countrylife reads her age in 2010

I'll start with my January reads, but found myself too excited about the challenge to 'wait'. So I'm settling my quilt in this nice spot on the grass, and will soon be adding a stack of books to come back to when its time. Looking forward to it!

1. Cherries in Winter (memoir).

I received this book in the dead of winter, during a period of time where everything seemed to have gone wrong; my world was upside down. I opened the package and gazed long at the subtitle, ‘My Family’s Recipe for Hope in Hard Times’. It was a simple, sweet little book; I’m so thankful that I got to read it. The author’s ‘recipe’ was just what I needed at the time.

Sprinkled throughout this book of recollections of her mother and grandmother, are their very own recipes. The first one I tried was ‘Mom’s Version of Great-Great-Grandmother Matilde’s Baked Pork Chops with Sauerkraut’ (p.17). Hubby loved it!

Cherries in Winter is a lovely concoction. With the bitterness of job loss during a poor economy, sweetened by memories of how her foremothers made do, the author put those recollections to work for her by pulling out Grandma’s cookbook.

As a favorite author (Elisabeth Elliot) says, ‘do the next thing’. Though she doesn’t mention that particular phrase, Suzan’s entire book demonstrates that action. Your family still has to eat. OK, provide a hearty, inexpensive meal. Forgo dinners out, save money where you can, but … ah, life … do splurge for the occasional ‘cherries in winter’.

Thank you, Ms. Colon, for sharing it all with your readers. And thank you to Doubleday publishing and to the Early Reviewers program for the opportunity to read and review this delightful book.

2. Dream Country by Luanne Rice (fiction)

I’m not a fan of westerns. And this story is a family drama (contemporary fiction) that just happens to be set on a Wyoming ranch. But that setting was beautifully painted; it was all just enough to let my inner cowgirl enjoy it, without getting all-western-y on me.

The three things around which this story revolves (all revealed in the first chapter, so I don’t think this will be considered spoiler-ish), are the loss of a young child on the ranch, the subsequent divorce of the parents with mother and daughter moving back East, then the teenager running away.

The story was told in a lyrical, rather dream-like, way, with much mingling of the requisite first people spirituality. I didn’t find that over the top, but it was mighty close to the edge for my taste, with many passages like these: “This reminded her of her mother: the studio filled with feathers, bones, rocks, and gold wire. Dream-catchers – netted hoops she had once hung over her infants’ cribs to catch the good dreams floating by – hung from the ceiling. Her mother was the most spiritual person Sage knew, believing in seeking spirits for their dreams, visions, and help. . . .” “…talking to the spirit world through bones and gold.”

Daisy is a jewelry artist from Connecticut, having found her husband-to-be whilst in the west looking for inspiration for her jewelry designs. She weaves Indian myths and family stories into her art; and her heart and fingers are so full of magic, that her customers tell her that love found them while wearing her jewelry. Having found love, herself, she married and stayed in Wyoming, where their twins were born. If you’re still reading, be warned, I’m veering toward spoiler-ness now. Out on the ranch one day with his father, James, and the other cowboys, three year old Jake is lost. The crew scours the area for him for days on end. Daisy is devastated and finally takes their daughter, Sage, to raise her back East. Daisy cannot make herself return to the ranch. James cannot let himself leave the ranch; he is ever searching for evidence of what happened to Jake. Thirteen years later, Sage runs away, heading back to see the father that she hasn’t set eyes on since they moved. Too much would be revealed to say any more about the plot.

The characterization was nicely done: Tucker, James’ father, who is beginning to suffer Alzheimer symptoms. Louisa, his life partner since the death of his wife, enduring dislike from James. James, with his broken heart, and guilt over losing Jake. Daisy, with her shattered dreams, and hope-filled art. Sage, a normal teenager, dreadfully missing her father. The ranch hands, the people encountered during Sage’s trip west, the locals in Wyoming, Daisy’s sister in Connecticut – these were all very believable, not cardboard cutouts.

Even taking into account all the spirit-this and spirit-that, the story, itself, drew me in. It was a satisfying read from beginning to end. Nothing fancy, but well written.

3. Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles (historical fiction)

Paulette Jiles knocked my socks off with her Color of Lightning, so I scrambled to find another of her books. Sockless, again! A strong writer, she gives an authentic voice to her characters, and sets them in vividly rendered locations. Her stories are compelling; the historical events true, around which she weaves her words.

In her historical novel, Enemy Women, Jiles shares some actual letters, written, some by northerners, some by southerners. One letter from 1861: “There will be trouble in Missouri until the Secesh are subjugated and made to know that they are not only powerless, but that any attempts to make trouble here will bring upon them certain destruction and this … must not be confined to soldiers and fighting men, but must be extended to non-combatant men and women.”

And so begins a horrible chapter in the history of Missouri. The men of the area were still off fighting in the War Between the States, or acting as gorilla soldiers trying to protect their homes and villages from being ravaged by unscrupulous union soldiers. Women, while feeding their own husbands when they returned from their war duties, were charged as collaborators - enemies of the Union. Homes were burned, menfolk (and often whole families) were killed, or the women and children marched to prisons in St. Louis.

Jiles imagines a family set into this moment in history; her main character a young woman, the oldest sibling, and how she reacts to the circumstances in which she finds herself. A fascinating story, start to finish; well imagined and well told. The characters and story both felt true to the times.

Her sense of place was perfect, too. I lived, for a short time, in the area depicted. I’ve walked in the Current River, sat with my children on its pebbly ‘beaches’ in Van Buren, hiked through parts of the Mark Twain National Forest, climbed around the boulders of Johnson’s Shut-Ins listening to the roar of the water. Her descriptions transplanted me right back there.

Two notes, though: (1) The one thing this book lacked was a map. In ‘Color of Lightning’, I found myself referring back to the maps quite often, and really felt its lack here. Enemy Women was an earlier work; perhaps reprints will include a map. (2) As I began this book, it initially bothered me that the words ‘spoken’ by the characters were not shown in quotes. But I wasn’t bothered long. It was a seamless technique that at least worked for her in this time and place.

A taste (p.12): “So it was in the third year of the Civil War in the Ozark Mountains of southeastern Missouri, when virginia creeper and poison ivy wrapped scarlet, smoky scarves around the throats of trees, and there was hardly anybody left in the country but the women and the children.”

Highly recommended.

Hi,

just stopped by to say that I like your reviews. Quite a many write just a few lines of every book (not to say that I wouldn't like to read at least those a few lines!) but you manage to have the time and energy to write proper essays (or sort of). So thank you!

I also like your language. As a non-English-speaker I like to read well-written English for I wouldn't like to learn bad habits ;)

Thank you, kpohjone. I've only recently begun reviewing the books I read, and find it a pleasant 'duty'. What is your native tongue?

4. Sea Swept by Nora Roberts (contemporary fiction)

For the Fifty States Fiction challenge, I’ve been reading books from my tiny local library. However, they had very little with Maryland settings. Sea Swept was on the shelf, so I took that. And it did have a good sense-of-place for the purposes of the reading challenge.

This was my first Nora Roberts and will be my last. I found that I don’t care for her ‘steamy’ writing. I did like the underlying story involving abused and neglected children and those who step in to help. This book’s focus was on one of the brothers in the family. The following books in the series apparently focus on two of the other brothers and continue the family story. Although I was interested in the story, I’m not going to force myself to endure this kind of writing in order to see its conclusion. I’m done with Nora Roberts. All the sex scenes strewn throughout what otherwise would have been a good story cause me to give this one a personally-didn’t-like-it rating of 2-1/2 stars. If you are not bothered by all the steam that’s not remotely necessary to the plot, you may enjoy this more than I did.

5. Windswept by Mary Ellen Chase (fiction)

Books in process are scattered all over this place. ‘Night stand’ books get finished faster than any others (just ~one~ more chapter before I turn off that light…). This title was my latest ‘car’ book, those I read while waiting for the munchki to emerge from their activities in various places, school, karate, friend’s homes. Over the years, five children’s worth of waitings have yielded a lot of finished books. But I’m afraid that this poor, thick, book suffered from being too long in the car during a dry season of waitings. It was a very long time between start and finish on this one. And nothing about it prompted me to push it into ‘night stand’ status.

This is a multi-generational saga set on the coast of Maine. The setting was drawn with gorgeous sweeps of her pen – beautifully done! The characters were fully and well written. The story - I don’t know if it was dull, or being long drawn out, just seemed so to me. It spoke of familial love, education, religion – Catholicism and Protestantism, war, boating, seasons, cranberry picking, house building, fishing, gardening . . . but it never seemed to go anywhere. I loved Maine and wanted to love this book.

But, I’m afraid it’s getting a mediocre . . . 3 stars.

6. White Coat Wisdom by Stephen J. Busalacchi (nonfiction/memoir)

To read this book is to get a fascinating peek underneath that white coat at the heart and soul of a doctor. A sentiment expressed throughout the book: “Medicine is not a job. Medicine is a lifestyle and you live it 24 hours a day. You live to serve. … You give back to society in any way that you possibly can. But that’s what makes it fun. I don’t work for a living. I get up every morning and I have fun. Then, I go to bed.” (Dr. Wik, p.50) For a memoir loving, medical topic interested reader like me this was a very hard book to put down. Every doctor highlighted in these pages is a hero of sorts, and each had an interesting story to tell.

I’d barely finished this book when we received word of the death of a young nephew. This tiny six year old, who couldn’t see, hear, speak, walk or even eat; who wore leg braces, glasses, hearing aids and a belly feeding device; who was so often sick and hospitalized – this child had a medical team of heroes, too. Among the people crowded into the room at his funeral, I met his doctor. This gentleman’s practice is in a city an hour away, yet he’d taken time to be there for the family of the young boy he’d been treating for so long. I overheard him tell my nephew’s young mother, “I would like you to pick out a tree, whatever kind you want, that I can buy and have planted in your yard as a memorial to Christopher”. Sometimes heroes come in every-day packages, quietly impacting individual lives.

You can read stories of some of them in this book. There is a breadth of life history in these pages; of doctors who’ve made a difference in the lives of individuals, in societies, in their profession, in the service of their country. A quick internet search shows that doctors comprise about one third of one percent of the U.S. population. The path toward becoming a doctor is a very tough one; it takes a special person to persevere. Those who earn that title of Doctor are worthy of the name. Even among those, there are individuals who stand out among their peers. Mr. Busalacchi introduces us to some of them with his book White Coat Wisdom. The author’s goal “was to personalize the profession by focusing on a few dozen physicians I had come to know through the years who have medical interests that are particularly salient, thereby combining biography with intriguing medical topics. . . . You will have greater appreciation for what it takes to succeed in this profession {or any profession} and what your doctor did to learn his or her craft. But more importantly, you will learn and be entertained by their unique experiences, where human lives are always hanging in the balance.”

Mr. Busalacchi more than succeeds in his goal. In his capacity of medical news reporter with public radio, and in public relations with the state medical society, he’s had decades of interaction with individual physicians, many of whom had stories that he felt needed to be told. Here is one reader who is glad that he acted on that inspiration. Their ‘oral history’ is engaging in every case. Unlike ‘news-magazine’ television shows, where the interviewer’s goal seems to be to phrase questions in order to push their own agenda and to hear their own voice, with the physician guest barely getting a word in edge-wise, Mr. Busalacchi’s interview style is a light touch of questions, and while letting them speak as they will, their very human side emerges. His engagement with his subjects has a very natural cadence.

With his selected physicians, the conversations cover a wide range of medical specialties, public health topics, professional issues, and personal stories of their lives as doctors and of what prompted their interest in medicine. A few examples. On marriage: “We learned that Thanksgiving isn’t the third Thursday in November. It’s whenever we eat the turkey.” On frivolous malpractice suits: “I don’t like the way my anus looks. … There’s a scar there where you took the hemorrhoid off.” One of my favorite chapters was the doctor whose specialty was performing arts and sports medicine. I don’t know why; our family is neither athletic, nor artistic. Though, his parenting solutions were particularly interesting to me.

Another strength of this book – The author knows of what he speaks. He knows these doctors, has associated with them as their professional lives intersected; they all practice in his state of Wisconsin. Very briefly, I was bothered by that fact, but came to believe that this only gave the stories more force. A side effect of reading this book will have you wanting to move to Wisconsin! Descriptions of the medical community there, of their efforts at public health, and of the healthy aspects of that state make it sound awfully inviting.

And even more to like: The author’s intro and postscript were both very thoughtful and well done, while letting the doctors speak for themselves in their own sections. Each section began with a relevant epigraph. The index was nicely done with the physician’s names and topics of interest covered throughout the book. Medical terms which perhaps may not be understood are explained in footnotes.

One quibble. The first doctor profiled happened to come from a family of doctors. I thought that was an unfortunate selection for the first chapter. Only 42% of people who apply to medical school are accepted – the best of the best. It is an extremely difficult process, made easier if you know the game, and more difficult for those who don’t have an inside look at how that game is played before trying to take the field themselves. A reader who is considering or recently entered the process of becoming a physician, and having to pull themselves up to the game by their own boot-straps, may be put off by that first chapter, and so miss the treasures contained book wide. I confess to that impression, being the mother of a boot-strap medical school student, myself.

Of the medical school experience, one of the doctors profiled says: “Physicians are high achieving individuals. I coasted through undergrad. If I tried hard, I did exceptionally well. If I didn’t try hard, I did pretty darn well. I knew medical school would be hard, but… Average has an entirely different meaning.” One of the speakers at my son’s White Coat Ceremony congratulated the incoming class on their acceptance into the profession of medicine. “The toughest hurdle has been overcome – having excelled at all that came before, you are now granted acceptance to medical school. Of course, you are all go-getters. Every one of you is used to being at the top of your class. But, guess what? You can’t ALL be at the top of the class anymore. Not to worry, though, you know what they call the one who graduates at the bottom of the class? . . . ‘Doctor’.”

I was excited to have the opportunity to read and review this book about doctors. It surpassed all my expectations, and I am grateful to the author for providing me a review copy.

I would heartily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading memoirs, is a health nut, has a physician in their family, or has an interest in medical topics. White Coat Wisdom gets a hale and healthy FIVE stars from me!

7. Timeline by Michael Crichton
http://www.librarything.com/work/8362/reviews/56191703

8. The Unplowed Sky by Jeanne Williams
http://www.librarything.com/work/860849/reviews/56188142

9. Coppola: A Pediatric Surgeon in Iraq by Chris Coppola

This is the book. To get a first-hand feel for doctoring near a war zone, this is the book. To see compassion in action, this is the book. For a well-written memoir, this is the book.

In fulfillment of his obligation to the military for its part in his medical education, Coppola finds himself thrust into the action at Balad Air Base in Iraq, serving in the hospital tent. His is a story of a patriotic man, who believes in giving his best for his country and its soldiers, yet finds himself torn inside. Of the death of an enemy soldier he was called upon to treat: “How am I supposed to comprehend his death when my duty as a doctor to heal contradicts my duty as an officer to defend?”

Established for the purpose of caring for wounded troops, the Balad Air Base hospital experiences “mission creep” – locals start arriving wounded by insurgents and who’ve found Iraqi doctors having fled the violence. His heart goes out to those youngest victims of the war. Did the military “need” a pediatric surgeon in Iraq? No, they needed a surgeon in Iraq, and one who was called to serve his time happened to have a pediatric specialty.

Ahh, but as it turns out, the local Iraqis DID need a pediatric surgeon. Word spread. The cover of my book illustrates one of the events in which a local family speaking only Arabic, arrive at the base with a slip of paper bearing the word ‘Coppola’. Often, wounded children are brought by soldiers. There are many stories here of children and soldiers cared for by the team at Balad, and you hear especially of the ones which most touched the author. He became close with some of these families, and with the interpreters who worked with him.

Between his two stints in Iraq, we also get to meet his wife and sons and see a bit of his life working for the military at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. When back in Iraq, we experience his insomnia, missing his family and contrasting the hell that Iraqi families endure because of the violent among them. A Pediatric Surgeon in Iraq is an insightful memoir from an American hero.

Highly recommended.

10. Deep in the Heart of Trouble by Deeanne Gist
http://www.librarything.com/work/4959435/reviews/56191626

11. Goldeneye by Malcolm Macdonald (fiction)
http://www.librarything.com/work/8538280/reviews/53952925

12. Heart of the Wilderness by Janette Oke (fiction)
http://www.librarything.com/work/117367/reviews/53952903

13. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (historical fiction)
http://www.librarything.com/work/6006690/reviews/56191475

14. The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx (contemporary fiction)
http://www.librarything.com/work/3049/reviews/56191602

You manage to have a steady pace with your readings :) I had some busy weeks at uni and work, with an added bonus of exam reading..

I love memoirs and have interest for medicine, so those books by Busalacchi and Coppola sound very interesting. I have to check if I could get those from somewhere.

You earlier asked my whereabouts, and I live in Finland (in Scandinavia, northern Europe) and thus speak finnish as my mother tongue. It's sometimes hard to acquire interesting books, because the market here is too small for importing non-bestsellers from abroad being profitable, but luckily Internet is nowadays a great help.

Thank goodness for the internet! Finland! I've never crossed the ocean, and probably never shall. What is your favorite book which has a setting in Finland?

15. No Instructions Needed : An American Boyhood in the 1950s by Robert Hewitt (memoir)
http://www.librarything.com/work/9389904/reviews/56192822

16. Whiskey Rebels by David Liss (historical fiction)
http://www.librarything.com/work/5523588/reviews/52246846

17. Dear Mrs. Lindbergh by Kathleen Hughes (fiction)
http://www.librarything.com/work/1593905/reviews/57588565

18. Heartbreaker by Karen Robards (contemporary fiction)
http://www.librarything.com/work/78295/reviews/57794985

19. The Birth House by Ami McKay (historical fiction)
http://www.librarything.com/work/677593/reviews/55235185

20. Pearl of China by Anchee Min (historical fiction)
http://www.librarything.com/work/9430130/reviews/57879139

21. Dead End Gene Pool by Wendy Burden (memoir)
http://www.librarything.com/work/9622754/reviews/58240667

22. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (memoir/anecdotes)
http://www.librarything.com/work/5655/reviews/57104790

23. Covenant of Grace by Jane Gilmore Rushing (historical fiction)
http://www.librarything.com/work/2152236/reviews/57794964

24. Break with Charity by Ann Rinaldi (YA historical fiction)
http://www.librarything.com/work/61159/reviews/56191453

25. Stormy Weather by Paulette Jiiles (historical fiction)
http://www.librarything.com/work/2400372/reviews/58864608

You know what? You really got me thinking with your question about my favorite book with setting in Finland.

I realized that a) I read very much non-fiction and memoirs (which I think cannot be counted for this question b) I read mostly foreign fiction. I actually haven't read any of the "The Must-Read Finnish Classics". So I went to the library and got started. I've now finished Kjell Westö's "Missä kuljimme kerran" ("Where We Once Went"), which won Finlandia Prize (most prestige literature prize in Finland) a couple of years ago. It was outstanding! It hasn't been translated in English, unfortunately.

Next I have on my list Väinö Linna's "Täällä pohjantähden alla" ("Under the North Star"), and "Tuntematon sotilas" ("The Unknown Soldier"). After those I'll probably try something from Aleksis Kivi or Minna Canth.

So hopefully I can later this year answer your question properly :)

(All the links are to English Wikipedia.)

kpohjone, I'm looking forward to hearing how you make out with your "Must-Read Finnish Classics".

You said that "Where We Once Went" was outstanding, so I zipped over to your profile hoping to read your review. :(

I'm currently working my way through books with settings for each of the states here in the US - the Fifty States Fiction challenge. After that, I want to take up the Reading Globally challenge. Hopefully, you'll be able to recommend to me the best Finnish example!

26. A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg (fiction)
http://www.librarything.com/work/19995/reviews/59911633

27. A Parchment of Leaves by Silas House (historical fiction)
http://www.librarything.com/work/119572/reviews/58864206

28. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (fiction)

I am apprehensive about trying to review such a great book, me, a novice. Yet so much did I like it, that I must say at least that.

Through the LT Early Reviewer program, I read with pleasure the book Pearl of China by Anchee Min, a novel based on Pearl Buck’s life in China. It awakened in me a need to read more by and about Ms. Buck. My library had the Reader’s Digest (not condensed) edition of The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, so I began there.

In this edition’s afterward, Edward Wagenknecht sums up the story with this sentence: “…a great family declines through its own corruption while a poor family prospers, with increasing signs that it too will succumb in time to the same dry rot that toppled its predecessor…” Yes, that’s the big picture. But, the story lives in the daily lives of its people.

Wang Lung, son of a farmer, loves his land, and lives his life to the rhythm of the seasons of farming. Favorable weather yields good harvests and with poor harvests come lean times. This is life. With better harvests, there is more gain, and with this gain, more land and more seed can be bought. In this way, Wang Lung slowly improves his lot. But he does not do it alone. His father finds a wife for him from among the slaves in the town’s ‘great house’. This turned out to be a good purchase, for O-Lan is a hard worker, working side by side with him in his fields, cooking meals for him and his old father, and stoically bearing his children. Their life is of the land, and when a drought brought famine, they journey to a southern city to try to maintain life til they can get back to the land – always the land, for such is the sustenance of life.

Pearl Buck grew up in China, living and speaking as a native, her neighbors going through times such as she depicts here, so her story ‘lived’ for me. The story of Wang Lung covers his life from youth to old age, and though no dates are mentioned, the word ‘revolution’ does come up towards the end of his long life. Most of the setting is Wang Lung’s village in northern China. How Ms. Buck must have loved China and its people! The landscape is treated so beautifully, the weather so realistically. And the people, too, not whitewashed, but presented as she must have seen them. You won’t be able to get through the end of it without sobbing.

Deservedly, a classic. (5 stars)

http://www.librarything.com/work/5987/reviews/58861741

29. Tales of the Maine Coast by Noah Brooks (short stories)

http://www.librarything.com/work/9767458/reviews/58398285