With the best of intentions, I started to read "Anna Karenina." I got about 15 pages in and then got caught up in the craziness of getting ready for our trip to Utah for Jordan's wedding. Tolstoy is not something to be reading after a long and exhausting day so I went back to the bookshelf for something a little less mentally taxing. I chose "The Falcon at the Portal" by Elizabeth Peters, one of the books in her Amelia Peabody series. It is one of my favorite series ever! Amelia Peabody is an archaeologist in the early 1900's and she and her family have a tendency to get into all sorts of trouble while excavating pyramids. I love this series because Amelia is a character I LOVE!!! She is sassy, smart, and hilarious. This is one of the books I would almost love to see made into a movie. I say almost because, generally, after I see a movie based on a book I come away thinking "the book was better." I would love to see Amelia's adventures on screen, but I would hate for anyone to mess with the near-perfection that she is.
Now that I have finished "The Falcon at the Portal", I HAVE to keep reading to see what happens (even though I already know what happens as I have read the series at least 3 times already). If you are looking for a fun read, I completely recommend the series. Start with "Crocodile on the Sandbank" and prepare to be hooked!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
The Namesake
Last night I sacrificed sleep to finish the last pages of "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri (I love when I find a book that gets me so involved that I can't put it down; any chance I can get to sneak in a couple pages, I'll take it!) I picked this book up because it was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and I had heard good things about it, and it lived up to the high expectations I had for it.
Quick rundown: A young couple move to America from Calcutta and begin their life, trying to hold on to their culture and yet assimilate into American life. They have a family and name their child Gogol (there is a whole back story to how he got his name), which he comes to hate. He subsequently attempts to distance himself from everything associated with his name by changing it, and as a result, his parents and heritage. In the end, he finds that he really can't escape who he is and where he has come from.
So it all comes back to the age-old question; nurture or nature? Which figures more prominently in deciding the type of person you will be and the direction your life will take. Looking at me and my siblings, I see a huge argument for nature. Even though we were all raised in the same environment, we are all very different people. True, there are some attributes that we can look at and say "Oh, that is Dad" or "That is so Mom" (I am ALL my mother!), there are other things about each of us that are unique to us. But then I look around at other people and see evidence for nurture. My mom is a special ed/resource room teacher and we have discussed the possibility that some of her students wouldn't be in her class if they had a different home environment. How can you expect a child to excel in academics when there isn't a single book in the home?
Because this is a book about immigrants in America, there is a lot of discussion about culture and whether it is better to live as you did in the previous country or completely assimilate into American culture. I think the family in this novel shows a pretty typical picture of immigrant families; the parents cling to the old lifestyle and customs while the next generation attempts to "fit in." This has been such a hot-button issue with the illegal-immigration and language questions floating around in politics. I love that America is an open country where people from all over can come and bring their differences to add to the mix. However, that being said, I also believe that an effort should be made to become a part of the American culture, i.e. learning the language.
I really enjoyed the way this book was written and want to go look for others she has written. I love when I take a chance and it pays off!
Quick rundown: A young couple move to America from Calcutta and begin their life, trying to hold on to their culture and yet assimilate into American life. They have a family and name their child Gogol (there is a whole back story to how he got his name), which he comes to hate. He subsequently attempts to distance himself from everything associated with his name by changing it, and as a result, his parents and heritage. In the end, he finds that he really can't escape who he is and where he has come from.
So it all comes back to the age-old question; nurture or nature? Which figures more prominently in deciding the type of person you will be and the direction your life will take. Looking at me and my siblings, I see a huge argument for nature. Even though we were all raised in the same environment, we are all very different people. True, there are some attributes that we can look at and say "Oh, that is Dad" or "That is so Mom" (I am ALL my mother!), there are other things about each of us that are unique to us. But then I look around at other people and see evidence for nurture. My mom is a special ed/resource room teacher and we have discussed the possibility that some of her students wouldn't be in her class if they had a different home environment. How can you expect a child to excel in academics when there isn't a single book in the home?
Because this is a book about immigrants in America, there is a lot of discussion about culture and whether it is better to live as you did in the previous country or completely assimilate into American culture. I think the family in this novel shows a pretty typical picture of immigrant families; the parents cling to the old lifestyle and customs while the next generation attempts to "fit in." This has been such a hot-button issue with the illegal-immigration and language questions floating around in politics. I love that America is an open country where people from all over can come and bring their differences to add to the mix. However, that being said, I also believe that an effort should be made to become a part of the American culture, i.e. learning the language.
I really enjoyed the way this book was written and want to go look for others she has written. I love when I take a chance and it pays off!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Exodus
"This was no army of mortals. These were the ancient Hebrews! These were the faces of Dan and Reuben and Judah and Ephraim! These were Samsons and Deborahs and Joabs and Sauls. It was the army of Israel and no force on earth could stop them for the power of God was within them!"
While I was on vacation for the Fourth of July, I finished "Exodus" by Leon Uris. This is the story of the creation of Israel after World War 2 and the struggle the Jews faced in gaining a land of their own.
It was coincidental that I finished this book over the Fourth of July weekend, but it really drove home the concept of freedom to me. Our family went to the beach with both sets of parents and Jeremy's brother's family and while we were there we got into a discussion about Obama and all the changes he is making in the way our country operates (and not necessarily for the better in my opinion, but that's a story for another post). Our country is amazing in the freedom it offers its citizens (and even those who are not citizens). Nowhere else on earth do people have the opportunities and advantages that we do. There have been people who have fought long and hard for those freedoms we enjoy, but by and large they are just given to us by virtue of being in the country. As I read this book about a people who have had to fight for every ounce of freedom, respect and advantage they have, I could not imagine living in a world where I had to fight for everything I had and it could all be taken away in an instant.
Being about Jewish people right after WW II, there are passages about their experiences and suffering during the war. With every paragraph I had the same feeling that I always do when reading about the Holocaust and things related. How can people possibly do such atrocious things to each other? I just cannot understand how people can look at someone else and believe with their whole being that the other person is so inferior that they deserve to be hurt in unimaginable ways? That was a time when evil was so prevelant and allowed to have such free reign.
I have read other books by Leon Uris (I highly recommend Mila 18 and QB VII) and have others on my "to read" list. I love the characters he creates and he balances history with fiction really seamlessly.
While I was on vacation for the Fourth of July, I finished "Exodus" by Leon Uris. This is the story of the creation of Israel after World War 2 and the struggle the Jews faced in gaining a land of their own.
It was coincidental that I finished this book over the Fourth of July weekend, but it really drove home the concept of freedom to me. Our family went to the beach with both sets of parents and Jeremy's brother's family and while we were there we got into a discussion about Obama and all the changes he is making in the way our country operates (and not necessarily for the better in my opinion, but that's a story for another post). Our country is amazing in the freedom it offers its citizens (and even those who are not citizens). Nowhere else on earth do people have the opportunities and advantages that we do. There have been people who have fought long and hard for those freedoms we enjoy, but by and large they are just given to us by virtue of being in the country. As I read this book about a people who have had to fight for every ounce of freedom, respect and advantage they have, I could not imagine living in a world where I had to fight for everything I had and it could all be taken away in an instant.
Being about Jewish people right after WW II, there are passages about their experiences and suffering during the war. With every paragraph I had the same feeling that I always do when reading about the Holocaust and things related. How can people possibly do such atrocious things to each other? I just cannot understand how people can look at someone else and believe with their whole being that the other person is so inferior that they deserve to be hurt in unimaginable ways? That was a time when evil was so prevelant and allowed to have such free reign.
I have read other books by Leon Uris (I highly recommend Mila 18 and QB VII) and have others on my "to read" list. I love the characters he creates and he balances history with fiction really seamlessly.
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