The Wilder Shores of Love

The Wilder Shores of Love

Lesley Blanch

This book is a compilation of four mini-bios of women who lived from the 18th Century to the very early 20th Century. The thread that weaves these women's stories together is that their hearts and lives were inexorably bound to the Near East, and all bucked convention in one way or another.

As a biography, it was written far too subjectively to be very good. The author made too many conjectures about her subjects' motives and about the states of their minds without very strong supporting evidence.

On the other hand, I loved this book, which read more like historical fiction, to me. I must admit, here, to a guilty-pleasure weakness for romantic exoticism, and this was thoroughly satisfying on that level. It's also always satisfying to read about and root for women who were strong enough to live lives outside the narrow confines of the role of women from earlier eras.

Chasing Vermeer

Chasing Vermeer

Blue Balliett

This was a book for tweens.

Coincidences, patterns, and art all come in to play when an original Vermeer painting is stolen.

Petra and Calder forge a friendship when they are each mysteriously drawn to the painting, and when it goes missing, they are drawn to find it.

Calder's pentaminoes, Petra's mysterious book Lo!, and their wonderfully creative teacher Ms. Hussey help them to see patterns emerge from things that others dismiss as incidental. However, they find that it becomes difficult to distinguish real patterns from imagined.

Will they be able to find the painting in time? Is Ms. Hussey involved in its disappearance? Is she in danger? Are they?

This book with its mystery, secret codes, and problem solving was a fun way to spend a morning!

Hamlet

Hamlet

William Shakespeare

This is probably the most famous play in the world. It is so well-known that I don't think I need to outline the plot.

I can see why this play, and Shakespeare, have wowed audiences and readers through the ages.

I find my reactions to the bard's work quite interesting. I don't know if I've gained in literary maturity, or if his writing is so uneven. In either case, while I've certainly enjoyed his works in the past, it isn't until I read Richard III recently that I understood why Shakespeare has been considered so great, so far above any other playwright since his time. I've certianly enjoyed his work, previously, but I had thought him slightly over-rated. Now I know that I was so wrong!

In any case, I'm now a confirmed fan of The Bard, and look forward to reading more of his work!

Hamlet

Hamlet

William Shakespeare

This is probably the most famous play in the world. It is so well-known that I don't think I need to outline the plot.

I can see why this play, and Shakespeare, have wowed audiences and readers through the ages.

I find my reactions to the bard's work quite interesting. I don't know if I've gained in literary maturity, or if his writing is so uneven. In either case, while I've certainly enjoyed his works in the past, it isn't until I read Richard III recently that I understood why Shakespeare has been considered so great, so far above any other playwright since his time. I've certianly enjoyed his work, previously, but I had thought him slightly over-rated. Now I know that I was so wrong!

In any case, I'm now a confirmed fan of The Bard, and look forward to reading more of his work!

Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman

Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman

Marjorie Shostack

Marjorie Shostak was an anthropologist studying the women of the !Kung hunter-gatherers on the edge of the Kalahari in the 1960's and 1970's.

This book is the result of her interviews with one of those women, Nisa It is Nisa's life story as told to Marjorie in conversations that took place over a period of many years, left off, to be taken up again during Marjorie's next visit.

What I liked best about this book is that the translation seemed to me to capture Nisa's voice and the rhythms of African oral storytelling tradition.

It was also an interesting study, and sad to see how the way of life of the !Kung, and all of the San people have changed so dramatically.

The House at Riverton

The House at Riverton

Kate Morton

90-yr-old Grace was once in service with the Hartford family at Riverton. Her life is deeply entwined with the family, especailly with the independent Hannah and her glittering, butterfly sister, Emmeline.

Out of loyalty, Grace has kept the family's secrets, including the secret of what really happened on the fateful night that a poet died at Riverton.

Now, many decades later, a film producer who is making a film about Riverton approaches Grace, which prompts her to reminisce about her days with the family. Riverton is now open to tourists, and the family has long since passed, but Grace saves the last, deeply held, dark secret until she nears the very end of her life.

Morton is a wonderful storyteller. I was swooped up and carried away on the wings of this tale.

Not that there weren't a few flaws. For instance, the denouement was signalled far to early and too obviously. The storytelling was so fabulous, though, who cares?

I loved this book!

The End of the Alphabet

The End of the Alphabet

C.S. Richardson

This is a very bittersweet story about a man who discovers that he has only 30 days left to live, and who decides to use that time to travel the world with his wife, visiting places in alphabetical order.

The love story between Ambrose Zephyr and his wife, Zipper, was very sweet and tender. For me, the travel portion was a bit of a disappointment. I'm a bit of an arm-chair traveler, so I'd hoped for more.

Overall, it was a gentle, little book that, at only 119 pages, was worth reading.

The Measure of a Man

The Measure of a Man

Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier is one of my favorite actors, and I enjoyed his autobiography. Some of it I found surprising.

I felt that this was written deeply from the heart, and that it must have been a sort of catharsis for him. It was very introspective and self-analytical.

I'm glad that I read this. Poitier is an interesting guy with a unique perspective and has had a distinctive life and career.

A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens

Almost everyone knows the basics of this story along with the opening lines and the closing lines.

This was Dickens at his absolute best! The horrible cruelty of the French Revolution, the virtue and bravery of some of the characters, the oppression that caused other hearts to turn to stone - it all made for quite a ride, indeed! Dickens really hit with a one-two punch with this book!

Omigod, what a book! It has now become my favorite Dickens, and that is saying a lot!

The Green House

The Green House

Mario Vargas Llosa

This book is mainly about a village in Peru that lies between the jungle and the desert. A brothel that is built on the outskirts of village is at the heart of the story, and the effect it has on the lives of the village residents and the surrounding area are the threads of the story.

I've never before read Llosa. It was an unusual reading experience for me, and at times I found it hard to follow. Even now that I've had plenty of time to reflect, I don't know if I loved it or hated it, or if it was brilliant or if it was mediocre. I would definitely read Llosa again, just because I'd like to figure him out. He's somewhat of an enigma to me ... and I like that.

Pearl Buck in China: Journey to the Good Earth

Pearl Buck in China: Journey to The Good Earth

Hilary Spurling

Obviously this is a biography of the author Pearl Buck. Emphasis was on the forces that shaped her as a writer.

I'd never read a biography of Pearl Buck previously. Of course I knew the basics ... that she had lived in China, and that China had formed her as much or more than the West. I assumed she'd grown up there, and further assumed it likely that she was the daughter of missionaries.

The details of her early experiences were fascinating to me.

I knew that she was an advocate for Human Rights, etc., but hadn't known that she was quite such a pioneer. Her anti-colonial views about mission work were ahead of their time as well.

This was an excellent biography and was so absorbing that I read it in just a couple of days.

Tuva or Bust: Richard Feynman's Last Journey

Tuva or Bust: Richard Feynman's Last Journey

Ralph Leighton

It all started in thre mid-1970's with an animated dinner-table discussion between friends about obscure geographic locations.

When Richard Feynman produced a postage stamp that had been part of his childhood stamp collection from a country called Tuva, the two friends at once became interested in finding out more. When they discovered that the capital of Tuva is calldd Kyzyl thdy became nearly obsessed with the idea of visiting Tuva.

Unfortunately, getting to Tuva would not be easy. It lay deep in a remote corner of what was then the Soviet Union, and in the mid-70's, the Cold War raged on. Meanwhile, Feynman was also battling cancer.

This story, while poignant, is told with great humor and wit. I felt I got to know a bit about who Feynman was. In the process, I also learned about a place I'd never heard of before. Throat-singing? Who knew?

I definitely enjoyed this book, and I plan to read some of Feynman's work in the future.

Sandrine's Letter to Tomorrow

Sandrine's Letter to Tomorrow

Dedra Johnson

Sandrine is coming of age in 1970's New Orleans.

All she wants is to be loved and cared for, but after Mamalita, her grandmother, dies, no one seems to want her. Her own mother, Shirleen doesn't seem to want her. She only seems to value Sandrine's labor, and hits her wth a paddle if everything isn't done to her satisfaction ... or if Sandrine speaks certan truths. Her father is a busy doctor who has room in his life for his mean-spirited new wife and her hapless young daughter, but seems to have no room for Sandrine.

After Mamalita's death, Sandrine comes to realize that Shirleen seems to actively hate her, even blaming her for the unwanted attention from adult men, which she is trying desperately to avoid. Sandrine feels she would be safer away from Shirleen and moves in with her father who has left his wife, but still has no time for Sandrine.

This was an outstanding debut novel. It was written in a strong, clear voice and told with such immediacy that it felt as if the author were telling her own story, which she most likely was. Whether or not she was, though, she did an excellent job of bringing the reader into her - or Sandrine's world.