What if… you read ‘to be sung underwater’?

by Raidene "The Travelin' Rat" on January 24, 2012

to be sung underwater

Who hasn’t wondered, “What if?” or “What if I had taken the road not taken?” In Tom McNeal’s novel, to be sung underwater, his protagonist Judith Whitman attempts to answer those questions. Twenty five years after leaving Nebraska and her first love, Willy Blunt, to attend Stanford University and never return, she contemplates reaching out to Willy. In seemingly effortless but thoughtful prose, often deceptive in its simplicity, McNeal paints a picture of people and relationships that is as realistic as it is moving. Some may find a similarity to The Horse Whisperer, but this story stands on its own with a poignant heartbreaking sincerity and moves past popular fiction with jarringly moving prose.

Examining her present life under a microscope, Judith wonders if happiness escaped her because she escaped her past. Her teenage daughter is distant and her husband is most likely unfaithful. She goes to extraordinary means to track down Willy, but, for what purpose she’s not entirely sure. What follows is her journey of discovery, her eventual reuniting with Willy and the emotional ending of this story.

It will come as no surprise that McNeal’s first book, Goodnight, Nebraska won the University of Texas James Michener Prize for the best debut of a writer over 40. You will fall in love with his writing and his quirky characters and may even have the same sharp intake of breath that I had as I made my way through the tangle of emotions on display in the last few chapters of this unforgettable book.

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Around the World One Cuisine at a Time

by Raidene "The Travelin' Rat" on November 5, 2011

So you think you’re  a culinary expert?  Go ahead and read Danyelle Freeman’s book Try This: traveling the globe without leaving the table to determine if you really know as much about food and various cuisines as you think. Freeman, a restaurant critic and creator of the food blog restaurantgirl www.restaurantgirl.com has written a compendium of food which highlights everyday food from 14 different countries. Her book is jam packed with dishes both familiar and unfamiliar to most people.

Freeman presents cuisines from Europe, The Middle and Far East and discusses many of the comfort foods that people in those countries eat. She brings in historical tidbits, eating etiquette and her opinions of New York restaurants that serve these popular cuisines. Her ability to make every meal sound like her last highlights how her love of food shines through in her writing. She enhances her descriptions with mouthwatering prose which may cause you to immediately search for a Vietnamese restaurant in your neighborhood.

If you have always died to learn more about food items like bibimbap, cocida, wu tao go, dubu jigae or robatayaki, this is the book for you. Perhaps, Freeman could write a sequel exploring African, South American and other world cuisines left out of this book. Until then, bon appetit, kali oreski and buon appetito.

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Guernsey Again!

by Raidene "The Travelin' Rat" on October 4, 2011

People yearning to return to Guernsey Island after reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society are in luck! The Soldier’s Wife by Margaret Leroy is also set on  Guernsey Island  in the English Channel during World War II. Leroy paints such a realistic picture of  the island  that you feel as though you are walking along side the characters while they manage their lives as the Germans occupy their beloved homeland.

The sacrifices and the hardships the islanders experience are relayed through the story of Vivienne de la Mare as she tries to keep her family together while her husband is off fighting for England. With her two daughters and a mother in law who is quickly exhibiting signs of dementia, she has her hands full. When the property next to theirs is commandeered by German soldiers, lonely Vivienne tries to keep her distance from the soldiers so as not to appear friendly with the enemy. Eventually, she and a German soldier, Gunther, begin a friendship that slowly blossoms into a secretive, illicit love affair.

Vivienne struggles with her conscience, knowing that her family and neighbors would strongly disapprove of  her relationship if it was ever uncovered. When she helps harbor and feed an emaciated Jewish work camp escapee, she realizes that Gunther must not become aware of her involvement with the escaped prisoner.

There are  many tender and poignant moments set against the backdrop of war as Vivienne tries to keep her family clothed, fed and safe.  While her mother in-law becomes increasingly ill and her children question decisions she has made, Vivienne attempts to keep their home life as normal as possible during these abnormal times. But, underneath the surface there is always the awareness that the world is at war, and though the German soldiers are often  friendly, some of their inhumane acts are hard to accept.

This fast read would make a fine selection for book clubs since there are many topics including war and foreign occupation, compassion, loyalty and adultery that would contribute to an interesting discussion .

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A Librarian on the Run

by Raidene "The Travelin' Rat" on September 1, 2011

Librarians are often gun shy when reading books about other librarians for fear of the way they may be portrayed between the covers. Rebecca Makkai’s protagonist, Lucy Hull, a children’s librarian in her first novel, The Borrowers, may not be a fair representation of the profession, but the original and quirky storyline will certainly keep you turning the pages.

Lucy’s world is turned upside down after she finds her favorite patron, 10 year old Ian, in the Library when she opens the building one morning. Ian has run away from home and camped out overnight in the Children’s Room unbeknownst to the Library officials. For a while, Lucy has felt uneasy about Ian and the struggles he seems to be having in his fundamentalist home. To Lucy’s dismay, Ian’s overbearing mother is very strict and rigid about which books she will allow Ian to read and she  has excluded many popular children’s books and classics from his accepted reading list. She and her husband have also made an assumption that Ian may be gay and have signed him up for a course at the Glad Heart Ministries, an organization “dedicated to the rehabilitation of sexually confused brothers and sisters in Christ.”

 Lucy is a bit of a firebrand and struggles with the typical librarian’s passion for protecting the First Amendment. She is concerned about Ian’s rights and well being but somehow thinks that kidnapping or ‘borrowing’ him may be the way to right the wrongs in his life. Ian and Lucy embark on a multistate trip while she tries to figure out the best way to help him. While on the run, the duo have a number of adventures and in the midst of all the excitement and chaos, Lucy still  manages to introduce Ian to many fine children’s books .

While some of the scenes may require the reader to suspend their disbelief, there is much to discuss in this book which should become popular with the book club circuit. Who has the right to decide how parents educate their children? What rights do the children have? How do religious beliefs play into parents and their views about sexual orientation?

By all accounts, Makkai’s first novel  bodes well for her future as an author. Her engaging and often whimsical writing style should be delightful read for many readers.

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Uncorking a good book about wine

by Raidene "The Travelin' Rat" on June 29, 2011

Many wine lovers are concerned about what globalization and the glut of inexpensive wine at stores such as Trader Joe’s  will do to the future of the wine business. Wine Wars: the curse of the Blue Nun, the miracle of Two Buck Chuck and the revenge of the terrroirists  is a book that may allay some of their fears. Written by Mike Veseth who is a Professor of International Political Economy, a wine economist, and international wine scholar, the book attempts to put the present and future wine world in perspective in an engaging, entertaining and educational manner. 

Here are some interesting facts that Veseth shares with his readers.

Great Britain imports the largest percentage of wine, 17% of all world wide wine imports, compared to the United States’s 10% imports. Much of this is attributed to the fact that the Brits are long time wine drinkers but have only a few wineries in their own homeland.

Gallo founded their California winery in 1933 just as prohibition ended.

Costco is the single biggest wine merchant in the United States.

The most influential locations in the wine business, long considered to be centered in Europe, may be moving to the far East to places such as Singapore and China.

Kami no Shizuku(Drops of Blood), a popular Japanese graphic novel became a 9-part T.V. miniseries and may eventually have a larger effect on the wine industry than the 2004 movie, Sideways, about the California wine country which helped bring about an unprecedented increase in the sale of Pinot Noir wine.

This thought provoking book is filled with information about the  wine business as well as the history of wine making. There are answers to such questions as whether plastic closures will replace corks or will the ‘bladder’ or ‘wine in the box’l become permanent substitutes for the iconic glass wine  bottle. And, will  honeybees(with their highly evolved sense of smell)  become the future wine detectives as they may identify and help to eliminate bad and inauthentic wines?

Veseth also discusses the forces that have been opposing the international wine markets, namely the terroirists. Terroir is derived from the French word for soil and the terroirists(not to be confused with terrorists) are those individuals who are extremely passionate about their agricultural ‘sense of place’ and their belief that grape  and other agricultural crops are influenced ultimately by the climate, soil type and topography of the local land. Terroirists are convinced this makes it virtually  impossible to grow certain grapes and produce superior wine in locations not favored by the same terroir which is at the root of their very vocal opposition to the globalization of the wine industry. They believe that wine should be continued to be made in the same locations and with the same methods that have stood the test of time over the centuries.

There is much to learn from this book and for further research, consider viewing Jonathan Nossiter’s 2004 documentary Mondovino which visually explores the concept of terroir and how globalization has endangered this centuries old concept.

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Move Over Three Cups of Tea

by Raidene "The Travelin' Rat" on May 10, 2011

The recent controversy surrounding Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea does not diminish the humanitarian efforts and idealistic beliefs of others committed to helping children around the world. Conor Grennan’s book, Little Princes: one man’s promise to bring home the lost children of Nepal may be the perfect antidote for Mortenson’s disappointed readers and fans.   His story is adventure filled, inspiring and will take you to far away places while pulling at your heartstrings.

Grennan quit his job to embark on a year long trip around the world. To seek validation for himself and enhance his reputation with family and friends, he chose to begin his travels by spending the first 3 months  as a volunteer at the Little Princes Children’s Home, an orphanage in war torn Nepal. What he found there was a sense of purpose unlike anything he had experienced in his life.

From 1996 through 2006, Nepal was the stage of a violent civil war between the monarchy and the Maoist rebels. During this time, many children in remote poverty stricken areas were removed from their families. Child traffickers, pretending they intended to rescue the children, promised parents that they would keep them save from the rebels while also insuring they would receive a good education and a safe home. In reality, these defenseless children were placed as indentured servants or sold as slaves.  Eventually many were abandoned while others were rescued and placed in orphanages around Nepal.

Grennan came upon some of these children in the Little Princes orphanage and learned that many came from those poor rural parts of Nepal. Upon his return to the U.S.,  he organized a nonprofit organization called Next Generation Nepal(NGN)  http://www.nextgenerationnepal.com whose purpose is to reunite Nepalese children with their families. His charity continues to provide transitional housing for these children while assisting in reconnecting them with their loved ones.

Reading Little Princes is a win/win proposition.  Some of the book’s proceeds are donated to NGN while his story provides a moving experience for the reader. Grennan introduces the resilient children through his artful prose and thoughtful and transcendent photos. The joy and grace the children exude and the love of life they display, in spite of all they have endured, is both mind boggling and humbling. It gives one pause to realize that many people in the world do not have the  same advantages as those in the West. Grennan has done a great service by sharing his inspiring and often dangerous Nepalese adventures and helping to bring the problem of child trafficking to light by raising awareness to people around the world.

 This wonderful story, both heartbreaking and heartwarming,  is one to be shared with  everyone you know.

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Batters Up! A New Round of Baseball Books

March 25, 2011

Major League baseball starts next week!  Nothing says Spring better than the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd or the smell of those wonderful overcooked hot dogs at your local stadium.  I, for one, can’t wait for the new season to begin. But, for those occasions when a storm cancels the game or [...]

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Travel to Bhutan

March 10, 2011

 You may remember Bhutan as the country that prides itself on being more concerned with its citizens’ Gross National Happiness than the GDP, a country that did not have radio broadcasts until 1973 or access to television or the Internet until 1999.  Most of us will never have the opportunity to travel to this Himalayan kingdom, touted as the Last Shangri-La [...]

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Mystery, History & Wine = an Engaging read

February 17, 2011

Do you enjoy wine? Check! Are you interested in American History? Check! Would you like to read a great mystery series? Check!  I have the perfect suggestion for you. How about trying Ellen Crosby’s  wine country series which now totals 5 books beginning with The Merlot Murders? Each one of her stories is set in the Virginia [...]

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Left Neglected by Lisa Genova

February 2, 2011

When Lisa Genova’s new book, Left Neglected, arrived, I immediately put it at the top of my ever growing pile of books to read. I knew that if she was able to hook the reader, allowing them to empathize with the characters’ experiences,  just as she so convincingly did in her first book, Still Alice, I [...]

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