A Work In Progress....

Yes, that is defintely what my "blog" is going to be. Initially, it was some need to be intellectual, at least to myself.  I thought I would read a ton of books and share my thoughts and opinions with folks, so they could share my views and we could discuss.  Sort of an online book club. (For those of you who don't know, many years ago, a group of friends and I had a book club, meeting every month for over 7 years). 

Then tonight, I had an epiphany - an "Ah Ha" moment as Oprah would say...when in the WORLD am I supposed to have the time to not only read all these books, but to then, collect my thoughts and "review them" online to share with everyone.

Hmm, let's see how could I do this? I thought to myself.  I grabbed my glass of Moscato and thought...yes, I could use my iPad and when my son is at karate, I could blog my thoughts.  I could also use that 45 minutes to read, make notes and share them.  I put my glass down and thought, yes, that is a great idea!!

Reality - tis more fun to chat with the parents and catch up on gossip, or, here is a thought, watch my son as he works towards his orange belt in Kenpo karate.  Plus, I would have to buy an iPad to do that.  Glass back up, deeper thought.....

This whole thing started this summer.  The good old summer reading list - 10 books in 3 months for the soon to be 4th grader.  Summer, what a wonderful time of the year - school is out, no homework, kids can stay up late, sleep late, go to camp in between and wear themselves out.  TONS of time for Momma in the summer!!  So I decide, I'm going to read 10 books too!!  What better way to encourage him!!  Do as I do, right!!  And boy, did I hit the jack pot with books!! The Passage (800+ pages, so good I'm going to read it again), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ( and the other 2 books in the Triology), The Confession...

School starts and now, comes the homework.  They don't understand it and neither do you (did we really need to know basic algerbra in 4th grade and for that matter, do we need it now)...frustration, tears behind that.  You can't wait for 9pm-bed time.  It gets dark early, but you are running to karate practice, back to school nights, soccer practice.  Dinner, dishes, and oh yeah, trying to spend maybe a couple minutes with your husband before he goes to sleep.  So by the time all this is done, the LAST thing I want to do is read.  I can hardly keep my eyes open past 10pm.....

So, as I said a work in progress. I think my blog would be best served as a way for me to vent and share my thoughts on the things that make me laugh, smile, cry you know, all the emotions...... 

Yeah, I like that idea!!!

Imagine......

Kindred:

Imagine, if you will, a young woman, moving into her first home, trying to figure out what will go where wondering if you will ever finish. Then, you feel faint, the room begins to spin and as you fall to the ground, you hear your husband call your name.

You wake up, you are outside and its pouring rain. You hear screaming and see a woman, looking at her son, drowning.  You get up, run to save the boy, pull him to shore and are immediately greeted by a double barrel shot gun.  You feel faint again and come “home” to your living room, with your husband leaning over you asking – where did you go?....

Such is the opening of Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, the first African American woman writer of to be published in the science fiction genre. 

The main character Dana (Edana) Franklin, makes 6 trips like this in the course of this book.  The young man she saves, is actually one of her ancestors, who calls on her whenever he is in trouble.  It is never explained why he calls on her or even how.  But this book on time travel had me riveted.  From the opening scene to the end, this is one that will keep you thinking.....

They Tell Me of a Long Story, that makes No Sense

When you pick up a book and the cover has comments from notable authors, like Michael Eric Dyson saying this is a brilliant first book, or Nikki Giovanni saying that there is a “magic in the story, in the telling”, you immediately think (or at least I do), that this book HAS to be great. Then you read the story line –the main character, TJ, a young African American man,  leaves his home in Swamp Creek, Arkansas at 18 in order to pursue his dreams, whatever they may be.  He returns, 10 years later, with a PhD in African American Studies and ready to confront the demons that sent him away.

In Daniel Black’s “They Tell Me of a Home”, the story line seems great -  not only did he leave home – he didn’t tell anyone where he was going and during his time away, he never contacted his family– not even his beloved sister.  He gets home and finds out that his sister, the one he came back for is dead and has been buried in the back yard, right outside of the kitchen.   His mother hardly acknowledges his presence and his brother asks – where have you been, you know our sister was waiting for you to return.  His father, the one he ran away from out of sheer fear, was the most welcoming one.  Sounds good right?

That is, until you get into the details.  His mother, he learns is not his mother.  His father brought him home to her, after an affair and asked her to please raise him.  Okay, that explains the hatred he says his mother has for him (in his mind it does).  But still no one will tell him, why his sister is dead and who his real mother is. 

From here the story gets worse – he finds that his real mother is his beloved teacher, who wants him to stay in Swamp Creek and teach the children (although the book is set in the early 70’s apparently, Swamp Creek still has a one room school house with one teacher who teaches all grades).  He doesn’t find out she’s his mother until AFTER she dies; he goes to visit her and his ‘brother’ greets him and tells him the truth.

Finally, he learns what happened to his sister.  She was pregnant, his momma, who was not his momma, got so mad, she killed the girl.  His brother, tells him this much but at the end of the book, he tells the full story – not only was she pregnant, his brother was the daddy.  How does he tell his brother of the incest? He says, “we was gonna name the baby after you”.

We have all read and heard stories of “odd” things happening in the South.  Children finding out in adulthood that their mother was really their aunt is not at all uncommon.  However, stories, of incest? I know they happen, but, a “planned” affair between a brother and sister? And as much as I like to live the fantasy that is often found in a book - how is Swamp Creek allowed to have a one room school house

And during all the “telling” of the story, the writing is horrible.  The negro ‘dialect’ is used, which I cannot stand. I hated it when Mark Twain did it in Huckleberry Finn and I still hate it.  I think we are all well read enough to be able to hear the dialect in the words.  Not only that, these same characters who use this dialect, will turn a phrase that the most educated of us probably won’t use.  A phrase here and there is fine, but I shouldn't need a negro thesaurs to figure out what the heck the characters are talking about. 

I won’t omit the fact that there WERE some very funny parts in the book.  The far-fetched stories that we all grew up hearing, the way we get together after a funeral and it ends up being a family reunion. And how there is always one uncle (or 2) who in spite of the occasion have a “taste” and get to talking a bunch of trash.

The funniest thing to me is that in spite of how much I despised this book, I could NOT put it down.  I wanted to KNOW what happened and I was so disappointed when I found out.  I was able to skip around and read enough to figure out the story.  I wouldn’t have read as much as I did, had I not been waiting for another book……

Sorry, Mr. Black, I really tired to like your book. I just couldn’t. However, according to the reviews on Amazon, I am in the minority on that issue.  But that’s the beauty of blogging – you can express your own opinion…..

Book Overload....

I'm wondering if there is such a thing as "book overload" or doing too MUCH reading? I guess if I was still a student, I would be told there is no such a thing!! However, as a working mother and wife, with a laundry list of things to do and a mind that is always racing with the next thing I need to do - there is!!

Case in point, I started reading The Passage at the end of the school year; when I had more time for me.  I probably read 6 books after that and then came across The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larssen (more on that later).

I am now on the 3rd book of that installment (The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest).  On Saturday night, I had a nightmare, which incorporated parts of The Passage as well as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and a bit of another book I'm still reading, Cutting for Stone. And let me tell you, it is a much different experience reading some of this stuff and "living it" in my dreams.  I woke up in a cold sweat with my heart racing. 

I probably need to back off the adventure/crime/sci-fi novels for awhile, but what is left after I omit those?

The Passage

While visiting the library with my son, I took a few minutes to find a book for myself. Now that he reads on his own, I have more time to read.  I had no idea "what" I wanted; something with an adventure, maybe a little mystery or just something out of this world.  I came across "The Passage", hardcover edition with over 800 pages.  I opened it and read a bit and said, hmm, this might be good.  I actually put it back a couple times before I decided I would take the chance.

The first sentence grabbed me and it is not often that this happens.  From then on I was non-stop!!  There were parts where I literally was holding my breath.  I won't share anymore in the hopes that you too will pick up this book. If you enjoyed Lost or the X-Files, liked the movie "Outbreak" or should I now say "Contagion", this is a must read for you. Don't think about how long it is - just enjoy the story!

And, the best part ...the next book (this will be a trilogy) comes out in May 2012!!

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_11?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+passage&sprefix=the+passage