1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows: A Memoir

 

1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows: A Memoir by Ai WeiWei

Chinese artist Ai WeiWei tells the story of his life, the influences, and the impact of his work on the world. 

Art is protest, art is communication, art is a voice for those who cannot speak.  Ai WeiWei transforms life into experiences.  As a citizen of China WeiWei was not always free to express criticism of life in China, always under surveillance and often in disfavor WeiWei describes his story of detention, government removal of his art, hidden meanings in his works, and a total devotion to his work.

As a child of the poet Ai Qing, WeiWei was often exiled with his father during times when the popularity of Ai Quig was trouble for the Chinese leadership.  Childhood was feast followed by famine, comforts given and taken, accolades given and then public shaming for being too visible.   These experiences shaped WeiWei into someone who focused on his works to the (in my opinion) detriment of others.   

As a memoir, WeiWei focuses on the events that are to him meaningful and important.  A great insight into the mind of an artist, but he tells on himself a bit with the handling of his wife, partner and child.   A bit dismissive of that aspect of his life.

Ai WeiWei, as an artist is diverse in his mediums and this memoir walks us through some of the processes of his most notable works.   

13 notable works of Ai Weiwei

 

Read:  January 2023
Met:  Heather's

Picker:  Heather

2 for 1

Ok, I'm super behind again.

During the annual weekend away, an accounting was done of the books from this year and it turns out I missed the write up for The Snow Child.  So here we go:

The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey

Fiction is so wonderful when it can make you set aside what you know to be real and allow you to live in a world where anything is possible.  It's Alaska in the 1920's and Jack and Mabel are barely making it.  He works and works and works to keep their Alaska homestead alive and she's doing her part but lonely and heartbroken for the child they didn't have.  They find a moment to play in the snow and form a snow child.

Either through magic or fortune soon they encounter Faina, a lovely girl with blonde hair and a fox for a friend.  Faina saves them, or they save her - either way it's charming and regardless of all the evidence it's never really clear if she's real.

Among our group there was great debate upon the meaning of the ending of this tale, which leads me to believe that the ending was intentionally misleading. Consensus was positive on this particular book.


Weekend away!

Every year we try to plan two extra curricular activities.  The first is the spouse dinner.  This is a challenge to find a night when fourteen people can gather at one time and child care can be obtained for eleven shorties.  We've managed it for the last four years and will keep booking it.

The other event is even harder to arrange.  A weekend where we ladies zip away from our broods and gather in a cozy cottage to dine on chocolate and other yummy foods, hike, do some yoga and of course, talk about the book du jour.   Last year, we were warned away from our hosts cabin in Leavenworth because of late season fires and terrible air quality and this year an early winter storm kept us on the west side of the state.  Lucky for us, our group has some great connections and we fell into comfortable lodgings both times.   This year found us in a charming water front cabin on Vashon Island that snuggly sleeps twelve or very comfortably sleeps seven.

 

One of the things about the cabin that added to its wonderfulness is that you can't simply drive to the door.  There is a group parking lot and then you have to walk about a third of a mile to the 11th house on the shore.  The walk was quiet and with each step the hustle of life "on land" faded away.

Our book for discussion was "How To Be a Woman".   Part memoir, part stand alone essays on feminism it opened the door for a lengthy discussion on topics that we ladies seldom get into with each other.

I'm sure it would be an easy thing to assume that when gals get together and shut the door they talk about body hair, dating and their weight.  We really don't delve into those areas very often.

Filled with funny moments and a rather long discussion about what to name your vagina (Oh yes, I went there.) this isn't the Susan B. Anthony women's suffrage version of feminism.  It's a straight forward look at our lives today and what it means as we navigate a world where we have to balance people like Kim Kardashian who are famous for goodness knows what, and Nancy Pelosi who is demonized for I'm not sure what maybe being a prickly woman with opinions and being moms, women who have serious jobs.  We're told that we're equal, but the tend to typically fill the board room in the Communications and Human Resources positions.

While the book evoked a long discussion that lasted well into Sunday, we soundly didn't think we liked the author.  The tone of the book was chatty and casual.  Perhaps that's her way of balancing the deep topics she was tackling.

I do give her kudos for not shying away from an unpopular topic.  She and her husband chose to terminate a pregnancy after they had other children.  She writes about this with complete openness and acknowledgement that her decision will be (was) questioned and reviled by many.

Quiet The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Shhh

Oh my, this book set some of our hair on fire and it has seems to have themes that will be popping up all year long.

Ms. Cain has researched and written an interesting book about some of the most powerful people in our collective history.  She writes generously about people like Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Charles Schwab, Gandhi, and Eleanor Roosevelt who have made enormous impacts on the world even though they would more likley prefer to spend time with a friend than attend a gala in their honor.

Ms. Cain theorizes that society tends to reward the likes of Tony Robbins' and Dale Carnegie over those of us who would rather eat our shoe than speak publicly.

It was interesting to go around the room and let each of us describe where we fall on the introvert / extrovert scale.  Many of us called ourselves ambiverts as we embrace  equal number of introvert and extrovert tendencies. (There was an assessment in the book.)   An ambivert is  likely to be excited to attend a party, but instantly wants to escape upon arrival if social groups have already formed.

The book describes several people and their experiences, the authors dread of public speaking, a parents attempts to help their 'shy' child and a married couple's struggle with how often to entertain.



Ms. Cain lost some of our members with her unflattering descriptions of extroverts.  As detailed as she was with the nuances of the varied introverts in our midst she surprised us with sweeping generalizations and statements to the effect that extroverts are easily distracted by bright shiny things, overconfident, impulsive, and prone to divorce.  Obviously there is more to her research regarding extroverts, but the minimal attention to positive traits was offensive to our most outspoken extrovert.  Of course as she started to loudly blather on about her indignation we dangled a silver Christmas ornament and a cookie and she quickly lost her train of thought.  See, she's an extrovert, but clearly not very bright.

The purpose of the book wasn't to delve into extroverts so perhaps we're misguided in getting lost in this point.

Towards the end of the book Ms. Cain gives some interesting advice to parents and educators regarding how introverts react differently to things like group projects.   She also gives tips for public speaking that are actually pretty good and don't start with "how to fake your own death to get out of talking to a crowd."

It's clear that one point is that we shouldn't count the quiet person out as a valuable contributor, because you never know what's going on with them:

Whidbey

Most of us

 Ah, the annual weekend getaway.  This year, to reduce the chances of scheduling conflicts we picked our weekend early in the year.  Sadly, one of our members had the crud and didn't join us, but the trick of picking a late summer/fall weekend in January paid off as we were all free.

Unfortunately, our selected location spot was virtually uninhabitable due to the smoke from the Eastern Washington fires, so we (Melinda) scrambled to locate an alternate spot.  She worked her connections and came up with a cabin on the water on Orcas Island.  Sounds awesome right?  Drive up to Anacortes and take the ferry to beautiful, isolated Orcas Island.  We were happy until someone figured out that not only are there only 3 boats a day to Orcas, but that there was a girl scout event taking place and 500 dads and kids were going to be jockeying for the same boats.

Scramble again, and we (again, Melinda) used out (her) super powers and found a THIRD, vacant cabin for the weekend.  This gem was on Whidbey Island, not as isolated, but boats every 30 minutes.   Yeah!

This place was cute as a button. We were warned that it had a "camp kitchen" but other than the tight space and the shorty refrigerator it was perfect.  We whipped up  a couple great dinners, and two marvelous breakfasts.  

Saturday night we sat down to discuss our book club selection. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo.

I don't think I was the only one who was surprised to learn that this story about families living in the slums of Mumbai was not fiction.  The tales of what was happening to them seemed so far fetched that it had to be a conglomeration of events that were molded into an interesting tale.  Nope - all true.  

Let me just say this, the US legal system may be difficult to navigate and skewed to a point where the wealthy have an advantage, but you do not want to be dealing with the legal system in Mumbai.  Everyone you come across has their hand out and are working you for a payment to make your case go away.  Not all of these folks have the authority or ability to do what they say, but they will gladly wipe you out to do it.  

The discussion about the book was good, but there was little controversy and we all seemed to like it equally.   That makes for a quick talk and little fireworks.  Note to authors everywhere:  our write ups will be far more interesting if you can irritate all or parts of us.  This business of writing an engaging, good book is boring.

Other topics discussed over the weekend was our health.  Mostly everyone is fine, but have typical aches and pains associated with not being 22 anymore.  

A discussion arose about affirmations and how women don't typically get all the affirmations they need from their husbands but get (and give) lots of affirmations to friends and colleagues.  Men typically get all the affirmations from their wives and get little if none from their friends and colleagues.  We commented that our one member who has a female partner must get really tired of  must get so tired of validating each other all day long.  She said it was terrible; they can never get up from the dinner table

H: That was a great dinner
G: Thank you for saying that, you’re so nice.
H: It’s so kind of you to notice, you’re very observant.
G: That’s sweet.  I love that about you.
H: Thanks! I noticed that you moved those dirty socks, you’re so tidy.
G: I get it from you, you’re very easy to live with
H: thank you
G: no, thank you

H: No!  Thank you 

During the day Saturday there was a bike ride into Langley while a couple of us took the less active route and stopped by a farmers market.  We met for lunch and enjoyed the Djangofest festivities.  For the uneducated (or regular) people, Djangofest celebrates the gypsy jazz style of Django Reinhardt, who was a Belgian jazz guitarist and composer.  As we dined Al fresco at the Useless Bay Cafe a gaggle of guitarists were jamming on the lawn.  It was very pleasant.

We didn't have time for a fire or a trip to the hot tub, but it was a relaxing get away none the less.

Our borrowed cabin

try doing this at night...

In the Garden of Beasts

There comes a time in every readers life when they ask "How many Holocaust books can I stand to read?"  This particular non-fiction book delves into the events during Adolf Hitler's rise to power as witnessed by the American Ambassador William E. Dodd, who arrived in Berlin in 1933 with his family.  If you're only going to read one book in your lifetime about this dark, but significant historical period, In the Garden of Beasts is not the book to read.   The author, Larson, makes the assumption that the reader knows what happened once the war started and how events unfolded.  There are references to the camps, but since the book is about Dodd and his experiences those horrific details aren't delved into.

This focus on the experiences of Dodd and his colorful family (mostly his daughter Martha) is an interesting view.  Larson doesn't take a stand as to weather or not Dodd is a hero or a bumbling fool who could have been more adamant about what he was seeing in Berlin.  It is clear that it was a complicated world and that the messages from the Hitler camp was that they wanted peace.  Sure, there was the slight Jewish Problem but mostly that issue was handled away from the everyday life of "regular" people.   The slow and steady crimp of the freedoms and liberty were so (forgive the phrase) well done that no one felt the need (or ability) to protest.  Those that did, as we know, were promptly dealt with.

As a group, we felt it was an accessible book but hard to read at times.  Hard, not because of the subject matter but because the events were happening and it is so obvious to us with the luxury of knowledge that something needed to be done.  Dodd was in the position to influence the American participation but his focus on diplomacy was maddening.

Larson suggests that Dodd was sent to keep relations with the Germans in good standing because they owed the US money and if the relationship broke down then the likelihood of being repaid dwindled.  It all comes down to money.

Dodd and his adult daughter Martha are the most well drawn characters in this book.  His wife and son are present, but as they didn't keep their own diaries their perspective and participation seem to be to the side.  Martha was busy while in Germany.  She "dated" a number of men, had affairs and was excited to dine with Hitler.   After the truth about what was happening and about to happen in Germany came out I doubt Martha was so thrilled with her encounter.

Perhaps it is because Erik Larson is a local author, but most of us encountered strangers who felt the need to comment on this book when we were seen reading it.  It was good, but not the end all be all WWII political account.

Cleopatra is in the house!

A coin with the image of Cleopatra

As the keeper of the blog, I may be getting poor marks this year.  This post will cover the last two books and I have a call out to the ladies to help me find the book I know I'm missing.  My guess it is one that I didn't actually read and that is why I can't remember it.

Our discussion last night was over the book Cleopatra, a Life by Stacy Schiff.   We skipped over the book group part where we all catch up and immediately jumped into the book.  At first we were marveling over the significance of Cleopatra and her story.  For those of us who were uninformed it was an eye opening read to learn how integral she was in the Caesar / Mark Anthony era.  My image of her was similar to Helen of Troy, someone you hear about but don't really know any details. 

We were impressed that at the time of her reign her gender was a non-issue and the fact that she had children by multiple fathers also didn't seem to bother her people.  She taxed the heck out of everyone and yet was liked. 

We agreed with (a missing Melinda) that at times it felt like the Cleopatra story line was secondary to the drama unfolding in the Roman Empire. We attributed that a bit to the availability of historical reference material.  The "doings" in the RE are well documented while the historical artifacts from Alexandria were largely lost and thus many things are speculation.  The author did not take liberties and describe scenes, moods and conversations that she could not be privy too.  Thank you!

In discussing the tone of the book we wondered what an author like Doris Kerns Goodwin could do with the same subject matter.  We agreed that Ms. Goowin's historical offerings tend to "put you in the room" with the action more than Ms. Schiff's book.  However, we do acknowledge that it would be a lot easier to write about Theodore Roosevelt or the Kennedy's because of the availability of their schedules, writings, and the documents that others who were in the room provided.

We felt that the second half of the book flowed better and was far more intriguing.  The first half read like a college history book.  In fact, one of our members had to spend the day with her daughter in the car on an unexpected road trip, so she downloaded the audio book and the daughters response was that mom was reading a history book.  We enjoyed the book, but personally I think it is great torture for the teen to have to endure mom's book.

Our understanding of the era has increased and individuals whom we knew little about have become clearer.  Herod - bad guy.  Mark Anthony - love sick warrior.

The Immoral Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Wow wow wow.  Some books make me really thankful to be a reader.  This book tells the story of one aspect of medical testing, the benefits gained, and the impact to a family who is an unwilling participant.  The author does a fantastic job of weaving the story of the family into the more clinical side of medical research.

Henrietta Lacks was a mother, a wife and an adored part of her community and in 1951 she died of a horribly aggressive strain of cervical cancer.  Mrs. Lacks tumors were biopsied and retained by Johns Hopkins University and they turned into one of the most prolific forms of human cells ever cultivated in our medical research community.  Because of the cells there were many advancements in cancer research, the most notable being the discovery of the HPV virus and its subsequent vaccine.  This advancement alone is expected to dramatically reduce cervical cancer in future generations of women.

Mrs. Lacks cells – known in the medical community as HeLa were cultivated and shipped around the world for testing in all manner of experiments.  HeLa cells were even sent into space as part of experiments. 

Divide and Conquer A HeLa cell splitting into two new cells.
The green spots are chromosomes.Courtesy Paul D. Andrews

While the doctor who initially treated Mrs. Lacks and took her cells discovered the amazing properties of the HeLa cells didn’t personally profit from them,  at least one multi-million dollar biotech company resulted because of the profitability of selling the cells to researchers around the globe.

The problem – neither Mrs. Lacks nor her family were asked if the cells could be obtained or used.  Her family were shocked to find out years later that their mother was “still alive”.  Furthermore the idea that people and companies were profiting from their mother while they couldn’t afford to see a doctor was extremely challenging.  

This book adeptly explores the topic of medical ethics.  From medical testing that occurred on poor and uneducated populations (the Tuskegee Experiments) to the fact that even in modern times when blood or tissues are sampled for needed testing the remainder of the samples that are unused after the tests are run are cataloged and used for research, Ms. Skloot does a remarkable job of bringing the facts to light in an accessible way.  She balances the benefits of the medical advancements that have been made with the emotional impact to this family. 

The Lack’s don’t have the medical background to understand that while the cells that were taken from their mother are still growing that she in fact is dead.  At one heartbreaking point in the book, her daughter who was 5 or 6 when her mom died asks if it would be possible to use the cells in a cloning process so she could have her mother back.   She is frantic at the idea that researchers are injecting her mother(s cells) with the AIDS virus, with other cancers and other diseases like polio.  She wonders if these tests are causing her mother pain.  Furthermore, in the 80’s little was known about the AIDS virus and the social stigma was also painful for this deeply religious family.

We felt that there were heroes in this true story.  Dr. Gey, the doctor who treated Mrs. Lacks and obtained the cells was a hero.  The idea of informed consent is a modern one and Dr. Gey didn’t operate with those rules.  He could have personally profited from his “discovery” but instead shared his findings (the cells) with the medical research community because it was best for mankind.

The author herself is a hero.  She advocates for the family, educates the family and supports their emotional journey and gives them what they likely need most – acknowledgement.

There was a hero at the mental institution where the Lack’s youngest sister lived and died who stepped up to not hide a horrific truth.  The facts of this little girls life and terrible death were hard to hear, but the relief felt by the family far overshadowed the somewhat reasonable desire by the institution to downplay or cover-up the truth of how life in institutions were at that time.

Along with the heroes there are some very heartbreaking aspects to this story.  The children of Mrs. Lacks suffered greatly after her death.  Not only were they at a disadvantage because they lost their mother at such as young age, but they were subjected to an almost cartoonish horrible step mother.  The youngest child was in an institution prior to her mother’s death, tragically misdiagnosed as an “idiot” when medically the likely  only real issue was deafness.  Additionally, once Mrs. Lacks, who visited with her daughter weekly, died no one ever visited the child again.  Her siblings were horrified to learn much later that they had a sister and that she had died without ever knowing why her mother never came back to see her.

The other tragic figure in the book is one of Mrs. Lack’s sons.  He suffered greatly at the hands of the step-mother and he turned into an angry, selfish man-child with no skills, no hope and no real happiness.

We felt the story was well told, it was accessible, touching and extremely relevant to our world. Ms. Skloot was hailed by the New York Times Book review as having told the Lacks family often painful history with grace.  I personally agree.

Hiroshima in the Morning

It is rare that we as a group split on our opinions of a book.  Last night was a great discussion because of the passionate discussions that were displayed at the dinner table.  Hiroshima in the Morning is a memoir by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto.  She was given the opportunity to leave New York and live in Japan for six months to interview the few remaining Hiroshima atom bomb survivors in an attempt to draw out their true stories.  She finds that the information she gets feels like the stories they have told and re-told over and over again.  They don't seem to have much truth and emotional depth.  That is, until after 9/11 when the events in New York seem to awaken the people she has been talking with and their stories become more "human."

However, the book is also about Rizzuto's loss of her mother (a Japanese woman who was sent to the interment camps in America during the war) to Alzheimers and the eventual ending of  Rizzuto's marriage.

Complaints about the book is that she was paid to write a story about the survivors and their experience and this novel about how hard it was to adapt to life in Japan and the authors struggles with her own family dynamic didn't quite mesh.  We wondered if THIS really was the book that she wrote about Hiroshima or if 10 years later she's still working on the actual book.

Some of our group took issue with Rizzuto's decision to leave her family for six months.  Is leaving your children who are 3 and 5 wrong when it is for work?  Would we have felt differently if Rizzuto had been the father and not the mother?

Others felt that her actions were fine, but she seemed cold and not emotionally present for anyone.  She spends many pages sharing how difficult it was adjusting to life in Japan, but didn't express missing her children.  When they finally are able to visit she seems to resent their presence. 

There were folks that liked the book and expressed that the longer they are away from it the more it tended to grow and resonate for them. The disdain for the book was not universal, in fact the authors actions and motivations were handily defended.

Zelda, A biography

an attempt at ballet

at age 19

with her husband

We read Nancy Milford's Zelda, a biography this month.  Ms. Milford brought us Savage Beauty that was well appreciated by our book group and we had high hopes for this, her first novel.

Zelda is the biography of the charmed but troubled life for Zelda Fitzgerald, the wife of the author F. Scott Fitzgerald.  She was in essence the first flapper and symbolized the roaring 20's for many.  The reality of it is that she was mentally ill, married to an alcoholic and was starving for a creative outlet of her own.  Writing was essentially denied because her husband claimed their (her) life story and experiences as his own creative domain.  Attempts on her part to fictionalize anything based upon her own thoughts and experiences were squelched or shunned.

Examining the life events of people who are iconic can be exhausting.  It is difficult to learn that they were not the happy, go lucky people that society wants them to be. It is (to me) frustrating to immerse into a world where unhappiness and abuse reins.   Zelda was a strong woman prone to whimsy and her life might have been different had she selected a life partner who was just that, a partner.  It was clear that Scott was the star and all things must support that.  When she did have minor successes Scott managed and facilitated it so he a) was seen as responsible for it and b) could control the impact on their world.  He negotiated her contracts, "co-authored" articles and because of his own debt basically eliminated any profit she may have seen.  She netted about $150 from her one mildly successful book because the remainder of the compensation was held to cover Scotts debt with the publisher. 

We were mixed on how many finished the book, but were unified in our opinion that while it was a noteworthy effort that Ms. Milford could have benefited from an editor.  She spent pages on examples of how Scott used letters and passages from Zelda's diaries in his books.  A couple of examples would have sufficed for the novel.  For her thesis, I understand why Milford would want to show that she found many many glaring examples of plagiarism, but when this part of the book came up I personally found myself skimming.

We were also of differencing opinions as to how sympathetic the author was to Scott.  Some of us felt that in spite of the detail of the alcoholism and his marked cruelty that she was portraying him as a reasonably loving husband.   Others felt that she showed him to be the insecure cad that he was.

Of the two Milford biographies Savage Beauty comes out on top, but this one was certainly worthy of the time.

You mean they didn’t have turkey at Thanksgiving?

We may have bit off more than we could chew this time. We tackled A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn which walks us through the formation of these great United States from 1492 to present. That is a lot of territory to cover and since Zinn’s charter was to not sugar coat the true story by omitting the uglier aspects of our history it is a dense and deep read.

None of us finished the book. This is not the first time that has ever happened, but it is the first time it has happened with a book that we essentially liked. We have committed to each other to try and finish it by our next meeting and I’m pretty sure it is a book that will come up over and over again, especially as we discuss how our past affects current events.

Zinn doesn’t shy away from the true economics of slavery and before that how “we” maneuvered the native people off their land. That’s a kind way of saying we stole it and then killed those who didn’t appreciate our rightful ownership. He also paints a very dreary picture of our founding fathers Andrew Jackson…not such a decent guy unless you were a white wealthy business or land owner. Funny how we don’t hear about those things in high school history class.

In Haiti, Columbus managed to kill half of the indigenous peoples in a two year period (around 1495) in his quest for gold. That’s an impressive feat - by the year 1650 none of the original Arawak people could be located, and entire native population was wiped out. It is no surprise that when Columbus arrived on the continent we now call home that the natives were identified as easily conquerable.

The book is at the same time overflowing with information and too brief. Slavery and the industrial revolution go on for chapters and chapters while WWI gets a brief overview. The more recent historical events are much briefer than the earlier topics – perhaps because we have a better understanding of those events. Maybe the industrial revolution needed investigative reporters to blow the lid off unions and labor issues.

The other thing that becomes clear is that there wasn’t one massive conspiracy to keep the little guy down and the rich guy rich… but a series of events and decisions made with a common element that seems to have been “How can I keep the power in my court?” Zinn doesn’t go so far as to suggest that there was a meeting and the folks who were trying to keep the peace while the newly emancipated slaves were demanding equality, openly discussed just how much they had to give in to keep the peace while not giving up too much control. “How about this Jedediah, what if we let them vote, but only if they own land. That’ll keep the numbers down, but they’ll have hope that one day they’ll have a say. That will help us deal with those pesky Irish immigrants that are about to hop off the boats too. They’ll want a say as well and we can’t have that.”

It seems cynical to view history through these eyes, but the version we are presented with most frequently is rather pretty and ignores certain events – such as the complete manufacture of the primary provocation for the Mexican war (we wanted the land north of the Rio Grande – pure and simple). It is no wonder that in our current age of desiring more information that someone would go back and review the archived materials and paint a more accurate picture of events.

Zinn doesn’t suggest that the US is an all evil empire, the evolution of the United States is a human story – it is a story of what people are capable of – good and bad. It isn’t surprising though that our neighbors in Europe and even in the Americas are openly irritated by our arrogance and holier than thou attitude. They probably have a better understanding of our history than we do.

None of us would advocate that if you only read one history book ever that this be the one – but it is a nice version to have in your library.

The Graphic Novel

Ah December, a time when the calendars are filled with obligations and gatherings of every sort, families and friends make time to make and consume traditional foods, treats and treasures. It is also the time of year when our little bookgroup gathers for the last time to discuss the current selection and then review our year. We make our cases for book of the year and inevitably our least favorite book also emerges.

This is not that blog post. You will have to wait for that one because our final selection(s) were so unique and wonderful that they get their own posting.

In a departure from our normal novel or non-fiction book Amy suggested we read a graphic novel (or 3) and discuss the merits of the genre and the books themselves. Selecting 3-4 books would be laughable but we were assured that the graphic novel is generally a faster read than word based books. For the record, there are plenty of words in a graphic novel and it is considered reading. So there.

Graphic novels are not comic books even though the story is told with both cartoon like drawings and narrative. Wikipedia (the source of all information be it true or not) describes graphic novels as a “narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using the comics form.” “ Graphic novels are typically bound in longer and more durable formats than familiar comic magazines. The term graphic novel is sometimes used to disassociate with the works from the juvenile or humorous connotations of the terms comics and comic book, implying the work is more serious, mature or literary. “ (end of Wikipedia quoting.)

We selected three different novels to give us a deeper view into the medium than we might obtain from a single selection. We read:

Maus I : A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman
Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman
The Complete Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
Blankets, Craig Thompson

Each told a widely different type of story. Maus I & II (sold as a set or in a single volume) tell the story of a young man who is drawing out from his father the experiences of the holocaust that he and his mother endured. Graphically, Jewish people are mice, the Nazi’s are cats (get it, cat & mouse) and other nationalities are represented as other animals (Polish are Pigs and so on). The subject matter does not shy away from the horrors of what one group of people can inflict on another. The graphic novel format allows for the portrayal of certain things that may be harder to explain in words only. For example, as the father is telling his story he is physically represented as a mouse, but when the story is in “present day” and the son is talking with his father the son is drawn as a person wearing mouse mask. It is a visual way of saying that the son doesn’t feel “as Jewish” and as connected to his heritage as someone who had those experiences. It is subtle and yet speaks volumes.

The Complete Persepolis is another non-fiction telling of a different family dealing with political change and oppression. Marjane describes her upbringing in Iran before and during the Iranian revolution. Her parents and family were not in favor of the new regime and raised Marjane to be an independent thinker. She describes the changes in the schools, church and eventually everywhere as the country she and her parents love is altered by the Shah’s and Ayatollah Khomeini’s influences. She is at one point sent away to live with family in Austria who have no understanding of the situation and although she was raised to be liberal and rebel against the requirements of the regime she does not thrive in a secular world. Eventually she returns to Iran and again struggles to balance the incongruent ideals of Iran and Europe. Interestingly, Marjane is not concerned with presenting a sympathetic and likeable image of herself and in doing so lends credibility and complexity to a simple way of portraying a challenging topic that many of us know little about.

Lastly, Blankets is the story of a high school boy who falls in love. This unflinching tale is remarkable in its youthful outlook on what love is and how it changes you and how it feels when it dies. While this book doesn’t have the backdrop of world altering war and revolution it is powerful and engaging. It is not at all a trite story and touches on complicated familial dynamics, substance, child and even sexual abuse.

It would be safe to say that as a group we thoroughly enjoyed these books. We enjoyed the reading of them and discussing the differences and similarities. Our main complaint was that the graphic novel is a genre that is easily devoured and these novels were hard to savor. I finished Maus I on a 90 minute flight and Persepolis in a 90minute flight plus 15 minutes into the return flight. (thus leaving me with only the Alaska Air in-flight magazine to read – ICK) . We loved what the graphic images were able to add to the story and the tone of the books. We liked how much detail we were able to gather from such a ‘simple’ medium. We also marveled over the editing process that must occur to bring a graphic novel to life. We wondered how much of a story is left out because it isn’t necessary or if we all fill in the same details when the canvas is left blank.

We tried to vote on which of the three stories we liked the best and we could not land on a solid favorite. We liked them all and were split as to which we thought was the best. We decided (as if anyone is listening) that we approve of the genre and it has a place in the literary world.

Hello Again...

Sorry for the delay - the scribe has had a busy summer and fall. Not that getting married and moving should be an excuse.

So, here's what you missed.

The Measure of a Man, a spiritual journey by Sidney Poiter.

To be perfectly frank, this book did not receive high praise from our group. We were not taken in by the tone of the book, felt Mr. Poiter needed a better editor, and were frankly irritated by things he chose to gloss over.

This book was not intended to be a study of his life in hollywood but because that life is how we know him, we felt that the book could have followed a more traditional type of timeline.

The book encourages you to separate the persona of Sidney Poiter and his true self - however, he seems to grasp onto that spiritually elevated perception of himself and when he deviates we didn't really like him. His spiritual journey wasn't quite clear enough and we didn't 'get it.'

The Fate of Africa
Oh my... never let the gal who is moving and getting married in the same month try to pick a book on the fly. This seemed like such a great pick, smart, educational and according to the book jacket and reviews "accessible" to the non-academic reader.

I was wrong. It seems like a fantastic book, and now that we all own it, I'm sure we will use it as reference when preparing our speeches on African nations.

One week in, we switched to "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society." A much lighter work of fiction that was about a 4 hour read from beginning to end. Set against a post WWII occupied Great Brittan this little book tells of the German occupation on the Channel Islands (one in particular) and the fate of a few characters.

Consensus among the book group was that it was an enjoyable read, that the format (letters and telegrams) was a bit contrite and limiting, that some of the characters were more developed than others. Some were nothing more than devices to move the story along.

We enjoyed the historical nature of the book and the portrait of an idyllic little community that was transformed overnight. We were thankful that the author(s) didn't completely take the easy way out about the story resolution, but were not overly involved in the primary love story.

One of our astute members did draw a comparison to the archetypes in an Emily Bronte / Jane Austin story and the characters in this tale. We had the dark moody man, the seemingly perfect but totally wrong guy, and the "maligned hero".

Did we enjoy the book, yes. Did we love it? Don't know. Next meeting is our final year end gathering and our next set of books may (or may not) eke out the 2009 Book(s) of the year.

Stay tuned.

The Nine, Inside The Secret World of the Supreme Court

Fall is a spectacular time in the Northwest, especially before the rain comes. The trees turn the most magnificent colors of red, orange and yellow and the nights are crisp and cool. This comment is in no way related to the book that we read in the month of October, but an undisputed fact.

The Nine, Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, by Jeffrey Toobin was our pick and it was universally approved by we readers. Book group usually starts with a half an hour to an hour of simply catching up with each other, we discuss life events, kids, work, politics before we get down to the discussion. This night was different, as soon as our last member arrived the discussion started before we even sat down to dinner.

The Nine is an apt and accessible description of the inner workings of the Supreme Court, how the Justices are selected, confirmed and how they approach their work. Toobin interviewed staffers of the Justices and gives us insight into the not often seen personalities of some of the most powerful people in our nation.

We were unsure as to how the book was structured, as it wasn't chronological and it didn't quite follow the life of the major cases i.e. Roe v. Wade or Bush v. Gore, but we found this book to be interesting and enjoyable none the less.

It is also our opinion that some of the Justices staffers must have been more forthcoming with anecdotes and information, or that some of the Justices just didn't have that much to offer. The description of Clarence Thomas and how he reached the end of the 2007 session without asking a single question at any of the cases was amazing to us.

Under The Banner of Heaven

June 26th we gathered together at Heathers to discuss Under The Banner Of Heaven, A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer. Before we could get to the book we had to celebrate the addition to our book group family, baby Rees. Greatly anticipated and very early we are all thrilled for his arrival, and to see mom up and around and off bed-rest.

UTBOH tells the story of a brutal murder of a woman and her infant daughter whose lives were ended by the brothers of her ex-husband. They believed that God told them what they needed to do and thus are not guilty of any crime.

In telling this story, Krakauer presents the history of the Mormon church and how some of the more radical branches came about. It is not an entirely unsympathetic view of the main Mormon church but the offshoots aren't so easily presented. Krakauer describes the marriages of men to young girls (14/15) and rituals associated with that as "rape" - which it very much appears to be from an outsiders perspective.

He also highlights some of the more incongruous 'laws' handed down from God as convenient. Men may marry as many women as he is attracted to, because God has made the attraction, but a woman may only be with her husband. (a paraphrase.) So, if he's hot for some other woman it has been divined by God, but if she is attracted to another man it is a sin worthy of severe punishment. Sweet! Sign me up.

Krakauer devotes most of the book to the non-traditional Mormon groups and our book group was left with wanting more information on the primary church. Our discussion was robust and covered many topics including the nature of religion, how people just accept what is presented to them as facts and the "indoctrination" of children into all religions.

An Unquiet Mind, Memoir of Moods and Madness

An Unquiet Mind, a Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison is the story of a young woman's decent into mental illness and her struggle to not only survive but to thrive personally and professionally.

Jamison spends a good portion of her book on her professional life and how her bi-polar disorder was accepted and not accepted by colleagues and mentors. She does craft a sympathetic view of the thought processes and drivers behind behaviors of individuals living with this illness. Her descriptions of the manic highs are dizzying whirlwinds of activity and thoughts. The description of the depressive lows were a little less first person.

Her descriptions of the suicidal thoughts and justifications behind her personal attempt were unique and interesting. (For this BG member, provided a little relief regarding the suicide of a family member that occurred more than 30 years ago. Not a fresh wound, but a wound none the less.)

Our discussions centered on her story telling methods, the level of support needed to maintain , and a little grousing about her lack of build up of new "characters." She experiences a profound loss and within 5 pages is three years down the road. (I don't have my copy of the book so I'll beg forgiveness if my number of pages and years are off.)

Next up: Graham Greene. We're headed to the classics.

The Know It All

Thursday Evening, Beth's

Once again we gathered to discuss the latest book, The Know It All. The premise is one man's quest to become the smartest person on earth by reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. It's a clever, cute, funny and sometimes educational work of non-fiction.

The author's tone is conversational and personal as he describes how big of an ass he truly is. He highlights some of the more quirky facts in the EB, and like most people comments on the gossipy funny stuff like who had multiple wives or why there are ridges on the edged of coins. He also goes into wonderful detail about his participation in Mensa activities, his attempts to get on Jeopardy and a fun trip back to the sixth grade where he wasn't all that popular.

Consensus was the book was fun, light and would be a great summer beach read. Nobody said they were going to run out and try to read the EB themselves.

We debated the time line of the book and whether the author wrote as he read and then edited or read the whole EB and then started to write. We ended solidly on the wrote as he read side, and firmly believed that his "road to enlightenment" was a tad contrived. He starts out trying to be smarter than everyone in the world and ends up enlightened because there is still so much to learn. You're humble, we get it.

There were no dissenting opinions or great debates, just rousing chatter about sections that made us laugh. It was a nice palate cleanser after the depressing (but great) dust bowl book.

In perfect thematic pitch, this was the menu from our hostess Beth:

The menu features a red lentil soup with kale (a form of cabbage, green in color, in which the central leaves do not form a head. It is considered to be closer to wild cabbage than most domesticated forms.) A green salad with garbanzo beans (variously known as chickpea, chick pea, ceci bean, bengal gram, hummus, chana or channa) and sunflower seeds (used by Native Americans for more than 5,000 years - they were brought to Europe by the Spanish conquistadors) and bread will round out the meal.

Soup and cookie recipes have been requested.

Our next book is massive, so there's no time to dwaddle.

(I'm told the meeting order is still wrong, but I can not find my notes so it will be updated as soon as someone posts the true order or replies with the error.)

The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan

Tonights book group was a short one, but very good. We gathered at 7pm at Deborah's (a last minute venue change due to an unfortunate skiing mishap) where Christine, our official hostess was putting the finishing touches on a delightful soup.

Where possible we try to use our book selection as inspiration for the meals and Christine's task required little extrapolation. The Omnivore's Dilemma (TOD) describes the science, agriculture and industrialization of the American Dinner table. Pollan has researched the origins of four meals for his family, the typical McDonalds meal, the grass fed beef meal, an organic outing, and a meal that he 'hunted and gathered' .

We ate our organic, Washington grown chicken, in season hearty vegetable soup, local cheeses with bread from the Central Baking Company in Fremont. Over our Washington wines we opted to catch up with each other rather than diving head first into the discussion. No major announcements (no new babies, jobs or marital shifting) and we were on our way.

Everyone finished the book and other than the first seventeen pages of how corn grows, and the consensus was that the book was very enjoyable. Heather liked Pollan's ability to draw the reader into his experiences so as to feel like you were experiencing it with him. It was agreed that he wasn't preachy and that if he had an agenda for writing the book that he was able to set it aside. Mel commented that if he hadn't been so likeable that he probably wouldn't have gotten the access he did to the more industrial aspects of food production. I thought he was funny and appreciated his willingness to be laughed at. A running theme was how most of the outings were before six in the morning, and the week he spent on the farm he tried to get up early, but wasn't successful.

We discussed the aspects of food production that made us stop and think. For example, does buying Organic actually help the environment if it's trucked to your store from 1500 miles away? How often do we think about the amount of oil it takes to bring us strawberries in February? How is it that most industrial corn growers sell corn for a dollar a (pound, barrel, bushel?) less than it costs them to grow it? Why is it that if the average corn fed cow could spend the last two weeks of its life dining on grass that our risk of E. coli by 80% that we don't demand it?

We felt that the book left us with hope and a realistic call to action. Everyone - even Terri the queen of frozen food acknowledged that the book has affected their relationship with food. We're reading labels more, choosing grass fed over corn fed beef, and encouraging you to check out www.eatwild.com for a list of resources for locally grown food.

At the end of the day, the moral of TOD isn't to eat a certain way, but to know and be thoughtful about the decisions you make. Oh, and McDonalds "chicken" McNuggets are bad bad bad for you!