Category: books

book-review, books, literature, reading

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

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Barbara Kingsolver is an author that has proven again and again that she understands the way the world works, with all its ugliness and beauty. With this novel, she yet again proves her superior abilities in story telling. A retelling of Dicken’s David Copperfield in the early 2000s in rural Appalachia, this novel shines its light on the same institutionalized poverty that Dicken’s railed against in Victorian times.

This story introduces you to Damon, known as Demon Copperhead because of his bright red hair. Demon was born to an addicted teen mother that had witnessed the death of his father 3 months before he was born in a trailer in the mountains of Virginia. With every turn Demon faces more odds against him – an addicted mom, an abusive step-father, a dead father, and more with each month. As you follow the path that Demon follows, you see obstacles thrown in his way each time he tries to make things better. Hanging over everyone he knows in Lee County VA is the ever-present need for a fix to take away pain – physical and emotional. We find that, in truth and in fiction, this is because drug companies have identified the largest population on medi=care that requests pain medications to sell aggressively and deceptively to. The people that have already been harmed by the mining industry are then preyed upon by drug companies. While the drugs are a problem, as Demon’s friend from foster care, Tommy points out, this has been a war on people that are different. The Hillbilly jokes keep putting down those that can and do survive by growing, hunting and sharing to fill needs of hungry bellies. 

It is through Demon’s grit and resilience, and ability to make do with what he has and not hope for more, that he is able to survive his trials. Along the way you meet people that don’t care, that care only about themselves, and those that cared but are too jaded with the inability to change things. You also meet the most unlikely people that go out of their way to try to ease someone else’s load or try to help them find their way.  You realize that while there is dark in the world we live in, there is also some light in it.

Near the end you are rooting for some happiness to find him, and you are never sure. You care deeply for him by the time you turn that last page.  And you hope that the ride he is on is a positive one.

book-review, books, Family Drama, literature, reading

The World Played Chess

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by Robert Dugoni

This is a complex, intertwining story told by two men in three time periods. We start in 2016 when Vincent, a successful lawyer, receives a journal from an old friend he hadn’t heard from in years.  The author of the journal was William – someone that Vinny met when he was 18 in the summer of 1979. William, 12 years older than Vinny, had made a strong impression on him, and while he never spoke of the friend, this relationship helped shape the way Vinny approached life. William’s journal was written when he was an 18-year-old going off to Vietnam in 1967. Vinny had been a witness to William’s PTSD that summer, when he couldn’t fathom how difficult choices in life can be and how they change your course forever.

In 1979 Vinny just graduated as valedictorian, was accepted into Stanford, but his family was unable to pay the tuition and he is devastated. Instead, he is headed to community college. As he parties with his friends that summer before school, he takes a job in construction. There he meets William, a Vietnam vet twelve years older than he is. Over the course of the summer William tells stories of what he lived through as his life unravels.

As Vinny reads the journal in 2016, one entry each day, he is also preparing for his son Beau to graduate high school and go off into the world.  Disappointments and frustration are all there, as Beau tries to become independent and make his own decisions. After a tragedy Vinny watches as Beau struggles with the fragility of life. He is seeing personally that growing old is a privilege, not a right. Through Vinny’s eyes we see the pain of watching youth stolen from both William and Beau at the same point of life. You are reminded that the moments in between are all about shaping who you are. You need to accept your abilities, and make choices for yourself and your family, with the knowledge that all choices have consequences that you must live with. You also learn to put things in perspective – like being able to go to community college is better than not being able to go to college at all.

Everyone’s demons are different, but in the end, the role that Vinny place for both William and Beau is someone that has enough empathy to listen. That allows both men to face the hard parts of life, and be able to move forward to being a better person because of their past, not despite it. In 1979 most didn’t want to listen to those that saw horrors in Vietnam, and in 2016 most don’t want to acknowledge the dark possibilities in life.

This story was so well written that it was not hard to jump between the timelines. The interweaving of the stories is what makes it just so poignant – even though each man had different things happening in their lives at 18, the hope for the future and the realization of what that really means is difficult. As I watch my own son at 18, this has given me another layer of understanding to what it is he is grappling with. I wholeheartedly recommend reading this. 

African Experience, book-review, books, literature, read around the world, reading

Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

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by Shehan Karunatilaka

Maali Almedia introduces himself with what should be on his business card:  Photographer, Gambler, Slut. He awakes to find himself in what seems to be a government office. He isn’t sure he if he is dreaming or awake because of the “silly pills” he had taken the night before. He slowly comes to realize that he is dead – murdered. Around him are lines and chaos as people try to figure out where they are and what comes next. He is faced with a dead political activist, who is to help him prepare to go “into the light” after having seven moons (days) to come to grips with this and prepare himself. He is also pursued by a slain member of the JVP (communist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna’s group) that is seeking to gather an army to exact revenge on those that killed them and thousands of innocents.

Through eavesdropping and memory, we learn of Maali’s history, of the country’s history, and the history of people he knew. He roams through the rooms where his friends and his enemies are looking to find him. Along the way he also meets some that he photographed when they were dead.  We learn of the atrocities he witnessed and documented. He decides it is time to show the reality of what he has seen now that he is dead. To do this, Maali makes pacts with The Crow Man, a medium, to give information to Jaki, his best friend, to find his photos. You also meet DD, Jaki’s brother and Maali’s lover, and their father, a minister in the government. Other players are leaders of waring factions across the spectrum: Army, Tamil, LTTE, arms dealers from Israel, CIA and CNTRE from Canada and Europe. Everyone has a hidden agenda, and if you get in someone’s way you end up dead. We follow those sent to get rid of the bodies, too.

In the end, Maali must come to a decision – what did his life stand for and how does he want to move forward. You need to read to the end to see if he goes to the light or not, and to discover what he finds his role is in this life. I can tell you, however, that people end up where they are supposed to be. 

Very well written. I was surprised how much this story captured me. Going back and forth from the in between and life, as well as to memory, worked seamlessly. You felt the confusion, and the despair, and the absurdity, as well as the relief when things are finished, even if they didn’t work out the way it was hoped. There is always time to do better. Not an easy story, but I am glad I read it.  

books, read around the world, reading

Beyond the Rice Fields by Naivo

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This is the first book translated to English from Madagascar. Set in the turmoil of the late 1800s, this is a sweeping tale of human bondage, revenge and faith. Palace intrigues, clan wars, forbidden religion, neighbors turning on neighbors, innocence proven by evading death, and life-long feuds for family revenge. Everything you would expect from Dickens, Hawthorn, or Hugo. There are many twists and overarching themes, as well as history in a different culture as it fights colonization while adopting modern industrialization.

Set in a small but prosperous village, we meet three generations of women – Bebe, Bao, and Fara – and their slave Tsito. Bebe, the matriarch, has a hair lip now, but was once a beauty that never married. Her daughter Bao was a famed dancer who entranced men with her first dance competition, winning the heart of Rabo, who left without marrying her. Fara is the daughter of that union. Tsito, enslaved when his village was attacked and his family murdered, was provided by Rabo to help the women when he left.

From the time of inception, Bao’s only pregnancy was decreed evil by the local seer, who wanted to kill Fara to kill the evil, but was tricked into dismissing the traditional methods when a European priest interrupted. Fara and Tsito were inseparable even though they had different social standing, but evil was always nearby, as the seer predicted. 

The history of the country is reflected the pair’s stories and the stories of their childhood friends. Letting Europeans enter the country with crazy ideas of worship and learning was not at first considered threatening. As the new religion caught on, however, the Sovereign Queen sought to eradicate it from her country by killing those that believe. She stopped listening to clans that had supported her father’s reign, instead taking away wealth and freedom. Each day brought new fears. It is in this atmosphere that Fara realizes she had always been in love with Tsito. Many trials are put in front of these two, and I will not spoil the book by sharing them.

The story is complex in its telling, yet simple at the core. Value all human beings. Trust in love. Turn from hate. Work hard for what is right.

Well worth the read!   

books, read around the world, reading

2022 Year in Reading

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Key statistics:

I have read 54 books and listened to 9:  51 Fiction; 11 Non-Fiction; and 1 Poetry

Average book size = 293 pages   

  • Longest 561
  • Shortest 23

These books were based in 32 different countries or regions of the world, helping me expand on my quest to read around the world. Of the 117 countries I am working toward reading, I have read books from 93.

Ten favorite reads of the year (in alphabetical order):

  • A General Theory of Oblivion by Jose Eduardo Agualusa
  • Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin
  • Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
  • Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
  • In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende
  • Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
  • Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitil Gonzalez
  • The Unseen World by Liz Moore
  • Trust by Hernan Diaz
  • Women Without Men: A Novel of Modern Iran by Shahrnush Parsipur

There were many other books that were good, but these were my favorites this year.

I now have over 150 titles in my “To Be Read” list, and it keeps growing. Next year’s goal is to read from 10 more countries on my list.

Happy new year all! 

books, reading

Trust by Hernan Diaz

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This will have spoilers, because that is the only way I can describe this book. I read this after hearing the author on The Bookcase podcast. Charlie Gibson gave away the first part, so I am not sure if I would have understood this as easily. I tried to not spoil it for my mom, but needed to clarify why it was worth finishing the book.

The key to this book is the table of contents. You will see there are four parts:

BONDS

Harold Vanner

MY LIFE

Andrew Bevel

A MEMIOR, REMEMBERED

Ida Partenza

FUTURES

Mildred Bevel

After you turn the page from there, you will see a title page: BONDS, A Novel by Harold Vanner

You will then proceed to read a story of the Rask Family, Benjamin and Helen. A story of how Benjamin was brilliant at money, and how Helen was brilliant in her own right and a supporter of the arts, with an ending that insinuated that Benjamin was the reason for the death of Helen. Even though you have been told it is a novel, you believe this is all the truth. You may have even missed it that this was called a novel.

The second part of the book is called MY LIFE by Andrew Bevel. It is a new story, similar to the first, but with some glaring differences. The way the family money is made, a father’s affair in Cuba, and other “sordid” details are no longer there, or even refuted directly. Somewhat jarringly, there are notes at times to fill in information later. You come to understand this narrative by Andrew Bevel better with information you receive in the next section.

The third part of the book is a memory of Ida Partenza. She is an assistant that had been hired by Andrew Bevel to help write the biography. Here we learn MY LIFE consisted of his notes to write a memoir, but he needed help finishing. Ida was chosen from stiff competition to get this job. Ultimately, a test to type information about themselves gave Ida an edge. Ida’s response was not to answer the questions but to change it to be something close but not quite the same. This is exactly what Andrew wanted. Once hired, and under strict non-disclosure contracts, Ida learned that the memoir was specifically to set the record straight – that BONDS was just a story that resembled the Bevels, not reality, and that Mildred was a saint. To ensure this, in addition to wanting this written, Andrew bought every book published and the publisher to kill the novel. All to keep people from believing that story was based on truth, as he believed the story did.

As Ida tries to diligently capture facts, each time there is a question about what Mildred was and how she felt, Andrew was keen to change the subject. When Ida asked if Mildred had kept journals, Andrew stated they didn’t add anything, simply take his notes and go from there. Mildred’s defense was to remain without her voice. A MEMOIR REMEMBERED is a memory because the book was never finished. Andrew died before the project was completed. Ida was remembering this because she was actually going to the Bevel house as a journalist decades later, when it opened as a museum. Ida is able to come into the house once again, and is actually able to gain access to the journals of Mildred.

The last section is from Mildred’s journals. Yet another version of the truth is then shared. She was the mastermind behind the financial wins in the market. She knew she was dying of cancer. She chose to die in Switzerland. All information that had been put forth before was therefore to be questioned again.

Through this thoughtful structure, the point of the book is not that of Trust in the business sense, but in the human sense. Who do you trust to tell your story? Can you fully trust only one version of a story? What is trust? Why do we get so bogged down in the details of the money, when the real story is of the people – who they are, how they react, how they connect and what they actually know. Who do you trust to tell your story to? And who do you trust to tell it to others? In this lens, the titles of the sections have new meaning.

Bonds are not about the financial market bonds. These are used heavily throughout the first two sections as a way to hide truths. Money is not a connection – Rask has no friends or connections regardless of the money. Helen makes a connection with Benjamin in the same way as his money. Both are there to help open doors, but true bonds of friendship and support are made through her connections to the people she meets and supports through her charity. Similarly, Mildred’s charities provide her with an outlet and connection to the world outside her marriage. They give her a purpose in life and a way to have a separate identity from Andrew – even if he doesn’t want to admit it.

Similarly, the title of the last section FUTURES is again a reference to financial markets. The intention of these market securities is to take bets on what the markets and people will do in the future. This section focuses on Mildred’s story as told through her journals. The future she sees for Andrew after her knowledge pushes Andrew to action in 1929, saving his fortune, but knowing that in the she would not be there to push him to action for much longer.  The knowledge she was to be invisible behind him, and the knowledge that she needed to keep her own voice for her own truth via her journals.  

The author’s use of structure to help build this story is a technique that was used to perfection. It helped to build trust, and at the same time lull you into seeing how each person builds a truth by what they are seeing and what they are telling, and why it is so important to be skeptical. With so much disinformation in the world, especially in the United States news, it is important to remember this, and work to discover what truths are and what they are hiding.

books, read around the world, reading

Reading Dangerously

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I am not what you can consider “cutting edge” when it comes to technology and what is offered. I have only recently joined Spotify and found some podcasts that I am really enjoying, and I am sure there are many more for me to find. One podcast that I have been enjoying is The Book Case with Kate & Charlie Gibson. In the episode I am currently listening to (originally aired June 9, 2022) they are interviewing an author, Azar Nafisi. Her new book “Reading Dangerously” is a challenge to readers to choose books outside our comfort zone. She contends that reading fiction can be a liberating and even subversive act. She should know, having been an intellectual leader in Iran when the clerics took over.

This is something that I have been thinking about a lot lately. In the US the number of book bans is on the rise. The news stations are bifurcated so you choose what slant you want to hear before you choose the source. We are interacting less with people that are not like ourselves. Personally, I believe that this insular world we are living in has created deeper fissions. The concept of “News” is no longer a factual reporting of just who, what, why, where, when and how. It is all about sensationalism. Edward R Morrow, the man that single-handedly went after and exposed the lies of the McCarthy era, is rolling in his grave. Only opinion is spouted – not the facts. Just look at the differences in how Fox news spoke about the attack on Paul Pelosi versus how CNN spoke of it.

My biggest concern is that in our race to be MORE and BIGGER we are putting others down to achieve this. It is not until you can walk in someone else’s shoes that you can begin to understand why they feel a certain way. That is why the concept of reading dangerously is so intriguing to me. If I don’t know what someone else’s view of the world is, how am I to understand why their stance may be different? I don’t need to agree, but it would be good to understand why so that perhaps there can be a way that each person’s beliefs can be respected.

I have been reading around the world to provide myself with different perspectives and learn about how others live. I know this has impacted me. I had been a lover of the pomp from the Royal families since I was a child. Now, however, when I was watching the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, I have a different reaction. I am disgusted by the pomp, especially seeing the military in force. It is the egos of this family’s ancestors that went around the world spreading disease and hatred, killing off cultures that had been in place long before them. The legacy they left is something that the world continues to struggle with daily.

Azar Nafisi’s theory that having a curious mind leads to challenge and understanding is one I believe in. It is two sides of a coin. You are to ask questions, but also gain empathy toward others. It should be our responsibility to do both. If we do not, we will only continue to divide ourselves into small groups that continue to belittle and dismiss others. That is the most dangerous thing to do. The lack of empathy will be the fall of our civilization.  

So go out and choose something to read that you would not usually pick.

book-review, books, Hispanic and Latinx Cultures, reading

Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez

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This book is very complex, but also very simple.

The story begins with us following Olga while she is working to make a bride and her uber-rich family happy by ordering hand-made napkins, while making sure she has added enough to use at her cousin’s wedding in a few weeks. We meet her congressman brother, Prieto, as he greets his constituents – the part of the job he loves most. After he returns to his office, we hear him being summoned for a meeting with Arthur Selby – someone not a constituent or a donor – which will be resentfully attended.

As we learn more from each of these siblings, you learn of how their father Johnny was a revolutionary looking to change schooling to make the next generations of kids more equal, but returned from Vietnam as a heroin addict. After meeting and marrying Blanca, also a revolutionary, they had two children. While clean for a stretch, Johnny descended back into drugs, crack and became infected with HIV/AIDS. Blanca kept her eye on the revolution, giving speeches globally, until one day she left on one of these trips, but never returns. Olga was 13 and Prieto was 17 when their mother left. Because of their father’s habit that kept him in and out of jail, their Abuelita raised them, with the large family all helping.

While physically abandoned, each child continued to hear from Blanca and what she thought of their life choices via mail – no return address and no way to contact her. Neither shared with the other that they received these communications. The revolutionary diet of rhetoric they were brought up on, even with absent parents, impacted them, as did watching their father struggle with trying to provide for them while being chained to his addiction.  

Prieto took a grassroots approach to this revolution, first as a councilman, then as a congressman. Teased as “pollyanna” he didn’t have a side hustle – something that everyone else seemed to have going as an open secret. Olga took the educational route, gaining entry into an ivy league school where she looked safe enough, but never felt like she fit in or what to do next. Getting in had been the goal for her, while for those of Ivy-type families it was only the start of the chase.

Both siblings were faced with the realities of what the “establishment” was and how this establishment abused the power of it. Those with money, status, and skin were always plotting to keep it, and more importantly keep it from people not like them. Because of the systemic biases that have been built into all systems, education, housing, pay, healthcare and more, life is stacked against everyone “else.” The story highlights how people of color must decide on buying into the establishment version of success, or their own culture’s version.

The story is about how to use power to get what you want. It also highlights that these traits exists on both sides of the coin – the revolutionary mother was manipulating them and countless others to get what she wanted. It is the extremes of each side that pit us against each other – and that power itself, regardless of where it comes from, corrupts.

Extremely well written, engaging and thought provoking. This story of disenfranchisement, hidden secrets and the desire to be loved lays bare that we each must find our own definition of success, embrace the life you have and be open to ask for help when you need it.  

book-review, books, Family Drama, literature, read around the world, reading

The King’s Cartographer by Jair Alcalay

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The story starts out in the late 1600s with an introduction to Jewish brothers that are running from a mob that have been sent by the Catholic Church to kill them for their religion. You are introduced to the particulars of leaving Spain, how the sea faring business they owned was organized, and about the ships they sailed. I was looking forward to hearing how the family escaped, built a new life in Portugal, and continued to grow and navigate around the world.

What you get, however, are the details that the family moved and settled in. You do not hear of the family and how they deal with the changes in circumstance and the future planning they are doing to find somewhere they can practice their religion openly. You learn how new ships were built, how a new person comes to the family and learns of the sea and how to create new maps – and even how they were created and used in the early days of naval investigation. With each new person you are following in the story, you hear details on how they faired at sea, a few comments of who they may have married, but the focus was on the exploration and the ships.

While these details were very interesting, this left me confused about this novel. The story was more of a travel log that passed from people. At the end, there were indications as to how Jews moved to the new world, now New York, but nothing was ever noted explicitly. I wanted to hear a story around these facts. This, in my opinion, was a lost opportunity to tell a fascinating historically based story that fell way short of the mark.

I will keep searching.

books, reading

Keeping up to date

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Even before I created this site in 2018, I had been keeping a spreadsheet with information on the books I had read in the hopes that I would not re-read something. Then came my initial personal book challenge and I was hooked with my tracker. Over the years I have kept including more information that I was collecting. Initially started with the name of the book, the author and my rating, I had included the book format, where I sourced the book, categories, pages and more. Over the last few months, I decided to take the spreadsheet to the next level and combine the years (previously each year had a different tab) and start using pivot tables to keep up with the data.

For anyone that has ever created or maintained a database, you know how this seemingly easy task takes on a life of its own. As I started to backfill information on the books from my early years (2011) and on, I started to do a data cleanse that I had never needed to do before. With each year closed, it never impacted my next year’s data too much as long as the summary data was picking up the right data on the new sheet. Suffice it to say, my idea of doing this in one night has become a much longer process.

If you are keeping track, I have added new countries to my Armchair Travel List, as well as filling in titles for many countries. Having started with 94 countries, I am now up to 116 – still can’t believe I missed countries like Sweden and Norway! I have been focusing on reading from this list as a personal journey toward Diversity and Understanding. I have now read 83 of these countries. With the constant addition of countries, I have been holding steady at approximately 70% completed, but I am learning so much from this I will keep adding on – even considering adding regions to the list!

While I still have work to do on the database, I am hoping to keep up with my books. There hasn’t been too much time left with all the cleansing, but with the long weekend coming up in North America, I am up for the challenge!!!