F is for Foer

Have you ever read a book and just couldn't wait to get to the end for some reason. Maybe you wanted to find out if the bad guy got caught or the lovers found each other again or maybe the book just stunk and you wanted it to be over. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is NOT one of those books. This is a book I never wanted to end. I wanted to read it every day. I wanted the story to go on forever.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is a novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. Our hero is Oskar Schell. Oskar is smart, quirky, precocious, different, sad and, did I mention, 8 years-old. Oskar is an inventor. He invents things that will keep his family and friends and the whole world safe. Oskar is consumed with this after losing his father. Oskar is really consumed with many different things after the death of his father. One of Oskar's obsessions is "inventing" ways his father died. He's not sure he'll ever really rest again until he knows exactly what happened on that morning his father was attending a breakfast meeting at Windows on the World. Oskar needs to know what happened in that restaurant on September 11, 2001. Oskar needs to figure out what happened in the minutes following that last recorded message from his dad.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is not what I would consider a 9/11 novel. It's not about that tragic day as much as it is about a young boy dealing with the aftermath. Foer's novel is a look into the life of Oskar's whole family. There's Oskar who can't move on following the tragedy, Oskar's mom, who he fears is moving on and Oskar's grandma, who has a fascinating story all her own. There are also the many people Oskar meets on his journey to learn more about his father.

I know my review of this book is doing it absolutely no justice. I throw out the term 9/11 and people will have one idea of the book, but it's wrong. I say that Oskar wanders the boroughs of New York on a quest and you'll get another wrong idea. If I mentioned Oskar's grandparents and how and when they fled Germany, you'll get another idea, and it's wrong. All I can say is that I loved Oskar. I loved his bird seed shirt invention. I loved his jewelry making. I loved his made up words so he wouldn't curse. I was sad with Oskar. I was frightened with Oskar. I was excited with Oskar. I walked in Oskar's "heavy boots."

Read Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close if you remember how you felt that morning. Read it if you've lost someone you love and you just can't get past that feeling of trudging uphill, through quicksand in very heavy boots. Read it if you want to laugh or need to cry. Read Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer for all the things it is and all the things it isn't.

E is for Eng, Tan Twan

Since I have abandoned my research into books I will read on this journey, I am spending more time looking at titles. I'm sure I've missed some great books because the titles just didn't grab me. My "E" book wasn't a shirt grabbing title, but rather one that whispered loudly to me. I had never heard of Tan Twan Eng, but I am so glad I've now read his wonderful novel "The Gift of Rain."

Now, I'm not one to just gush over a book, but I may have to hold myself back to keep from doing that with this novel. Eng writes in a style that is both beautiful and deeply soothing. His music is lyrical and as wonderful as a soothing rain. What is most amazing is that he somehow keeps the lyrical, almost meditative style to his writing while writing about the horrors of war. The reader still sees the ugliness that is war, but at the same time somehow finds beauty and enduring friendship.

The hero of our novel is a young man who has lived his life as somewhat of an outcast in a highly respected family. He doesn't feel that he fits in anywhere. In his small Malaysian island, he is not Malay, not English like his father nor Chinese like his deceased mother. He is a young man adrift until the words "I would like to borrow a boat from you" change his life. Philip Hutton is taken under the wing and into the training of Japanese aikido master Hayato Endo. Endo-san teaches young Philip about life and about his belief that the two had met and been friends in many lives before. Philip learns to fight and think and survive under the tutelage of Endo-san. He shares his beloved island of Penang with the Japanese man and learns that there is often a price to be paid for friendship.

When war breaks out on the peaceful island, Philip must make choices. His choices could cost him his family or his friendship or his life. Right and wrong are not black and white choices in Philip's life. His journey through the war is brutal, his sensei is not the man he believe he was and his family ties are stretched to the breaking point. If Philip makes it through the war, he wonders if he'll be remembered as a hero or a traitor.

"The Gift of Rain" is one of the most beautifully written books I've ever been honored to read. Tan Twan Eng takes us on what feels like a very personal journey in a land he knows and loves. It's no wonder this book was nominated for the Man Booker Prize. Read "The Gift of Rain" if you want to step inside the other side of World War II. Read it for the beautiful, moving prose. Read it for the sometimes heartbreaking reality of life in that time. Read it to understand the true depths of love and friendship. Enjoy "The Gift of Rain" for the true literary gift it is.

D is for Duncan, Pamela

I decided to go with the no research approach to picking my D book. I had realized after researching for B and C that my little library didn't have all of the books I'd picked, so I might as well see what they had before making my decisions. So off I went to pick up D.

When I got to the stacks, I noticed that D was just on the end of one row. That kind of surprised me. D doesn't seem like a letter that would not be popular for last names. Apparently, there is not an overabundance of fiction authors with a last name starting with D. So, I walked down the row and began looking for a D book. Since I did no research at all, I figured it would take a little while. I started by looking for catchy titles. Of course, I stopped for a bit when I got to the Di's. There in front of me was a shelf of Charles Dickens novels. I seriously considered going with Dickens on this one. I love Dickens. Then I got to thinking about it and realized that I had 52 weeks to read 26 books and I was running a bit behind. Dickens would take a while to digest, so I said farewell and moved on.

When I got toward the end of the D's, I started getting worried. I had nothing in my hand and not many looked like I might go back for a second look. I'm trying to stay away from series because it's going to be so long before I can get back to them and while I'm venturing into some unknown reading territory for me, I'm not quite ready to venture into the land of science fiction. These restraints do make things a bit more difficult in a small category.

My library does something I really appreciate. If an author is from North Carolina, they put a little NC sticker on the spine of the book. I like to read local or regional authors and this little sticker makes that so much easier. I tell you that to lead you to my D book. I was nearly at the end of the D's and saw an NC sticker on a couple of novels. One title caught my eye. I picked it up and read the synopsis. Hmm, not bad. I just wasn't sure about it though, so I kept looking. I finished all the D's and started over, going back to front this time. Still nothing, so I returned to the book I'd seen.

"Moon Women" was the title and it was written by North Carolina native Pamela Duncan. Honestly, I wasn't sure I was going to like this book at all. It sounded kind of like something maybe I'd read before or seen in a movie. I really wanted to give it a chance though since the author was from NC.

I started "Moon Women" that evening and after reading the first couple of pages, I was ready to throw the book through the window. I hated it. I'm not the grammar police, but I am an honorary deputy and this book is written in the vernacular of uneducated and undereducated rural North Carolinians. Yeah, it sounded like I was standing in the middle of Food Lion listening to a conversation. I have determined in this journey that I am going to finish every book I check out, so I read on. I still cringed at the grammar, but I started liking the characters.

"Moon Women" is at it's core a story of three generations of women from the western part of North Carolina. Ruth Ann Moon Payne is a daughter, mother, sister, grandmother and recent divorcee. She's a nervous woman who worries about her elderly mother Marvelle and her 19-year-old daughter Ashley who is just about ready to get out of rehab. While Ruth Ann is the central character in the novel, she is not in any way the only primary character. Marvelle Moon is an amazing old woman. She's the mother of 12 children, not all of whom made it to adulthood. She's a strong woman, but is now in the early stages of dementia. Ashley is the wild child. She'd run away and hadn't been heard from in years until she landed herself in rehab. Now, she needs a place to live and start over. She also needs to decide what to do about the young man who got her pregnant and about the baby now growing inside her. How will Ruth Ann deal with the added stress of a pregnant teenage daughter and an elderly mother who now walks away from home and gets lost?

"Moon Women" struck a special chord with me. As the daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter of strong Southern women, I identified with many of the characters. I still wanted to correct their grammar, but I really fell in love with the Moon women.

Throughout the novel, Marvelle takes us on a journey through her long life. I had to wonder if that's the way things were for my great-grandmother, raising 11 children in the early decades of the 1900's. Marvelle didn't have an easy life. She lost babies, she saw tragedies, but she persevered. She was strong and raised strong daughters.

I heartily recommend "Moon Women" to any woman, but especially to Southern women who will identify with the hardships and victories seen by Marvelle, Ruth Ann, Ashley and the other members of the Moon clan. When this year long journey is finished, I will read more from Pamela Duncan.

When you are browsing books in your local library, I recommend you check into local or regional authors. They may not be best selling books, but you might connect more closely to them. Today, I head back to the library to return "Moon Women" and to check out my E and F novels.

Read on!