Apr. 7, 2009 - Book Review(s)
I hate to give a "Skip It" to a book, but life is short, folks. Don't waste your time on Elizabeth Berg's Dream When You're Feeling Blue.
The first half of the book proves promising, with rich character development of the three sisters. Set in Chicago during WWII, there's plenty to write about as the flirty sister, the engaged sister and the wanna-be-engaged sister write to their respective boys abroad.
But by half way through, you'll be skipping the long letters intended to reflect the doubt and angst produced by war. Why one author can use the letter format to well express their philosophy and why with it another falls flat, I do not know. I only know Berg's effort proves initially engaging but ultimately comes up short.
The ending "twist" will enrage you just a little shy of what "it was all a dream" might. Berg may have been going for noble and self-sacrificing, but rather than appeal to the best of human nature, the ending seems to fly in the face of what we all know about powerful human emotion. Even assuming Berg achieves the noble and self-sacrificing aspect she strikes at, the ending would still prove ultimately manipulative and unfair, depriving at least one character of full knowledge with which to make important decisions.
You'd be better off spending your time in my current read, Little House in the Ozarks. This book contains the farm newspaper columns of the the adult Laura Ingalls Wilder; columns she wrote in the dozen or so years before she turned her attention to the writing The Little House books. Lots of practical and pithy optimism in this collection of essays and perfect for the busy mom-reader as no individual essay runs longer than a couple of pages. Another good companion book to read at the same time would be Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder, an interesting biography of how Mrs. AJ Wilder morphed into the best selling and beloved childrens' author. You'll find out lots of interesting tidbits as well as what's actually true, what's compressed and what's omitted in The Little House series (the Ingalls had a useless boarder couple during the Long Winter? There were actually more back and forth moves than recorded in the series? Laura had a little brother who lived only nine months?). This biography also explores the complicated relationship between Laura and her only child, Rose Wilder Lane. Most of the information we have comes from Rose's preserved writings. Laura did not save most of her own.
Books are best read in pairs or even in constellation. Consider making the Little House series, the collection of adult essays and the biography your next big reading project.
Blessings, Holly
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Mar. 16, 2009 - Not Yet a Review but a Mandatory Requirement
I'm only 37 pages in, so one can't term this a review, but I think any person claiming Christ must read--today if possible--unchristian by David Kinnaman of the Barna group. Meticulously researched and exceptionally readable. If you don't claim Christ, but want a vehicle to let those who do who really, really bug you know why, this is your book. Both groups will be challenged by this one.
Blessings, Holly
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Mar. 16, 2009 - Nefertiti and The Heretic Queen Two Book Reviews
On the other end of the spectrum from Wood's scholarly book (see review below), sit the pair of novels by Michelle Moran, Nefertiti and The Heretic Queen. Heavy emphasis on the fiction aspect of these historical fictions. Ahmoses, an obvious riff on Moses but minus the 10 plagues?
If such liberties bother you, I'd avoid these books (you probably want to consider skipping any Oliver Stone docudrama as well). One reviewer called these "compulsively readable" and on that, I'd have to agree. I consumed both of these nearly 500 page books within one week.
Both books explore the tension and intrigue present in Pharoah's court when multiple wives jockey for Chief Wife status. And while the first book contained more bedroom references than I would like, at least they were allusions. Book 2, in the too typically insecure way that second or third time authors doubt they have the goods to really fill another 500 pages, makes those references detailed and explicit.
Fortunately, though maybe not purposely, these interludes are broadly telegraphed, so you can easily skip over them rather than stumbling upon them and feeling that you must gouge out your own eyes. I will say I returned The Heretic Queen to the library quickly because it contained sections that in no way would I want my 13 year old to stumble upon.
I do now possess some firm grasp of the major accomplishments of Nefertiti and her grandniece, Nefertari. And the books certainly kept me awake, something my Ancient Egyptian Civ class back in college could never do, even for one hour. These books seem to me to straddle the line between chick lit and historical fiction. If you're looking for a light read, these might fit the bill.
Blessings, Holly
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Mar. 16, 2009 - Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different Book Review
Pulitzer Prize winner Gordon S. Wood compellingly argues that the very qualities which made our founders unique and inimitable for today's culture are the same characteristics that were rendering them obsolete even within their own lifetimes.
Intrigued? You will enjoy this exploration of the tension between elitism and democracy. Was Aaron Burr's real sin that he betrayed class?
Wood's book gives no stale restatements of historical fact. He assumes readers possess some intimate prior knowledge of Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, Adams, Paine and Burr. Even without this, readers will understand and enjoy the book, but the fullest meaning reveals itself to those who already possess a firm biographical grasp of the characters. If you're like me--somewhat middlin' on some of these guys--it will spark your curiosity to deepen your own knowledge by picking up a more traditional biography on some to fill in gaps.
While it's not an easy book, it does hold one's interest. And devoting a separate chapter to each character makes it a good book for those of us who often can read only in snatches. I wouldn't put Wood in the must read category of Ron Chernow or David McCullough's history, but he comes close.
Blessings, Holly
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Jan. 4, 2009 - The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2007: A Review
Mind numbing. It's the only possible descriptor for 814 pages of painstakingly researched detail by Bob Sehlinger with Len Testa.
A buddy and I shared many hearty laughs at the expense of a person we know who recently planned a week at Disney. I say planned, but that doesn't capture the essence of what I truly mean. Storming the beaches at Normandy appears hastily thrown together and spur of the moment by comparison. In this planning, preteen kids received a many page Excel spreadsheet folder with a down to the minute itinerary of who would ride what, when, with whom; duration and description of each ride, precisely when and where meals would be eaten (menus enclosed so they could begin making their selections of entrees), where bathrooms were located, who would get FASTPASSES for what and when. Customized maps accompanied the presentation. I kid you not. My friend and I began to call those kids' return from their trip "re-entry into civilian life."
After one thumbs through The Unofficial Guide, this special brand of crazy begins to seem like just good common sense.
Early on, Sehlinger and Testa hit you with the story of a reader--one with more than a touch of self-confessed OCD--who used The Unofficial Guide book and wound up, Day 3, at the ER in Florida with a panic attack brought on by her rigid adherence to The Guide. Any book that comes with such a caveat one has to think twice about.
I'm assuming the 2009 version of this book is even longer, but here's my advice and review. Skip to the rip-out touring plans that begin on p.781 and adhere to them in reasonable person fashion. Accept on faith that the team of researchers know their stuff when they advise what park to visit on what day and which order to attack the park. Faith challenged? See pp. 1-780. Combine this with a looksee at www.mousesavers.com and have a fine Disney vacation. Worried that an older edition of The Guide might not be adequate? You can read all the yearly updates at www.touringplans.com . Chant to yourself daily that it is OK if you spend several thousand dollars to find your kids really just want to swim in the hotel pool all afternoon. If you're not fine with that; don't go to Disney in the first place. You'll make yourself and all those subjected to you nuts.
For those who want every possible detail, comparison, description and nuance, this is the book for you. If you consult only one guide to Disney, make this the one. I now know Cosmic Ray's at Magic Kingdom serves kosher food, a handy tidbit since a kosher keeping family will be joining us at Disney for a few days. And I know which buildings at All Star Sports to request for being the quietest (Building 3 west or Building 2 north). I gave myself a pat on the back when the Guide noted that Sports, the place I had already reserved, is the recommended All Star to stay at since that's the one busses drop off at first--not an inconsequential consideration if your three year old is in full meltdown mode after a long day. It's also the book for you if you only recently arrived here on the planet from, say, Jupiter (the planet, not the Florida city) and have not yet encountered a person who has been to Disney and shared their wealth of tips with you. And really, have you yet met a person who has been to Disney who doesn't want to share their wealth of tips? Nope, me either.
Proof is in the pudding. If Twain was a "Grant- intoxicated" man (see my first book review, below), then my family is a "rat-intoxicated" one. In a few weeks, we will make the journey to our American Mecca for the third time. This, by the way, is not a fact of which I am proud. Gettysburg? Haven't seen it. Washington, DC? Maybe next year. The Grand Canyon? Here's hopin'. But Mad Hatter's Tea Party? Spun on it til we want to toss our cookies. We're Unofficial Guide virgins, but I will be sure to let you know after the fact if our Guide adherence turned a nicely done, hugely over-priced amusement park into Paradise for us. But maybe I should let one of the rat-intoxicated ones update you on that...
Blessings, Holly
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Jan. 2, 2009 - What I Wish My Christian Friends Knew About Judaism--A Review
I would recommend reading Robert Schoen's What I Wish My Christian Friends Knew about Judaism if and only if you don't know anyone Jewish. If you don't know anyone Jewish, you should strongly consider broadening your social circle.
Schoen accomplishes in 244 pages what you could in a 15 minute conversation with your Jewish friend. His intended audience definitely targets the layperson. But really, one who notes--without weighing in definitively himself--that scholars think the story behind Purim is pure fiction maybe isn't the best person to be explaining Judaism. And I'm leaving aside the fact that author is a divorced and remarried Jew (hey, he got a get so I guess it's all cool with God, right?) to a divorced and remarried Jew. If this is the state of Judaism today, then the Jews are having as much trouble as most mainline Christian denominations. In short, God help us. All of us.
A far better book for Christians interested in understanding Judaism is Daniel Fuch's Israel's Holy Days in Type and Prophecy. Not only does this book explain the seven major feasts and festivals of the Jewish calendar, but takes the important step of explaining how each of these foreshadows Christ. Sure, it's 95 pages will take you four times as long to read as Schoen's 244, but you'll actually come away with a starting point for conversation about the Messiah with your Jewish friends. That's a far more useful thing for the Christian and very likely, also for the Jew seeking to find common ground.
Schoen's appeal to loving kindness and tolerance will be recognized by all as a necessary step. His broad ecumenism, however, falls far short of the sufficiency demanded by any person of serious faith whether Christian or Jew. New agers will love this book and I don't mean that as a compliment.
Blessings, Holly
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Dec. 30, 2008 - Grant and Twain by Mark Perry: A Review
http://www.amazon.com/Grant-Twain-Friendship-Changed-America/dp/0679642730
I should begin by noting I am cheating. I will count this book as my first read of 2009. True, it is still 2008, but this is New Year's week and so I am fudging. Think of me as Paulson with the TARP money. My greater goal (reading as much as possible in 2009) is grand; don't pay attention to the details (like how none of that TARP money has been used yet to actually buy up toxic assets as promised).
If you feel a bit conned by Paulson, then you have entree into the world of Grant as Perry's book opens. Grant's great business venture with Ward bankrupted him; Ward ran the Madoff scheme of his day and left Grant holding the bag. A deeply honorable man, albeit one with a naive blindness to the corruption of those around him, Grant finds himself not only broke but shamed.
Grant soon thereafter discovers he has incurable tongue/throat cancer. His personal memoirs, still in print today, stand as testimony of one man's determination to beat the race against death and against poverty by writing his two volume work in his last year of life.
Well, not quite one man's determination. Enter Mark Twain. Did you know of the friendship of these men? Me either. Author Mark Perry details the last 15 months of Grant's life and the remarkable friendship of these two icons of the American past. Without Grant, Perry contends, there would have been no Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. And while there may have been the memoirs of Grant, they would not have provided the degree of financial peace to Grant's surviving family that Twain ensured.
That the two shared a fascinating friendship is not in doubt. Whether that friendship changed America remains an open question. Perry's careful detailing gives one a true sense of the men and the narrow time focus of the book makes this an easy couple of day's read. If Twain was, as he claimed, a "Grant-intoxicated man," Perry's writing transforms us into that as well.
What would our world be like today if more mothers and fathers showed the same concern Grant did in his last letter to Julia? Days from dying from a progressively agonizing disease, he wrote, "Look after our dear children and direct them in the paths of rectitude. It would distress me far more to hear that one of them could depart from an honorable, upright and virtuous life than it would to know that they were prostrated on a bed of sickness from which they were never to rise alive. They have never given us any cause for alarm on this account, and I trust they never will."
If you're looking for a resolution in 2009, you'd do far worse than to adopt Grant's dying wish for his own family. Great books and great people of history inspire. Treat yourself to both in Perry's book this New Year.
Blessings, Holly
