ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE- Anthony Doerr

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE is my latest adult read.
Historical Fiction.
Holocaust.
Good and evil.
Amazingly crafted.
Beautiful writing.
I loved it.

ALL THE LIGHT is the story of two characters, a little French girl, Marie Laure, and a German boy, Werner. Marie Laure lives with her father, who is a locksmith at the Museum of Natural History in France. Marie-Laure is blind, and her father has built a tiny village, totally to scale, so that she can memorize, then traverse her neighborhood. When Paris is occupied by the Nazis, Marie-Laure and her father travel to the seaside town of Saint Malo to live with an uncle, whose own WWI experiences have left him an agoraphobic. Marie-Laure's father carries a valuable gem, a treasure given to him by the museum to protect.

Far away, Werner is an orphan, growing up with a younger sister in Nazi Germany. Their father was killed in a mining accident, and the two siblings live in a kind of foster home. Werner is fascinated by electronic devices and becomes an expert at repairing and transmitting messages by radios. These skills lead him to a place in the Hitler Youth. Werner's job is to use the radio to ferret out nationalists who are transmitting messages for their countries, a job which he likes less and less.

Doerr's crafting of the book is pretty much genius. When the story opens, both Marie-Laure and Werner are in the war-torn town of Saint Malo in France. Doerr then takes the reader back in time, alternating chapters of Marie-Laure and Werner. Throughout the book, the reader knows that somehow the two characters paths are going to cross, but it's hard to imagine when or where that intersection might occur.

I devoured the book the first time for the story, which I totally loved. It's probably geeky, but this weekend I'm planning on reading the book again, this time to pay more attention to how Doerr crafted the book, because his use of time, and his back and forth between the characters is pretty much amazing. I'm going to be taking lots of notes because we have book club next weekend and I want to be prepared. This is also one of the those books with lots of really powerful lines, the kind you copy down and think about for a long, long time.

ALL THE LIGHT is a long one (544 pages!) but it's well worth the read!

JOY (and Kindle) FOR BEGINNERS

A couple of weeks ago on Twitter, a new friend (@mimireads) told Patrick Allen and I that we should check out THE SCHOOL OF ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS by Erica Bauermeister. I did, and loved it (see post here) , so on Friday night, I online went looking for other books Bauermeister had written. Bauermeister's newest book, JOY FOR BEGINNERS, was just released a couple of weeks ago. Knowing that my boys had a football-a-thon (ok, really a 7 on 7 tournament, that lasts for twelve hours, which is divided approximately equally between watching football, fetching water and gatorade for grumpy, overheated children and just sitting around waiting for games to happen), I downloaded JOY FOR BEGINNERS onto my Kindle and threw that into my bag. I spent more time being water girl and less time waiting, so I didn't get much read during the tournament, but I read a good chunk yesterday, then finished JOY FOR BEGINNERS this morning.

The main character in JOY FOR BEGINNERS is Kate, a woman who has been through a mastectomy and subsequent treatment for breast cancer. In the opening chapter of JOY, Kate and six of her closest friends, women who have cared for her during treatment, are having a victory party, celebrating Kate's return to health. Shortly before the party, Kate's college-aged daughter, Robin, has asked her to consider a river rafting trip down the Grand Canyon and hung the pamphlet on the bulletin board in the kitchen. Kate's friends encourage her to go on the trip. Kate agrees that she will, but only if each of her friends will take on a challenge during the next year. The biggest twist is that Kate will decide what each challenge will be.

Bauermeister has come to be a new favorite author. She goes into a "category" with Elizabeth Berg and Anna Quindlen. Those authors write simple clean stories that I can read at football practices or waiting rooms. Even though the stories are relatively straightforward, there are lots of big truths, great lines that I write down or mark to share with friends. I loved this story about women and friendship and taking on challenges. I want my book club to read it. I want us to think about challenges we might set for each other. Maybe even set a few…And like Quindlen and Berg, Bauermeister is a terrific writer, a master of specificity and sensory details, someone I revisit again and again as I attempt to become a better writer.

As I was reading JOY FOR BEGINNERS, I also thought a lot about my reading process. I got my Kindle for Valentine's Day, and I'm still trying to figure out what place it has in my reading life. I had wanted one for a long, long time, but if I am honest, I have not really used it all that much. Here are some initial observations:

Things I love about my Kindle:

• The size.
• I can get a new book within a couple of minutes (this might also be a dangerous feature, given my propensity for buying books instead of food or clothing).
• I love that once I'm done with a book, it doesn't take up a lot of space in my life. I still have it on my Kindle, and I can go back to it any time I like, but I don't have to try to find room for it on my overflowing bookshelves.
• That ebooks, even new books, are much less expensive than "regular" books (and yeah, I'm aware that I don't have the right language).

Things I'm still trying to figure out:

• I can't pass on books I love, like JOY FOR BEGINNERS, to my friends. Last night, for example, I was telling my friend, Kathleen, how much I was enjoying Erica Bauermeister's books. She said she needed something new to read. Ordinarily, I would just pass the book on to her, but because it was on my Kindle, I couldn't. I don't like that, at all.
• I'm also not sure I will buy many children's books on the Kindle, because if I like them, I want to be able to put them into kids' hands. That's not a possibility with the Kindle, unless I give them my Kindle to use.
• I'm am thinking, though, about what place the Kindle might have in the lives of kids who struggle with reading. Would it make reading easier for those kids if they could adjust the type size or face, number of words on a line, or the orientation of the page? If so, why would we not give them that option?
• I'm also trying to decide whether buying ereaders for my sons might encourage them to read more than they are reading now (not at all).
• And then I'm still trying to figure out the "gadgetry"of the Kindle. I haven't figured out, for example, whether I can get the stuff I highlight from my Kindle to my laptop. And I haven't taken time yet to learn how to get stuff from my Netgalley account onto my Kindle, even though I am pretty sure I can do that.

OK, enough Joy (and Kindle) for beginners. Gotta go do some real life stuff, like laundry and housework!

SCHOOL OF ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS

I'm off to do the mom thing today. You know, one of those days when you get up super early, spend an hour organizing the cooler, packing lunches, etc., then wake up two sleepy, grumpy teenagers, fuss at them to help you lift the cooler into the car, drive ninety minutes, then sit for seven or eight or ten hours in the hot sun while they do something they love. Then, to top it off, someone will ask tonight why you are tired because you didn't do anything all day (and please don't send me any parenting suggestions-- I know there are lots of people that do it better and have teenagers who are much more pleasant and respectful).

Anyway, before I start the day's festivities, read a terrific book yesterday. I heard about THE SCHOOL OF ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS, by Erica Bauermeister, on Twitter, from Mimi (@mimreads), who is a friend of Patrick's (@coloreader). I couldn't put it down.

The main character in SCHOOL OF ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS is Lillian, who owns a restaurant. Once a month, she turns the restaurant into a cooking school. This book chronicles the life of that cooking class over the course of a year. Each month, as they cook, Bauermeister tells the story of a different character, there's Isabelle, an older woman who is in the early stages of what appears to be Alzheimer's, Claire- a new mom, Chloe- a teenager who has basically raised herself, Ian- a technogeek, Antonia- an Italian kitchen designer, Tom- a lawyer who has lost his wife to cancer, and Carl and Helen- a couple who have been married for fifty years. The stories are rich and wonderful and sensuous. And if you are someone who likes to cook, I think you will enjoy them even more…

I loved this book. I'm downloading Bauermeister's newest book, JOY FOR BEGINNERS, for today. But first, I gotta go load the cooler…

EVERY LAST ONE- Anna Quindlen

For the last year, I have been trying not to spend so much money on books. I go to the library more. I borrow books from friends (or anyone else who will lend them to me). A few weeks ago, however, my sister gave me a bookstore gift card for my birthday. Although I almost always buy children's books, this time, I made an exception. I bought Anna Quindlen's newest novel, EVERY LAST ONE. I just couldn't wait for it to become available at the library or come out in paperback. And I gotta tell you it was worth every penny, (like everything else Anna Quindlen writes). I know, because I stayed up half the night and skipped church this morning to finish it.

Mary Beth Latham is a "typical" mom. She owns Latham's Landscaping. She has an opthamologist husband and is the mom to three teenagers- Ruby, a gifted writer, and fraternal twins Alex and Max. Mary Beth spends her days caring for her family, worrying about her teenagers' emotional needs, juggling teenagers' schedules, driving carpools, etc. The Latham's home is where kids hang out-- Ruby's boyfriend, Kiernan, her best friends, Sarah and Rachel, and Alex's soccer teammates. It all seems very ordinary until the unthinkable happens…

A great, great read by one of my all-time favorite authors.

THE HELP- KATHRYN STOCKETT

About once every five years, I totally, totally, totally fall in love with an adult novel. Interestingly, it's usually a book about women and the power of their friendships. I loved THE DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YAYA SISTERHOOD, then SECRET LIFE OF BEES. I just finished THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett, and it's definitely going on my list of new favorites.

Skeeter Phelan has just graduated from Ole Miss. She really wants to get a job in the world of publishing in New York City, but returns instead, to her family's plantation in Jackson, Mississippi. Skeeter is surprised to discover that Constantine, the family's maid and one of Skeeter's closest confidantes, is no longer employed by the family. No one will tell Skeeter where Constantine has gone.

Skeeter seeks out a job in journalism and ends up writing a housekeeping advice column for the local newspaper. The problem is, she has never done housework, and has no idea how to answer the questions given to her each week. She seeks advice from Aibileen, a friend's maid, and also becomes connected with Aibileen's best friend, Minny. The three women come together around a very important writing project…

I loved THE HELP. It made me laugh and it made me cry. I fell in love with Skeeter and Aibeleen and Minny, and wished I could sit at Aibileen's kitchen table drinking coffee with them. I admired the strength, and courage, and wisdom of these three women. As with most works of historical fiction, I had new insights into that particular period of time (I think this would be a great read aloud for a high school American History class).

A terrific read-- I can't recommend it highly enough!

EDGAR SAWTELLE (WHY I NEED TO READ)

Anyone who knows me at all, knows that I am an avid reader. A gotta-read- every-day kinda gal. I read just about anything with print- magazines, newspapers, cereal boxes, kids' books, professional books, poetry, signs on mailboxes, blogs etc., etc. What I don't read, at least not much during the school year, is adult fiction. It's not that I don't like adult fiction, it's just that between a full time educator, and a full time mom, I don't have a whole a lot of time. I'm starting to believe, though, that I need to rethink that decision.

Last night I finished THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE. Edgar is a middle-grade boy growing up on a farm close to Lake Superior. He can hear, but has never been able to speak. Edgar's family survives by breeding and training a line of dogs they call Sawtelles (because of my own background knowledge, I kept picturing the dog as labs, but they really sounded more Shepherd-ish). Edgar's father, Gar, is responsible for tracking the dog's lineage and making decisions about breeding. His mom, Trudy, trains the dogs. Edgar, under the watchful eye of his four legged best friend, Almondine, helps with chores and training. Life on the dog farm is hard, but it's happy until Gar's brother Claude arrives…

EDGAR SAWTELLE brought me back to the roots of what I believe about teaching kids to read. First, it reminded me of the importance of background knowledge. As a dog lover, I totally connected with Edgar and his family. Almondine was my Ramsey, and now, to a degree, the dog that Jack Black is becoming. Smart, impudent, strong-willed Essay, another dog important to the story, was my Maggie, and now Stargirl. I loved reading about how the family cared for their dogs. The book made me want to dig out DOG TRAINING FOR DUMMIES and spend some time working with my badly behaved teenager puppies. I don't think my non dog-loving friends would connect with this book or enjoy it quite as much as I did.

Second, the book reminded me of all of the strategies readers use. I read the prologue a couple of times, still didn't totally understand it, and finally just decided to push forward and see if I could figure it out as I went along. I had to reread and reread and reread from page 1 to page 525-- this morning, even though I should be wrapping Christmas presents, I really want to go back and do the least twenty pages again. David Wrobleski is a very talented writer, but sometimes, when I just wanted to know what was going to happen next, I kind of raced through his beautiful descriptions in search of more plot. I "talked" to Wrobleski, fought with him, and asked lots and lots of questions, especially about character's motivation. Last night, after I finished reading, I laid awake for another hour or so, thinking about the ending…

Finally, EDGAR SAWTELLE reminded me how much readers need to talk. I loved EDGAR SAWTELLE, but there is a lot I didn't quite understand. Today, even though it's Christmas Eve and even though I have plenty to do, and even though I'm sure most of my friends are spending time with family and friends, I want to talk to my dog-loving, book-loving friends-- Laura, or Stevi, or Kyle to see if they have read the book, and to see what they thought. I want to talk about Almondine. I want to talk about the ending. I need other readers to help me make sense of what I read.

I've always known that teachers need to be readers. Sometimes, though, I need to be reminded of what that really means…

THE WRITING ON MY FOREHEAD-Nafisa Haji

My computer has been out of commission since last Tuesday, and in the shop since Thursday. I finally got it back this morning- PHEW! While I've totally missed being on line, and being able to post, check email, etc., I definitely have gotten some stuff done, e.g. housework and laundry (now if I would just get my act together and work on taxes). We are on spring break this week, so I've also gotten in some good reading time. Just finished THE WRITING ON MY FOREHEAD, a perfect escape for someone whose spring break is being spent far from the beach that she is longing for!

THE WRITING ON MY FOREHEAD is the story of Saira, a woman of Eastern Indian descent, whose parents emigrated to Los Angeles long before Saira was born. Her father is a doctor, and her mother, a stay-at-home mom who works hard to maintain the family's Indian/Pakistani heritage in a world far removed from where she was raised. Saira's older sister, Ameena, is comfortable with her mother's cultural expectations. Saira, however, is unwilling to live with her parents', and especially her mother's, rules from this faraway place.

THE WRITING ON MY FOREHEAD is a coming of age novel. When the book opens, Saira is an adult, caring for Ameena's six-year-old daughter, Sakina. The reader is quickly taken back to Saira's childhood and adolescent years, which include regular trips to the family's homeland, including one visit where Saira, travelling alone, learns new and surprising things about her family. Through these visits, the reader learns much about the history and traditions of India and Pakistan.

This was a perfect spring break read. A strong female character that I would like to have as a friend and want to know better. A story that allowed me to escape the noisy teenagers and bouncing basketballs in my own life. And lots and lots of information about a culture that is very different from my own. If you liked MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA or THE KITE RUNNER, you are sure to enjoy this book as well…