Category Archives: Tuesday Tome

May 31 2016

Tuesday Tome Week 22 – The Thing Around Your Neck

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The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie has taken me on an emotional journey to Africa and back to the US through several stories, all represented in the book as Chapter 1. These are short stories and they could all be the beginning chapters of stand-alone novels. Different characters – mostly women – are portrayed in a slice-of-life setting with their painful, emotional situation, and how they get out of it. Or not.

The Thing Around Your Neck

As such, it was difficult at first to get into each story. Each story had different protagonists and their African names did not make it easy for me to keep them straight. Adichie’s writing makes these people so real, so believable, you feel like you know who they are after the first few paragraph which describe something they did or felt. And yet, this bursting into their life from paragraph one felt like a movie with lots of close-ups. You did not get an overall picture of any landscape. It wasn’t a bad thing. Just a different way of immersing yourself into a book. And I relish literary challenges.

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May 24 2016

Tuesday Tome Week 21- The Return of the Native

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The Return of the Native (or How Not to Choose A Spouse) by Thomas Hardy is one of the 32 novels included in The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer – the most influential novels in the history of Western literature, according to Dr. Bauer. The link provided above, by the way, is to the free Kindle version of the book.

The Return of the Native

I was familiar with other writings by Hardy, like Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Unlike any other novel before this one on Dr. Bauer’s list, I had no idea what to expect. It was an interesting place to be. I realized that when I don’t know the plot or have expectations about the characters, I am a bit insecure inside a novel. It’s a good thing to experience now and then. It keeps everything fresh.  Continue reading »

May 17 2016

Tuesday Tome Week 20- Down and Out

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Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell was the book I had to read for the May meeting of my reading group. I did not enjoy it. It describes poverty in Paris and then in London. I don’t like reading about poor people, especially when they spend most of their earnings on alcohol.

Down and Out in Paris and London

While reading the book, I did have all sorts of thoughts about Protestant countries (like England) versus Catholic countries (like France). Have you noticed that Protestant countries tend to do better economically? That they have a bigger middle class than Catholic countries? That the contrast between the very rich and the very poor is not as striking?

Religion has a lot to do with life – more so than we realize. Religion influences one’s take on work, for instance. There was an atheist in the book who hated the bourgeoisie and stole from every employer he ever had simply because he hated anybody with a business. Of course, he was also a Communist.  Continue reading »

May 10 2016

Tuesday Tome Week 19- Traveling Mercies

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Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott is a funny book if you can put up with some language and an enormous amount of liberal concepts. If you can get past that and focus on the Christian experience the author shares, along with good writing and great humor, then you will enjoy this book.

traveling mercies

A single mom and a recovering alcoholic, Lamott makes a living as a writer of mostly nonfiction, memoiristic books. The introductory chapter to this book will give you her conversion story which can be summed up in the following: she was an alcoholic and a drug user, then she met Jesus, and then she quit. But see, I just made it boring. She makes it fun over several pages and you get to sense the heart of God through this process, the incredible love of the Creator for Anne Lamott, working her over and over until she finally surrendered.  Continue reading »

Apr 5 2016

Tuesday Tome Week 14 – About Grace

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About Grace by Anthony Doerr is really not just about a girl name Grace. It is about fathers and daughters, runaway fathers, separation and psychology, precognition, dreams, Alaska, and the Grenadines. And, mostly, it is about snowflakes and insects.

This is Doerr’s first novel and critics agree that it is something special. Personally, when I read it, I felt transported and enlightened. I felt inspired even more to invest in family.

About Grace

David Winkler, the main character, learns the hard way that family is not so much what you are given but what you are able to keep. He also said something that touched me so much, I put the book down and went to a different place to cry. He said that grandfathers are successful fathers who have been promoted to the next level.  Continue reading »

Mar 29 2016

Tuesday Tome Week 13 – Four Seasons in Rome

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Anthony Doerr is quickly becoming my favorite writer. Last year, I read “All The Light We Cannot See” and was really touched by it. Now I know it was not just the plot, it was also the way Doerr writes. Because “Four Seasons in Rome” is very different from “All the Light…” You see, “Four Seasons…” is a travel memoir, while “All the Light…” is a work of fiction, a novel.

Two very different pieces, connected by the same author. It is clearly his writing that can turn any story, true or fictional, into an experience that enriches life. His writing grips me and haunts me and helps me see life differently. It inspires, energizes, and changes my perspective on the banal details of life. No wonder Doerr has received several literary awards, including the Pulitzer for “All the Light…” and no wonder he was named one of the 20 best young American novelists by Granta. He is that good.

Four Seasons in Rome

The subtitle of “Four Seasons in Rome” is “On twins, insomnia, and the biggest funeral in the history of the world.” So what is going on? The day Doerr’s wife gave birth to twins, they received an envelope in the mail, offering him a fellowship to live in Rome for one year and write something. Anything. The offer came from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. How could they say no?  Continue reading »

Mar 22 2016

Tuesday Tome Week 12 – Ability Development

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Ability Development from Age Zero by Shinichi Suzuki is required reading for Suzuki parents, those of us who put our children through music lessons with a Suzuki-certified teacher. My children take violin lessons from a Suzuki teacher and so I read this book as part of my preparation to support the teacher in her goals and methods.

Suzuki Method principles for parents

The Bible of Suzuki parents, this book should be read once a year.

First off, this is a short book – only 96 pages. Even if you read only 14 pages per day (that’s turning the page only seven times, friends!) you should be able to cover it in one week. By the way, when a book gets boring, I tell myself I have to turn the page only five more times and then I will put it down. Or something similar. Because motivation to finish something does not come easy, but if I can focus on a short-term goal, that does not seem daunting, I feel better about the task at hand.

Ability Development From Age Zero

This book does not get boring very often though. There are stories and anecdotes about different parents and children who are using the Suzuki method. There is some repetition in it, but I suppose it is a good thing. I know I need some concepts drilled into me and it only happens by hearing them over and over again.

Here are some powerful concepts from this book:  Continue reading »

Mar 15 2016

Tuesday Tome Week 11 – Good Talk, Dad

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Like I said last week, I needed a funny book after Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Enter Good Talk, Dad, the Anna Porter Public Library Book Group selection for the month of March. We will discuss this in a couple of weeks, so I will only share here my impression of this book.

First off, it is written by liberal journalists Bill Geist and Willie Geist, father and son who work at CBS and MSNBC respectively. As such, the book presents liberal ideas and concepts. It bashes the Vietnam war and wars in general, states that lenient parenting can produce good results and glamorizes choices that go against a biblical lifestyle.

Good Talk, Dad

I don’t even want to start arguing the reverse position of the above, – where WOULD I start? – but I disagree with the values espoused by these two journalists with every fiber of my being. In fact, the first day I started reading it, I wrote inside the front cover “funny book and the reason I reject American public schools.” Continue reading »

Mar 8 2016

Tuesday Tome Week 10 – Uncle Tom’s Cabin

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Reading The Scarlet Letter followed by Uncle Tom’s Cabin is like going from a lake to a deep well. If you don’t get this metaphor, it simply means you are not Romanian. In English, the equivalent would be “going from bad to worse.” I am referring to the atmosphere of the book, the subject matter, the darkness portrayed. I sure do need a funny book after these two.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

My biggest revelation with Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the fact that they used to separate family members. I cannot imagine any bigger torture than to take a child from her mother, or to separate husband and wife. That was the toughest part in the book for me.  Continue reading »

Mar 1 2016

Tuesday Tome Week 9 – The Scarlet Letter

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Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece is set in Puritan New England. If you, like me, have only seen the movie, you should really consider reading the book. I have said this before and I will say it again: there is no comparison between immersing yourself in a book and watching a movie adaptation thereof.

The Scarlet Letter

 

This is only 272 pages, so it’s not as intimidating as Don Quixote or Anna Karenina, so really there should be no problem from that standpoint. If you are familiar with King James Bible language, again, the dialogues in this book should not pose a problem. It is actually very neat to read something in that kind of English which is not the Bible – though Scriptural references are peppered throughout.  Continue reading »