The Grapes of Wrath

     I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned this book yet!  John Steinbeck is my favorite author.  This is the first book I read after high school and it was great.  I loved the story and had to read everything this author wrote.  I guess you could say it was the beginning of my real education.  I loved the hope and the sadness.  The way it is writern as a fiction story with chapters of facts (at least I believe they were) dispersed between the story of the Joad family.  It helped me to see the injustices of the laboring class during the depression and stayed with me much more than any history lesson from school ever did.

            I choose to take a literature class on The Depression mostly because The Grapes of Wrath was assigned.  Another book that was assigned was Tobacco Road this is the antithesis of the Joad family.  In contrast to having hope and working as a family the characters in this book beat each other up to steal food and money from each other and take advantage when ever they can. It is an interesting contrast of morals and family.

            I would recommend any of Steinbeck’s books if you want to start with a short one try The Pearl or Tortilla Flat. I would save East of Eden for when you have some time I checked this book out twice and still didn’t finish it until I bought it at a second hand store.

Sons and Lovers

            I picked up this book while out of town at a conference a co-worker asked me, “Are you one of those sappy D.H. Lawrence fans?” I didn’t know yet, this was my first foray into this author/poet.  But now I’d have to say yes! 

             This book is a tough read and it took me several starts to get through the whole thing.  It is a story set in England at the turn of the 19^th century about a boy turning into a man and how he overcomes his station in life.  This book is also about his mother and his lovers, it is a great story! 

           An interesting thing about this book for me was that I took it along on a camping trip and my daughter asked me to read to her so I read part of Sons and Lovers out loud to her and then for weeks she wanted to hear some more.  Not because she understood the story but because she loved the language of it. 

            The story is great, full of mistakes and consequences and even redemption. The young man in the story is mischievous and deceitful and echoes how men are different from women even today.  The women loved him and he just used them to get what he wanted, I guess today we would call him a player.

Roots

I picked up a copy of ROOTS by Alex Hailey a few summers ago for two dollars at a yard sale and threw it in my trunk.  Bored at the beach one day I grabbed it to read.  I wasn’t sure I would like it but I had the memory of watching part of it as a child; the only part I remembered was that the main character was beat because he wanted to keep his name the had his foot chopped off because he wanted to run away.

            So with out much excitement I started this hefty book.  I could not put it down.  It was engaging from the first page!  The story was great, the words dripped off the pages like sweet honey off a warm biscuit.  It was like reading poetry. I definitely recommend reading this book not just for the wonderful writing and intriguing plot but the insight into the lives of slaves and their history.  The story was the history of the Africans turning into African Americans and the plight they were put through for generations.  The story follows one slave family by passing through the generations from the capture of a boy in Africa to the selling of his daughter to the son conceived in rape by her new master through the lives of his children.  It is an honest look at many unfortunate situations African Americans had to overcome to survive and eventually thrive in the nation that stole them from their homeland.  It helped me to understand more fully the history that shaped blacks in our culture and what pain they have suffered for generations.

            I have a better sense of the injustices of the past and will use this knowledge to create a more just future.  Knowing that leveling the playing field still does not put everyone at the same level.

Middle school reading

Crash by Jerry Spinelli
Middle School Level
This is the story of a rambunctious middle schooler nicknamed Crash because of his destructive nature and his love of football. We look back to before the start of first grade when a small dorky kid named Penn Web moves in down the street. Penn’s family is vegetarian and Quaker so he doesn’t eat hamburgers or play with army toys or even squirt guns. This does not sit well with Crash; he hates Penn Web!
        As the story goes on we learn that Crash’s parents work a lot and do not have time for him. Later when another boy moves into the neighborhood similar to Crash they decide that instead of ignoring Penn they should pick on him. So Penn ends up with pinch me notes on his back and mustard in his shoes.
        Crash’s Grandfather moves in with the family to help out and he has time to go to Crash’s football games, cook dinners and tell stories to the kids at night. This is great until grandpa has a stroke. We now start to see Crash as more compassionate. He does not want to be involved in pranks against Penn at school and when his friend steals Penn’s essay and crumples it up Crash gets it a reads it. It is about how Penn would like to make the relay team that is going to race in the Penn relay after which he was named by his great grandpa who also raced in the race. Crash returns the crumpled essay to Penn and also lets him win the qualifier that week after school for the spot open on the relay team. These days Penn is his best friend.
        The idea of what or who is a bully comes in to play in this book and also why some kids act the way they do. We also see the change in Crash from a boy whose family doesn’t spend time together to a family who pulls together in a time of crisis

For the kids

Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault

Illustrated by Ted Rand

This book would be a great read aloud for second through fifth grade.  It has full page water color pictures of Native Americans, horses and the rocky bluffs of Arizona.  The story is fairly long so younger students might not be able to get through it in one sitting.

            At the end of the book we learn that the counting rope is a rope on which the grandfather ties a knot every time he tells his grandson the story of the boy’s life and when the rope is full the boy will be able to tell the story himself.  The grandfather also eludes that he won’t always be there to tell the story.  The story he tells is of the boy’s birth and naming ceremony and the spirits and family around to share in the event.  Even though it is alluded to you don’t really learn that the child is blind until part way through the book.  The boy practices with his grandfather and memorizes the trail of the horse race and is able to participate in the tribal day race with the other boys.  He does not win but the grandmother said of the boy “you have raced darkness and won”.  As the Grandfather tells the story the boy chimes in at parts and the grandfather prods the boy to tell other parts as well.

            This book has great pictures and great imagery as the boy describes his imagination of things he can’t see.  I like that the book leaves the reader to guess what some of the symbolism of darkness and discussion of color means before it lets you know that the boy is blind.  Just a note the boys name is Boy-Strength-of-Blue-Horses or boy for short.

School reading

            For a class I am reading The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down.  A Hmong child, her American doctors, and the collision of two cultures .by Anne Fadiman. 

            The title comes from the translation of epileptic seizures in the Hmong language.  In their very spiritual culture these episodes are considered the work of the gods and not a disease.  The influxes of this new culture infiltrated America and in this book, specifically the community of Merced California. After helping Americans in the Vietnam conflict, when the war was lost, they were eventually transplanted here.  A nomadic and farming community they were transplanted to a place where they did not understand the language, the customs, or their own place in this new community.  The Hmong are a close knit community and are slow or even non willingness to adapt to American culture as has been their history of survival for centuries.  The communities in America do not understand the customs and spiritual ness of these recent immigrants and the parents and doctors are at odds in following a treatment plan for a young epileptic Hmong girl.  The parents don’t want to give her all the prescribed medication, nor can they read or follow a schedule.  The doctors have a language barrier that hinders understanding and the cultural differences are also beyond comprehension.  This ultimately leads to the child becoming a vegetable.  The parents believe the child has lost her soul and they care for the child at home and a txiv neeb (someone who can commune with the spirits or gods) is called to perform a ceremony to protect the family and call the child’s spirit back.

            The writer is the one who shows where the two worlds collide and writes a great story from two points of view.  The two cultures never see eye to eye even though they come together for the love of this child.

            I would recommend this book because it not only introduces most of us to a new culture but because shows us differences not so easily seen from the out side.  The feeling I get is that we need to take time to understand someone else’s point of view for the benefit of society as a whole  and not just judge people by what we believe.

Hi! What I am reading right now.

Right now I am reading Boys Life by Mccammon, Robert R This is the second time around for this book. It is great and I highly recommend it.  It is about the magical time in a boy’s life.  This boy encounters murder, bootleggers, sea monsters, dead teachers, Nazi’s, a house of ill repute, witches and aliens.  Cory also wins a writing contest in and for a prize gets to have dinner with the town father who doesn’t wear any clothes!  I love this book it is almost grounded enough to believe.  It takes the stories of every town and goes just a little past reality.

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