A Day with the Glass Family
Title: Franny and Zooey
Author: J.D. Salinger
As much as I disliked Catcher in the Rye, I loved Franny and Zooey. Apparently a short story combined with an intertwining novella, it reads like a full length novel just fine, and it’s pretty intriguing, unlike Salinger’s more famous work CitR.
Franny and Zooey are the youngest children of the rather large Glass family, and the baby (Franny) starts the book off as a twenty year old histrionic having a bit of a meltdown while out to eat with her boyfriend. Her brother, Zooey, spends a large portion of his story in the bath tub talking to his intrusive mother about the meltdown that has migrated to the family’s living room.
Surprised that Zooey is a boy? I was. Apparently it used to be used as a nick name for Zachary and Zachariah. I spent all of Franny wondering how this mysterious Zooey was going to fit into the story, which at that point revolved around a girl freaking out about Bohemians and Academia the way people in their mid to late twenties today lament the so-called Hipsters. There’s not much of a plot, more of a theme of self-discovery, religion, and philosophy, and what that all really means. But I like that sort of thing, and I loved Zooey and his smart ass attitude.
It was actually pretty cold today, completely out of nowhere, so the kiddo and I spent most the day snuggled up and bundled in sweaters while reading and writing. Basically, the perfect recipe for reading a quick book like Franny and Zooey between lunches and writing sessions and nap times. I picked it up around noon and after reading tidbits here and there all day, finally wrapped it up around kiddo’s bed time. I like having books like that around, especially as I finish up my year round Les Miserables Read-A-Long. It is the kind of book I hope to publish a few of here and there before I die, not in topic and theme, but in mood. I like getting to know characters in a specific moment of their life, like Virgina Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway
HPB Humble Spring Book Club Picks!
Three A.M. – A Short Story
Original Story by E.B. Jones
I woke up slowly and looked at the clock, it was three in the morning. I can’t remember a single night since my wife and I moved here that I didn’t end up waking up at three in the morning. A train used to always come by at three and blow it’s whistle at the intersection right behind out house. The first time that it happened my wife and I both shot out of bed, scared out of our minds trying to figure out just what the hell was going on. We knew that there was a train track behind our house but we didn’t have any idea that it was going to be going past at three in the morning. The realtor had failed to mention that whenever we were looking at the house.
We’d moved here about six months after we were married because we decided that buying a home was the next logical step in our lives.
“It’s more like an investment,” She would say as she chewed celery and looked at the brochure that the mortgage company had given us. “I mean, right now we’re just throwing money away at that sleazy land lord of ours, and you know real estate always goes up in value.”
“Sounds good,” I would say, sipping my coffee and not trying to be contentious, “But are we really ready to settle down just yet?”
“Well, we were settled down enough to get married.” She laughed.
“You have a point.” I told her.
“Besides,” She would say as she put her hand on mine. “I think we’re ready.”
We both smiled and then spent the rest of the time figuring out the details on how to close, how much we would need for a down payment and everything else. She was much better with the numbers than I was so she took care of most of the details, besides, we both knew that it was really going to be her house.
The next few weeks we spent looking through the real estate ads at all the houses that were for sale.
“Oh, I absolutely love this one!” She would tell me quietly. She had heard that if the realtor knew that we were excited about a place then they would have an easier time convincing the client that it was a good home, despite the obvious flaws.
The realtor could still always tell whenever she was excited though, so I had to be the skeptic and ask questions that might make us look less interested. “I don’t know,” I would say, “I mean, what is the crime rate around here?” I wanted to make sure we weren’t getting something we would regret.
“It’s a lovely neighborhood, low crime, great schools and the neighbors are all just so active in the community.” The realtors always said the same thing, sometimes even in the same exact words and I wondered if there was some sort of script that all realtors had to memorize in order to get their license.
The first time we walked into the house that we would eventually buy in a month and a half my wife couldn’t keep it in. “I just love it!” She blurted out.
And we both told the realtor, “We’ll take it!” The final paperwork was signed and we made the hefty down payment and they handed us the keys.
We drove from the old apartment to the new house with the last of our things and got out, marveling at our first real purchase as a married couple. We stood for at least ten minutes just looking at the front door, then she broke the long silence. “Oh my god, a flower garden here on the front with some bushes would look amazing! I could plant some azalea’s and maybe some small bushes,” and then, “You can put in a nice brick walkway up to the front porch, and then people can walk up to it while we sit on the porch in the spring and sip on tea!”
She was so excited about our new home. I was excited as well, “I can build a shop back here so I can work on things.” I told her. I had no idea what I would work on, I was just an accountant and had never really built or repaired anything in my life, but it seemed like something that a married man would do.
“Oh! What kind of shop!” She would ask me excitedly.
“I don’t know yet, maybe I’ll get a lathe and learn how to do wood carving, like my grandpa did. Or I could just turn the garage into an auto repair place and buy me a hot rod and soup it up!”
She tilted her head and looked at me, “As long as it doesn’t take up my side of the garage.”
After walking around the house and coming up with all of our crazy ideas of shops, gardens, sun rooms, dinner parties, barbeques and even a quickly dismissed idea of beekeeping, we started to unload the car.
Most of the larger or heavy stuff we had hired professional movers to take care of so it didn’t take us very long to get everything into the house. We walked around the three bedroom house and were amazed at just how little possessions we actually owned.
“It’s ok, we can buy new things. Furniture that actually matches so it all looks proper.” I laughed.
“You’re right, and there’s two empty rooms, maybe we could think about starting a family. You know, once we get all settled in.” She said looking at me with a gleam in her eyes.
“Really?” I asked, “You want to try for kids?” I wasn’t sure how I felt about kids. I wasn’t against the idea, I had just never really given it much thought.
“Yeah,” She hesitated, “I mean, if you want too.”
I hesitated myself, then finally, “Of course, I’d love too.”
She slung her arms around me and kissed me and then jumped up in the air and before we realized what was going on we were in bed working on starting up a new family.
That evening we ordered pizza. I think it was mostly so we could invite someone to see our new place, thinking that they would think it was just as spectacular as we thought it was. The pizza delivery boy didn’t seem as excited as we were whenever she told him that we had just moved into the neighborhood.
We ate the pizza and watched our favorite movie together and then decided to go to sleep, it had been a very long day today, and we still had many more boxes to unpack tomorrow.
A few hours later, it happened, the loud screeching of a train screaming through the room like some kind of banshee trying to warn us that the house was haunted. I jumped out of bed and grabbed for something to beat off whatever the noise was that had interrupted our peaceful slumber.
It only took about thirty seconds for us to figure out what was going on but it felt like an eternity. She was holding a fly swatter and I had picked up a cardboard tube that one of her paintings was in. We looked at each other and then we started laughing. Then we got back in bed and both fell asleep to the sound of the train going off in the distance.
The next day we unpacked and laughed some more about the train that night, thinking it was probably just a one time thing. It wasn’t. Every single night at close to three in the morning the train whistle would screech through our room, waking us up every night.
The train whistle wasn’t the reason that she left, but she isn’t here anymore. We never had any children and she never planted that garden. None of the furniture is the same and I’m still driving the same four door sedan that I’ve had for the past six years. The train doesn’t come by anymore, but I still wake up every morning, for just a minute or two, at three in the morning.
Parnassus on Wheels – Can I Have One?
Title: Parnassus on Wheels
Author: Christopher Morley
Publisher: Akadine Press
Length: 160 pages
“[…] When you sell a man a book you don’t sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue – you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night – there’s all heaven and earth in a book, a real book I mean.”
Parnassus on Wheels is both sweet and clever. It is adorably romantic. After reading this, I want desperately to peddle books from a horse-drawn early 1900s RV. Morley has captured a tale of an adventure that is every book lovers dream: to travel in a cozy carriage with a dog and horse, spreading the love and joy of literature to everyone you meet. What could be better?
Mr. Mifflin is a middle-aged ginger, evangelizing about the religion of books as a way of life, when he meets over-weight Helen McGill. Helen is tired but spunky, she’s been a ‘house-wife’ to her brother for years on the farm they share. Her brother, a famous author doesn’t really treat her as though she’s her own person, and 6,000 loaves of bread into life, she buys Mifflin’s whole operation for $400 on a lark. Of course, everyone thinks Mr. Mifflin is taking advantage of the lady, but in reality he has offered a whole new life, a new way of seeing the world, and an absurd amount of joy.
As a bookseller, this story speaks to me. I ran the literature sections for several years, and I received an intense amount of satisfaction from finding books for my customers. The idea that you could deliver books straight to someone’s doorstep in such a homey but noninvasive manner sounds so enticing and whimsical to me.
Peddlers are well-known concept:
THE PEDDLER’S CARAVAN
[46]
I wish I lived in a caravan,
With a horse to drive like a peddler-man!
Where he comes from nobody knows,
Or where he goes to, but on he goes!
His caravan has windows two,
And a chimney of tin, that the smoke comes through;
He has a wife, with a baby brown,
And they go riding from town to town.
Chairs to mend, and delf to sell!
He clashes the basins like a bell;
Tea trays, baskets ranged in order,
Plates, with alphabets round the border!
The roads are brown, and the sea is green,
But his home is like a bathing-machine;
The world is round, and he can ride,
Rumble and slash, to the other side!
With the peddler-man I should like to roam,
And write a book when I came home;
All the people would read my book,
Just like the Travels of Captain Cook!
—WILLIAM BRIGHTY RANDS.
But a book peddler is a fairly unique idea, and I love Christopher Morley for sharing this idea with the world. Clearly, he didn’t invent the concept, but one wonders if he encountered a caravan such as R. Mifflin’s Traveling Parnassus, or is it merely a dream he had for himself? Parnassus on Wheels was Morley’s first novel, first published in 1917. Mr. Mifflin returns in the book The Haunted Bookshop, a sequel I am strongly looking forward to, but what I find most interesting is that Christopher Morley wrote over 100 novels. Have you heard of any of them? I had not, I was only aware of Morley because he was pressed on me by a fellow bookseller. I rarely come across his work in bookstores, and I have never seen a title of his in any library. I now plan to collect his work more vigorously.
Morley apparently wrote a number of essays and poems as well, and lectured at University. One adorable little factoid is that he married a woman named Helen shortly after studying history in college. I can’t help but wonder how much Helen McGill, of Parnassus on Wheels, resembled his own wife whom he loved.
Have you read anything by Christopher Morley? Please leave comments.
An Education in WWII
Title: Number the Stars
Author: Lois Lowry
Genre: Young Adult
I have been a long-time fan of Lois Lowry from my wonderful experience with The Giver
What I love most about reading this as an adult is that the book is set in Denmark, and King Christian X plays a role in the landscaping of the novel. I missed out on learning any details about King Christian X during my World War II studies in school, so I pretty much knew next to nothing about him prior to this novel. Not that there is a lot to learn about him in the pages of Number the Stars, but definitely enough to make me want to go pick up a biography on him the first chance I get. The little tidbit in the novel about how he rode the streets of Denmark on his trusty horse, Jubilee, every morning and greeted his subjects is so endearing and immediately peaks my interest. The story Lowry includes about the little boy and the Nazi soldier… ‘Where are his bodyguards?’ asked the Nazi. ‘All of Denmark are his bodyguards,’ the boy responded. Brilliant deviance and loyalty! Did this really happen or is this a bit of fiction Lowry put into her tale? Either way, I like it! Still, I mean to find out the answer!
I’ve decided this wonderful piece of literature will not be lost on the kiddo. The beauty of homeschooling is having the ability to choose the absolute must-reads for her education. The beauty of a classical education is being able to have age appropriate reading material for everything that is meant to be learned. No missing out on any particular piece of literature because it hits the wrong age group when you’re studying any particular topic. Number the Stars has been added to the list; and yes, there really is a list. (It’s never too soon to start writing curriculum!) The other beauty of homeschooling is that as a parent your education is never quite done either. There will always be something to read – something to study – to make sure I don’t miss a beat while schooling the kiddo.
For more about the occupation of Denmark and the nation’s amazing effort (and success!) in saving their Jewish population during the war, visit this site: http://www.auschwitz.dk/Denmark.htm
A Book I mean to check out:
City of Fallen Angels and Lilith Lore
Lilith in Atrology, click to read more
*Spoilers*
I sat down with City of Fallen Angels over a week ago, but just finished it this morning. The first half was hard for me to get into, having the melodrama equivalent of The Twilight Saga’s New Moon
I have many interests, and though I tend to purchase books sporadically, when reading through my TBR’s I’d like to think that I do it with a little finesse, with purpose. Years ago, I did a brief research day on Lilith, spawned from a conversation I had with someone completely convinced that Adam from Genesis had two wives. I was startled that someone would think this and wanted to get to the root of it all, and spent my astonishment reading through websites, encyclopedias, and other reference material. I have days like this, spent on a particular topic, often. Mostly I end up purchasing things to read later. Who would have thought that Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments
So I plucked The Book of Lilith
The most confusing thing about Lilith (that Koltuv sorts out for the reader well) is all the contradictions embodied in her. She is supposed to be the first wife of Adam, equal to him being brought up from the dust like him, rather than a submissive form pulled from his bones. Yet, she is also a she-demon, according to many as powerful as God, equal but opposite. Some say she is God’s concubine, some say she is Lucifer’s current wife, but still Adam’s ex. She is often linked or married to the King of the Demons known as Samael. Sometimes Samael is thought to be equal to Lucifer, and sometimes he is thought to be Lucifer’s version of Adam, his own creation. All the mythology overlaps making Lilith a strange, cloudy line between humanity and Satan, but always the opposite of Truth, Goodness, and Steadfastness in every way. These characters are full of secrets and lies, evil, and are ever changing according to the story tellers grasp and manipulation. One would expect nothing less from those who are supposed to counter balance God.
Lilith in History, click to view a concise but informative website
The most consistent version of Lilith is that she is a succubus for men, and “for women she is the dark shadow of the Self that is married to the devil” (Koltuv). Like Cassandra Clare’s character in City of Fallen Angels, she is a baby killer and is known as the goddess of dead children, Clare uses this concept as a cult inadvertently kill their offspring via demon blood while trying to please her.
So tied to feminism and the uterus, people also believe that she is ever linked to women in the form of the curse of our menstrual cycle. Tethered to our raging hormones, sexuality, and PMS. This line of thinking eventually made possible the transition of Lilith of evil she-demon to a goddess and Feminist icon/idol. It is amazing that this mythical creature has managed to be so many things (even a screeching night owl and a Leviathan)! Some of the discrepancies can be attributed to the idea of there being two Liliths: a Grandmother Lilith (married to Samael) and a Maiden Lilith (married to a dark prince of demons, Ashmodai).
I find it all rather fascinating. Throughout history people have linked Lilith to hundreds of stories, and though I don’t belive any of them as fact (I personally plop her right in there with Zeus, Athena, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer), I find the use of her in fiction pretty riveting.
The Secret Adventures of H.G. Wells
Title: The Map of Time
Author: Felix J. Palma
Publisher: Atria Books
Length: 611 pages
It may have taken me longer than I first supposed to finish Felix J. Palma’s The Map of Time. Yes, there may have been days between reading that I had not expected, because the marketing was so astonishingly gripping. But any distaste I had for this book while I was reading it was purely psychological. It had to have been, because Palma’s writing is brilliant.
My psychological beefs? Let’s see if I can express them.
#1 The premise described in the jacket isnt even remotely a familiar story line until the last 60 pages of the book. Good thing I don’t usually read dust jackets, I just dive in, but I have friends who do who were reading this book roughly around the same time as myself, so on this occasion I went against instinct and read the synopsis. While reading the novel, I felt a bit duped by the summary, anxiously waiting for a time traveling book thief that didn’t arrive until over 500 pages in. The front cover is applicable to all three story lines, but the inner art work is directly related to the end, so the anticipation literally killed my reading mojo. I wish the advertising had been a little more straight forward, except I love the advertising and it clearly worked, therefore on that count, I have not a single suggestion.
#2 The book is really 3 books. At least in my mind it is. Its 3 separate but interconnected stories, overlapping characters and puzzle pieces and the theme of time travel, though not actual time travel. In my perfect world, this book would have been a series of novellas (which I inevitably would have begged to have in one complete volume as an omnibus – see… psychological issues!). Instead of being broken up in generic Part One, Part Twos, etc, I would have mentally prepared the reader for the disconnected yet interconnected adventure with titles. Example: Instead of being called The Map of Time, call the book The Secret Adventures of H.G. Wells. Part One, would be “Book One: The Murder of Jack the Ripper”, or something of the sort. “Book Two: Captain Shackleton’s Love Story” and “Book Three: The Time Lord and the Book Thief.” Perhaps Book Three could keep the original title “The Map of Time” it wouldn’t really matter. I just want to go in with the understanding that these are separate but connected adventures, rather than flailing about wondering if the next paragraph has any relevancy – which it does!
#3 There’s a word mis-used at one point where I believe ‘ancestor’ should have been utilized instead of ‘descendant.’ But that’s really trivial, and no one cares. (It also could have been me getting my time loops all mixed up.)
The story itself, I wouldn’t change a lick, because it’s marvelous. It’s the present structure that I clearly have issue with. Feeling as though the story was disconcertingly disconnected (when in reality as a series I would find it beautifully interconnected) made me set it aside in irritation one too many times. With the internal structure slightly altered with silly titles, I suddenly feel better about the whole thing. I would have found both jacket and description equally fitting and not misleading at all.
Moral of the story (my story, not Palma’s story)… this book is bloody brilliant and I’m keeping it, despite having kicked and internally screamed several times while reading it. Don’t be put off by your own expectations.
Water for Elephants: 24 Hour Fairy Tale
Title: Water for Elephants
Author: Sara Gruen
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: I read from the Algonquin Books, a division of Workman Publishing, movie cover edition
Length: 445 pgs.
When I first see a book, I mentally catalogue it. I see On What Grounds, Cleo Coyle, mystery by author, C’s. I see On Art and Life, John Ruskin, philosophy by philosopher, R’s. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen, general fiction by author, G’s. I see Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, general fiction by author, R’s. I see Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire, Amanda Foreman, History, British biographies by subject G’s.
At second glance, it becomes a more personal catalogue: bubble bath, afternoon, 24 hour, week, over time.
A bubble bath read is a Cleo Coyle Coffeehouse mystery series. Roughly 200 pages, usually purchased in paperback format, I can read it in an hour to an hour and a half. John Ruskin’s On Art and Life is part of my Penguin Great Ideas books collection, they are small, but involve a little more brain power than a fun, cozy mystery, I will spend an afternoon on one of these books. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen? I saw ladies pick this up for their book clubs, I weighed it in my hands, and thought: I’ll read that… looks like a romantic 24 hour fairy tale. You see the pattern.
Yet I waited. I impulsively buy many things when it comes to books… bubble bath reads because I read them often; Great Ideas books because I collect them; week longs because work like Carlos Ruiz Zafon is heaven to me; history and science books because I have an insatiable thirst for knowledge. But 24 hour reads get brushed under the rug fairly often. They are often times catalogued as fluff I don’t have time for.
The movie came and went, the movie edition came by the hundreds. Still, I passed it up.
Finally, my best friend bought a copy during a Valentine’s Event hosted at the Half Price Books in Humble (Buy your favorite love story, get a chance to win a dinner for two at Italiano’s). Now, for a book reviewer, blogger, and aspiring novel writer, you’d think I had a best friend who reads with me. You probably envision a girl that goes and gets coffee and pours over reading material only to gab about it later with her bestie. Well, I have very close friends that I do that with, but Danielle isn’t one of them. My best friend absorbs books on her own, stews over them in her mind, and then cherishes them and tries to not breathe a word of them with another soul lest she ruin the magic of the experience. Point? She wont read with me. But I found out what book she bought at that event, and I picked up a copy of my own on clearance.
24 hours of entertainment for 25 cents – heck yeah!
Now, granted, I wasn’t reading Water for Elephants for 24 hours straight. Just between baby, husband, event planning, house cleaning, playdates, meals, emails, pampering, and dog walking, it took me 24 hours to finish it. If however, you are going on a vacation and have a chance to read it all in one sitting… I HIGHLY recommend doing so.
The New York Times Book Review calls Water for Elephants “An enchanting escapist fairy tale” and despite the sociopathic husband of the love interest who gets off on beating animals and people and lording over a small community of travelling circus hooligans, it really is a bit of a fairy tale, and its definitely an escape from your own reality.
Water for Elephants reads a bit like a Kate Morton novel, but at a quicker pace, with lots of layers, old age, storytelling, and flashbacks. Unlike Kate Morton, this first person narrative is written from the perspective of the man in the saga – rather than aged ladies. Where Kate Morton’s fabulous books strike me as having a very female target audience, I feel that marketed a bit differently, Sara Gruen has the potential to engross a population of male readers who have missed out under the impression that this fairy tale is a romance novel.
Gruen has done extensive research into depression era, of circuses, and of elephants, and it shows. Although Water for Elephants is about two people finding their fairy tale life in the midst of harsh circumstances, its ultimately the greatest coming of age story I’ve read in a long time. You’ve got a virginal college boy experiencing the death of his parents and loss of all his future plans, running away to join the circus, telling you the story of his life, all his trials and tribulations, from a nursing home at age ninety – or ninety three. From becoming room mates with a dwarf, losing his virginity, learning the fine art of train hopping, planning a murder, witnessing a murder, and falling in love, and becoming an unsung hero, Gruen leads you effortlessly through the life of an ex-circus vet, and its wonderful.
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but when I do, I’ll tell you all what I think.
Zenith Rising – A Flash Back Review
This is a review I dug up from a few years ago. I’ve chatting with the author lately and wanted what was fresh on my mind to be fresh on my blog as well.
Title: Zenith Rising
Author: Michael Goodell
Publisher: PublishAmerica
Length: 229 pages
As most people know, I am a shelfari.com addict. It makes sense, as shelfari is a book site for book people and I am quite certainly a book person. In my shelfari hunting and pecking for great reads and cool recommendations, I ran across an author named Michael Goodell who has since been a fun shelfari friend to engage in the banter of book talk. One day, a group of us decided to read his book Zenith Rising (available for purchase on amazon) and discovered quite a treat.
I found Zenith Rising to be an interesting read and great first novel for Goodell. It was slightly reminiscent of an old classic with a mix of John Grisham’s The Rainmaker, but unique and very much an original piece full of life and art and the raw thoughts of humanity. I also believe that its a good shelf companion to Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead.
Goodell has said about his work,
[…] one message I want people to walk away with after reading Zenith Rising, it would be the transformative effect that the pride of accomplishment and the sense of ownership can have on people who have never accomplished anything, (nor been told that they could or should), and never owned anything that wasn’t given to them. On that last point, when I was working with a nonprofit housing group, I was struck by the similarities between the lives of trust fund babies, and those of welfare babies. They both are born into lives with no demands and no expectations, and both engage in self-destructive behaviors, often culminating in wasted lives. I tried to point out that connection through some of the characters and their antics.
I think Goodell has succeeded in his goal, as most people I have talked to about the book feel a twinge of nostalgia towards the work as a whole. I cried like a baby through chapter nine, the way I cried in Wall-E. People should read this book before finishing school, high school or college, I don’t think it really matters which, just before they go out into the world. Inspire them to not let money go to their head, and not let their cities become pieces of crap. We’re always taught about the problems in other countries. Growing up, I always heard the glories of mission trips. Did we ever do activities in our own cities that were helpful? Not really. The closest we came was a yearly trip to Dallas four hours away. We got a lot done and it was amazing, but anything that can be done in Dallas could have certainly been done in Houston.
I truly believe that Goodell’s book has a bit of simple brilliance about it and cannot wait to read his second book which will also be set in the city of Zenith.
An excerpt from the book (pg.82-83):
One of the men stood with back to the viewer, in the lower center of the painting, where the mountain sloped down to a ridge, gazing out across a valley or vast plain stretching to the horizon. Often painted at dusk, with mist rising from the ground, or the sunset colors reflecting in the myriad streams snaking their way across the valley floor, the paintings gave the attorney an aching desire to step into that long lost world. He stood beside the adventurer at the edge of a precipice. The world unfolded at his feet, waiting for a man courageous enough to carve a life from its untamed wilds.
Information from the Zenith Rising Website:
From its stunning opening scene of a police raid gone tragically awry, to its heart-breaking conclusion, “Zenith Rising” tells the story of a dying city. Yet once that city was a world leader in manufacturing and technological innovation.
Once Zenith’s future was limited only by the size of its dreams.
Though the years stripped away its promise, the people of Zenith didn’t share equally in its decline. For some, the wealth garnered during the glory years insulated them from the city’s struggles. Others sought to suck the last bit of life, and profit, from the dying city, while a few, a lonely few, saw things as they were and vowed to change them.
Michael Goodell has given us a compelling tale ripped from today’s headlines. By means of a riveting plot and vivid characters, he presents a challenge every American must confront.
You can learn more about it at http://www.zenithrising.webs.com
The list price is $24.95.
http://www.shelfari.com/groups/23648/discussions/105903/Zenith-Rising
Anakalian Whims 
Seed Savers – a series to be treasured
June 8, 2012 at 1:00 am (Education, Reviews) (books, Christian fiction, dystopian society, fiction, gardening, homeschooling, kids books, reviews, S. Smith, Seed Savers, self-sufficient living, series, social commentary, Treasure, young adult)
Author S. Smith has written the latest and greatest of young adult dystopian society novels. In the spirit of the previously mentioned Lowry novel and and Monica Hughes’ Invitation to the Game
, Smith has given us solid middle grade tale featuring a new (and somewhat real) futuristic threat – illegal gardening. It’s yet another great pre-cursor to students preparing to read Orwell’s 1984
. Educators everywhere should be aware of this rising star in children’s literature.
The detailed history of how this society came to be is part of its unique twist. Most dystopian society stories don’t spend a lot time telling you how it got this way, just that it did and people didn’t notice, the path somewhat alluded to but not specific. Smith helps point out the steps leading up to this future with factoids that suspciously resemble things that are happening in both the farmlands and corporate America. From living organism patents made legal in the 1980’s to genetically engineered seedlings, Smith spells out just exactly how this future (though a little outlandish in a society newly obsessed with being eco-friendly in its marketing) could quite possibly go from where it is now to the kind of United States described in the book (corporations and the government in bed with each other making trouble for the little people – Banks, anyone?… in combination with the idea that a government can make a plant illegal – marijuana comes to mind). Yet, she does this effortlessly, without killing the flow of the story.
I personally love social commentary presented through the art of fiction. (You like this too? Check out this site: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/371512?uid=3739920&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=56242603693). I find it compelling and quite frankly the best way to address particular situations that when written about in a nonfiction format becomes an irate rant. I love the way it personalizes events and characters in a book so quickly, in a way that the average story cannot do. Get under the skin of an art fanatic… make it impossible for art to be appreciated, collected, loved (if you’re not a reader, check out the movie Equilibrium, then again, if you’re not a reader what’s up with you reading my blog? What brought you here? Leave me a comment.)
Tug at the heartstrings of a gardener… attack the very core of their being by telling them in this reality, they can’t have one.
Needless to say, I loved it. S. Smith, you are brilliant, my dear, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series. This one is going on loan to my nieces and nephews, is getting short listed on my very long list of required reading for my daughter who will one day be homeschooled. It will be the fun fiction to parallel our botany classes that week, the friendly reminder of why she will be taught to tend her own garden, and perhaps raise a chicken.
Buy Your Copy of Seed Savers Today!
Visit the author’s website here: http://authorssmith.com/
Want to start your own garden (before its too late!), check out Mel Bartholomew’s Square Foot Gardening tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Lu-7FIj_g
Also for fun, check out this blog: http://www.thisgardenisillegal.com/
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