The Lost Wife by Alison Richman

Every birthday and Christmas, for as long as my kids have been alive, they receive a book as a gift.  What else would an English teacher give her children??  This year, Megan's book was The Lost Wife.  Seeing as we have pretty similar taste in books, as soon as she'd finished it, I stole it right back.

I was intrigued merely when I read how the book came about...through a real story that took place in New York city.  At a wedding, an elderly man came over to an older woman, took up her hand, and said "I think I know you."  When the woman didn't share his remembrance, he said "I believe you were my wife."  With that kind of intro, how do you not get pulled into this story?  I knew Meg would like it as it combines art, history, and a city we had all fallen in love with years ago - Prague.  It is a story of love, family, and artists during the Holocaust.  Two young people fall in love and marry, but are torn apart through evacuation, emigration, and genocide.  Much of the story takes place in Terezin, the terrible ghetto and prison where the Jews of Prague were imprisoned (pictured here when we visited in 2006).  The synagogue where they married (the oldest on continental Europe) is pictured here as well, with the ladder showing where the Golem (no, not from Lord of the Rings, but from Jewish folklore - a creature made of mud, who will rescue the Jews of Prague during pogroms).  This book tells a different side of the story of the Holocaust, one of the people left behind in the ghettos, trying to survive, but also of the refugees in America, attempting to assimilate and move beyond their past, an impossible goal.  It is a beautiful book.

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

Last summer, I was cruising around the internet, catching up on news-breaking moments, such as President Obama's vacation:)  Boring stuff, but it did talk about his summer reading books he'd taken with him.  The Warmth of Other Suns was on the top of his list, so I figured, if it's good enough for the President, it should be good indeed, seeing as he's a pretty smart guy.  Needless to say..thoughtful pick.

The Warmth of Other Suns is a non-fiction book that focuses on the Great Migration of the 20th century, of African-Americans from the deep south to the industrial cities of both the north and the west.  As a fairly well-read person and lover of historical-fiction, I thought I knew most of the 'biggies' of American history.  As I read this book, I realized how thin my own education had been - how did I graduate from high school, college, and graduate school, never having heard of the largest movement of a people in recorded history?  Shameful.

While non-fiction, this book takes on this historical period in the form of a story, rather reminiscent of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, where the historical information is given out and then the story of a particular person/family is tied into that piece of the time period.  The Warmth of Other Suns examines three people - a poor cotton worker who moves with her husband and children from Mississippi to Chicago, an orange picker from Florida who had wanted to attend college, and an upper-class young college graduate who moves to Los Angeles to practice medicine.  I loved how Wilkerson looked at three different socio-economic situations through these people; it gave a rich variety to the various reasons for migration, as well the final results.  She didn't choose 'perfect' people either, in particular the doctor who is difficult to like.  However, Wilkerson sheds much-needed light on this great migration, and opens ones' eyes to the historical context surrounding the African American population in these cities.  I learned SO much and hopefully washed away a bit of my ignorance.  For anyone wanting to become more culturally literate, more aware of how history affects us today, or if you just plain simply want to get smarter, I would strongly and vociferously recommend reading this book.

Author:  John Hart

While I love just about any genre (okay, except sci-fi and robots, and fantasy that involves gnomes), my fall-back, never miss genre has always been mysteries.  I can still pick up any dime-store novel, even if it's poorly written, and cruise through it on vacation.  As long as it keeps me guessing, I'm in.

A couple years ago, my book club picked John Hart's first book The Last Child.  The story revolved around a years'-old mystery surrounding a missing child, the remaining mother and son, as well as a deadbeat dad who abandoned the family.  However, it was more than a mystery...it told the story of what happens to a family when a child is lost, as well as the aftermath amongst the townspeople.  Hart is a master at fleshing out both characters and the relationships among them.

Since then, I have read all of his books...The King of Lies (story of a father's murder and his dysfunctional relationship with his son), Down River (story of returning son who has been accused of murder in the past and gets wrapped up in another murder, along with a wacky dysfunctional family), and my personal favorite, Iron House (story of the past with a creepy foster care home and the consequences it has had on its graduates).  The best part of Hart's mysteries...I am usually still guessing at 'who done it' in the end, and after years and years of reading mysteries and watching old Law and Order shows, I'm usually pretty good at figuring it out.  Hart always has a few good twists, plus the man can actually write.  If you like a good mystery, you can't go wrong with any of these.  They read fast and are definitely page turners.

Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller


This was a no-brainer for me to read, considering I teach AP Literature, assign Edith Hamilton's Mythology to all my seniors for the summer, start the school year out with The Odyssey, and then constantly and annoyingly refer to Greek mythology all year long, ending the year with student satires of the different stories.  Duh...what's not to love in this book?!

However, even if you're not a lover of Greek mythology, this is a fantastic read and you'll finally learn about all the Greek references in our world today, which, if you love trivia, is pretty cool (think Fluffy in Harry Potter = Cerberus, three-headed dog who guards Hades).  The Song of Achilles takes the story of The Iliad, the prequel to Odysseus' adventure, and gives us a different point of view, that of Patroclus, Achille's best friend.  Now most of us have grown up hearing the name of Achilles, usually remembering two things - he's a hero and the ankle ligament was an issue, nothing more.  Madeline Miller, though, uses all of what's known in Greek mythology and then fills in what's not known.  For instance, Achilles and Patroclus' real relationship, the reasons for the underlying bitterness between Agamemnon and Achilles, and role of Thetis, Achille's creepy sea nymph mother, are all revealed.  The story unrolls like a great bard of ancient Greece is reading it and even though many may know how it all turns out (yep, wearing Achilles' armor not the best idea for Patroclus), the tension and drama Miller creates keeps one reading.  And for those of you unfamiliar with Greek mythology and all its heroes, it's a dramatic introduction to where all the great stories in our world originated.  Happy reading!

The Unthinkable:  Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why? by Amanda Ripley

I admit it...I'm a total book nerd.  The best part of getting an iPhone was being able to listen to audio books when I exercise.  My students are horrified that I don't have one song on my playlist, but I have a whole library of books.  The latest 'listen' from audible.com was The Unthinkable.  I chose it because one of my favorite readers was doing the reading, but the title intrigued me.  As a mom, sometimes I think I worry about absolutely everything...because I do.  As my two daughters boarded their plane to Denmark last week, all I could think about was "What if it goes down?  There goes my whole world."  Yet, when the older one drove the younger one to school each day, I never considered how much more likely an accident was then.  Rationally, I supposed I knew it, but when are mothers rational?  Like all of the world on Sept. 11, 2001, I was glued to my television for the minute by minute coverage of the terrorist bombings.  We all watched the horrors of Hurricane Katrina, the devastation of the Bay area earthquake in the 1990's, and plane crash in the Boston river.  How many times have we all wondered...what would we do in the same situation?  Could we be the hero, or would we panic?

Amanda Ripley's investigative report is an in-depth look at the psychological and sociological study of disasters - how people react, what types of behaviors are common, and how we can handle situations in order to survive.  She gives many examples of real people in disasters that not only are we familiar with, but also ones we have never heard of and should have (for example, how about the bomb in Halifax harbor in 1916, that broke windows out sixty miles away?!).  My fear is that I would become more fearful of disasters and dangers after listening to this book, but instead it truly gave me a logical way to think about these situations.  Knowledge is a powerful tool.  And believe me, next time the flight attendant is yammering on about the exits and how to escape from the plane, I will definitely be paying attention.  As the Morgan Stanley employees found out on Sept. 11, planning and practicing evacuation plans can save your life.  Ripley even deals with young teenage drivers and how to better help them deal with accidents.  I believe this is a book that everyone should read.  It was intriguing, as well as educational.

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson
Nothing like a few rainy days and an Erik Larson book to start out summer vacation.  I've read most of this Seattle writer's books, starting with Devil in the White City (combines the story of the Chicago's World Fair and one of the most prolific serial killers in the U.S.), Isaac's Storm (story of the Galveston hurricane, still the greatest loss of American lives to a natural disaster), and In the Garden of the Beast ( story of the American ambassador to Berlin in 1933).  I have loved them all.  Larson is able to combine exacting historical detail as well as build suspense and mystery, creating page-turners as evidenced by finishing this one in just three days.

Thunderstruck is the story of an Italian man named Marconi, who through trial and error, invents the wireless.  Now, I had never really thought of this technology prior to this.  We've all heard of Alexander Graham Bell and his telephone and Thomas Edison and his lightbulb, thinking these were scientific discoveries that changed our world.  While they were, the wireless did something that no one else ever had - it gave ships the ability to connect with one another.  For the first time in history, seamen were no longer isolated.  And when one thinks of the explosion of the information age we have today, wireless seems to have been that first step, although some days I wonder of Facebook is a blessing or a curse.  Regardless, the stories of Marconi and his other rival inventors are reminiscent of the 1980's in Silicon Valley, except that Larson enhances the story with Edwardian England and a good-old fashioned murder mystery, the kind that Alfred Hitchcock ultimately used as inspiration for Rear Window.  If you like historical trivia and suspense, you will definitely love this book.

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

I think I was destined to read this book.  Let's see...dysfunctional sister relationships, a father who teaches Shakespeare, and a mother battling cancer...what doesn't connect with my life??

Eleanor Brown's first novel is a winner.  It's smart, sassy, thought-provoking, and well-written.  The story revolves around the relationships between and amongst three sisters - Rosalind (As You Like It), Bianca (Taming of the Shrew), and Cordelia (King Lear).  Told through both real time and flashbacks to their childhood, we see the history of their relationships, not only with one another, but with their parents as well.  All three have some similarities with their Shakespearian namesakes.  And while the entire family likes to throw out quotes from the plays at random, it is not necessary to be familiar with Shakespeare, or even to like him.  It's just another facet of this quirky family.

The sisters are well into adulthood and are drawn back home, a small college town in Ohio, as their mother battles breast cancer.  Rosalind, the eldest, is the organizer who must decide about her own romance, Bianca is the 'wild one' who brings major issues home from New York with her, and Cordelia is the 'lost' youngest child, trying to figure out how she fits into this new world.  There's no mystery to be 'discovered' here; it's compelling to keep reading, just to find out if the sisters figure out who they are meant to be.  The mother's battle with cancer doesn't pull any punches either - it's a pretty accurate look at how much cancer sucks.  The family dynamics are richly drawn - I read this book in about three days - I would highly recommend it.

How All This Started by Peter Fromm

As a Bellingham transplant, one of the first places I discovered early on, haunt on a weekly basis, and never leave without buying something is, of course, Village Books.  So last month, in my role as co-department chair of the English department here at BHS, I met with Chuck Robinson, owner, and Paul Hanson, outreach director.  We brainstormed different ways to keep students engaged and excited about reading.  And bless their heart, they came bearing gifts...a copy of How All This Started by Peter Fromm.  From what I've learned, Fromm has been a short-story author and this book is his first venture into the world of novels.  It is a worthy first effort.

The story, while it focuses on two young people, is definitely not a YA book.  It deals with complex and sometimes disturbing issues of mental illness.  The two children of the family, Abilene and her younger brother Austin, live out on a desolate Texas ranch, raised by two loving parents who have filled their heads with the stories of their conception (of course, in their namesake towns).  They have forsaken their parental hold over Austin and ceded both his time and his baseball training to older sister, Abilene.  Haunted by her own failed attempt to play on the boy's baseball team, Abilene comes off as obsessive and controlling.  As the story continues, you see Abilene fall deeply into a life or death struggle with her bi-polar disorder.  At times deeply disturbing and depressing, it is also a very raw and real look into how a mental disorder has the ability to destroy a family.

I felt at times like I was looking into a window, compelled to watch while knowing I shouldn't be - that what this family was experiencing was so raw, so powerful, so devastating that it should be kept private and personal.  However, that's the power of this novel.  In the end, it teaches us that mental illness is just that, an illness, not a deep, ugly secret from which to be shielded.  This is a book I will not soon forget.

The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney

My latest 'brain candy' read was The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney. Now, my idea of 'brain candy' isn't a book that is poorly written but engaging story nonetheless.  That would define..ahem...Twilight.  To me, 'brain candy' is a book that is very engaging, definitely keeps you turning pages, if not awake at night, and yes, is well written (poor writing makes me want to strangle the so-called 'editor' so it's not as delicious as real candy!)

The reason I liked The Invisible Ones so well is that it is a unique and different story, involves a mystery, and for once, I couldn't figure the puzzle out until the last twenty pages.  Now, for a person who grew up reading every Nancy Drew and Bobbsey Twins mystery, as well as a Law and Order junkie, that is a high compliment.

The story takes place in both flashback and real time, and two different perspectives - Ray Lowell, the Gypsy/Romany private eye and JJ, the Gypsy/Romany young boy whose family is at the heart of the mystery.  Ray is hired by a bereft Gypsy father who hasn't seen his daughter for six years.  Yes, this is the first time he's even thought of looking for her - thus, the beginning of the mystery.  As Ray digs deeper into this family and the inherent issues of their culture, their genetic disease, and Ray's own personal background of growing up half-Gypsy as well as his failed marriage, the story continuously builds upon itself.  I was compelled to continue reading, to discover the answers to the puzzle, just as Ray is. I would definitely recommend this book.