H is for Hyde

I am one of probably a handful of Americans who has never seen the movie "Pay it Forward." I think I've seen bits and pieces on TV, but I've never sat and watched the entire thing. I do know it starred that little "I see dead people" kid. I think it also starred Kevin Spacey. Since I've not seen the movie, I can't compare it to our "H" novel on which the film is based. I do know I wish it were not a novel, but rather a reality. Our "H" author is Catherine Ryan Hyde and her novel is Pay it Forward.

Trevor McKinney is your typical 12-year-old boy or at least what you want your typical 12-year-old boy to be. He is industrious, he's smart and he really loves his mom. His mother, Arlene is an over-worked recovering alcoholic who is trying to raise her son alone, again. The boy's father has vanished. His wrecked truck has been found and hauled back to Arlene's house. She co-signed the loan on the truck and has to make the payments despite it just being a shell of a vehicle. It wasn't like he was ever much of a father for Trevor or a man for Arlene, but she did love him. She won't give up on him, though she's the only one in the world who thinks he's ever coming back.

A new teacher arrives at Trevor's Junior High. His name is Reuben St. Clair and he's a Vietnam veteran. Mr. St. Clair has a face no one can forget, actually, it's only half a face. Reuben returned from Vietnam with scars to his face and his soul. He is a good teacher though and immediately bonds with young Trevor. In a teaching assignment for extra credit, Mr. St. Clair encourages his students to come up with an idea to change the world. Only a few students take him up on the extra credit offer and most of those have pretty pedestrian ideas. Only Trevor's idea really seems to fit the bill, though Trevor thinks it's a failure.

Trevor's idea to change the world is to do something really nice for three people. In return for his good deeds, those three people would pay it forward and do good for three people each. Trevor sees this as a true way to change the world. His plan doesn't come together to easily though. His first act of good seems to fail when his person goes back on drugs and ends up in jail. In his second attempt, his person dies before he believes she can pay it forward. The third person he chooses is Mr. St. Clair, who he decides should fall in love and marry his mom. How does this one work out?

If you've seen the movie, you know that the ending is not a happily ever after kind. If you've not seen it, I won't ruin it for you. Do be prepared for tears. I really enjoyed Pay It Forward for the ideas it put in my mind. Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if everyone paid it forward, if people weren't selfish and went above and beyond the Golden Rule? Where would we be if when we saw someone in need, we actually did something about it? This is supposed to be a book review, so I'll stop with the moral aspects of the book. The writing is just ok, but the ideas are so good, they get you past some lackluster characters.

Enjoy Pay It Forward for the ideas, if not for the stellar writing. Learn from Trevor and even from Mr. St. Clair and Arlene. Check out Pay It Forward even if you've seen the movie. I'm sure there will be some surprises.

G is for Gearino

Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall? We've probably all heard that question at sometime in our lives, I know I've heard it and said it. It would be great, wouldn't it? You could hear and see everything that's going on, but no one would realize you were there. People would open up, tell their deepest secrets, do things and say things they'd never say if they knew you were there. What fun! Well, that's the premise of my "G" novel, What the Deaf-Mute Heard by G.D. Gearino. The premise is great, but the book falls a bit short of it's promise.

The main character in this novel is Sammy Ayers who woke up at age 10 in the back of an empty bus. His mother was gone and he was at the end of the line in a small town in Georgia. Of course, he is in a state of shock, but rather than crying or asking for his mother, Sammy just clams up. He doesn't answer when adults ask him questions and he acts like he can't hear them. Sammy becomes a deaf-mute by choice. The manager of the bus station takes Sammy under his wings in a way. He allows the boy to stay in the storage room at the station. Sammy grows up in the station, seeing and hearing everything, but basically invisible to the town. You really want to cheer for Sammy because of the hand he's been dealt, but he just never becomes that kind of hero. For me, it was sad to see this boy become a man but never desire to be anything more than the handyman living in the bus storage room. His only real goal in life is revenge on the bully from school who has become the town's top preacher. He does make a couple of huge discoveries in his life, but they don't change him much. He remains the fake deaf-mute living in the storage room.

I was so excited after reading the inside cover of this book. It had such promise. I mean, who wouldn't want to hear all the juicy secrets in a small town? The characters were just never really fleshed out. You don't grow to love anyone or for that matter really hate anyone. There are no real good guys or bad guys, just people doing what they do, mostly for their own gain. I think the author missed a great opportunity to write a wonderful novel. He had a fantastic idea, but he just didn't follow through all the way. What the Deaf-Mute Heard could have been a great book, but in the end, it was just ok.

I realized in my journey that all my choices wouldn't be great, but I was disappointed in my first mediocre book. We're still early in the journey and hopefully my choice in the category of "H" will get us back into pleasurable reading.

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!

C is for Cisneros, Sandra

I was very excited when I went to the library to choose my C book. I had read reviews of several books by Sandra Cisneros and really wanted to read her. When I got to the library, they were out of most of the books I'd read about, but they did have "Caramelo." This book was nothing at all like I expected, but it was a fantastic read.

Before my review, let's tackle one issue you might have with the novel. There is a pretty good amount of Spanish spoken. Some of the Spanish is translated for you, but quite a bit is not. I have a rudimentary grasp on the language and could make out most of the phrases, but if you don't speak any Spanish you might want a Spanish-English dictionary to understand everything. Of course, you can just skip over the Spanish phrases and get the gist of the book. I personally loved the addition of the Spanish phrases because it lent such an authentic flavor to the novel.

In "Caramelo" Sandra Cisneros takes us inside the Mexican culture of the 1950's and '60's. Now, I grew up in Texas and I thought I knew something about Mexican culture. While I knew what a telenovela was and could tell you the difference between a tamal and an enchilada, my knowledge was nothing near what I thought it was. There is a huge difference in Mexico Mexican culture and Tex-Mex culture. Both are beautiful, bold and strong, but they are quite different.

"Caramelo" is the story of the Reyes family of Mexico City, Chicago and San Antonio. It's told by Lala, the only daughter of Inocencio Reyes and his wife Zoila. The novel doesn't read like other novels in that it's a book of short stories that flow together, rather than an ongoing narrative. While each story is self-contained, they all do feed off each other. Sandra Cisneros has a beautiful style of writing. The writing is very colorful, exciting and sometimes a bit disjointed, but very endearing. You can see the bright colored houses of Mexico City. You smell the meats and fruits and sometimes terrible smells of a bustling Mexican city. Cisneros writing is very lyrical and you can almost sing along with some of her phrasing. You find yourself in the mind and heart of a young girl then teenager. For those of us who remember those thoughts and feelings, it's a beautiful reminder.

Mexican culture revolves around family and that is exactly the point of "Caramelo." Family is everything to Inocencio Reyes. His mother, the Awful Grandmother, is the center of all life and that is just fine for her but not for Inocencio's wife and daughter. The Awful Grandmother makes herself heard both in life and death. She wants nothing less than the complete and total love of her oldest son, Inocencio. To that end, she makes life less than perfect for the other females in the family. Lala must grow up with that pressure and pain and learn how to deal with it and how to love while not always feeling loved. Other characters you meet along the journey include the Little Grandfather, Uncle Fat Face, Uncle Baby, Aunty Light-Skin and Lala's 6 older brothers.

There are great surprises in "Caramelo" and wonderful lessons to be learned. Readers will enjoy the twists, turns and travels. The format takes a bit of getting used to, but it becomes a pleasure. I enjoyed the historic lessons. I learned a great deal about Mexican history and how that history plays into the Mexican way of life today. Check out "Caramelo" and be ready to be entertained and educated. This was the first time I'd read Sandra Cisneros, but I know I will be back.

B is for Bronte, well kind of

When I got ready to pick out my B and C books, I decided to do a bit of research. I went to Amazon and checked out their book lists. They have wonderful alphabetized lists of their best selling books. I made notes and wrote down a few authors for each letter. I was set and headed out to the Reidsville Library.

Let me remind you that I love my library, I really do. There is one downside to living in a small town and having a smallish library. That downside is that they just can't carry every book. When I walked into the stacks with list in hand, I quickly realized that my library didn't carry the authors or the titles by those authors I'd picked out. No need to worry, there were plenty of others.

As I looked through the B's, I saw a couple of promising titles and then I saw "Emma Brown." All but the first two chapters were written by Clare Boylan. It's those first two chapters that sold me on the book. They were an unfinished manuscript by Charlotte Bronte. Now, don't start thinking that I'm some Victorian era romance reader because I'm not. As I've written before, my favorite genre of novel is cold war spy. I was intrigued though that someone had taken an unfinished manuscript by a very famous writer and completed it. After reading the synopsis, I checked out "Emma Brown" by Clare Boylan.

I honestly don't recall ever reading "Little Women" or any other novel by a Bronte sister. That wasn't my thing as a girl and it still isn't. The Victorian era is fascinating though. Those of us with laptop computers, iPods and frequent flier miles might have a hard time walking into a world of horse travel, letter writing and spiny undergarments. While it comes across as being a beautiful time, it had to have been very harsh. Young girls were married off to old men, babies died of basic illnesses and regular folk had to know how to sew and cook and build a good fire. You couldn't just run out to the Wal-Mart or Lowe's to get your supplies. Life may have been simple, but that doesn't mean it was easy.

"Emma Brown" is set in and around London. Our heroine is young, though even she doesn't know her exact age. We first meet her at a new school for girls run by the domineering yet exceedingly dull Wilcox sisters. Emma is left there by her apparently well to do benefactor who gives what turns out to be a fraudulent name and address. She is said to be of good means and breeding, but we soon find out that none of this is really known or provable for quite a while. Emma is not a beautiful child nor a very likable one. The sisters Wilcox put her on a pedestal on which they believe she belongs, but one she doesn't like nor believe she deserves. When the bills come due, we begin to believe the worst of Emma and her benefactor. Emma is shunned by the previously worshipful Wilcox sisters and our adventure truly begins.

"Emma Brown" takes you into the depths of the horrors of Victorian London. You come face to face with sickness, death and child prostitution. You meet a young girl who carries around dead babies she finds in the gutters. You meet people who will sell their own children or any other child they can find just to take care of themselves. You also meet people of great character who make the most of what they are given and of the circumstances in which they find themselves. Though some of "Emma Brown" reads like a Victorian Lifetime Movie, it is a pleasure overall.

I can't compare Clare Boylan's writing to authentic Victorian era writing, but I believe she stayed true to the direction in which Charlotte Bronte started this novel. I think fans of the genre will be pleased with "Emma Brown."

I don't know if this is the farthest I will stray from my preferred genres, but I know it is a long way from Russia, the CIA or Daniel Silva. While I still love my spies, I think this journey will open my mind and my heart to other genres, other writers and other heroes, heroines and villains. Please join me on my journey as I read authors from A-Z.