Category Archives: Books

Author John Vaillant is best known for his two nonfiction books “The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed” and “The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival,” which were both very well received. So when his debut novel “The Jaguar’s Children” recently came out, I snatched it up quickly to read. I was lucky because John Vaillant (pictured above) gave a reading from it here on Jan. 19 where I also heard him give an interesting talk about the writing of the book and he signed my copy. He said the novel came about during the time he and his family were living for a year in 2009 in southwestern Mexico in the state of Oaxaca. And indeed Mexico figures prominently in “The Jaguar’s Children” along with its tangled ties to the U.S.

Specifically, the novel’s about two Mexican guys, friends who get trapped in a sealed water truck along with other illegal immigrants not long after they have crossed the U.S. border. The truck they are in has broken down somewhere amid the desert dirt, and the smugglers, who have taken their money, have not returned with the mechanic they promised. With little food and water, and not much air getting in, the occupants will likely live only a few days inside the truck if they don’t get help. Hector continually tries to leave messages (sound files) at an American number that he finds in his friend Cesar’s phone, hoping they can be rescued. But the cell phone coverage is very spotty and it doesn’t appear the messages are getting through.

Hell, five pages into “The Jaguar’s Children” and I felt clammy hands from their horrific situation. It’s as if you’re in the sealed truck with them where it’s very dark — like being buried alive. I’m very claustrophobic to begin with, even closed elevators make me a bit nervous. Fortunately the story veers off as Hector begins to leave cell messages hopefully to eventually go through at the American number about how he and Cesar came to be there, en route illegally to the U.S. He tells their different back stories that become as big a part of the book as the scenes in the truck, which are intermingled throughout. Hector’s story reveals a truth he comes to learn about his family, whereas Cesar’s uncovers a dark reality about his job researching corn production for the Mexican government.

Each of these tangential stories held my interest to a certain extent, but “The Jaguar’s Children” is not an easy read. While it does a great job depicting its Mexican atmosphere and the terrible struggles within the country, the novel does get confusing at times. Sometimes I had to reread parts just to figure out what was going on or which story was being described. It also uses a considerable amount of Spanish language, often without translation, which left me a bit lost. It took considerable concentration to get through everything in it, and at times I just wanted to cut to the end to find out if the two guys and people get rescued from the truck, but I held back and slowly plowed on.

In the end, I’m glad I stuck with it. It’s quite a rich portrayal of the Mexican experience, and quite dark. It cuts to the humanity really. And if a book can speak well to that then it must be good. Though I had to read “The Jaguar’s Children” quite carefully, it has stayed with me — its bleak depictions and ramifications. As for the guys and other people in the truck, you’ll have to read it to the very end to find out if they survive. I guess I’d give the novel 4 out of 5 stars if I had to rate it on Goodreads. Undoubtedly the author poured so much into it. You can really feel an immersion into the place and culture.

What about you — have you read any of this author’s books and what did you think? Continue reading →

I’m ready for the movie adaptation of “Unbroken” — at least I think I am — I just finished the 2010 bestselling book by Laura Hillenbrand. It’s incredibly powerful for sure, and one of the most epic war survival tales I’ve ever read — though I’m sure there are many grueling accounts I haven’t gotten to. Just this year, I read Eric Lomax’s book “The Railway Man,” which is another chilling account of life in a WWII prisoner-of-war camp. And a few years ago, I read David Howarth’s epic true story “We Die Alone” about a Norwegian resistance fighter who somehow survives a Nazi ambush and escapes to an arctic village. Check those out if you’re feeling brave, or if you want to read two other incredible World War II survival stories.

I think I’m nearly the last person on Earth to have read “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.” It sat on my shelf for four years, collecting dust, but I knew I’d get to it. I’d heard all the amazing things about it, and in the end, it lived up to it all. For being nonfiction, “Unbroken” is not a dense or heavy read. It’s a quick page-turner, and I plowed through it with zest, careful not to miss a word. I wanted to get to the bottom of Louis Zamperini’s fascinating life, and Laura Hillenbrand’s flowing narrative and amazing research perfectly led the way. Not only does Hillenbrand’s book lend insight into Louis’s own life, but it also captures what the war was like for so many servicemen in the Pacific, especially in the air battles.

Even without the war part, it’s incredible that Louis Zamperini, who apparently was a total hellion as a kid growing up in the 1920s and ’30s in Torrence, California, became an Olympic miler in the 1936 games, qualifying at only 19. He was expected to be the first ever to break the four-minute mile, but then WWII broke out and he enlisted.

“Unbroken” recounts Louis Zamperini’s service as a bombardier on a B-24 bomber, which eventually was shot down by the Japanese while on a mission over the Pacific. He miraculously survived 47 days lost at sea on a raft with the plane’s pilot before being picked up by the Japanese and transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp. There, he was tortured and endured the wrath of one particularly sadistic guard nicknamed “The Bird.”

Ugh, The Bird is really difficult to handle in this book, and some of the violent and brutal parts inflicted on the prisoners by him are hard to read. The starvation and humiliation, as well, is stuff you can’t fathom. The POWs suffered through so much, it’s harrowing to imagine. I felt very vengeful toward The Bird and hoped he would be brought to justice after the war, but it doesn’t appear that’s what happened.

The book’s ending deals with life after the war for Zamperini and a few other POWs. Louis marries and becomes a devout Christian after hearing the sermons of Billy Graham, which ends up turning Louis’s alcoholic life around. Eventually he returns for a visit to Japan, forgives his captors, and is chosen as one of the carriers of the Olympic torch in Japan for the 1998 Nagano Games.

It’s quite an emotional ending, though the post-war years of the book feel a bit more rushed and seem perhaps not as thorough or as deep as what happens to Louis during the war. I’m sure I probably gave away too much of the synopsis of the book, but even knowing that, it doesn’t do justice to reading the story. You might know that “Unbroken” is about a prisoner-of-war’s experiences during WWII, but until you read the Hillenbrand book, you won’t really get the gist of how remarkable the story really is. I’m sure it is one of my favorite reads of the year. I plan to see the movie, but I know it might not have the same impact as the book, which I seemed to have lived through in my head, rooting for Louis to survive over all the intolerable hardships.

What about you — do you plan to see the movie? And did you read the book first — and what did you think? Continue reading →

Wow it’s almost Thanksgiving and the start of the busy holiday season, my, how time flies! I wish everyone in the States a very happy turkey day with family and friends. In Canada I hope to re-celebrate the holiday with a smaller feast with my husband and dog since it’s a regular work week here, blah. Where’s the fun in that?

We are supposed to see some new snowflakes this week so I might have to splurge and get a hot cocoa like this decadent one I consumed recently. It was oh so good but gave me a headache from the intense sugar rush. How cold has it been where you are? Hopefully not as bad as the snowbelt of Buffalo. Those poor people are having to tunnel out of their houses!

My two-year-old Lab, Stella, sure knows how to spend these wintry afternoons. She likes to run at the park in the early mornings and evenings but in the afternoons she dozes off into dreamland, preferably near the floor heater. I think she’s dreaming sometimes about chasing bunnies and squirrels because her paws wiggle and she makes funny sounds.

This week I finished the 2007 nonfiction memoir “Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil” by Deborah Rodriguez & Kristin Ohlson, which was a book club read that our group discussed on Thursday. It’s about a woman from Michigan, Deborah, who travels with an aid organization to Afghanistan in 2002 shortly after the Taliban has been driven out. There, she gets the idea to help set up a beauty school for Afghan women to train to become hairdressers and salon owners. The memoir chronicles Deborah’s efforts to help set up the school during the four to five years she’s there and the women she meets along the way, many of whom become her students. The book gives a glimpse into Kabul and Afghan society that many in the West don’t know too much about.

I appreciated her efforts to try to help the Afghan women and the insights she provides into life there. I thought she was bold — and a bit foolish perhaps — to go to Kabul when the country was still so torn from war and when she still had two boys at home. Like others in my book group, I liked parts of the memoir, which is filled with stories of women’s lives there, but also thought the book has some drawbacks. It’s not written particularly well, and the woman, Deborah, makes some cultural blunders along the way that at times puts her Afghan women friends and students in awkward or dangerous situations. Also why she marries an Afghan man who she’s barely just met there after going through two bad marriages in the States seems beyond perplexing. She’s definitely got an impulsive, crazy, and emotional streak about her that a few in our group found pretty annoying.

Still I’m glad I read it for opening my eyes a bit more to life in Afghanistan, which I’ve also read about in Khaled Hosseini’s novels. Anything that can help women to work or make money there, I’m definitely for. “Kabul Beauty School” certainly paints a bleak picture of women’s lives in Kabul, but it also captures women’s eagerness for change and gaining rights to make their own living and lives. You definitely root for them in this book, which counts as my nonfiction November read, which is a meme co-hosted by Kim over at the blog Sophicated Dorkiness. Check out all the nonfiction this month people are reading!

Meanwhile I picked up two novels from the library: “Life Drawing” by Robin Black and “The Girls of Corona del Mar” by Rufi Thorpe. I hope to race through both before consuming the nonfiction epic “Unbroken: World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption” by Laura Hillenbrand, which is coming out as a movie at Christmas. Hmm … so much reading, so little time.

What about you — have you read any of these and what did you think? And what does your reading look like over the holidays?

Continue reading →

I finished Suzanne Collins’s last book in her trilogy “Mockingjay” in time for the upcoming movie adaptation. I’m geared and ready, but think it was a mistake for them to cut the final book into two movies. How greedy is that? Time magazine says this movie is little more than a “placeholder” for the finale “Mockingjay Part 2,” which is expected to hit theaters on Nov. 25, 2015. It’s too bad they didn’t keep it as one movie because I think it would’ve given the movie better pacing and action — these are my thoughts even before seeing it.

As for the book, it’s quite good like the others. You might recall from the end of the last Hunger Games, Katniss is taken by the resistance to District 13, an underground place whose people are unifying the districts of Panem to overthrow the tyrannical Capitol. There, she’s reunited with her mother and sister Prim, and goaded into becoming the symbol for the rebellion, the Mockingjay. But the Capitol is running lethal bombing raids and has kidnapped Katniss’s boy wonder Peeta, turning him into a weapon to hurt her and the rebellion. It’s a dicey situation and one that eventually leads to all out war.

“Mockingjay” doesn’t include a Hunger Games competition like the other two books, but its war games make the latter half of the novel pretty tense and compelling. Ultimately Katniss is left in a precarious situation, leading a rebel group, which includes her love interests Gale and Peeta, on an invasion of the Capitol — her mission being to assassinate President Snow. It’s an action-packed, mostly underground journey full of mines, wild creatures, and Capitol troops at their heels. The odds aren’t exactly in their favor one might say. You have to wonder if Katniss and the rebel group will get to Snow and overthrow the Capitol, and if they survive, if she will pick Gale or Peeta to be her man.

The ending has a few fatalities and surprises that skew what you might be expecting. It’s clear in this trilogy that no one really gets out unscathed. It’s a sci-fi post apocalyptic world that’s super violent and where loyalty and trust are hard to come by. The trilogy’s message seems to be one of warning and anti-war. I liked the young-adult series and think Collins on the whole did a good job putting it together. It’s a daunting militaristic world — we could face in the future — with little resources and full of damaged and hardened characters.

What about you — have you read “Mockingjay” and what did you think about it? Do you plan to see the movie? Continue reading →

It’s been a busy past week in book-related news. First off, congratulations to Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan for winning the 2014 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel “The Narrow Road to the Deep North.” Like Eric Lomax’s memoir “The Railway Man,” which I read and reviewed earlier this year, Flanagan’s book is about a prisoner-of-war working on the Thailand-Burma “Death” railway in WWII. The main character is an Australian surgeon whose life is a daily struggle to save the men under his command. The novel’s inspired by Flanagan’s father’s experiences as a Japanese prisoner-of-war at a camp where 14,000 died. I know I’ll want to read “The Narrow Road,” but I still have another scary P.O.W. book to read first … “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand. Need I say more? The film opens at Christmas.

Meanwhile our city’s annual book festival, Wordfest, has been going on this week, and as usual it’s been great hearing authors do readings and interviews about their latest books. I’ve been attending an event each evening and so far have heard Emma Donoghue (“Frog Music”), Damon Galgut (“Arctic Summer”), Tahereh Mafi (“Shatter Me” series), Veronica Roth (“Divergent” series), Padma Viswanathan (“The Ever After of Ashwin Rao”), Alison Pick (“Between Gods”), and Miriam Toews (“All My Puny Sorrows”). Some of these authors’ works I’ve known and others I have not, but hearing from them made me interested in their works nonetheless.

Apparently 600 people were in attendance when authors Tahereh Mafi and Veronica Roth interviewed each other at the Knox Church downtown. They held a good discussion and are quite poised and mature for their young age and huge success (both are only 26!). Call me a YA ignoramus, but I didn’t know about Mafi’s “Shatter Me” series beforehand, but she spoke very eloquently about her life as a writer and what it takes. Roth was cool as well. I read and reviewed her book “Divergent” in March before the movie came out. She came off looking a bit punk with very short, dyed blond hair and black boots. She’s tall to begin with, around 6 feet, whereas Mafi says she is 5’ 2.” Roth says she started fiction writing everyday when she was 11 (holy smokes), whereas Mafi took it up after college. I’m not sure what is next for either of them, but they still have long writing careers ahead.

It’s been an inspiring book festival this year, but it’s not over just yet. I still have two author talks left to go to: Canadian author Kathleen Winter tonight and Australian author Tim Winton on Sunday. You might recall Winter’s 2010 novel “Annabel,” which I read and reviewed earlier this year. She’ll be talking about her new nonfiction book “Boundless: Tracing Land and Dream in a New Northwest Passage” about a journey she took from Greenland to Baffin Island and all along the storied Northwest Passage. I can’t wait to hear about it and will likely get the book as she is such a terrific writer. Tim Winton, too, will be talking about his latest novel “Eyrie,” which I reviewed earlier this year. He’s been a finalist for the Booker Prize twice and is an amazing talent. I especially liked his novels “Breath” and “Dirt Music” and hopefully will have him sign my copy of them.

Lastly in book news this week, I finished Rebecca Skloot’s 2010 nonfiction bestseller “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” which was a book club read that we plan to discuss on Tuesday. I had this book sitting on my shelf for four years so I’m glad to have finally polished it off. It’s about a woman who died from cancer in 1951 and the cancer cells that were taken from her without her knowledge, which became the first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, launching a medical revolution in developing vaccines and uncovering secrets about viruses and cancer.

It’s a book about science — about what her cells did and contributed to — and bioethics — about whether consent or compensation is due when cell or tissue samples are taken — but it’s also a story about finding out who Henrietta Lacks was and tracking down her family. It turns out she was a poor black Southern tobacco farmer from Clover, Virginia, and her family didn’t know about her cells or her contribution to science till 20 years after her death. Moreover, they never received any compensation for her cells even though they’ve been sold worldwide to doctors and research labs ever since.

It’s quite a story that obviously you’ll see from the book’s writing consumed the author’s life in piecing it together for more than a decade. I can’t believe Rebecca Skloot’s patience in writing this book! She seems to hold it together, even when the Lacks family wasn’t easy to deal with a lot of the time nor the medical establishments. Towards the middle, I found the book bogged down a bit in its repetition of information about the cells. Luckily it picks up again later. In the end, the book gives an eye-opening glimpse into the early days of medical research when doctors experimented on patients without various legal guidelines.

I definitely felt what happened to Henrietta and the family’s story were unfortunate and sad in the book. They were taken advantage of at various points and had little means to hire a lawyer to make their claims and grievances known. It’s a book that raises various questions about what happened to Henrietta, her heirs, and who owns our bodies. It also illuminates the wonder known as the HeLa cell, which has helped people from all over to conquer diseases. I would recommend the book to those interested in science or even nonfiction narrative stories because this one will catch you up in it, rolling along in its grip until its conclusion. It’s just as much a human interest story as it is a science one.

What about you have you read this bestseller and what did you think? Continue reading →