The Oriental Wife

Finished The Oriental Wife by Evelyn Toynton. The title may be a bit misleading until you garner it's relevance a little ways into the novel. In the end it makes complete sense. What does not is the summary on the inside jacket flap, which is also used as the description on Amazon,

"The Oriental Wife is the story of two assimilated Jewish children from Nuremberg who flee Hitler’s Germany and struggle to put down roots elsewhere. When they meet up again in New York, they fall in love both with each other and with America, believing they have found a permanent refuge. But just when it looks as though nothing can ever touch them again, their lives are shattered by a freakish accident and a betrayal that will reverberate into the life of their American daughter. In its portrait of the immigrant experience, and of the tragic gulf between generations, The Oriental Wife illuminates the collision of American ideals of freedom and happiness with certain sterner old world virtues."

The characters are not children when they leave Germany, nor do they flee, although their parents try to later. I don't see the thing that shatters their lives as a "freakish accident." This description seems ill informed and written in haste, as if gleaned from cliff notes. It does not begin to touch on the deep feeling of the characters, their very human flaws or the poignancy of this story. In essence I think it negates the weight and significance of the work.

That being said, the book is weighty with sorrow, but it's sorrow that needs to be known. One character, who emigrates to New York grieves daily of the small sorrows in the newspaper, a young mother of two who throws herself in front of a train, the death of a panda at the zoo. This is transference of grief that he cannot possibly express, for people he loved who were murdered in the Holocaust.

I was struck by how the main character Louisa, a German Jew, attended boarding school in Switzerland in the thirties, living amongst German, French, English and even Japanese girls her age, just a few years before World War II.

Ultimately this book is about misplaced loyalties and their consequences. A melancholy, but very rich read.

South of Superior

Finished South of Superior by Ellen Airgood. I requested it from my local library and was number 82 on the list. I thought it would be months until I would have it in my hands, but it was only a few weeks. My library ordered 30 copies of it! Set in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, it is the story of several lost people who find a place for themselves in the tight knit town of McAllaster. Here the residents know everything about everyone. There is a very strong sense of community, and while one person may not like another, they'll be there to lend a hand if it's needed.

Madeline Stone moves from Chicago to McAllaster to live with two elderly sisters and to help take care of one of them. In this small place she uncovers her own past as a cast off child and her future as a painter and business owner. There are many quirky characters, which I always enjoy. These people exude stubbornness, thrift, wisdom and grit. The characters are far from typical and a real pleasure to know. I enjoyed this book.

Rip Van Winkle

While Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving is a short story, I have an illustrated edition with the art of Arthur Rackham. The story had come up in several other books I have read here and it was time to finally read it. The story itself is mysterious and fanciful and seems to point towards Rip's good karma amongst his neighbors releasing him from the iron rule of his wife, Dame Van Winkle, with a twenty year nap in the woods. I seem to have a misguided memory of this tale and Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow being shown together on TV one Saturday afternoon near Halloween some time before 1975, but I cannot identify the Rip Van Winkle portion of this memory. The Sleepy Hollow cartoon is Disney's, narrated by Bing Crosby. To this day it still spooks me.

The Very Thought of You

Finished The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison. Set in England, mostly around World War II, it is the story of Ann Sands, a young girl who is evacuated with other children from London to a large estate in Yorkshire. Things seem strange to Anna at first, but after time she grows to love her life there. The couple hosting the evacuees have been married for ten years and are still childless. The disintegration of the couple's relationship becomes a catalyst for tragic events that shape Anna's future. This book reminded me a lot of L. P. Hartley's The Go-Between and Ian McEwan's Atonement. There is deep sadness in this book, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Brave New World

Finished Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, originally published in 1932. I read 1984 in high school, and We by Eugene Zamiatin in grad school, but somehow was not required to read Huxley's dystopic novel. At various turns I was reminded of Wells' The Time Machine and the television series, The Prisoner. References to the works of William Shakespeare and Henry Ford added brilliance to the obvious cleverness of the book. I enjoyed it much more than I expected to. Again, I think this is the type of book which is fed to high schoolers before they are mature enough to truly grasp it's implications. I'm glad I read it for the first time while in my forties.

Murder at the Vicarage

Finished Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie. This is the first novel in her Miss Marple series. Miss Marple seems like such a minor, secondary character, that an uninformed reader might be surprised to learn that a whole series is based around her. There is a lot of eye rolling by the police and others about busybody old ladies, but Miss Marple out-thinks them all. This book is full of English village life and plenty of surprising twists. I love a good cozy.

Adam Bede

Finished Adam Bede by George Eliot, this summer's pastoral read. Adam is a kind, hard working, god fearing carpenter who is in love with Hetty Sorrel who works in the neighboring buttery. Hetty is uncommonly pretty, young, innocent and vain. She longs for pretty trinkets and fine dresses. Hetty falls in love with the local squire, Arthur Donnithorne, a handsome, kindly, good humored young man, and boyhood friend of Adam. Hetty and Arthur's secret love affair is discovered by Adam, who at first reacts violently, then repents and begs Arthur to renounce Hetty. Arthur does so and leaves the country with his regiment. As time passes Adam and Hetty begin to keep company and decide to marry. When Hetty finally admits to herself that she is pregnant with Arthur's child, she runs away and tries to find him. Enduring much hardship and unhappiness, Hetty has her baby with the help of a kind woman who takes her in. Frightened and unsure what to do, Hetty sneaks away with her baby and leaves it in the woods, hoping someone will find it. The child dies and Hetty is tried for murder. In the midst of all this, Hetty's cousin Dinah, a saintly Methodist preacher, comes to the aid and solace of both Adam and Hetty.

At times Hetty's character reminded me of Hester Prynne, at others Tess Durbeyfield. Hawthorne's novel was published first, in 1850, Eliot's in 1859 and Hardy's in 1891. Hetty wears a red cloak, Tess wears a red woolen cravat and Hester her scarlet A.

The Blind Contessa's New Machine

Finished The Blind Contessa's New Machine by Carey Wallace. I loved this book. Carolina, a young woman in 19th century Italy, is slowly going blind. No one believes her accept her friend Turri. He is an eccentric inventor who devises a typewriting machine so that she can write to people once she is blind. This book is like a fairy tale. Carolina is blind in her waking world, but can see is her dreams. In her dreams she can also fly. This is an intricate tale of romance and the development of secondary senses. I often found myself reminded of Chagall's paintings while reading this book.

The House on Salt Hay Road

Finished The House on Salt Hay Road by Carin Clevidence. Like the last book I read, Rules of Civility, this book is set in 1937-38. Set on Long Island, it's the story of a family weathering the storm of changing times as well as the literal storm of the 1938 Hurricane. The characters are intricately drawn, with very credible foibles. One character is forever haunted by his actions as a child. This reminded me of of Ian McEwan's Atonement. I'd recommend this novel to anyone interested in a serious character study and/or nature.

All the Dogs of My Life

Finished All the Dogs of My Life by Elizabeth von Arnim. Another of von Arnim's memoirs, this one focuses on the fourteen different dogs she owned throughout her lifetime. There is of course great humor here, but confessions of ignorance, guilt and failure as a dog owner abound as well. A charming book that you can pick up and put down often, without losing the thread of the narrative.

Rules of Civility

Finished Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. This book is STUNNING. It has a Jay Gatsby meets Kitty Foyle feel to it. Rarely have I read an author with such a keen sense of character development. To say more would let the book's nuances begin to seep out of my consciousness, and I am loath to do that.

Tarzan of the Apes

Finished Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is the first of 26 Tarzan novels written by Burroughs. It is simply the most fantastical and far fetched book I have ever read. And yet, I really liked it.

The Art of Racing in the Rain

Finished The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. This novel is narrated by a dog named Enzo. He chronicles his life with his owner Denny, an amateur race car driver who is very skilled at driving on a wet track. Enzo's life with Denny goes through many changes including marriage, birth of a child, terminal illness and legal battles. Enzo's observations of what happens around him help him to hone his own humanness. His one wish in life is to return to earth in the next life as a man. His story is frankly told with humor and tenderness. A good book for anyone who owns a dog and needs a reminder of what life alone in the house is like.

The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology

Finished The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology by Jack Kornfield. I've been reading this book for a long time, just a small section each morning, as I start my day. It's filled with many marvelous insights and examples of people struggling with life and finding help via Buddhist psychology and meditation. I have managed to work a number of practices into my daily life and feel far better for them. I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes to retrain their their response to stress and/or anxiety. This is not a religious book or approach. Its benefits are accessible to everyone.

Jack Kornfield has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India.

Joy School

Finished Joy School by Elizabeth Berg. It is the second book in her Katie Nash trilogy. I read the first book, Durable Goods last year. Katie is thirteen and at a new school after she and her father move to Missouri for his new military post. Katie experiences love for the first time when she falls for a twenty-three year old gas station attendant who helps her after she falls through the ice while skating on a nearby pond. This is a gorgeously painful first love, which Berg portrays so well it hurts when you read it. Another great coming of age novel. I look forward to reading the sequel next year.