Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson

I very much enjoy reading books written by Bill Bryson. I have also tried listening 
to one of his books on cd, read by him. Let's just say I'd rather read the book; 
he reads a bit slow and dead-pan for me. Don't get me wrong, I know it must be 
difficult to read for a recording! I feel the writing just flows better for me if I am 
reading. I'm not much given to listening to books on tape but do it once in a while.

I enjoyed Mother Tongue. I very much enjoy learning about language and what 
affects it and causes it to change. The differences between American and British 
English intrigue me and they were discussed in this book, along with many other 
things. (We happened to be living in England at the time that I read this book in 
January 2008.)

He also discusses dialects and spelling changes. Ever wonder why the word 
"doubt" is spelled the way it is? As always Bryson can write about a very serious 
topic while managing to infuse it with lots of tongue-in-cheek humor. (For those 
interested in language but with a taste for anything that isn't banal he even 
discusses swear words.)


             Why do "knife" and "knight" and "knowledge" begin with a "k"?      
                                  Bryson knows; I know; do you know?

The Color of Water by James McBride

Born in the early stages of America's civil rights movement, James McBride faced some unusual circumstances during his life; more unusual than most people faced. His birth father was a black man, his mother was a Polish Jewish immigrant. James had seven siblings older than he. His father died from lung cancer during James' pregnancy. His mother married another black man and gave birth to four more children. Life carried on.

James' mother, Ruth, although Jewish, converted to Christianity and, with her first husband, started a church. Faith played a central role in their lives and does so throughout this memoir. McBride uses the book as a means to describe his own life but tells it along with the story of his mother's life. As difficult as it might be to be born to a black man during a time of great racial tension, I imagine Ruth faced even greater difficulties. Can you imagine the isolation she must have felt? Her family turned their back on her when her first pregnancy occurred out of wedlock and with a black man. Of course she was also an adult during the civil rights movement so she was very aware of the tensions around her, and the need to protect her young children. Even facing all of this she had a wonderful way of looking at life. Ruth was always an advocate for bettering one's self. She taught her children the values of faith, hard work, and motivation. Her children are a testament to a woman who plunged forward during radically difficult times; all twelve completed college and went on to successful lives. James became a journalist as well as a jazz musician and, obviously, an author too.

Though growing up was rough, later in life James could say that it was a blessing to have come from two worlds.

Oh, what is the color of water?  Ruth had the answer...read and find out.

Ruth McBride Jordan died at age 88 on 16 Jan 2010.

I read this book in November of 2006. I will read it again.

The Tent, the Bucket and Me: My Family's Disastrous Attempts to go Camping in the 70s by Emma Kennedy

We moved to the UK in August 2007 and our family took many holiday trips. Some were even psuedo-camping (hiring a stationary caravan at a campsite) and therefore I can truly picture everything this book is about.



This was an hilarious but painful look at a decade of holidays gone hellish for Emma Kennedy and her parents. Their desires for a happy holiday took them to Wales, other parts of England, and to France.
Somehow the holiday faeries never seemed to find them and protect them.




Reading this you keep waiting for just one glorious moment of sunshine, or luck, or even a pain-free moment at least. And, always, just as there is the faintest hint that things are beginning to go right...out falls the bottom! Poor Emma, Brenda and Tony. The story chronicles their travels from when Emma was age three until she turns thirteen.


Since adulthood Emma has refused, hands down, to go on holiday with her parents. It really isn't any wonder.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

     Winner of the Caldecott Award in 2008, this interesting story is most 
creatively told through the use of not only words, but also pictures. The pictures are nice clear pen and ink drawings which add to the story line quite effectively. Not long after I began reading it all of our children were compellingly engrossed, even my husband and the drivers of the coaches we toured in while on a holiday in Paris, France in 2008. 

     The novel is set in Paris, in a train station. The story focuses on some truths in history regarding the beginning of film making, as well as automatons. Our family happened to be visiting the Musee d'Orsay, an Impressionist museum, in Paris. The museum is housed in a former train station. That added great meaning to the book for our family and created a lasting memory for all of us.


     Don't let the size of this book scare you. Yes, it is 533 pages, but it is a combination storybook and novel, all in one. In thinking back, I would guess it only took a matter of hours for us to finish it; maybe 3-5 hours. I feel it is well worth one's time.

The children's Blizzard by David Laskin

It was a milder than usual morning on the 12th of January 1888. North and South Dakota, Minnesota and Nebraska...the people are happy for a break from the winter weather. They begin to go about their day with little care.

Unfortunately, hindsight is 20/20. The weather to come later that day brought utter disaster.
The storm that is the subject of this book is the same storm written about by Laura Ingalls Wilder, in her books.

This book gets a bit heavy with weather terminology in a couple of chapters. But the author also weaves MANY stories of various immigrants lives throughout the book...don't try to keep them straight, just keep reading. Actually, the second time I read this book I read it aloud to two of our children, ages 11 and 10 at the time.

Skip the weather terminology if you must, don't let it stop you from hearing the events of the blizzard and how it affected the people it struck. This is a piece of unpredictable, fascinating, American history.
 
 

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

I was amazed by this book when I read it.

How could the author have been had the insight to be able to write it? Wow.



Death is the narrator. But not in a creepy way. This 'Death' has as much compassion as he is able to have
as he collects the souls of the departed; and boy, was he busy during WWII. What a shame.

If I had known what would happen in this book I'd have probably not read it. Gee, how can a war book NOT include lots of death... Well, it did...the funny thing is that each time "Death" warned me of it with just enough of a lead-in so that I could absorb the fact and accept it and then the story progressed through the death and I could cope with it!

This was a lovely way to write a very touching book about the plausible (historic fiction) life of some very strong and unfortunate people.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Wow! I used to hate anything related to time travel as I got way too confused trying to make it all make sense! I only became a little confused in one part of this book and a friend straightened me out! This story is phenomenal and really has you thinking "What if...".


 


The essence of this book is that Henry DeTamble has a rare genetic disorder which is ultimately named Chron-Displacement. Henry jumps through time to places he has or will have been, in time. Clare Abshire is destined to meet, and fall in love with, Henry.

Can you imagine being married to a man who  is there one moment, and quite literally, gone the next? Miss Niffenegger will make you imagine it and she'll have you practically believing it by the end of the book. Her vivid imagery pulled me in. I finished reading the book in November 2004. In August 2005 I listened to it on audio cd. I also convinced my husband to listen to it. I convinced my best friend to read it. Both of my brothers read it on my recommendation. I told everyone about the book. I even REread the book, which is a big deal for me. I missed recording the date that I reread it but it was while we were living in England and before the film version was released so it was in 2008 or 2009.


The book looks at all aspects of life, therefore there are a few scenes that depict sexual activity. Some are pretty integral to the story. There was one scene and the particularly heavy use of one word in particular that my brother, Scott, and I both felt could have been left out without any detriment to the story. Overall, I feel it is worth it to either press on and read those portions of the book or to try to ignore them and skip over them if you feel you can't read such things. The book is definitely not okay for children to read. I would allow our teens to read it but I do think that parents should make that decision themselves.


I have, since, seen the movie that was adapted from the book. I know that most book lovers do not like movie adaptations. This was a tough book to pack into a film. I have to say, though, that the producers did a wonderful job. Much of the film ended up being very much the way I envisioned it. Our kids very much enjoyed the movie too, especially our ten year old son.

As a book lover I love the fact that Henry works for the Newberry Library in Chicago. I want to tour it! Here is some information on the library:  http://www.newberry.org/collections/timetravelers.html  


Believe it or not, I know I will read this book again.
And I will watch the film with my hubby soon too; he hasn't seen it yet.


Henry and Clare...

One Day by David Nicholls

The premise of this book is to follow one couple, looking at a particular day of the year for them, every year for 20 years. Touted as the 'best weird love story since The Time Traveler's Wife' by a reviewer, I would heartily agree. It holds the same special place for me somehow. 


Dex and Em, Em and Dex. 


 


They belonged together. 


Heartbreaking, really. But so true to life. Read it.


The book begins on July 15, 1988. Some descriptions of the day are simple and short while in other years the day is practially momentous. 


Em is sweet and funny and full of wit. Dexter, ah, Dexter. He is charming and witty and gorgeous and rather full of himself. Around Em, though, he is sometimes able to pull his act together. She is certainly a motivator for him at times. As a reader you find yourself pulling for the two of them as a couple. The story was completely enveloping for me. I found myself absolutely wrapped up in the story line of "The Time Traveler's Wife" and found the same to be true for "One Day".

I have to warn you that I hated the very ending of the story but the author/editor was a genius and didn't really end the book there. He ventured back in time to the earlier parts of the book and brought us deeper into the earlier happenings. That redeemed it for me. My brother, Duffy, told me to expect to hate it because of the 'ending'. I am so glad I ended up loving it.

I Loved this book.

~~~

My casting call... 
(This is where I list the people I envisioned as the characters in the book as I read it.)

I pictured Em as a dear friend of mine from England. She has dark, shoulder length hair and the slender body of a dancer.

I pictured Dex as Kurt Russell.


~~~


For news of the expected release of the film, 
click here> One Day to be released as a FILM

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Mystery by Alan Bradley

I haven't read many mysteries...but this one has to be my hands-down favourite.

Set in England, I could truly picture the happenings. Flavia de Luce is the cheeky, chemistry-loving deducer of the identity of the murderer of the man she found dying, and then dead, in the garden of her family's estate. Doesn't take long to fall under her spell. A reader's delight. You won't want to put it down if you pick it up! I dare you!


One of my favourite quotes from this book:

'I detected instantly that she didn't like me. It's a fact of

life that a girl can tell in a flash if another girl likes her. Feely says that there is a broken telephone connection between men and women, and we can never know which of us rang off. With a boy you never know whether he's smitten or gagging, but with a girl you can tell in the first three seconds. Between girls there is a silent and unending flow of invisible signals, like the high-frequency wireless messages between the shore and the ships at sea, and this secret flow of dots and dashes was signaling that Mary detested me.'

Another:

'What kind of poison could work that quickly? I ran through the most likely possibilities. Cyanide worked in minutes: after turning blue in the face, the victime was asphyxiated almots immediately. It left behind a smell of bitter almonds But no, the case against cyanide was that, had it been used, the victime would have been dead before I found him. (Although I have to admit that I have a soft spot for cyanide-when it comes to speek, it is right up there with the best of them. If poisons were ponies, I'd put my money on cyanide.)'
 
This book is followed up by "The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag."
 
The third book in the series has been eagerly awaited and was set to make its debut on 8 February 2011: "A Red Herring Without Mustard: A Flavia de Luce Mystery."

It will be one of the next ebooks I purchase. 

Are you meeting your reading goals for 2011?

I am often fueled by a compulsion to read as many books as I am able to each year. This year the number of books that I have read so far is decent so far; I've finished 10 books and we are only in the first week of March.


I don't believe I am fueled so much by a goal to read a certain number of books this year as I am by two other things. I have been aware, for a long time, of a feeling that I should attempt to read more classics. I did not, however, set myself a specific goal; only a general one...to read more classics. That doesn't seem a very imposing way to go about it, does it?

My other goal for this year, however, appears to be fueling my first goal! My second goal was to see how greatly I could reduce the amount of money I had been spending on books for myself. This goal has seen me downloading more classic books from www.gutenberg.org for free! Gutenberg.org makes classic literature, which is in the public domain, free for users to download.

I have finished reading ten books so far this year, of which four titles are examples of classic literature! I feel really great about accomplishing so much toward both of my goals so far.

So, take a look at the reading you've done so far this year. Are you reaching your goals? Are there changes you should make that will help you better meet your reading goals? Tell us how you are doing...