The Friday 56

Rules:*Grab the book nearest you. Right now.

*Turn to page 56.

*Find the 5th sentence.

*Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends.

*Post a link along with your post back to Storytime with Tonya and Friends.

*Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Today's 56 comes from In the Woods by Tana French:

The archaeologists from Dublin- Damien, Sean and a handful of others- had all been home on Monday and Tuesday nights; the rest had been in their rented house, a couple of miles from the dig. Hunt, who of course turned out to be pretty lucid on anything archaelogical, had been home in Lucan with his wife. He confirmed the large reporter's theory that the stone where Katy had been dumped was a Bronze age sacrificial altar.

Okay. I haven't started reading this yet but it happened to be closest to me. Now I'm really intrigued! I might have to rethink which book I'm going to pick up next!

Beneath the Lion's *Review* Gaze by Maaza Mengiste

This memorable, heartbreaking story opens in Addis Adaba, Ethiopia, 1974, on the eve of a revolution. Yonas kneels in his mother's prayer room, pleading to his god for an end to the violence that has wracked his family and country. His father, Hailu, a prominent doctor, has been ordered to report to jail after helping a victim of state-sanctioned torture die. And Dawit, Hailu's youngest son, has joined an underground resistance movement- a choice that will lead to more upheaval and bloodshed across a ravaged Ethiopia. Beneath the Lion's Gaze tells a gripping story of family, of the bonds of love and friendship set in a time and place that has not been explored in fiction before. It is a story about the lengths human beings will go in pursuit of freedom and the human price of a national revolution.

I have never read a book set in Ethiopia before or a book by an Ethipioan author. I was first struck by how easy it was to read. It felt, initially, very "American". There have been times when I have read books by a foreign author that were hard for me to read due to the different language or culture used. Sometimes they just don't flow like what I'm used to.

The book started out with a family already going through hardship. Hailu's wife Selam, Dawit and Yonas' mother is dying. She was the glue holding the family together. She was their constant and they loved her deeply. She dies right before the revolution begins, and the family dynamic changes. Their father is jailed for his role in the death of a student who was tortured extensively and in so much pain she didn't care if she lived anymore. Dawit is angry at his brother Yonas for letting his father turn himself in to to authorities instead of insisting his father fight for his freedom. Dawit holds so much anger in his heart. His mother is gone, his father now too and his brother should have acted like more of a man. One of the ways he chooses to release this anger is by joining a group of revolutionaries.

When reading books dealing with war, revolutions, differing types of government; I always feel so blessed to live where I do. I can't imagine having to go through the pain of children being recruited to be soldiers- most of them never coming home alive. When a child goes missing the parents can't even turn to the police to help because of the corruption within the force.

While I would rate this book a so-so read, it did open my eyes up to a new country I had not "traveled" to before and the trials of the revolution in 1974. And because I did enjoy the author's writing style, I would definitely read something by her again.

I have read so many dark and depressing books lately that my next book has to be lighter and fluffier. I need a little bit of laughter next.

Tales of the Dead; Ancient China by Stewart Ross *Review*

Plucked from his peaceful life in a village near the Great Wall, 11-year-old Shen suddenly finds himself the favorite musician at the court of China's first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi. Shen;s music is the only thing that can calm the emperor, but he is unknowingly drawn into a plot to kill his master.

As a graphic novel, this did not have much novel to it. The story was very short and had no depth to it. Where this book did impress me though was in the facts it presented throughout. The actual graphic novel wound it's way along the sides and the bottom of the pages leaving the entire middle of the book open for the amazingly detailed illustrations, cutaways and facts about things like Empires, The Great Wall, Food, Arts, Trade, The Terra-Cotta Army, Dress, Religion and more. In versions featuring Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome as well, I will be heading back to the library to check out more of this fantastic series.

Library Loot 3/2/2009

My son is ready to take away my library card! I went a little nuts at the library again this week.











Hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Marg at ReadingAdventures, Library Loot is a fun weekly meme that allows others to peek in your bookbag to see what you came home from the Library with this week. Here's what's in my bag:

January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she'd never met, a native of Guernsey, the British island once occupied by the Nazis. As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, she is drawn into the world of this man and his friends, all members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a unique book club formed in a unique, spur-of-the-moment way: as an alibi to protect its members from arrest by the Germans.

When he discovered that he had only six months to live, thirty-year-old Kevin Bates picked up his pen and wrote The Manual- advice for his five-year-old daughter, Lois, to live by, laugh at, and follow from twelve until thirty. Seven years later, when Lois is given The Manual, she can barely bring herself to read her father's words, the pain of his loss is still so raw. Yet soon Kevin's advice is guiding her through every stage of life from teen angst to career arcs, to knowing when she's at long last met "the one." While The Manual can never be a substitute for having Kevin back, the words left behind become Lois's steady support through all life's ups and downs, and prove invaluable to unlocking the key to happiness.

Jan and Antonia Zabinski were Polish Christian zookeepers horrified by Nazi racism, who managed to save over three hundred people. Yet their story has fallen between the seams of history. Drawing on Antonia's diary and other historical sources the author recreates Antonia's life as "the zookeeper's wife," responsible for her own family, the zoo animals, and their "Guests"- resistance activists and refugee Jews, many of whom Jan had smuggled from the Warsaw Ghetto. Ironically, the empty zoo cages helped to hide scores of doomed people, who were code-named after the animals whose cages they occupied.

We don't want to tell you what happens in this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know enough to buy it, so we will just say this: This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have to face. Two years later, they meet again- the story starts there...

Twelve-year-old Ren is missing his left hand. How it was lost is one of the mysteries that Ren has been trying to solve his entire life- as well as who his parents are and why he was abandoned as an infant at Saint Anthony's Orphanage for boys. When a young man named Benjamin Nab appears, claiming to be Ren's long-lost brother, his convincing tale of how Ren lost his hand persuades the monks at the orphanage to release the boy and gives Ren some hope. But is Benjamin really who he says he is? As Ren is introduced to a life of hardscrabble adventure filled with outrageous scam artists, grave robbers, and petty thieves, he begins to suspect that Benjamin holds the key not only to his future but to his past as well.

The narrow street where Harry Bernstein grew up was seemingly unremarkable except for the "invisible wall" that ran down its center, dividing Jewish families on one side from Christian families on the other. On the eve of World War I, Harry's family struggles to make ends meet. His father earns little money at the Jewish tailoring shop and brings home even less. Harry's mother, devoted to her children survives on her dreams: that new shoes might secure Harry's admission to a fancy school; that her daughter might marry the local rabbi; that the entire family might one day be whisked off to the paradise of America. Then Harry's older sister, Lily, does the unthinkable: she falls in love with Arthur, a Christian boy from across the street. When Harry unwittingly discovers their secret affair, he must choose between the morals he's been taught all his life, his loyalty to his selfless mother, and what he knows to be true in his own heart.

Abandoning her worldly life, traveling to a remote Wisconsin town in the dead of winter, trusting her future to a man she never met- such was Catherine Land's new beginning. But there was an ending in sight as well, an ending that would redeem the treachery ahead, justify the sacrifice, and allow her to start over yet again. That was her plan. For Ralph Truitt, the wealthy businessman who advertised for a "reliable wife," this was also to be a new beginning. Years of solitude, denial and remorse would be erased, and Catherine Land, whoever she might be, would be the vessel of his desires, the keeper of his secrets, the means to recover what was lost. That was his plan. A Reliable Wife is the story of two people, each plagued by a heart filled with anger and guilt, each with a destiny in mind. But neither anticipates what develops between them- the pent-up longings that Catherine discovers in this enigmatic man and the depth of her own emotional response; the joy Ralph experiences in giving Catherine the luxuries she has never known, his growing need for her, and a desire that he thought was long buried. (this one sounded really good but after reading two reviews both saying they hated this book, it has been put to the bottom of my reading pile. I still will read it, I'm just no longer as excited about it)

Plucked from his peaceful life in a village near the Great Wall, 11-year-old Shen suddenly finds himself the favorite musician at the court of China's first emperor, Qui Shihuangdi. Shen's music is the only thing that can calm the emperor, but he is unknowingly drawn into a plot to kill his master. Shen's precious musical instrument, his zither, holds the key to the life of the emperor. But when the moment for action comes, will he be ready? Tales of the Dead: Ancient China allows the people of the past to speak again. Every page is packed with amazing illustrations, astonishing facts, and detailed cutaways- everything you need to qualify as a true expert on Ancient China. (A graphic novel)

Looks like I have a lot of war books this week. Interesting as I don't particularly like books about wars!

What books did I check out this week that make you want to say "Angie- don't read that one!" and which books would you give me a thumbs up on? Let me know if you read them and what you thought.

Alex & Me by Irene M. Pepperberg *Review*

I will start out by confessing I am not an animal lover. I know many of you are now gasping in horror wondering what kind of person I could possible be. Growing up I had a pet cat. He was a stray that came and went as he wanted and was never allowed in the house. So, I never grew up with an animal or created a bond with one. Even though I am unable to relate with how an animal can become as much a member of the family as one of the children I can understand how they can become such a good friend.



Alex & Me is not the type of book I would normally want to read, much less request at my local library. But when I read about this incredible bird I had to know more.




On September 6th, 2007 an African Grey parrot named Alex died prematurely at the age of thirty-one. His last words to his owner, Irene Pepperberg, were "You be good. I love you." Over the thirty years they had worked together, Alex and Irene had become famous- two pioneers who opened an unprecedented window into the hidden yet vast world of animal minds. Alex's brain was the size of a shelled walnut, and when Irene and Alex first met, birds were not believed to possess any potential for language, consciousness, or anything remotely comparable to human intelligence. Yet over the years Alex proved many things. Alex and Irene stayed together through thick and thin- despite sneers from experts, extraordinary financial sacrifices, and a nomadic existence from one university to the other. The story of their thirty-year adventure is equally a landmark of scientific achievement and an unforgettable human-animal bond.



I knew parrots could speak, although I guess I assumed it was more mimicking then actual language. I also knew they could perform simple commands. What I did not know was how intelligent their little "bird brain" was. Alex astonished me on nearly every page of this book. He was able to recognize color, letters and numbers. He was able to "show" remorse when he made someone angry by saying he was sorry. He would turn his back in rebuff if he felt he was not getting his due respect. He had started to add and sound out words "nnn...uh...tuh" for the word nut. He was smarter then most 5 year old children! Unfortunately for Irene and the science community he died too soon. Alex was a liitle over 30 when he died, twenty years earlier then the average life span of an African Gray parrot. Who knows what more Alex could have accomplished? I sincerely hope the research continues into this area of animal intelligence.



I always thought my son's dog Holly was smart. One time while outside I walked over to a flower garden to begin working it. I couldn't find my hand held cultivator in the spot I normally kept it. "Now where did I put my hand rake?" I mumbled to myself. Holly ran around the house and came back with it in her mouth. I chuckled at her intelligence which I now know was not on par with Alex's but she impressed me nonetheless.

Do you have a pet that's incredibly smart? What trick can he/she do?

Prayers For Sale by Sandra Dallas *Review*

Quaint. That's the word that sticks in my mind as a descriptor for this book.




It's 1936 and the Great Depression has taken its toll. Eighty-six-year-old Hennie Comfort has lived in Middle Swan, Colorado- up in the high country of the snow-covered Rocky Mountains- since before it was Colorado. When she meets seventeen-year-old Nit Spindle, Hennie is drawn to the young grieving girl. Nit and her husband have come to this small mining town in search of work, but the loneliness and loss Nit feels are almost too much to bear. One day she notices and old sign that reads "Prayers for Sale" in front of Hennie's house and takes out her last nickel. Hennie doesn't actually take money for her prayers, never has, but she invites the skinny girl in anyway. The harsh conditions of life that each has endured help them to create an instant bond, and a friendship is born, one of which the deepest of hardships are shared and the darkest of secrets are confessed.




Prayers For Sale is a book in which nothing much goes on. But that does not mean it's boring. I was enchanted by this story of two women of such differing ages- one 17, one 86- becoming such fast friends. Hennie really took Nit under her wing, looked after her and her husband, and taught her about life up on the mountain. Through stories of her youth and her beginnings in the mining town of Middle Swan we see what shaped Hennie into the caring matriarch of the village and it is through these stories Hennie passes on her love of the colorful people who inhabit it.



Stories for Sale would probably have been a more accurate title for the book. The stories are what make this novel come to life, and Hennie has a boat load of them. She's always ready to sit a spell and tell them to the fascinated audience and she weaves them expertly through the fabric of their lives. We learn of a cross eyed prostitute at the hookhouse, con artists and leather bellies; war widows, left behind children and a gambler who rides his horse right up to the bar. All these stories are told in the regional dialect of Middle Swan which adds to the stories quaintness.



Reminiscing is the one of the best ways to pass on the history of a locale or it's people. I have learned many things about my family history from listening to my grandparents talk about the "good old days." Some things I have written down, some I have committed to memory and already passed down to my children. These stories are a treasure to me and the stories that Hennie passed to Nit will be a treasure she can one day pass on to her children to teach them about the rich history of where they grew up.



If you are looking for excitement on every page this book is not one you should pick up, but if you are looking for a rich story with many interesting characters this lovely novel will dig its way into your heart

The Friday 56

Rules:
*Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find the 5th sentence.
*Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
*Post a link along with your post back to Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
*Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

My excerpt comes from the book Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas.

Hennie stuck the tip of her needle into the fabric and wiggled her fingers to get the kinks out of them. She wondered how it was that rheumatism crippled them so much that she could barely grasp a rake and had to use both hands to lift a heavy pan off the stove, but it didn't affect her quilting.

What Happened to Silence in the Library?

Shhhhh!

Lately I have been frequenting the library more often then usual and one thing I've noticed is that no one knows how to be quiet in the library anymore. When I was a youngster (and really it was not all that long ago) a library was a place of solitude. Students went there to use the encyclopedias for research (okay, maybe longer ago then I want to admit), parents went there to check out books for their children and the older generation checked out novels and read the newspaper.

I know the times they are a changin'. Now more and more students as well as adults are bringing their laptops to the library to do their research or their work. And while I can live with the clickety clack of the computer keyboards- what I can not deal with is all the extra unnecessary noise.

Tonight for instance I stopped off at the library to do some research between work and a meeting. I was doing just fine until a young lady in her early 20's set up her laptop next to mine. Her volume must have been on high because when the computer booted up the Windows music was really blasting. Then the website she clicked on had some crazy special effects noises which she did turn down as she loudly "shushed" her computer. While noisily rummaging through her tote bag she pulled out a large bottle of water (did she not see the No Food or Drink in the Library sign posted at the door?) and proceeded to "glug, glug, glug" it until it was almost gone. Next came the "crinkle, crinkle" of a candy wrapper (again I refer to the sign) before her cell phone rang and she answered that giggling with a friend.

At this point I powered down my laptop and packed it away. Am I too "old school" as my 14-year old thinks or should I still be able expect silence in the library?

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline *Review*

When reporter Ellen Gleeson gets a "Have You Seen This Child?" flyer in the mail, she almost throws it away. But something about it makes her look again, and her heart stops. The child in the photo looks exactly like her adopted son, Will. Could the child in the photo really be her son? Everything inside her tells her to deny the similarity between her son and the boy in the photo, because she knows her adoption was lawful. But she's a journalist and won't be able to stop thinking about the photo until she figures out the truth. And she can't shake the question: If Will rightfully belongs to someone else, should she keep him or give him up?

I have read many Lisa Scottoline books and thought they were great. She always writes an excellent thriller. Very suspenseful. A page turner. I wasn't as impressed with this one.

The storyline was excellent. Being a mother, the thought of having to give up my child for any reason would tear my heart out. And that is where this novel fell short. The emotion was not there. After her child is taken from her (I'm not giving anything away by saying that- you know it's going to happen), Ellen doesn't fall apart like I would. Like any mother would. Oh, she cries- a little. She worries about how he'll adjust- for a minute. Then she stops to do a "redecorating" project and laughs while sh'e doing it. Not laughing through her tears with hysteria like I would be doing, but with delight. The emotions just didn't seem true to me. Not from Ellen. Not from her father. Not from anybody. And that's where I emotionally disconnected from the story. This book could have been so much better then it was had there been more depth of feeling in it. I'm not suggesting you not read this book, just to put some of your own heart in it when you do.

Library Loot 2/23/2010

Due to the fact that I went super nuts last week and checked out way too many titles, I made this week a lighter check out week. I had 11 books on my list of items to request, but showed a lot of restraint and only requested my 3 top picks for now. Hopefully those will be in soon.

Hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Marg at ReadingAdventures, Library Loot is a fun weekly meme that allows others to peek in your bookbag to see what you came home from the Library with this week. Here's what's in my bag:

Just as she gave voice to the silent women of the Old Testament in the Red Tent, Anita Diamont creates a cast of breathtakingly vivid characters- young women who escaped to Israel from Nazi Europe- in this intensely dramatic novel. Day After Night is based on the extraordinary true story of the October 1945 rescue of more than two hundred prisoners from the Atlit internment camp, a prison for "illegal" immigrants run by the British military near the Mediterranean coast north of Haifa. The story is told through the eyes of four young women at the camp with profoundly different stories. All of them survived the Holocaust: Shayndel, a Polish Zionist; Leonie, a Parisian beauty; Tedi, a hidden Dutch Jew; and Zorah, a concentration camp survivor. haunted by the unspeakable memories and losses, afraid to begin to hope, Shayndel, Leonie, Tedi, and Zorah find salvation in the bonds of friendship and shared experience even as they confront the challenge of re-creating themselves in a strange new country.

From the incomparable Anne Tyler, a wise, gently humorous, and deeply compassionate novel about a schoolteacher, who has been forced to retire at sixty-one, coming to terms with the final phase of his life. Liam Pennywell, who set out to be a philosopher and ended up teaching fifth grade, never much liked the job at that run-down private school, so early retirement doesn't bother him. But he is troubled by his inability to remember anything about the first night that he moved into his new, spare, and efficient condominium on the outskirts of Baltimore. All he knows when he wakes up the next day in the hospital is that his head is sore and bandaged. His effort to recover the moments of his life that have been stolen from him leads him on an unexpected detour. What he needs is someone who can do the remembering for him. What he gets is - well, something quite different.

Barry Laverty, M.B., can barely find the village of Ballybucklebo on a map when he first sets out to seek gainful employment there, but he already knows that there is nowhere he would rather live than in the emerald hills and glens of Northern Ireland. The proud owner of a spanking-new medical degree and little else in the way of worldly possessions, Barry jumps at the chance to secure a position as an assistant in a small rural practice. At least until he meets Dr. Finegal Flahertie O'Reilly. The older physician, whose motto is never to let the patients get the upper hand, has his own way of doing things. At first, Barry can't decide if the pugnacious O'Reilly is the biggest charlatan he has ever met or the best teacher he could ever hope for.

"It used to be Cliff and Vivian and now it isn't." With these words, Jim Harrison begins a riotous, moving novel that sends a sixty-something man, divorced and robbed of his farm by a late-blooming real estate shark of an ex-wife, on a road trip across America, armed with a childhood puzzle of the United States and a mission to rename all the states and the state birds to overcome the banal names men have given them. Cliff's adventures take him through a whirlwind affair with a former student from his high school-teacher days twenty-some years before; to a "snake farm" in Arizona owned by an old classmate; and to the high-octane existence of his son, a big-time movie producer who has just bought an apartment over the Presidio in San Francisco. The English Major is the map of a man's journey into- and out of- himself, and it is vintage Harrison: reflective, big-picture American, and replete with wicked wit.

( And strictly for fun!)

Helene Zahari's politician husband keeps her on a tight leash and cancels her credit cards as a way of controlling her. Lorna Rafferty is up to her eyeballs in debt and can't stop her addiction to eBay. Sandra Vanderslice, battling agoraphobia, pays her shoe bills by working as a phone-sex operator. And Jocelyn Bowen is a nanny for the family from hell (who barely knows a sole from a heel but will do anything to get out of the house). On Tuesday nights, these women meet to trade shoes and, in the process, form friendships that will help each triumph over their problems- from secret pasts to blackmail, bankruptcy, and dating. Funny, emotional and powerful, Shoe Addicts Anonymous is the perfect read for any woman who has ever struggled to find the perfect fit. (I checked out the audio book version of this one)

Hmm... a little bit of an older man/ exploring job & life theme going on this week!

Which of these books have you read that are simply fantastic...or not? Have you reviewed any of them? Let me know- I'd love to "hear" your thoughts!

The Lost City of Z by David Grann *Review*

I have always fancied myself as quite the adventurer, seeking out for parts unknown and laying eyes on something no human has ever seen before. In fact, I made elaborate plans while working with my son on the Hiking Merit Badge for Boy Scouts, to travel to a very remote location with glacial lakes and a big bear population, only to chicken out at the last minute. He took the Swimming Merit Badge instead.

That is why when I saw this book I knew it was the perfect way for me to live vicariously through someone else's Amazonian exploits. And it was. It was fascinating!

The Lost City of Z is the true story of Englishman Percy Fawcett, a well known explorer who is almost single handedly responsible for mapping a large part of the Amazon jungle. PHF, as even his wife called him, was obsessed with finding the city of El Dorado that earlier explorers alluded to in their journals. He became a member of the Royal Geographical Society, secured money numerous times through them to finance trips into the "green hell." As his obsession grew he invented codes- naming the lost city "Z", and formulas for longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates so others could not figure out where he was starting his journey from. His greatest fear was that someone would get there before him.

Fawcett would start with only a few men, believing large groups of botanists, anthropologists, and pack animals was "suicide." And indeed, many times he was right. His group would forge on all day in the hot, insect infested jungle with maggots burrowing into their wounds and gangrene infected limbs to get as many miles in a day as humanly possible. Or maybe not so humanly as Fawcett is reported to have a constitution unlike any other. He rarely contracted the fevers others did and never seemed to tire, a fact that irritated him greatly in others. He would ruthlessly plod on though others begged for rest.

In his journeys he encountered indian tribes who had never before seen a human. He never approached them with guns drawn, but with arms up and white handkerchief waving in the air as arrows zinged by his body, and soon befriended them with gifts of mirrors and knives. He was able to once observe a Guarayo indian crush "a plant with a stone and let it's juice spill into a stream, where it formed a milky cloud. After a few minutes a fish came to the surface, swimming in a circle, mouth gaping, then turned on it's back apparently dead. Soon there were a dozen fish floating belly up. They had been poisoned. A Guarayo boy waded into the water and picked out the fattest ones for eating. The quantity of the poison only stunned them...the fish that the boy left in the water soon returned to life and swam away unharmed."

After the war as Fawcett became older and financing became harder to appropriate, Fawcett struck out with his son Jack and Jack's best friend Raleigh, on a trip financed through the newspaper industry who had been promised updates sent back by indian runners along the journey. From this trip Fawcett would never return. Hundreds went out on rescue missions, many of them never returning either.

Author David Grann pored over journals and books written by Fawcett and other explorers into the region to try to recreate Fawcett's trail to come to some understanding of PHF's last trip and his death. Was he captured and killed by hostile indians or did he starve to death? Read The Lost City of Z to find out what the author finds out about the fabled El Dorado. Could it have existed?

How about you. Are you adventurous? What have you always dreamed of doing?

The Blue Notebook By James A. Levine *Review*

Revulsion roiled in the pit of my stomach- it was page 2. By page 6 I had put the book down on the coffee table and confessed to my husband "I don't think I can read this book." My dear sweet husband, to which everything is black or white, replied "Then don't." But it wasn't that easy.




I thought about what I had read in a few short pages of this book while washing dishes and had come to the conclusion that I could bury my head in the sand and just choose not to believe things like this still really happen; or I could read the book, educate myself, and spread the message. I chose the latter.



Levine, a doctor at the Mayo clinic, was inspired to write this heartbreaking and terrifying novel when he was interviewing homeless children in Mumbai as part of his medical research. In the "Street of Cages" where child prostitutes ply their trade, literally encaged by their neglectful and abusive overseers (who pocket all the profits), Levine was struck by the sight of a young girl sitting outside her cage writing in a notebook. Batuk is a 15 year old girl who was sold to Mamaki Briila by her father when she was 9. Forced to service up to ten men a day from her "nest," and subject to deplorable treatment by the men who pay for her services, she's even abused by the doctor who examines her; her friend Puneet, meanwhile, nearly dies after being sexually assaulted by two policemen and is castrated at the first signs of puberty. Batuk tells her story matter-of-factly, in a voice reminiscent of The Color Purple's. While painful to read, Batuk's story puts a face on the mistreatment and disregard for children worldwide, as well as a testament to the hopefulness and power of literacy. All U.S. proceeds from the book will be donated to helping exploited children. (Publisher's Weekly)

Young prostitutes on The Street of Cages.

Even after writing this book and donating the proceeds of it to The International and National Centers for Missing & Exploited Children, author James A. Levine was still so troubled by what he had seen that he made repeated trips to India to try to figure out how something positive could be made out of what was happening day after day. He found a place called The Sparrow's Nest that was making a difference. Sparrows are the children of the Mumbaii prostitutes. The Sparrow's Nest provides food, medical care, a place to sleep and an education to these children free of charge. Out of 230 Sparrows cared for over an 8 year period not a single one has entered into prostitution. In fact many have entered college and gone onto careers in teaching, business and hotel management. Read more about The Sparrow's Nest here.

Even though this was an extremely difficult book to read and I am still processing what I read, I would recommend everyone to push past the disgust you will first feel and finish this book. It has definitely made a difference to me and I hope to other children as well. I initially checked this book out from the library but I went today and purchased this book and my donation to The Sparrow's Nest is on it's way.

Honolulu by Alan Brennert *Review*

Kampana- A Buddhist term meaning "good people's hearts are moved" to do a compassionate act.



Honolulu is the rich, unforgettable story of a young "picture bride" who journeys to Hawaii in 1914 in search of a better life. Instead of the affluent young husband and chance at an education she has been promised, she is quickly married off to a poor, embittered laborer who takes his frustrations out on his new wife. Renaming herself Jin, she makes her own way in this strange land, finding both opportunity and prejudice. With the help of three of her fellow picture brides, Jin prospers along with her adopted city, which is growing from a small territorial capital into the great multicultural city it is today. But paradise has its dark side, whether it's the daily struggle for survival in Honolulu's tenements, or a crime that will become the most infamous of the island's history... With it's passionate knowledge of people and places in Hawaii far off the tourist track, Honolulu is most of all the spellbinding tale of four women in a new world, united by dreams, disappointment, sacrifices, and friendship.



Honolulu was a sweeping novel that followed the life of Jin, a young Korean woman as she moved to Hawaii to become a picture bride and followed her through many milestones in her life up to her 60th birthday. When she arrives in Hawaii she is startled to find her fiance is not how he was portrayed. Though disappointed, she knows she can not go back to her homeland so she decides to give it a go. Her husband is a common laborer who drinks, gambles all their money away, and beats her. She decides to leave him and thus begins a new life in the foreign city of Honolulu.



Jin is one of these soul-deep beautiful people who hold true to her ideals. No matter how hard life is for her- and she does suffer through many trials- she doesn't sway from her beliefs and inspires those around her to be better people for having known her. During her years in Hawaii she makes many lifelong friends and gives so much of herself to each one of them.



Normally I tend to get a little bored with books that follow a character through that many years of their life. That was not the case with this one. Author Alan Brennert wove so much history of the Hawaiian islands into this fictional story that at times it could pass as non-fiction for the wealth of knowledge in it, but it doesn't read like non-fiction at all.



Kampana, the Buddhist term from the opening of this post, defines so much of this novel that it could have served just as well as it's title. Jin loves so deeply, and despairs so deeply, that one can feel their heart swelling or breaking right along with her. I thought this was a fantastic book and one to enjoy just for the history of Hawaii in the infancy of the island as a part of the Americas.

Library Loot 2/16/2010

Okay. There have been titles that have been on my list to check out from the library for several months now, but they always seem to be checked out by someone else. Not being the type that likes to wait, I just search the shelves for something else and go on my merry way.

But this last week I finally decided to reserve them. They were all still out- some due back in February and some in March, but I knew if I didn't request them from either my branch of the regional library or another branch I wouldn't get to read them for quite some time.

Nobody ever explained to me when you reserve a bunch of books all at the same time they miraculously all seem to come in all at the same time too! Yikes! It looks like I'll have my work cut out for me in the next week or two. Here is what I came home with in the last week:

Every now and then we come across a novel that moves us like no other, that seems like a miracle of the imagination, and that haunts us long after the book is closed. James Levine's The Blue Notebook is that kind of book. It is the story of Batuk, an Indian girl who is taken to Mumbai from the countryside and sold into prostitution by her father; the blue notebook is her diary, in which she recalls her early childhood, records her life on the Common Street, and makes up beautiful and fantastic tales about a silver-eyed leopard and a poor boy who fells a giant with a single coin.

In 1925, Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon to find an ancient civilization, vowing to make one of the most important archaeological discoveries in history. Fawcett embarked with his twenty-one-year-old son, determined to prove that this ancient civilization (the glittering kingdom of El Dorado)- which he dubbed "Z"- existed. Then he and his expedition vanished. Fawcett's fate- and the tantalizing clues he left behind about "Z"- become an obsession for hundreds who followed him into the unchartered wilderness. For decades scientists and adventurers have searched for evidence of Fawcett's party and the lost City of Z. Countless have perished, been captured by tribes, or gone mad. The author's quest for the truth, and his stunning discoveries about Fawcett's fate and "Z", form the heart of this enthralling narrative.

When reporter Ellen Gleeson gets a "Have You Seen This Child?" flyer in the mail, she almost throws it away. But something about it makes her look again, and her heart stops. The child in the photo looks exactly like her adopted son, Will. Could the child in the photo really be her son? Everything inside her tells her to deny the similarity between her son and the boy in the photo, because she knows her adoption was lawful. But she's a journalist and won't be able to stop thinking about the photo until she figures out the truth. And she can't shake the question: If Will rightfully belongs to someone else, should she keep him or give him up?

It's 1936 and the Great Depression has taken its toll. Eighty-six-year-old Hennie Comfort has lived in Middle Swan, Colorado- up in the high country of the snow-covered Rocky Mountains- since before it was Colorado. When she meets seventeen-year-old Nit Spindle, Hennie is drawn to the young grieving girl. Nit and her husband have come to this small mining town in search of work, but the loneliness and loss Nit feels are almost too much to bear. One day she notices and old sign that reads "Prayers for Sale" in front of Hennie's house and takes out her last nickel. Hennie doesn't actually take money for her prayers, never has, but she invites the skinny girl in anyway. The harsh conditions of life that each has endured help them to create an instant bond, and a friendship is born, one of which the deepest of hardships are shared and the darkest of secrets are confessed.

On September 6th, 2007 an African Grey parrot named Alex died prematurely at the age of thirty-one. His last words to his owner, Irene Pepperberg, were "You be good. I love you." Over the thirty years they had worked together, Alex and Irene had become famous- two pioneers who opened an unprecedented window into the hidden yet vast world of animal minds. Alex's brain was the size of a shelled walnut, and when Irene and Alex first met, birds were not believed to possess any potential for language, consciousness, or anything remotely comparable to human intelligence. Yet over the years Alex proved many things. Alex and Irene stayed together through thick and thin- despite sneers from experts, extraordinary financial sacrifices, and a nomadic existence from one university to the other. The story of their thirty-year adventure is equally a landmark of scientific achievement and an unforgettable human-animal bond.

This memorable, heartbreaking story opens in Addis Adaba, Ethiopia, 1974, on the eve of a revolution. Yonas kneels in his mother's prayer room, pleading to his god for an end to the violence that has wracked his family and country. His father, Hailu, a prominent doctor, has been ordered to report to jail after helping a victim of state-sanctioned torture die. And Dawit, Hailu's youngest son, has joined an underground resistance movement- a choice that will lead to more upheaval and bloodshed across a ravaged Ethiopia. Beneath the Lion's Gaze tells a gripping story of family, of the bonds of love and friendship set in a time and place that has not been explored in fiction before. It is a story about the lengths human beings will go in pursuit of freedom and the human price of a national revolution.

The Twelve is an extraordinary and unforgettable novel about a most unusual and unsuspecting hero. As a child, Max lives in a world of colors and numbers, not speaking until the age of six. As an adult Max ventures on a journey of destiny to discover the secret behind the ancient Mayan prophecy about the "end of time," foretold to occur December 21, 2012. At fifteen years old, Max has a near-death experience during which he has a vision that reveals the names of twelve unique individuals. Max's voyage of discovery begins, as he strives to uncover the identities and roles of the twelve individuals he will meet during his journey toward truth. All of The Twelve seem connected, and all of them are important to what will happen at the exact moment the world as we know it will end.

So how did I fare this week? Did I pick out some real dogs, or are there treasures in my stack just waiting to be opened. If you have read any of these please let me know what you thought of them!

Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg *Review*

Hurry Down Sunshine tells the story of the extraordinary summer when, at the age of fifteen, Michael Greenberg's daughter was struck mad. It begins with Sally's sudden visionary crack-up on the streets of Greenwich village, and continues, among other places, in the out-of-time world of a Manhattan psychiatric ward during the city's most sweltering months. "I feel like I'm traveling and traveling with nowhere to go back to," Sally says in a burst of lucidity while hurtling away toward some place her father could not dream of or imagine. Hurry Down Sunshine is the chronicle of that journey, and it's effect on Sally and those closest to her- her mother and stepmother, her brother and grandmother, and, not least of all, the author himself. (Biography)

Hurry Down Sunshine is a novel in 3 parts. The first part deals with the day Sally had her crack-up and the trip to the emergency room to find out what was wrong with her. Part two tells about her 24 week stay in a psychiatric hospital. Part three goes on to describe her release from the hospital and dealing with life on the outside again. There are no chapters in the book and normally this would really bug me. I personally like shorter chapters in a book since I am a person who reads a little here and a little there, the short chapters always give me a good starting or stopping place. But in this book , having no chapters really work.

Sally's descent into madness seems to happen overnight. Her parents are at a loss to figure out how Sally's personality can change that quickly. Fearing something physiological they take her to the emergency room where after consulting with the staff psychiatrist, they find out her "condition" is Bipolar 1. The treatment? To be checked into a psychiatric hospital. At first her father is resistant. His daughter is not crazy, there must be something elso wrong with her. But after looking at her again he realizes he is not able to take care of her when she is like this.

Upon being checked into the psychiatric hospital, her parents are denied visitation until Sally comes out of the Quiet Room. Sally is in isolation until she is a little more manageable. After being released to a regular room her Dad visits her daily for several hours a day. When she's released after little more then three weeks he is surprised- he hasn't seen that much improvement.

Sally is released, slowly weaned off drugs and getting ready to start the tenth grade, a fact that makes her nervous that she can't cut it and everybody will be staring at her and talking about her. She improves slowly and then one day it's like a breakthrough, and she seems to be her normal self again.

I can't say I really liked this book. It was interesting to learn a little bit more about mental illness. I, like the author, was surprised at how quickly someone can change and all of a sudden be declared mad. I always thought the descent into mental illness is a slow process and there are various warning signs. Sally's struggles were very real. During moments of lucidity she was very profound. I think this book would have been more interesting from her point of view. If you are interested in Bipolar 1, have Bipolar 1 (formerly called manic depressive), or know someone that does- this book could probably give you a lot of insight into the minds of patient or parent. If you don't then you might want to skip this book. The few tidbits I gleaned out of it did not make up for the time I spent reading it.