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Addendum to 2012 Summer Books to Read

Okay, this what happens every summer….I put a list of books out and then find more to read- so please add this to your first list of the 2012 bulletin of summer books to read. Note that many of the books listed are not yet published until July or August. Happy Reading! Tracy

Addendum: Bulletin Summer Books 2012

Adult Fiction

 The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Sendker (A father disappears & leaves the family confused for years until one day they find an unmailed  love letter to a Burmese woman named Mi Mi. The oldest daught goes to Burma to unearth the puzzle.)

 Broken Harbor by French ( love her mysteries…a Dublin detective investigates the murder of a father and his children and faces his own disturbing incident in his past)

Eddie Signwriter, by Adam Schwartzman (Eddie finds that he’s a skilled artist, enabling him to work anywhere he goes. The story takes him from Botswana to Ghana, Senegal, and to Paris. What is he escaping? Who really loves him and on whom can he depend? Can he ever face his family again? Where is home? Opening like a murder mystery, we are slowly told Eddie’s story from different angles… Eddie’s real name is Kwasi Edward Michael Dankwa. His parents are from Ghana but he lived apart from his mother for many years in Botswana where his father is a professor.  As he is coming of age, his parents decide that he must live in Ghana in order to learn what it means to be Ghanaian, making him a foreigner in both countries.  Lyrical depictions of characters, scenery, and the environment of the African landscape as well as the immigrant existence in the Paris underground are remarkably written in a poetic yet uncomplicated style. This is a first novel for Schwartzman who previously published works of poetry.)

 Gone by Hanauer (this novel begins with the husband who disappears with the family’s babysitter – drama about the challenges of marriage and middle age)

 Gold by Cleave ( author of Little Bee, the new novel is about two girls who are friends and competitors going for Olympic gold in track cycling even as one of the girl’s sisters is battling leukemia.)

 Gone Girl  by Gillian Flynn- (a mystery starts with” marriage can be a killer”, about a couple who are celebrating their anniversary and the wife disappears, and the husband who manages the media circus and the scrutiny of public opinion that he is responsible for her disappearance )

 Kingdom of Strangers by Zoe Ferraris – ( mystery set in Saudi Arabia- lots of information about the culture of Saudi Arabia, women & rules)

 The Red House By Haddon ( an extended family gathers for a weekend in the English countryside with the inlaws.)

 Seating Arrangements by Shipstead ( animated summer read- a new England island,an elaborate wedding [albeit shotgun], drunken escapades, and decades old slights and grudges).

Where’d you Go by Semple ( a comic caper, full of heart…8th grader Bee has one request from her parents for having good grades: a cruise to Antarctica. Bee’s parents- father genius employed by Microsoft and mother a famous architect who is severely disabled by societal anxiety. The parents agree but the day before the trip her mother disappears. Bee gathers all of her mother’s e-mails, emergency bills and tries to figure out where her mother has gone. Written by one of the writers from Arrested Development.)

 

Non Fiction

Murder and Mayhem in Jefferson County by Farnsworth (is the understated title of a respectable collection of true crime tales set in Jefferson County, New York. In the 19th century, Jefferson County was a rugged locale occupied by hardworking farmers, upstanding citizens and just a few vicious murderers. The depraved deeds of this criminal minority are related in this short but entertaining book.)

 

No Time to Lose by Piot (When Peter Piot was in medical school, a professor warned, “There’s no future in infectious diseases. They’ve all been solved.” Fortunately, Piot ignored him, and the result has been an exceptional, adventure-filled career. In the 1970s, as a young man, Piot was sent to Central Africa as part of a team tasked with identifying a grisly new virus. Crossing into the quarantine zone on the most dangerous missions, he studied local customs to determine how this disease—the Ebola virus—was spreading. Later, Piot found himself in the field again when another mysterious epidemic broke out: AIDS. He traveled throughout Africa, leading the first international AIDS initiatives there. Then, as founder and director of UNAIDS, he negotiated policies with leaders from Fidel Castro to Thabo Mbeki and helped turn the tide of the epidemic. Candid and engrossing, No Time to Lose captures the urgency and excitement of being on the front lines in the fight against today’s deadliest diseases.)

People Eating Darkness by Parry (“The true story about a young woman who vanishes on the streets of Tokyo and the evil that swallowed her”)

What to Look For in Winter by McWilliam ( a memoir- she is “ blind, 6 foot tall & afraid of small people, an alcoholic, a Scot.” Her story of losing her sight at 51, a mother who killed herself when she was 9 , and  lives alone but is cared for by her second husband  & his partner and ex-husband and his wife and by her own children- a commentary about who she is. On my list to read) 

Yes, Chef   by Samuelsson (chef’s incredible life story, losing his Ethiopian mother, adopted by a Swedish family and to becoming a top chef. “ I have never seen a picture of my mother”…is how the novel begins)

YA

172 hours on the Moon by Harstad

The premise of the book is interesting: NASA organizing a returntrip to the moon in 2017, with 5 astronauts and 3 “lucky” teenagers who win their place on the trip in a world lottery. Publically, NASA is returning to find minerals, privately it is to check on a secret module left from the 1970’s and another very dark secret. The problem with the book is it is technically flawed and unbelievable  even in today’s technology and training of astronauts. A little too much drama in the wrong places in this book- that said I still could not put it down- I wanted to know!!!! Tracy ….…..56 going on 14 (MB1

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

This book was recommended by Book Passage and I am glad I read it. The Language of Flowers is set in San Francisco and tells the story of Victoria, an emancipated foster child, who has spent her whole life in foster care. It shines a light on the cruelty of the foster care system and the abruptness in which the system dumps a young adult once they turn 18.  Victoria is happy to be free of the system and immediately pursues her passion: flowers. The image of this young woman who has not been nurtured save one foster mother who taught her about flowers is now nurturing the earth. The author does an excellent job conveying the challenges for foster children, especially the heartbreak. She speaks from experience as Diffenbach is an advocate for foster children and she was a foster mother. In fact, some of the proceeds from this book will go for the Camellia Network,  a support net(work) for youth aging out of foster care.

But  flowers are easier than people. Armed with  defense mechanisms because of the life she led in the foster care system, Victoria is a survivor. There is sadness, frustration and glimpses of hope. She attracts good people who want to be helpful, but for Victoria, help doesn’t look the same to her as it does to most people. She longs for connection and family but is afraid of loss so she is in limbo- wanting but rejecting. Victoria’s story is told in alternating chapters of her life now and the past. Slowly we find out the explosive story of what happened between Victoria and the foster mother who was planning to adopt her. The foster mother teaches her about flowers and unconditional love, but something happens to stop the adoption. The story is brutal and creates a Victoria who is not always likeable, but you understand.

“The overriding emotional message of “The Language of Flowers” has to do with family. Victoria desperately wants one. But she thinks that she is too damaged to learn how to love. A likelier outcome:  a great big bouquet of aster (patience), daffodil (new beginnings), honeysuckle (devotion), hyacinth (constancy) and moss (maternal love) will await her in the flowery future “( Maslin, September 7,2011, N.Y. Times Book Review).

There are several themes in the book. The book uses the language of flowers, a Victorian era method of communicating through flowers, and provides a flower dictionary for the reader in the back of the book. I learned alot about the meaning of flowers and Victoria’s skill at arranging flowers attracts many followers. Themes of homelessness, attachment disorder and foster care are just a few of the other topics. Yet, in spite of all the sadness and cruel twists it does leave you with hope. That’s my 2cents, Tracy.

Even Silence has an End by Ingrid Betancourt

Even Silence has an End by  Ingrid Betancourt  (Born in Bogotá, raised in France, Betancourt at the age of thirty-two gave up a life of comfort and safety to return to Colombia to become a political leader in a country that was being slowly destroyed by terrorism, violence, fear, and a pervasive sense of hopelessness. In 2002, while campaigning as a candidate in the Colombian presidential elections, she was abducted by the FARC. Nothing could have prepared her for what came next. She would spend the next six and a half years in the depths of the jungle as a prisoner of the FARC. Even Silence Has an End is her deeply personal and moving account of that time. Chained day and night for much of her captivity, she never stopped dreaming of escape and, in fact, succeeded in getting away several times, always to be recaptured.) Took my breath away. I can’t imagine her experience and the days of waiting for rescue. The betrayal of her to the rebels is also an insight into petty and dangerous politics. Some of her comments are worth noting here from an NPR interview:

“We discovered that the jungle was another prison,” she says. “It was impossible to just get out.” But she kept trying, five times in all. And after her fifth attempt, the guards had had enough; they beat her severely and kept her chained by the neck to a tree, 24 hours a day.

The brutal treatment did not break Betancourt’s spirit. Over the six years of her captivity, her fellow hostages learned to adapt. They began to answer to numbers rather than names. They did what they could to survive. But Betancourt remained stubborn. “I had a problem,” she says. “I had this belief that I couldn’t just accept to be treated as an object. It was a problem of dignity.” She says her fellow hostages saw her behavior as arrogance or troublemaking. “But it wasn’t that. It was just that I couldn’t accept that they would call us by number, because I thought it would make it easier for them to kill us if they had to kill an object, a number.”

Betancourt didn’t want to make it easy on her captors, she says. She was fixated on the idea of escaping and returning to her children. But there were times, Betancourt says, when she thought she’d be stuck in the jungle forever. “The relationship with time changes when you’re captive. In the free world, your days pass very quickly because you have so many things to do, and you’re in control of your life.” But with the FARC, she says, the days were eternal.There were two states of extremes: boredom and the anxiety of what could happen. Betancourt says her time in captivity dispelled any romantic illusions she had about the FARC and their mission. “I am of a generation where we like Che Guevara, you know, the very romantic kind of revolution thing,” she says. “And in a way, I thought that the FARC was kind of a romantic rebellion against a system that I didn’t like either.”But in captivity, she says she came to realize that the FARC was nothing more than the military wing of Colombia’s drug cartels. “It was as corrupt as the system; it wasn’t a response to the problems we have in Colombia.” ( NPR, 9/ 25/10)

Hello Bookies

My first post.… my purpose with this blog is to share with you the books I love. As most of you know for the past 5 years I have been making summer and winter lists of my best book picks – in Adult Fiction & Non Fiction and now it has expanded to include Young Adult Books. Now I can share it all here  with you  and anybody else who is interested in what I am reading. Eventually, I will show you my working book for your feedback and pleasure ( I hope).

In addition to my book review posts, check out my book lists. If you recognize any books on my lists that you enjoyed, typically the rest of the list will appeal to your reading taste. I am always looking for book recommendations so send them my way! Thank you for visiting my site and listening to my 2 cents.

Tracy