The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. A few weeks ago, our Girl Scout troop met in the library. While the girls were looking for something, I found a magazine about recommending books. Of course, now I’ve forgotten the title (that’s the first to go, according to Billy Collins), but one of the books that a librarian said was a must-read was this one. An acquaintance had recommended it before, but I picked it up and couldn’t get into it in the first few pages, so I wrote it off. Well. The librarian said, “This is a book about Hilter’s Germany and it’s narrated by, of all characters, Death.” Um…WHY did this not grab me??? (I was obsessed with two things in the fifth grade: Greek Mythology and the Holocaust—they still hold huge sway over me.) I started reading this book and COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. It is young adult fiction and is WONDERFUL. I read it on my Kindle, but then ordered a copy of it for my library. My oldest daughter is reading it now and I’ve suggested it as this month’s book for our teacher’s reading group. I am still thinking of the characters and missing them. I love Liesel (the book thief), the girl who arrives at her foster family’s home after the death of her brother. Her foster mother, Rosa, has a PhD in swearing and is rough on the outside, but proves to be a devoted and loving mother for Liesel. Her foster father, Hans is a special, kind person, with silver eyes and a penchant for playing the accordian. I love this man. Liesel’s best friend, Rudy, is dying for a kiss. Together, the two of them develop a friendship that involves many adventures; many of them include petit larceny. Death is a gentle narrator and I came to be sympathetic (!) to him as well. Liesel’s family eventually hides a Jew as well. I’m not going to give any more details because you just have to read this jewel of a book for yourself. It’s truly worth it.
I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak. I enjoyed The Book Thief so much I chose this book because Zusak wrote it. He has a way of bringing his characters to life that I love. I haven’t gotten very far in the book, but I am enjoying the fact that it’s completely different, but well-developed. It’s set in Australia and so far I’ve read the first scene, were Ed (a young cabbie) stops a bank robbery. The conversations that take place during the robbery are hysterically funny. I know this book is a mystery (NOT my favorite genre), so I’m trusting Zusak to help me out with this one.
What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell. I love Malcolm Gladwell. He’s so smart and so intersting and his books make me sit back and go, “Huh. I hadn’t ever thought about it like that before.” I still tell my students, “To get good at something, you have to put in TEN THOUSAND hours.” (That’s from Outliers.) My rocket science husband scoffs at Gladwell (he HATES pop psychology stuff), but I say, as long as you don’t believe EVERYTHING he says, what’s wrong with a provocative book? My favorite thing about Gladwell is how he comes up with his goofy ideas—stuff no one else thinks about—well, *I* think about it, but I don’t write it down. It might not matter to the rest of the world, but it matters to me, and I’m so glad Mr. Gladwell is out there, thinking about it and writing it down. He fills in a good backstory and that’s what makes most of what he says so interesting. This is a fun read, if you don’t take it too seriously.
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. Ok. So, this is the book that is REALLY getting under my skin this month. I hated it for about the first 60% (I don’t know how many pages that is, cuz I’m reading it on my Kindle). I mean, I was completely annoyed by most of what I was reading. And yet…there was something about this book that kept me going and now, with only 20% to go, I’m so curious to see how it ends. She’d better not let me down! Part of the reason more than the first half of the book seems so tedious is that she had to spend a LONG time building up the back-story. It’s about a boy (Harrison Shepherd) who is a witness to revolutionaries, communists and artists (including Kahlo, Rivera and Trotsky). He later becomes one of Trotsky’s secretaries and is there when Trotsky is assassinated. I guess this book piques my curiosity because she writes about all the places where I lived/visited when I lived in Mexico. I visited all those houses, spent lots of time in the Yucatán, the DF, etc. I’m enjoying visiting again, even if it’s vicariously. (In fact, I want to take my kids to see all these things now.) But I keep waiting for something to HAPPEN. I’ll let you know how it turns out next month. For now, all I can say is, it’s no Poisonwood Bible.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas. I read this one because it’s one of the books that keeps Harrison Shepherd afloat while he’s in Mexico. (Also because I have a big hole where all the “classics I SHOULD have read” reside.) I just remembered a third obsession of mine in elementary school: Grimmes’ Fairy Tales. Who can resist this tale of betrayal, obsession, revenge and forgiveness? I love that the main character (Dantes) is able to come back from jail (where he has spent time for being wrongly accused) and uses disguises to exact his revenge on those who wronged him. It’s sort of infantile, but it appealed to my sense of “THAT’S NOT FAIR.”
Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo. I’m re-reading this one because of La Lacuna AND a story on NPR. I remember trying to fight my way through this book as a college student in Mexico. I think the class was on “Revolutionary Literature” or something like that. All I know is I was new to the country, new to the school and barely spoke any Spanish. This book about did me in (it goes back and forth between present and past, the narrators switch back and forth from real people to dead people to omniscient…). I never did make it all the way through. However, I love, love, LOVE magic realism, so, I’m trying it again. So far, so good. I’m also going to look into El llano en llamas next month.
La Tregua by Mario Benedetti. Another book that appeals to my sense of “OMG, I couldn’t get through this in college, let’s try again.” This story is set in Uruguay in the late 1950s. A widower (Martín Santomé) is keeping a diary about his last few months in the office before his retirement. A young woman, 24-year-old Laura Avellaneda comes to the office and he is her boss. He falls in love with her and they begin a romance. I’m just at the beginning of the romance. I can’t remember how this one ends (because, let’s face it, I COULDN’T UNDERSTAND SPANISH the first time I read it). I’ll let you know. I am very much enjoying it this time around. It’s true what all the reading teachers say; you have to be able to comprehend 95% of the words to make sense of the text. It’s a good reminder for me, as a teacher of ELL students. I’m also laughing as I read this book because of all the words I circled the first time around. When did I learn all those words? I don’t remember.
Billy Hooten: Owl Boy by Tom Sniegoski. Not liking this book so much. It’s got a great premise: nerdy boy who adores comic books realizes he is the hero in a parallel comic-book universe. I think reluctant readers MIGHT like this one, but so far, *I* have not been hooked (after The Lightning Thief, I have VERY high standards for magic-realism adventure stories). We’re reading this one in our after school book club (a club for gifted students). I wanted to read it because it looked interesting, even though my group won’t be reading it. I’m sort of glad I don’t have to lead this one. If I cant’ get excited about it, it’s hard to sell it to my students.
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr. This is the book my after-school reading group will be doing. I love this book, even though it’s a tough one. Basically, if you haven’t read the story, it’s about a little girl who gets sick with leukemia after the US drops the A-bomb not too far from her village. She must spend a long time in the hospital and hears a legend about the person who can fold 1,000 paper cranes will be granted a wish. The themes are worthy (war is cruel/horrible, bravery, loyalty) and it’s a good way to introduce Japanese history to students (which I will be doing). Not to mention, we get to fold paper cranes (you KNEW there would be origami involved) and talk about peace. I’m also thinking after we read this, I might show the kids the movie “Totoro.” Totally unrelated, but I like the drawings of the Japanese countryside…