Libraries, Tourette's and Morman Upbringing in One Book!

The World's Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette's, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family by Josh Hanagarne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

You will learn so much by reading this book, and about so many things.

Josh Hanagarne writes in such an engaging and warm manner that you'll feel like you're having a conversation with a friend. His love for books, his struggle and description of Tourette's, and his growing up as a Mormon are all shared honestly and with a self-deprecating humour throughout the book.

Don't you think people with Tourette's are often laughed about behind their backs, even though this disability must be so painful for them. What is the world about except being perfect and acting correctly, and Tourette's tears that all down. I think Josh described as best he could what it feels like to have his tics just waiting to explode on him. He tries his best to help us understand what that feels like, and how it feels to know how people may judge him because of it.

The story is about so much more than Tourette's though. It's about how his family supports him, how reading helps him control and escape his disability, and how he continually learns what he can to help him overcome his disability. It's about his love of books, and his job as a librarian and a little peek at what a real live librarian's world looks like. It is quite different from how I imagined it. In his quest to learn more and defeat his tics, Josh tries many things, and the people that help him most along the way are unconventional and surprising. Josh learns some unexpected things about the strategies that help him through these folks.

I have to say that what I love most about this book though, is how Josh loves libraries and what they stand for. I have to share some of the book to demonstrate his passion - a passion that I and many of my friends share, for libraries:

Recently a man approached the desk . . . "I never could have imagined a place like this in Nicaragua . . . I've been traveling for a long time, to this country. I hope you know what you have. In my towns we had nothing like this. And if we did, we had to pay for any information. And just because we were willing to pay for it didn't mean there was anything there worth reading."

A library is a miracle. A place where you can learn just about anything for free. A place where your mind can come alive.

. . . a good library's existence is a potential step forward for a community. If hate and fear have ignorance at their core, maybe the library can curb their effects, if only be offering ideas and neutrality. . . A community that doesn't think it needs a library isn't a community for whom a library is irrelevant. It's a community that's ill.

I want people walking through the doors. I don't care what their reasons are. . . Once they're here, we'll work on why they return. Once they're here they've entered an institution dedicated to fighting ignorance and providing a space without ideology. ..Anyone could enrich their life by spending some time here, if only they were willing to look around.

I appreciate borrowing books on my kindle and finding information on the internet, but the library is still important and necessary. We should do whatever we can to protect it and create community from it. (Seth Godin has a great section on this in his Stop Stealing Dreams Treatise.)

So now I'm off my library rant, but do give this book a try, it's very informative and enjoyable.

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Murder . . .Not My Typical Genre

The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don't usually read murder-mysteries, but I like Chris Bohjalian, and when I saw he had a new book out, jumped at the chance to read it. There were several times that I thought I had the plot figured out, and each time I was wrong--that's a huge plus for me. I like that I was kept guessing as I read and as a result I was engaged for the duration of the book.

There are many facets to The Light in the Ruins, as well as to the main characters Christina and Sarafina. Their stories are weaved between the years 1943 and 1955, giving you a chance to know them in both their past and present lives.



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Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This story is about two sisters who have ESP. One of the sisters embraces this aspect of her personality, and the other rejects it. This theme is a consistent undercurrent throughout the book.

In the opening chapters, the book seemed pretty ordinary to me, but as the story went deeper into the lives of the characters, I began thinking, "oh, please, don't let that happen", and then something did happen, but not what I thought. I really can't say much more than that without revealing the story line. Suffice it to say that for the last third of the book for sure, I kept wondering what was going to happen when I turned the page.

I did come away with a favorite quote though, and one that I think is true:

"We all make mistakes, don't we? But if you can't forgive yourself, you'll always be an exile in your own life."

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Creepy Goodness

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

 This book is like Grimm's Fairy Tales for adults. It's a tiny bit creepy and you just want to keep reading to find out what will happen next. I read it in an evening and had to force myself to slow down so I wouldn't miss anything.

I pulled these two quotes from this book because I think they are oh, so true. But, to find the context you'll have to read the book.

"Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have . . . The truth is, there aren't any grown ups. Not one, in the whole wide world"

"Different people remember things differently, and you'll not get any two people to remember anything the same, whether they were there or not. You stand two of you lot next to each other, and you could be continents away for all it means anything."

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Gail Godwin's Newest Novel

Flora by Gail Godwin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked Flora, but it's not one of my favorite Gail Godwin books. It's interesting, I noticed in the reviews of Flora one person saying how much they disliked the Father Melancholy's Daughter, and yet this rates as one of my favorites.

Helen is a 10 year old girl whose mother died when she was just a toddler. While her father is away, Flora, her mother's 22 year old cousin, is caring for her. Helen and Flora are pretty much quarantined in their home as there is a polio scare, and Helen's father wants to keep her safe. Flora is described as being "simple hearted" and Helen doesn't really respect her. In fact, as the book goes along one could easier see Helen as the somewhat cynical adult figure, and Flora as an innocent.

I am distracted from my review having just read a review by Leah Hager Cohen in which she points out that the whole book is full of orphans. It's true! I am kind of tickled, for some strange reason, by this observation. To read Cohen's review visit the NY Times book review go  here.

Another aspect of the book I enjoyed was how Helen loved her house. Her home used to be a place of recovery for TB survivors and others and many of the rooms were named after the "recoverers", keeping their stories alive. In fact, you could say the house was a character in the book.

Why should you read this book? Well, the writing is good, and despite Helen's condescending behavior towards her cousin, I liked her.

I do like Gail Godwin as an author. This isn't my favorite of her books - I loved Father Melancholy's Daughter and Evensong. I liked "The Good Husband". I wasn't so crazy about Evening's at Five. Flora was good enough that I recommend you give it a try.


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Meet the Murphy's!

Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story by Amanda Vaill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's always curious to pick up a book about history and find out about people who you know nothing about, who influenced the past. Gerald and Sara Murphy are no exception. They were friends to many of the movers and shakers of their day - Hemingway, Cole Porter, Dorothy Parker, Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald, and Picasso to name a few.  They invited these artistic and intersting people into their homes, supporting them in their chosen careers, and often supporting them financially when they were in artistic slumps. They saw the beauty in the negro spiritual and had one of the most complete collections of this music, which they loaned to other artists for plays and movies. Gerald Murphy was an artist in his own right (I had never heard of him). They themselves, were interesting people and created a life for themselves that was a life to their liking - never mind society norms. They were determined to enjoy every bit of their time with each other and friends. This is not to say they didn't have hardships in their lives, because they did. Like all of us, they had personal struggles to work through, and grief to wade through.

What I didn't like about this novel. It seems we were visiting and revisiting Gerald's sexual orientation. The author was always pointing to his deep, deep love of Sarah,but also to the supposition that he really was a homosexual. This detracted from the story for me, because her evidence seems to primarily be anecdotal evidence. The other thing that bothered me is that the author was always trying to interpret Murphy's art to make suppositions about Gerald's life. This annoyed me. I felt there was no basis for it.

However, all in all, I thought it was a very interesting bit of history. I liked getting to know Gerald and Sarah, as well as their connections to other famous people. The fact that I had never heard of them before was a plus for me. I had fun looking up some of Gerald's art online, and reading and looking at pictures about them on the internet.


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Adventure, Love and A Womanly Hero!

These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I do believe I am enamoured of this book. I read it through once, and now I'm going back again and again to my favorite parts.

"A storm is rolling in, and that always makes me a little sad and wistful so I got it in my head to set to paper all these things that have got us this far on our way through this heathen land."

Thus we meet the narrator, Sarah Agnes Prine and learn about her journey and life through the Arizona Territories. I was hooked with that first sentence.

What can I tell you about Sarah? I so admire her. She is tough, resourceful and brave. She wants to learn to read and write. She feels things deeply, but not everyone knows that. She can shoot, and do what needs to be done to survive, yet, she wants to be a lady. She protects her friends and her family. She's loyal. When we meet her, she's single--I get a kick out of how she refers to a book "The Happy Bride" for advice on being a lady and on men. She's real. Here's a scene that I can relate to:

"I wouldn't be fit to keep company with a grizzly bear lately. My hands are raw and cracked open from being wet all the time and working in the cold, my hair had a tangle I couldn't get out so I cut it loose and now there is a short place on one side, and I caught sight of my face reflected in the window while I was washing up from supper and I looked meaner than a scorpion."

Who hasn't had a day, or days, like that!

There is a tastefully spicy chapter that deals with love and the Song of Solomon that was sweet. Additionally, this book has one of the best love letters ever!

The "feel" of this book reminded me of Peace Like a River in that it was a wonderful yarn full of adventure, love and loyalty. If you have a Kindle or a Nook, you are in luck - you can purchase it for $1.99! Finish up your summer with this wonderful story!

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