Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Cloud Atlas is an artistic book, and I respect David Mitchell for that. This book has six different story lines in different parts of the world and in different time periods. He tells each story in halves, starting in the earliest time period and going to the future and then back again. (If that doesn’t make sense, the stories read like this: ABCDE F EDCBA.) As if it weren’t difficult enough to have six different settings with six different narrators, Mitchell created six very different narrators in six very different settings with six very different story lines, and he TIED THEM ALL TOGETHER.

Now, I’m not sure how to go about “reviewing” this book, and I’m even less sure after we had our book club meeting and we each came with a different impression of the book. (Dare I say, six very different impressions? Indeed, the number six was present an astounding and un-ignorable number of times.  I am curious why the number six had such a prominent place in the book. . .  I know that the number six is considered a perfect number because it is neither a square number nor a prime number, and I know that three sixes in succession signal the Most Feared Thing, and I wonder if Mitchell was using both meanings of the number? That his story is a true base for human life and that we should be warned about the current track we humans are on?)

Many reviews of this book claim that Mitchell illustrates the total depravity/selfishness/brutality of mankind. I would agree with that, in part. I think Mitchell is satirizing his view of humans and intends to make his readers re-think they way they live. But I also think he does a masterful job tapping into his creativity, and I am a firm believer that sometimes art is just art.

The first few stories are typical narratives with complicated characters and are neither anything to write home about nor a reason to put the book down. However, things really pick up in the first of the two futuristic stories (that would be story E using the above representation): pollution, cloning, and Big Government show the demise of the modern world, and in the most futuristic story (F), the world reverts back to a primitive state where only those who can work with the land instead of against it survive.

Gah, I don’t feel like I am portraying this book in a way that may want to make you read it. All I know is I talked about this book the whole time I read it. Maybe it was quotes like these that attached me to this book:

Disclaimer: These quotes made me stop and think. I do not necessarily agree with any of them, but I found them all to make me stop reading and ponder. Such is the mark of a good book, I think.

*Said by a very manipulative, secretly murderous doctor: “After years of working with missionaries, I am tempted to conclude that their endeavors merely prolong a dying race’s agony for ten or twenty years. . . Might it not be our duty to likewise ameliorate the savages’ sufferings by hastening their extinction? Think on your Red Indians . . . More humane, surely & more honest, just to knock the savages on the head & get it over with?”

Ouch...more humane to kill than to (pretend to? try to?) help?

*A conversation between a natural-born human and a clone who recently became free-thinking: (The human speaks, the clone narrates.) “These ... xistential qualms you suffer, they just mean you’re truly human.” I asked how I might remedy them. “You don’t remedy them. You live thru them.”

I think this caught my attention because we were never promised a life without stress/trouble/conflict; we were promised that we would have trouble but that someone who overcame that trouble was fighting for us.

*A conversation between an enlightened woman in the future and a “savage” of the future: (The woman speaks first. The Smart refer to those who lived in an “advanced” civilization like we do today.) "Smart mastered sicks, miles, seeds an’ made miracles ord’nary, but it din’t master one thing, nay, a hunger in the hearts o’humans, yay, a hunger for more.” More what, I asked. Old Uns’d got ev’rythin’. “Oh, more gear, more food, faster speeds, longer lifes, easier lifes, more power, yay. Now the Hole World is big, but it weren’t big ‘nuff for that hunger what made Old Uns rip out the skies an’ boil up the seas an’ poisin soil with crazed atoms an’ donkey ‘bout with rotted seeds so new plagues was borned and babbits [babies] was freak-birthed. Fin’ly, bit’ly, then quicksharp, states busted into bar’bric tribes an’ the Civ’lize Days ended, ‘cept for a few folds’n’pockets here’n’there, where its last embers glimmer.”

Yes, I can see how we have lots of gear, lots of foods, fast speeds on land and in the air, long and easy lives, and lots of power. I can also see how we are polluting the ozone, ruining the sea, damaging the soil, and promoting genetically-engineered seeds. I truly hope that my children and my children’s children do not live to see the day when barbaric tribes break out and organized nations disappear into an unruly mess.

Along the same lines, another section of the book describes how the government self-implodes: by over-empowering corporations. Another section mentions that diplomacy is for idiots-- only increasingly bloodier wars bring about change, change that ironically wipes out humanity.

Now that I think about it, each section highlights at least one way that humanity is destroying itself. How happy.

*Again, said by the enlightened woman: “Times are you say a person’s b’liefs ain’t true, they think you’re saying their lifes ain’t true an’ their truth ain’t true.”

When a person’s beliefs are attacked, it is the same as if his or her person were attacked. It is difficult to separate a man and his beliefs; we would do well to remember this.

*In the future, another human is talking to the clone and said, in defense of his party’s rise to totalitarian power: “Think of the disastrous Pentecostalist Coup of North America.”

Is Mitchell referencing today?

*Said by an older man: “We--by whom I mean anyone over sixty--commits two offenses just by existing. One is Lack of Velocity. We drive too slowly, walk too slowly, talk too slowly. The world will do business with dictators, perverts, and drug barons of all stripes, but being slowed down it cannot abide. Our second offence is being Everyman’s memento mori. The world can only get comfy in shiny-eyed denial if we are out of sight.”

*Clasps hands together* Well, those certainly are happy thoughts, aren’t they? I can see why others in the book club didn’t love this book. Somehow, I walked away with three things:

1. an appreciation for Mitchell’s ambition and ability to pull off such a stunt as this
2. an enjoyment of the satire that was laced throughout
3. gladness that I have eternal Hope that has nothing to do with humanity

One more thing: this book was made into a movie. That movie comes out October 25th. You can see the trailer here.

This is not about kids

No time for pleasantries. The little tyrants are in bed, and I have about half a minute before one of them calls me in for some emergency, like a toe not being covered by a blanket, or a paci falling out of a swaddled infant’s mouth, or a papercut on the pinky of an overtired girl. (I am sure a good parent would nip that kind of behavior in the bud, but alas I am not one of those parents.)

The second reason I haven’t written much (the first being the Tyrants themselves, of course) is that I have no good material. I don’t want to write only about my children because to me that means my thought life as well as my daily life has been completely taken over by people not even four feet tall. So I have some sort of rule in my head to not write about my kids very much, except HA HA HA I am writing about them right now, and they have taken over my thought life, because I haven’t written about anything else for months now.

(But while we’re on the subject of Them, let me ask some advice. Madeline has started refusing to wear diapers. That’s not a problem, except for the fact that she has no idea when she NEEDS TO GO. Or WHEN SHE IS GOING, for that matter. What the heck am I supposed to do about this?)

And now for some non-kid thoughts:

1. Ryan and I are watching The Good Wife on Netflix. We are halfway through the most recent season and are trying to catch up before CBS takes the current episodes off the site. I won’t say this is the BEST show I have ever watched*, but I really enjoy it for several reasons. First, the logic that is used to navigate the cases really stretch my brain. I am FOR SURE not smart enough to be a lawyer. Secondly, the law is an area of American life I know very little about, and I enjoy learning about its many strengths and flaws and politics. Thirdly, there are no kids in it. 
2. I just finished up Cloud Atlas for my book club, and I fully intend to write a review of it. Someday. The thing I liked best about the book was the political and social satire--there are soooo many quotes I want to share with you . . . it is rife with “warnings” about the way America (and the rest of the world) conducts herself. There is even a line about the disastrous Pentecostal takeover of North America. Doesn’t that sound ominous? I wonder if the author thinks we are in that now.
3. This is a really good one: my friend (well, if you want to be technical, she is my parents’ friend and the parent of my childhood friends and now my friend) recently started a blog so that she could be intentional about living her 59th year of life. One of her goals for the year is to glean wisdom from different women she would not necessarily otherwise have befriended. One woman is an Iranian Aziz (think princess, though she says that princess is a new term and her tribe has been around for much longer than princesses) whose title dictates that she marry a hero. Only she defines hero as “someone who fulfills his destiny so that a woman may fulfill hers.” Don’t you LOVE THAT? She goes on to explain that a hero gives a woman space to be more fully herself: When he takes care of her needs, she can explore ways to be more fully herself. Likewise, when she takes care of his needs, she frees him up to be more fully himself. Think familial roles, with a lot more elegance and significance. I just really love that thought. A hero is not a strong man in the muscly sense we all think of; a hero is a strong man in that he serves his wife. And she in turn can serve the family from a place of peace and conviction rather than from a place of duty. Wow.

Ok, I think that is all. I can only think of THREE NON-KID THINGS. 

I am so ashamed.

*Those would be Friday Night Lights (drama), Arrested Development (comedy) and Parenthood (hybrid).

Till We Have Faces (CS Lewis)

Via (Side note: Coralie kept asking why that girl was wearing a trash bag. I have no idea what she was talking about.)

Oh, Jack. I could not -- literally could not -- love you more. Every time I think, "CS Lewis is my favorite author, but it's not like he is the best there ever was," I read another of his books and I think "Oh, yes. He IS the best there ever was. Ever ever ever ever ever." And then I add an "Amen" to that.

Our latest book for book club was Till We Have Faces. I hadn't read it in a few years, but I remembered liking the book when I first read it. Oh my. That was an under-remembrance. Lewis hits his thousandth home run with this book. It is his version of the mythological story of Cupid and Psyche, and he somehow incorporates God into it in a way that is mysterious and lovely, without ever actually mentioning God.

Back story: Psyche was a mortal woman who was more beautiful than any woman ever was. Cupid's mother (Venus? I'm too lazy to look it up.) was jealous and sent her son Cupid to shoot Psyche with an arrow that would make her fall in love with a base man. Instead, Cupid himself falls in love with her (I think he was surprised by her beauty and accidentally shot himself with that arrow?); this, of course, infuriates Venus, and blah blah blah the wrath of the gods, etc.

In Lewis' version, the story is more about Psyche and her sister Orual, who loved her with an all-consuming selfish love. In the telling of the story, Lewis challenges his readers to rethink whether their love is selfish or life-giving, whether the gods are manipulative or generous, and whether they (his readers) have the wisdom to discern the difference anyway.

In short, it's brilliant. I don't know how Lewis is able to re-tell mythology* and bring his reader to a better understanding of who our loving God is, but he does.

IN SUMMATION: READ THIS BOOK.

*I could say so, so much more on this subject, but Lewis believes that mythology is relevant in religion. He thinks the pagan imagination is (divinely?) inspired to produce mythology, and that mythology became fact in the Incarnation. He also believes that myths are a more compelling medium through which to communicate TRUTH than is pure logical rhetoric.

Killing Lincoln

Should I be worried that our book club chose books back-to-back about assassinating presidents? Like, should I alert Homeland Security? I was pretty sure we are a benign group of women, but now I'm not so sure.

Just kidding. Our latest "book-chooser" is a government teacher and a lawyer; I think that probably played into the genre a little. :)

Anyway, we read Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly. Observe the cover: does it indict O'Reilly in the assassination? O'Reilly says that there are many complicated conspiracies regarding Lincoln's assassination. . . maybe he was part of one!

Via

I would give this book a B-. First of all, and the rest of the book club disagreed with me, I thought there was too much narrative on the Civil War. It felt like a historian couldn't help himself and went overboard on details of battles and such. Much like if you asked me what a modifier is. . . I could literally go on and on and on. And not everyone would appreciate it.

Second of all, there were actually four historical errors in the book, including a reference to the Oval Office (which wasn't completed until after Lincoln's death).

But there were a lot of interesting details, too. Like how interconnected Lincoln and his assassin were: John Wilkes Booth was secretly engaged to a woman who also spent some time with Lincoln's son. And also, Booth's brother saved Lincoln's son from being run over by a train (or something like that. . . as I am not a historian, I do not feel an obligation to be historically accurate.)

Let me just say that Booth was a psychopath. I truly believe he was deluded into thinking he would be a hero for killing Lincoln. Our book club all agreed that we think fame was his primary motivation and not some righteous political objective. When he was in hiding after the assassination and learned via newspapers that people were calling him a coward and a criminal instead of a hero, he was devastated. Duh, dude. YOU KILLED THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES FIVE DAYS AFTER HE WON THE WAR.

As I said, we read this right after we read The Kennedy Detail, and did you know there are some crazy similarities between the two assassinations? It's almost too much to believe, and yet there the proof is.

If you are a fan of O'Reilly or Lincoln but not a fan of big, intense history books, you might like this one. It read pretty quickly (except for the battle stuff, but like I said, I was alone in that) and gave a good overview of who was who during that era of our history.

Our next book is The 19th Wife, and having just finished it, I cannot WAIT to share the details with you. It was crazy fascinating. But we don't meet until the end of the month, so you'll have to wait awhile for the recap. :)

The Kennedy Detail (Gerald Blaine)

Our most recent book for our book club was The Kennedy Detail by Gerald Blaine. It is, naturally, about the Secret Service Detail assigned to JFK during his presidency and especially on the day of his assassination, and it is written by one of the men on JFK's detail.

Do I recommend this book? Yes and no. The topic was indeed fascinating, but the telling of the narrative was a bit. . . slow. The book is more than four hundred pages long, so if you have the time to read four hundred rather slow pages, knock yourself out. I did! You'll learn lots of interesting facts. If you don't have lots of time to sift through  a l l    t h o s e    w o r d s ,  then call me and I can give you a synopsis of the most interesting facets of The Kennedy Detail.

In Blaine's defense, he really did do a great job re-telling the story of JFK's assassination. By nature, Secret Service men and women are very detail-oriented and tend to file away in their minds a wealth of information about each and every scenario in which they find themselves. So you could say it was his DUTY to turn those six seconds in Dallas in November of 1963 into four hundred pages.

But here! Some broad-stroke, interesting-to-all take-aways for you:
-The Secret Service does not believe what the general public believes about the Kennedys and all of their alleged affairs. They claim it was impossible for Marilyn Monroe and JFK to have had an affair. And I guess they would know, since they never left the president's side.

-The men on duty during the assassination were tormented for the rest of their lives about their "failure" to do their jobs. Some were able to continue working for the Secret Service, but many retired to the private sector to escape the guilt they felt. One, Clint Hill (the man who ran up to the president's car after the shots were fired), was interviewed on 60 Minutes in 1975, and the interviewer (Mike Wallace) said he had never seen a more broken, tormented man in all his life. You can see some clips here.

-Jackie was not crawling on the trunk of the car to reach the Secret Service agent Clint Hill after JFK was shot; she was actually crawling after bits of her husband's head that had. . . escaped from his body.

-When JFK was assassinated, his detail consisted of forty over-worked men. Now the Secret Service is almost TEN TIMES that size.

-All of the conspiracy theories are unfounded and can be explained away very easily and quickly. Blaine perfunctorily dedicated a whole chapter to this. I did a fair amount of internet research on these conspiracy theories, and I have to say that Blaine did indeed debunk them all. Which is sad, as we all love a good conspiracy. I guess we'll just have to turn our attention to the lunar landing!



Well, there you have it. Let me know your thoughts on this book if you've read it! (Or if you want to borrow it, let me know!)

The best passage in all of literature

Source



As you know, I am reading through The Chronicles of Narnia right now. I can't say enough about the perfection of these books-- they are . . . perfect. They are entertaining, quick to read, didactic, and most of all, they point to the wonderment of Jesus.

My favorite passage in all of the Chronicles, and therefore in all of literature, comes from The Horse and His Boy. I hope you've read it, but in case you haven't, here's a little back story:


In a far-off land, a young boy named Shasta meets a talking horse from Narnia who convinces him to run away from his cruel master. Together, they encounter many dangers on their long journey to Narnia, not the least of which are all the lions that plague them. One night, Shasta --yet again--is met with a lion.This time, the lion walks quietly beside Shasta until Shasta speaks to him. The lion, who is of course Aslan but is referred to in this passage as "the Voice", asks Shasta to tell his story. Shasta recounts the past few weeks, including the many examples of his "bad luck" with lions.

     "There was only one lion," said the Voice.
     "What on earth do you mean? I've just told you there were at least two the first night, and --"
     "There was only one; but he was swift of foot."
     "How do you know?"
     "I was the lion." And as Shasta gaped with open mouth and said nothing, the Voice continued. "I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you."


Source

    Shasta was no longer afraid that the Voice belonged to something that would eat him, nor that it was the voice of a ghost. But a new and different sort of trembling came over him. Yet he felt glad too . . . after one glance at the Lion's face, he slipped out of the saddle and fell at its feet. He couldn't say anything but then he didn't want to say anything, and he knew he needn't say anything.

Wow. How little we understand. How little we acknowledge God's sovereignty. How little we are in the greatness of God.

If ever there was a true instrument of God in the last century, surely it was CS Lewis. Thank you, God, for CS Lewis. And thank you, God, most of all, for Jesus. May we heed your Voice and believe in your plan.

An honest plea

I may not know the answer to most of those stock ice-breaker questions (Who's your favorite singer? What's your favorite color? What's the best movie of all time?), but I do know the answer to a much more obscure one: If you could go back in time and meet one person, who would it be?

It probably won't surprise you that I would like to meet an author.

There is one man whose books are worth reading again, and again, and again. His fiction entertains, his essays challenge, and his arguments convince.

He was childless, though many children adored him and would write him. He was nearly wife-less, until rather late in life he decided to marry and even later decided to make the marriage a real one.

He lectured at Oxford with his overcoat on, not because the room was cold but because his clothes were never properly mended.

He was an atheist and an agnostic at different points in life, and yet later he came up with the greatest logical case for Christ in all of modern history.

I am speaking, of course, of CS Lewis.

I decided to re-read The Chronicles of Narnia during the holidays. They are short, easy to read, and can be put down and picked up at irregular intervals without having lost any momentum. They also make me love Lewis anew every time I read them.

I first read them in college (actually, it is possible I read them as a child, but it is quite a different matter to read them as an adult) and remember happily crying at the beauty they held. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about these stories is that they make me love Jesus more than any other man-inspired book ever has, and Jesus is not mentioned even once in their many pages. In fact, Lewis never intended for the Chronicles to be a Christian allegory; rather, he said that he wondered what it would look like if another world had been created and also needed redemption. But still, parallels remain. In these fairy tales, Aslan, the redeemer of the traitorous and the rescuer of the vulnerable, is both wonderfully dangerous and good, grows only as his follower grows, can be harder to see at times or for certain people, and knows a beautiful world we can only dream about. "Farther up, farther in" will forever be linked to heaven for me. (I sincerely hope you are familiar with the scene I just referenced.)

Before I learned I was pregnant with Coralie, I begged my headmaster to let me develop and teach a class on CS Lewis and his writings. Even after I realized that my "retirement" meant I would never actually teach the class, I still developed a semester's worth of curriculum. It is one of my great professional regrets that I wasn't able to introduce some young men and women to the writer who changes lives even today.

Read his science fiction, and marvel at his creativity. Read The Chronicles of Narnia and live in wonderment that you can know Jesus. Read his essays and admire his logic. Read Mere Christianity and become (re?)convinced of the Reality that is God the Creator and Christ the Redeemer. Read his letters to children, and discover how to inspire a child. Just. read. him.

And if you should ever happen upon a time machine, please call me. I would love to go back just a few short decades and shake the hand of the man called Jack who truly changed my life.

Turns out, I DO remember how to type

Tap. Tap. Is this thing on? Can anyone hear me?

My body has mutinied on me. My fingers have absolutely refused to write anything at all lately. I mean, I have written many a (very eloquent, I might add) post in my head as I lay awake in bed late at night, but those musings have somehow never made it onto this blog. Whose sole purpose is to record those musings.

Anyway, here's my best effort to condense the last however-long-period into one post.

1. I have read two compelling books for my book club lately. The first is Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, and the second is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Both were non-fiction, but that is their only similarity.

Unbroken, the story of a young man's against-all-odds survival during a brutal WWII experience, wins best book of the year for me. What happens to him would seem unlikely in even the most outrageous fiction novels. That his story is actually true? Unthinkable.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle challenges its readers to rethink the way they eat. Kingsolver and her family vow to eat only locally grown (defined by their county limits) food for a year, with the exception of coffee, dried fruit, and spices. I will admit that it has inspired me to start a garden for myself, as she claims that the food one can grow in one's backyard outshines the produce found in one's grocer, both in taste and in quality. So who wants to hoe a garden for me? I promise I'll water it!!

2. Coralie has earned the title of a Three Year Old. Charming, delightful, smart, and a  h a n d f u l. After you hoe a garden for me, care to babysit? I kid, I kid.

3. Madeline is practically running everywhere. Today in Dillon's, I turned to look for an 8 oz bag of cheese per my coupon instead of the 16 oz bag which was at my eye level (my life has many exciting parallels to Unbroken, don't you think?), and she had run down two aisles and was trying to pull kitty litter off the shelf. Coralie found this delightful; I found this rather harrowing.

4. Speaking of harrowing, Coralie can "swim". I promise you, her teacher means to near-drown her at every lesson, but somehow that little girl can get from one pool wall to another without meeting her Maker. I avoid going to her lessons if at all possible because it is all too stressful to watch. Ryan assures me this will be the case no matter what recreation my girls take up. This got me thinking-- every stinking hobby really is dangerous! Getting spiked in soccer or track. Getting hit in the face with a ball in basketball, softball, or volleyball. Getting carpal tunnel in piano lessons. Tripping up the risers in choir. Show me a "harmless" recreation and I'll show you an inherent danger.

5. In case you missed the news, Christmas is just around the corner! We are trying to do something special every day to celebrate the season, and it's much easier than I imagined. Today we went shopping for our Angel Tree girl, and tomorrow we are doing special pedicures. I know, I don't know how we are fitting it all in, but we are.

6. Also, I think I have pretty much figured out how to reconcile Jesus and Santa, thank goodness, but don't you go confusing my girls with your normal Christmas stories. I've worked too hard to get my story straight.


Ok, well, maybe you're up to speed? I am not sure when I will be able to write again, since typing is such a risk-infused activity and I don't want to take any unnecessary chances this close to Christmas. I hope you and yours are doing well and that you find yourselves in good health and good company this season!


PS-- We are not doing Christmas cards this year because I never did get my usual inspiration to undertake that project. Please don't take us off your Christmas card list!! I hope to be back up and running as usual next year. :)

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (Lisa See)

There is so much to say about this book. But first, a synopsis. Back in rural China in the 1800s, the size of a woman's feet dictated so much: whom she could marry, whom she could befriend, what her status in society was. This is the story of a poor little girl with perfect tiny feet who rose up in society and a rich little girl who, for reasons out of her control, went down in society.

Overall, I found the book to be a little depressing. As in, I AM SO THANKFUL I WASN'T BORN IN RURAL CHINA IN THE 1800s BECAUSE IT SUCKED BACK THEN. Women had no freedom whatsoever, even to leave the house. They couldn't leave the house! Did you hear me? Trapped in their own homes, they were. To make matters even worse, no one wanted a woman in the house unless she would produce sons. Her birth family didn't want her since she was a daughter. And her married family didn't want her unless she could produce heirs. So women were essentially silent slaves in their own homes unless they were Lady of the House. And there was only one Lady at a time, so in their multi-generational/multi-family-branched homes, there were a lot of women who weren't the Ladies.

But See is a wonderful author with the ability to keep the story moving, and the premise of the book is absolutely fascinating. Everyone in my book club loved it, so there's that. I personally didn't, but as I said, I was in the minority. Fascinated but not in love. Yeah, that's how I feel.

However, I have a list of things I am freaked out about now:
-BEE STINGS. I won't tell you why, but I will tell you I carry benadryl with me. Everywhere.
-BOUND FEET. Little four year old girls had their feet bound. Four years old. Bound. Do you know what this entails? Basically, the toes are wrapped so that they are underneath the foot. Then the little girls walk like that, every day, for months until all the bones in their feet break. Then the feet are re-wrapped even tighter. The goal is to create feet to be 3 inches long. This is not an endearing part of Chinese history.
-TYPHOID. We are all immunized, right? Gah, what an awful disease.
-CHINA in general. I will not be traveling there. I know it's different now, but I can't shake the opinions I have of that 1800s culture. Also, I don't like their food. I like American Chinese food, but not the food that See writes about.

Speaking of food, we met at PF Changs to discuss the book. I am sure the waiter rolled his eyes at all of us women eating there with our big, obvious China books sitting beside us, but he was very gracious anyway. The manager even paid for my meal, so yeah, I'd say it was a good choice for us. (The manager is married to one of my former students, and I just love her. Hi, L, if you're reading!)

Our next book is Unbroken, and, yes, I know everyone else in the whole world has read this book. Anything I should know before diving in?

Cutting for Stone

Let me start by saying WHY DID NO ONE EVER TELL ME I SHOULD HAVE JOINED A BOOK CLUB, LIKE, A ZILLION YEARS AGO? 

Until now, I have led a fairly lonely literary life. Sure, I could share a book here and there with a fellow reader, but the conversations were either, "Hey, you should read XYZ. It's really interesting!" or "Here, read this and tell me what you think." As you can imagine, those conversations left something to be desired in the Intellectual Stimulation department.

Ryan would usually politely listen as I went on and on and on about this book or that character or these relationships, but since he hadn't read the books, the conversations were decidedly one-sided.

So I took a bold step this spring and started a book club. WHICH I ABSOLUTELY ADORE. I approached one of my former colleagues about joining me in this genesis, and she agreed. We each invited two friends we knew could be relied upon to actually read the book and add to the discussion, and I am so thrilled with every person we chose.

We have met twice now to discuss the books, and let me say, these women are smart! They are interesting, and well read, and thoughftul, and easy to talk with. I feel like I hit the jackpot, book-club style.

Anyway, the latest book we read together was Cutting for Stone. I am not qualified to give a synopsis of such an intense book, but basically, a Indian nun working in Ethiopia gives birth to conjoined twins. She dies, and the story is about the boys' coming of age. It's complicated and beautiful and poignant and medical-ly and an absolute delight to read. It's about 600 pages, and I read it in three days. I couldn't put it down!

Like I said, it's a long read, but I do think it's worth your time. If you do read it and are unfortunate enough not to belong to a book club where you can actually talk about all the things that cross your mind as you read this, give me a call. I'd love to chat. :)

TI-TO

I guess I either read or I write. I haven't written a single word since last Monday, but I have read a few books and several magazines. I finished my latest book yesterday (Little Bee, and before that was The Scent of Lightning and Rain or something like that. . . I don't necessarily recommend either unless you are completely out of other options) and decided to wait to start another until I wrote a little. I only have enough space in my head or time in my day for one: Thoughts In or Thoughts Out.

I don't think either one can be neglected for too long before I go crazy. :)

Are you like that? Do you find you have bursts of energy for one thing and only one thing, or do you like to dabble in several things at a time?

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

This was the first book our book club read. It was fascinating. It's about a young mother who died of incredibly aggressive cervical cancer, the cells they took from her without her knowledge, and the fallout that occurred when her family found out.

You've got to read the book. It's hard to believe that it's non-fiction, that this is a true story. I don't want to give too many things away, but there are some really good questions that must be asked after reading it, like how much of our bodies we "own" and what research subjects are entitled to if discoveries based on their specimens spawn a multi-billion dollar industry. The book also raises a ton of social questions, ranging from the issues of education to access to good medical care.

I just couldn't believe some of the things this family had been through. Consistent incest, abuse, neglect. Total lack of education. Crime sprees, violence, alcoholism. Strokes, heart attacks, diabetes. Bankruptcy. And yet, out of this mess comes one of the most impactful medical breakthroughs of the 20th century.

If you are into science, medicine, ethics, social issues, psychology, religion, or just people, you must read this book.

Kids these days. . .

. . . have no respect! I just spent my morning taping about a hundred torn Curious George pages back together.

I am talking about my own kid, of course. And it's not so much that she doesn't have respect, it's that she doesn't have an obsession with being careful with her things. So, no, I don't hate her for the way I spent my morning. I am just glad she loves reading so much.

What have you repaired this morning?

Presidential marriages

I just finished reading Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our History, which I highly recommend. I never really enjoyed history class in school and thus have such a shaky working knowledge of our country's past that I am not qualified to engage even a three-year-old in discussion.

But this book is not really about history anyway. It is about the men who became president and the women who were along for the ride (or, as in some cases, who DROVE) and how their relationships worked. A side effect of reading about these marriages is that I have a much greater understanding of all of the important decisions that were made in the last one hundred years or so. (I never knew what went down in the Iran Contra scandal, and now I do. A little. I believe there was a rogue aid who sold weapons to the enemy who came back and said that he was Luke's father or something of that sort.)

But far more interesting to me were the analyses of how these marriages worked. Most of these women put up with unfaithful husbands, whether that meant they had affairs (like FDR, LBJ, and JFK. . . Wait a hot minute-- if Ryan ever wants to go by his intials, I should suspect that he is up to no good as it seems there is a trend here.) or forsook their marriage for their careers (like Nixon). There were some marriages that seemed to work well, perhaps even better once the men became president (like the Fords and the Carters) and some that were close no matter what (like the Reagans).

I wonder what people would say of our marriage. I like to think we have a really good marriage, that there is a bond of loyalty, a give-and-take approach to each other as individuals, and a genuine enjoyment of each other. But it is often easier to acknowledge the good than the bad. So today, I am going to spend some time reflecting, pretending that Ryan is president. (He already likes me to treat him like he is POTUS anyway, so it won't be much of a stretch.) What would a book on presidential marriages say about us? About me as his wife?

Heavens, I may not want to know.

What about you? Have you ever wondered what your biography would read like? Or a book on your marriage?

Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks about stuff like this, because then this post will just dangle awkwardly in cyber-space, and no one wants an awkward dangler.

Because I said I would

I have been following a blog for quite some time now and finally decided to delurk. I spent all morning composing an email to the blogger in my mind, and I couldn't come up with something equal to her wit. But to prove to Ryan (I promised him I would introduce myself to the blogger) that I actually did delurk, here is the email I sent:

Dear Emily,

(insert awkard introduction)

Whew! Glad that's over.

I was struck by a thought this morning while vacuuming up the THIRD bowl of (dry) spilled Cheerios. I can no longer lurk notthatyouasked. For one, lurking is a horrible word and something I do not wish to say I do, and for two, it's not fair that you do all the work and I get to enjoy your humor from afar without offering even a name in return.

It's Kathryn, by the way.

I have followed your blog since the dismal days of a colicky baby (who is now, AHEM, three. . . and my apologies for being fine with lurking for three whole years) and have even followed your advice to read shelikespurple (thanks for that).

Annnnyway, reading your blog without declaring so to you started creeping me out all of a sudden, and in a bold statement to my husband, I declared that I would internet meet you This Month. That was April, and May is quickly coming to a close, and I am so ashamed.

I don't know how to end this introduction, so

(insert clever, charming closing).

Yours,
Kathryn

Awesome things in my life, part IV

Now on to some more "lite-awesome" things in my life.

I am starting a book club with a smart, opinionated woman. I can't wait to see how it turns out! Our first meeting will be the last week of May. We are thinking themed dinners! intelligent conversation! lounging, for heaven's sake!

Ryan and I are taking Coralie to Connecticut this summer for a family wedding. It will be so CUTE to see her in an airport and on a plane! Why cute? I don't know. I can't wait for her to experience the travel, the beach, the wedding. . . she is getting old enough to remember these kinds of things, and I can't wait to watch her experience all of it. Madeline will be staying in St Louis with my parents, and it will be bittersweet to be there with Coralie and not Madeline, but I think we made a good decision to bring Coralie by herself. Madeline will be better for having spent a week with grandparents, and Coralie will be better for having spent a week with her parents.

Ryan booked a trip for the TWO of us to Vegas in November! Nevermind that Celine won't be there. We will be away! Alone! I am sure we will miss the kids terribly, but I can't even imagine what it will be like to shower when I want, eat when I want, and go where I want. No kids? No naps? No strollers and diapers and bottles? Yes, please! (And thanks to our parents for watching the most precious treasures in my life.)

We have redecorated a little and updated our house. And our house is now awesome. My two favorite things are the picture wall in our bedroom and the girls' playroom.

I've got a cool new van. Yes, I said COOL VAN. Take that, younger version of myself who thought an SUV would do the trick and was too proud to picture myself driving a van.

*******

Actually, I can't think of too many things in my life that AREN'T awesome. I'm not a Pollyanna; I have just been handed an overflowing cup. And I do recognize that it was handed to me-- none of the awesome things in my life have been my choice (other than the van and book club, maybe!)

Thank you, God, for my life. Thank you for the PEOPLE in it, and the EXPERIENCES in it. May I always give you the credit and be content with what I have been handed, even if my life isn't always this awesome. But I hope it is. :)

Ode to Barbara

When I first started reading, I did it to win pizza. I can taste that heavenly Pizza Hut pepperoni pizza right now. (I am going to call Ryan and very strongly suggest that we order pizza tonight.) Remember the Book It program?
Somewhere between the Boxcar Children, The Babysitter's Club, and the One Last Wish series, I got hooked, and not just on the pizza.

There are times in my life when I am lucky to finish The Reader's Digest (don't knock it-- that was my precious link to the outside world when Coralie had colic!), and there are times in my life when I am able to read the entire Twilight series in one week. (Who was taking care of my children? WHO?) This is one of those seasons when I am reading random books and loving it.

I just finished Barbara Bush's memoir, and I have to say I adore that woman.

I am actually writing her a letter, thanking her for writing a memoir. Nevermind that's What Former First Ladies Do. She is delightful. I suggest you read her book if you want to read about someone who held an important position but didn't take herself too seriously. She deliberately looked for the good in people, and with a husband in politics, I don't consider that to have been a small feat. She had excellent manners and still maintained quite a bit of spunk. Towards the end of her memoir, she writes a letter to her children containing all sorts of great advice about money, relationships, faith, and food. You can read it here, and I suggest you do.

Ah, where was I? Oh yes, I adore Mrs. Bush. I would like to be her when I grow up. But I would also like to avoid the many public apologies she had to make.