Back from a Long Break!

Well, it seems I took the summer off from my blog. I didn't mean to, it just somehow happened. So I'll give you a quick update on what I've been reading this summer. I'd love to hear what you've been reading too!

At the very beginning of the summer, the Fab 5 Book Club met to talk about Olive Kitteridge by Elisabeth Strout. That book is full of sadness and horrible events, stars a crabby, rather unlikeable protagonist, and is so wonderfully developed that you can't help but keep reading and even liking it! Olive is a main character like no other, her life told in bits and pieces by a string of characters from her hometown in Maine, and Strout is such a great writer that you can empathize with this person you would not necessarily want to know in real life.

We also took in I Am Number Four, a young adult sci-fi/fantasy novel about aliens come to earth by a conglomeration of writers under the pseudonym Pittacus Lore. It's a fast-paced, fun read that grabs you from the beginning and also falls prey to a number of moments that seem engineered to grab the attention of a teen reader. Good looking alien male lead? Check. Gorgeous, perfect girlfriend? Check. A book-long chase sequence? Check. New kid not fitting in with a school bully? You guessed it, Check. The language was needlessly rough. Yet there is something catchy, charming about it. The movie didn't live up to the book. Now the sequel is out, and I've heard it's better than the first. And the original was good enough that 2 of the 4 of us had trouble sleeping because they were kind of freaked out.

The Neland Ave Church Women's Book Club contemplated Coop by Michael Perry. I love Michael Perry, which you may know from earlier posts. I read his book Population: 485 a year or two ago, and then I heard him speak (twice) at Calvin College at the last Festival of Faith and Writing. A down home intellectual, he effortlessly moves from farm life to mechanics to fatherhood to the writing life to philosophy to art to small-town Wisconsin to cooking and on and on. Lovely. So, back to the Neland Book Club and Coop. In Coop, the recently-married 40ish Perry is newly living on his mother-in-law's former farm, attempting with his wife to begin a more self-sustaining life. Raising chickens, in particular, is a major goal. They garden and get pigs and get chickens and rear 2 daughters. In the meantime he also considers the way that he was raised--his parents' endless love, religious beliefs and faithful patience for a string of foster children and adoptive children. It's lovely and gritty and real and touching.

And then just recently the Fab 5 got together to discuss Truck: A Love Story, also by Michael Perry. (If you are sensing a common thread here, namely me, you may just be on to something). Truck backs up a bit to the year that Perry meets the wife he so tenderly describes in Coop. He is intent on restoring the 50s-era International pickup truck he's had for 20 years, which can only actually happen due to the talent of his brother-in-law Mark. Again, Perry is hilarious and earthy and gentle. Did I mention how much I love his work?

Enough. Also on the summer's checklist was the book Soul Searching, by Christian Smith and Melina Lundquist Denton. I was really under the gun with this one. I volunteered to lead the discussion for the Neland women, and with a 3 week camping trip I thought I'd have plenty of time to dig into it. The camping trip was great, but about a week in we had the misfortune of noticing that our youngest child was scratching her head in earnest at the Grand Canyon. Turned out she had head lice. I spent the rest of my free should-have-been-reading time picking through her hair, which satisfied neither of us but rectified the situation. And so I had to speed-read the book when I got home, something I am not very good at doing.

Actually, this is a really interesting book, a sociological study of the spiritual lives of teens in the early 2000s. I have to admit that due to time restraints I had to skip the chapter directed specifically to parents and youth workers in the Catholic Church. But the overall gist of the book is that young people are interested in spiritual things, are willing to go along with what their parents believe, and for the most part have adopted a "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism". In other words, their religion serves them as a tool to make them feel better, happier, rather than asking them to serve a God who loves them sacrificially and asks the same of them. This has major implications for churches that want to train up a child in the way that he/she should go. If you don't want to take the time to read the whole book, you could get a good bit of it from the Conclusion section. I'm not much of a sociologist, but I'm interested to read through the follow-up book now.

As we toured the Southwest United States, my husband showed me up--he actually finished a book, and it was even relevant to the places we were visiting. He read How the West Was Won by Louis L'amour. His review: "It was okay, but nothing special." Son Andrew read a book called Colorado Ghost Stories, which he truly loved.

I'm about 2/3rds of the way through a sort of modern Gothic novel called The Distant Hours by Kate Morton. It's about a woman who is trying to figure out the connection between her mother and the family who lives in an old estate, the same family and estate her mother joined as a child during World War II when the children of London were evacuated to the country. I keep picking it up, then having to put it down to read something else. Someday I may even finish it. I like it.

A very different read this summer was the book On Becoming a Novelist by John Gardner. I read this in preparation for a fiction workshop that I attended in June. If I had read this book before signing up for the fiction class, I probably would've ended my fiction career right then. Gardner's book is full of good information on the reason for writing, characterization and other practical things, but his description of who the novelist is left me shaking in my boots, sure that there's no chance I could fit into that category! Then I spent a wonderful week having the novelist Bret Lott lead my class through our manuscripts and about 5 million useful tips for writing. We'll see if I ever have the guts to return to my manuscript.

So it's been a great summer, and now back to real life. Maybe I'll be more faithful to my blog again. We'll see.

A Major Award!

Folks, all of the hours I spend reading rather than, well, accomplishing things have finally paid off. I got a phone call today from the East Grand Rapids Library informing me that I won the drawing for the grand prize in the Let It Snow reading club. I've never won a drawing before, so I'm pretty excited. What is that prize? I don't know yet--I haven't gotten there yet to claim it. I'll have to keep you in suspense. I vaguely remember seeing something about a gift card to Schuler Books, so here's hoping. Just goes to show, reading is the way to real wealth.

I finished Michael Perry's book Population: 485 (finally) after Francene so nicely found it for me at Festival. It even made its way back to the library without a fine, shockingly! It's a great book: interesting, funny and full of compassion and respect for humanity. Next up--I'm halfway through The Heart is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. My copy is from a used book store, and its former owner signed her name and then wrote "okay." I'm wondering if that's her evaluation of the book. It's a big change from Perry's book, but so far, so good. I have to lead this one for church book club next month, so if you have any great insights for me, let me know.

My friend Sandy has this suggestion (stolen directly from her Facebook post without permission): "Want a great read? Pick up "Lay That Trumpet In Our Hands" by Susan Carol McCarthy. It was published in 2002, but has completely eluded me until now. Reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird." Hope to give that one a try!

The apple blossoms are in full bloom and the sun just keeps shining. Perfect setup for Saturday morning, when I join the line of hopeful souls buying tickets for Meijer Gardens Summer Concert Series. This is usually the highlight of the summer for Brian and me (going to the concerts, not standing in line). This year I'm particularly excited to go see Natalie Merchant. We rarely go to concerts anywhere else, but we can be found at Meijer Gardens pretty regularly. We've decided to pay them for tickets rather than buying a summer home. It makes the tickets seem just a bit cheaper. And the August Tuesdays are free! Maybe we'll see you there.

Miles I've Gone and Now I'll Sleep

Another Festival has passed, and I'm about to pass out. It is such a stimulating, exciting and exhausting weekend! Here's my rundown of favorite and not-so-favorite experiences.

Two people I have previously raved about did not disappoint. Michael Perry was funny, honest and down-to-earth. He was also speaking about his current agnosticism. His humble approach to revisiting questions of faith, a faith that he left behind with his childhood, taught me more about what kind of Christian I want to be. He deeply respects his parents because of the people they are, and therefore he respects their beliefs. That is a high aspiration--to be the kind of person whose faith defines them and brings the respect of those who don't share that faith. And to retain an open heart to those who see the world differently.

I'd love to tell you more about the book of his I was reading, Population: 485. Alas, that will have to wait for another day, since I lost the library copy I was reading. I'm pleased to announce that the Calvin staff have located it, and I will be reunited with it soon.

Sara Zarr, who wrote the great young adult novel Once Was Lost, was also great to hear. She talked about the need for writers to be honest with the pain in the world so that young readers can relate and so that the pain they experience is confirmed, not swept under the rug. She further proved herself to me by listing the books that she loved as a girl that should still be read, and her number one recommendation was Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene. I read that book over and over. I also watched the TV movie version, starring Kristy McNichol, more than a few times. So Sara Zarr is my homegirl.

Stephen Carter writes novels (The Emperor of Ocean Park, New England White) as well as essays about religion, culture and politics. He is a Yale law professor, and every bit a gentleman. He talked about the fact that our culture simplifies or ignores the important part that religion plays in personal lives of people. This is a sentiment that was echoed by many at the conference. We don't know how to talk about religion and faith. He said that students should open their minds--not so far that their brains fall out--but open them enough to be able to explore ideas.

I also stumbled into a session that was led by one of the vice presidents of Walden Media. He was discussing the way writers "picture the invisible" for children. He went through several passages from Beverly Cleary's Ramona books, which include visits to church and bedtime prayers and talk about God. I don't remember any of that from reading those books as a child. Those events must have been so normal to my life that I didn't think anything of it. I rarely come across such things in children's books in the secular market! He pulled out some of those same things from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The movies Ramona and Beezus and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader are coming out this year from Walden Media, and they both sound pretty good!

Others I enjoyed: Rhoda Janzen (Mennonite in a Little Black Dress) talking about writing memoir; Sharon Flake who writes young adult novels about inner city teens (haven't read any yet, but am eager to); and Kate DiCamillo (Because of Winn Dixie, The Tale of Desperaux) who is tiny and funny and doesn't seem full of herself, though she didn't have much to say about faith. She makes everyone want to write stories. No wonder my family loves her books!

The lowest note was a writing workshop I signed up for, learning more about writing flash fiction. It was a low note, not because of the instructor's ability, but because I was completely out of my league. I am simply not edgy enough, nor does my brain work quickly enough, to produce anything I'd be willing to read in this company. My fellow workshop-ers read some incredible writing--which they'd written in about 15 minutes! I'll put it down to stretching my boundaries.

I am tired and need to go to bed. As soon as I find out who was voted off from "Survivor" this week. Hmm. Probably should not admit that to those reading this as a book blog.

If you were at Festival, tell me what I missed and what I should add to my reading wish list. You can tell me that second part even if you weren't at Festival. Two years minus 3 days till the next one. Good night!

On Second Thought...

Any trip that my travel-happy family takes includes a bag packed with far more books than I can possibly read in that amount of time. This time we had 8 days, and I limited myself to 5 books. Have I mentioned that I am a painfully slow reader, particularly if the reading is a chore? Brian's aunt can pound out 2 or 3 novels in 24 hours.

Since I was in the last stages of preparing copy for the summer reading issue of The Banner, I decided to take along a copy of a Christian novel that had been sent to me for review. I try to make a point of including some inspirational fiction. This particular novel, Hunter's Moon, seemed like it might be promising--sort of a thriller, with a powerful family epic feel. Well. It wasn't so great--the attempt was admirable, but the plot was just too contrived to make the themes hit home, and I never quite liked the main character. Since I'd only brought one such book on the trip, I kept reading, hoping it would somehow turn and be a fantastic review possibility. I really wanted to like it. The result is that I spent a good portion of my reading time on a book I really didn't like. Hazard of the job, I guess.

The vacation reading took a drastic turn for the better on the last day, when I started a book by Michael Perry called Population: 485. Perry is a writer, an EMT and a volunteer firefighter in his small Wisconsin hometown. He writes beautifully, weaving different themes together as he recounts his experiences as an emergency worker in a town where most of the victims are known to him in some way. I'm about a third of the way through and probably won't finish it by the start of the Festival of Faith and Writing (STARTS TOMORROW!!!), but I am excited to hear him speak and try out a couple of his other books. I highly recommend him.

May your travel bag always be filled with books worth reading.