.

6

LOSTBooksbutton
For my LOST Reading Project, I signed up for the LOST Books Challenge and chose some books to read. Now I just need to get reading.

7

For my US Presidents Reading Project, I read Washington: The Indispensable Man by James Thomas Flexner (Semicolon review here). In February, I’m going to start on John Adams by David McCullough, which happens to be the Semicolon Book Club selection for March.
US Presidents Reading Project home page.

Thanks for dropping by. See you next week for more project updates and random book and homeschool thoughts. Right now, I’ve got to get on that closet.

Newbery Newsflash (Late)

Jan27

As most of the kidlit world already knows, Neil Gaiman’s novel The Graveyard Book won the Newbery Award, announced yesterday. Who am I to disagree with both the Newbery committee and the Cybils panelists? I will only say that I started it once and made it through the first two pages, determined to give it another try and made it about halfway through, and then gave up. Not that it was difficult or “too dark” or even uninteresting exactly. I just didn’t care what happened to Bod or to his already dead guardians and substitute parents. If I’d known it was going to win the Newbery, I would have forced myself to finish.

Newbery Honor Books:

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt, illustrated by David Small (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing) Yes! This book is the one I thought should get the Newbery. I didn’t lose interest in it ever, and I didn’t have to force myself to continue reading it. Also the two guinea pigs that I tried it out on (Brown Bear Daughter and Bee-girl) liked it, too.

The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle (Henry Holt & Company) It sounds like the token “literary” pick, but maybe it’s great. I haven’t read it.

Savvy by Ingrid Law (Dial Books for Young Readers, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group in partnership with Walden Media, LLC. Read it. I thought it was fun, but not a classic.

After Tupac & D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of Penguin Books for Young Readers) I haven’t read this one either.

I think I’m a curmudgeon. This year is supposed to be the year that I “discover” Neil Gaiman. But I’m going to discover some other book that’s not set in a graveyard.

Newbery/Caldecott and Other Predictions

Jan21

My picks:

The Newbery Award is awarded to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
Winner: The Underneath by Kathi Appelt.
Honor Books: The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall.
Alvin Ho by Lenore Look.
Masterpiece by Elise Broach.

The Caldecott Award is given to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.
Winner: Wabi Sabi by Mark Reibstein, illustrated by Ed Young.
Honor Books: I don’t know enough to predict an honor book.

Prinz Award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.
Winner: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
Honor Books: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart.
Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers.

Geisel Award for the most distinguished American book for beginning readers.
Winner: I Will Surprise My Friend by Mo WIllems.
Honor Books: Mercy Watson Thinks Like a Pig by Kate DiCamillo

The buzz:
Fuse 8: Newbery/Caldecott Predict-o-rama Ms. Fuse is picking Chains, which I haven’t read yet, for the Newbery. She says my pick, The Underneath, is “divisive”. I don’t get the divisive tag. but I guess it is. Our Cybils Middle Grade Fiction committee was “divided” on its merits. Obviously, I’m in the pro-camp.

ACPL Mock Newbery also chose Chains. I gotta get me a copy of that book.

Monica Edinger mentions several possible winners in her article about “child appeal” and the Newbery.

The folks at Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog chose The Porcupine Year by Louise Erdich. I started to read it, but didn’t even finish it because I found it boring in the extreme.

Sandy thinks maybe Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. I guess I’ll have to try again on that one. I didn’t get past the first few pages when the assassin stabbed the toddler’s teddy bear through the heart thinking it was the child. (No spoiler that; as I said, that happens on about the first or second page of the book.)

The children’s librarian who blogs at Wizards WIreless made her predictions way back in October, 2008. And her choice is: The Underneath by Kathi Appelt, with Trouble by Gary Schmidt getting an Honor sticker.

Matt at The Book Club Shelf, one of my fellow Cybils panelists, thinks Diamond WIllow by Helen Frost will win the Newbery.

Emily at Book Kids has some Prinz picks.

If you have Newbery, Prinz, Caldecott or other predictions, leave me a comment or a link to your post. The winners of these award and other ALA sponsored awrds for children’s literature will be announced on Monday, January 26, 2009 at 8:45 AM Central TIme. You can watch the announcement via live webcast.

Washington: The Indispensable Man by James Thomas Flexner

Jan17

The book I read is a condensation and rewrite of Flexner’s four volume biographical study of the life of Washington. As he says in the preface, Flexner at first wanted to write a one volume biography, then felt he could not do justice to the man and his indispensable role in the founding of the country in less than four volumes, and then finally felt pressured to “distill what I had discovered into a single volume” that would “present in essence Washington’s character and career.”

In meeting his stated goal, Flexner was quite successful. In fifty-two chapters Flexner carries our hero, and Washington is indeed a hero in this book although not without flaws, from his youth as an obscure younger son from the backwoods of Virginia through his days as a soldier, a general, a planter, and a statesman, to his death in December of 1799. As for character, the Washington of this biography is a self-controlled man, fond of company and friends, but also temperate, quiet, a peacemaker, nevertheless at infrequent times giving way to an enormous temper.

George Washington, in this biography, truly is the indispensable man. It isn’t too much to say that without him the revolution would not have been successful, and that if it had been successful, the nation formed as a result of that revolution would have soon come apart and resolved itself into thirteen (or more) individual competing countries. Washington first holds the Continental Army together against all odds and at the expense of his own health and financial interests. Then after spending eight happy years in retirement at Mount Vernon, The Indispensable Man is called back into public life and given the responsibility of first moderating the Constitutional Convention, and then of presiding over a new, fledgling nation with deep sectional and philosophical rifts in opinion, culture and practice. If he couldn’t bring Jefferson and Hamilton and their followers together in the end, he at least managed to keep them from tearing the nation apart while they attacked each other and each other’s ideas and policies.

Although the book is certainly not hagiographic, Washington does fare well under scrutiny in this biographical treatment. Others of our founding fathers who figure in the story of Washington’s life do not make such a favorable impression. John Adams is a jealous and bitter wanna-be vice-president who can’t wait to take center stage as soon as Washington declines a third term as president. Jefferson is a trouble maker, untrustworthy, willing to advocate things in public and in the press to advance his own long term goals and policies, words and ideas that he repudiates in private because he knows they are impracticable or impolitic. Hamilton is a better friend to Washington, but still jealous of his own reputation and zealous for more power. Madison and Monroe are portrayed as Jefferson’s sycophants, willing to do almost anything to thwart the Federalist opposition even at the expense of the U.S. national interest.

In the portrayal in this book at least, Washington stands head-and-shoulders above all the other men of his time. Even late in his second term, when the author says several times that Washington is “losing his mental powers” and becoming weak and vacillating, he remains an admirable figure, one who is trying to do his best to serve the nation that has called upon him to give his best years to its service.

From this book I formed a better appreciation for Washington and his labors in the founding of our nation. I also began to suspect the actions and motives of others of our founding fathers. We’ll see how they fare in their own biographies as I read about the other presidents. Next up: John Adams by David McCullough.

Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins

Jan13

I had been saving the ARC I received of Mitali Perkins’ new YA novel Secret Keeper for a treat and because I thought that a review closer to the time of publication would be more helpful to readers. In December I succumbed, and read it.

Such a powerful story! It’s something of a romance, and I so wanted everything to turn out just like the fairy tales. And yet I felt as I read that it couldn’t really have a traditional happy ending and that it couldn’t have been written in any other way. Secret Keeper is a tale of love and loss, of traditional family and of new ways and mores creeping into and disrupting the old conventions. It’s a story that bridges cultures and creates understanding and makes even WASPs like me feel a twinge of identification with the characters and their very human situations.

The main character of the novel is sixteen year old Asha, the younger of two daughters in the Gupta family. As the story opens, Asha, her sister Reet, and their mother are on a train headed for a visit of indeterminate length with their Baba’s family in Calcutta. Baba (Father) himself is in America looking for work, having lost his job as a result of the economic difficulties in India in the early 1970’s, the time period for the book. Asha is not sure how the small family will manage to fit into her uncle’s household in Calcutta even for the short amount of time she expects them to stay before Baba send for them to join him in the U.S. Asha’s grandmother lives with Asha’s uncle’s very traditional family, and the three women will be three more mouths to feed, unable to make much, if any, contribution to the welfare of the family. As events unfold, Asha depends on her diary, nicknamed Secret Keeper, to hold her thoughts and dreams and to keep her sane in a tension-filled household.

Girls, especially those who are trying to balance responsibilities to family and to themselves, will find Asha to be a sympathetic character and a role model. When she is faced with a crisis, she makes the best decision she can both for herself and for her small family, and even though her solution to the family’s problems is imperfect and open to criticism, it is the difficulty of her decision that makes the family strong again and renews their bonds, bonds that have been stretched to the breaking point.

I really think that this book is Ms. Perkins’ best book to date, an exploration of cultural norms and changing roles, of responsibility to self and to family, and of flawed but loving answers to difficult issues. I highly recommend Secret Keeper, available in bookstores and from Amazon starting today. (Click on the book cover to order from Amazon.)

Other reviewers:

Book Embargo: “It was a beautiful book.. (haven’t I said that already?) But it really was. The family dynamics, with the father gone to America, the mother and two sisters left to live with relatives. The money problems, the Indian culture, it was all so beautifully written and described.”

12 Best Reading Lists of 2008

Jan2

Jared’s Jesus Reading List at The Gospel-Driven Church. No, I haven’t read any of these, but I’d like to try to read at least one of the books on the list this year. Which one does anyone suggest I read first?

Image Journal’s 100 Writers of Faith. I’ve read thirteen of the 100 works listed, or at least attempted thirteen of them. I simply could not get through A Prayer for Owen Meany. I thought the style was annoying and the characters were not enjoyable. Some of the others on the list are favorites of mine, though, including Kristin Lavransdatter and Till We Have Faces and of course, The Lord of the Rings.

Lord Acton’s 100 Best Books, courtesy of Kevin Stilley. This list is good for making one feel uneducated and frivolous in comparison to the well-educated nineteenth century gentleman. Of the 100, I’ve read portions of four: Pascal’s Pensees, St Aungustine’s Letters, Dante’s Divine Comedy, and The Federalist Papers.

Season FIve of LOST premieres Wednesday January 21, 2009. To tide you over until then, ABC and the producers of LOST have a LOST book club with a list of all the books featured, pictured and referenced in the first four seasons. I’m still rather fond of this list at Coyote Mercury, and LOSTpedia also has a list with annotations and program notes. And here’s my LOST books post from last year.

Tullian Tchividjian’s Top 40 Books on Christ and Culture. This list is mostly, maybe all, nonfiction, and I’ve read very few of the books on the list. But I probably should read some of them.

The U.S. Presidents Reading Project has a list of all of the U.S. presidents and suggested reading selections (non-fiction) for each one. The challenge is to read one biography of each one.

Did you know that there’s a new edition of Peter Boxall’s 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, and Arukiyomi has a new Excel spreadsheet for tracking your progress in reading the new list? My count for the old list from the first edition: 129. My count for the new list: Not sure yet?

The 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century as selected by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association’s online members. I just found this list this year, so it’s new to me.

The Headmistress’s Worthwhile Reading Challenge with links to others’ lists of 12 worthwhile books to read in 2009.

The Conservative Exiles’ Reading List by Joseph Duggan in University Bookman. I may need to read some of these just to keep myself sane during an Obama administration.

Librarian Nancy Pearl DIps Below the Reading Radar. Almost all of these suggestions sound fascinating.

My very own Semicolon Book Club list which was compiled and finalized in late December 2008, and is now revealed to the sound of a drum roll:

January: Nonfiction inspirational (For January only there are two selections. Book club participants may choose to read either or both of the books.)
1. Heaven by Randy Alcorn. Tyndale House Publishers (October 1, 2004) $16.49 from Amazon.
2. Heaven: Your Real Home by Joni Eareckson Tada. Zondervan (October 10, 1997) $11.69 at amazon.

February: Christian classic novels
The Love Letters by Madeleine L’Engle. This book may be my favorite of Ms. L’Engle’s novels; it deals with marriage, faith, the meaning of love, and forgiveness, alternating settings between twentieth century Portugal and New York and a 17th century Portuguese convent.

March: Biography/History
John Adams by David McCullough. Simon & Schuster (January 29, 2008) 768 pages.
I plan to read this book and then watch the mini-series based on the book.

April: Poetry Month
All poems are about God, love or depression. Susan Wise Bauer in The Well-Educated Mind.
Paradise Lost by John Milton. “Recommended edition: The Signet Classic paperback, Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, edited by Christopher Ricks. (New York: Signet Books, 1968, $7.95) This edition has explanatory footnotes at the bottom of each page. These are extremely helpful since Milton uses archaic expressions and hundreds of obscure classical references.” (SWB, The Well-Trained Mind)

May: YA or Children’s award winner
The Underneath by Kathi Appelt is the book I think will win the Newbery Award in 2009.

June: Chunky Classics
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. 1024 pages.

July: Just for Fun and Adventure
River Rising by Athol Dickson.
River Rising is set in southern Louisiana, near the mouth of the Mississippi River, just before and during the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927. The characters are residents of Pilotville, LA, a small town surrounded by swampland, and one stranger who comes to town to find out about his parentage. Hale Poser, the stranger, grew up in an orphanage, became a preacher, and now has come to Pilotville in hope of finding out something about his heritage. As soon as Rev. Poser hits town, strange things start happening, odd things like fruit growing where no fruit is expected to be, things that are attributable either to God or to chance or to Hale Poser the Miracle man. I’ve already read this book, but I’m looking forward to discussing it with a group.

August: Shakespeare play
Hamlet. Hamlet is a hero trapped by his own indecision in an insoluble quandary: should he take revenge on his father’s murderer or remain silent, tolerate evil, and live in a world that is “out of joint” —or perhaps commit suicide to escape it all?

September: Prize winning adult novel
Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor.
Pulitzer prize winning Civil War novel brings to life the inmates and the masters of the notorious Andersonville Confederate prisoner of war camp.

October: Love to Laugh
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh. Scoop is a comedy of England’s newspaper business of the 1930s and the story of William Boot, a innocent hick from the country who writes careful essays about the habits of the badger. Through a series of accidents and mistaken identity, Boot is hired as a war correspondent for a Fleet Street newspaper. The uncomprehending Boot is sent to the fictional African country of Ishmaelia to cover an expected revolution. Although he has no idea what he is doing and he can’t understand the incomprehensible telegrams from his London editors, Boot eventually gets the big story.

November: Love to Think
A Walk with Jane Austen by Lori Smith. “In this engaging, deeply personal and well-researched travelogue, Smith journeys to England to soak in the places of Jane Austen’s life and writings. The book is sure to ride the wave of Austen-philia that has recently swept through Hollywood and a new generation of Americans, but this is an unusual look at Jane Austen. Readers will learn plenty of biographical details-about Austen’s small and intimate circle of family and friends, her candid letters to her sister, her possible loves and losses, her never-married status, her religious feelings, and her untimely death at the age of 41. But it is the author’s passionate connection to Jane-the affinity she feels and her imaginings of Austen’s inner life-that bring Austen to life in ways no conventional biographer could. Smith’s voice swings authentically between the raw, aching vulnerability of a single Christian woman battling a debilitating and mysterious chronic illness and the surges of faith she finds in the grace of a loving God.”
(Publisher’s Weekly review)

You are quite welcome to join in the Semicolon Book Club by leaving a comment or shooting me an email (sherryDOTearlyATgmailDOTcom). Just read along, and we’ll discuss toward the end of the month. The physical meeting time for those who live in the Houston area will be the fourth Saturday of the month at my house.