Welcome to the Great Mysterious by Lorna Landvik

I really enjoyed this one too!

image from LibraryThing

It's another Lorna Landvik book, and I think it's one of my very favorites. It is very predictable.. from the beginning you pretty much know that Geneva the Broadway actress is going to connect with her Downs' Syndrome nephew in a deep way and fall in love with the small town mailman...but, that's not the great part.

The great part is how it all happens. This isn't one of the amazing surprises that sometimes Landvik throws, instead it's a comfortable stroll through the growing up moments of one very self-centered former Minnesotan!

Geneva is a twin to Ann who has been offered a once in a lifetime 2nd honeymoon to Italy. The only problem is childcare for Rich - the 15year old son. Geneva has been patronizing of Rich, but to think about spending time with him is more than a little daunting. So, she agrees because she likes the thought of doing it - that seems to be more important to her than actually doing it. What she discovers is an amazing young man and his surrounding cast of characters. She becomes friends with Barb and her son Conrad, Rich's best friend. Connie has cerebral palsy and a contagious outlook on life! But, most of all she meets James, the mild mannered mailman next door.

But, my favorite part of this book is the book they reveal...The Great Mysterious. When Ann and Geneva were girls they created a pocket book with a question on each page. Their mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, ant and uncle wrote their answers on slips of paper to be read by the group. I love that idea. Adults and kid answering the questions together. Each sharing their answers and thier ideas to create a great mysterious. The best part is that they continue the practice through this book. I really like this idea... I would love to try it...

Anyway - I would happily recommend this book!

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg

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I loved this book. It has all the best of the South in the 50's - movie stars, innnocence, and ridiculous characters. Daisy is the only child of an alcoholic father and a socially frustrated mom. Daisy with her chipped front tooth, gullible and accepting attitude and the sweet innocence of a girl on the edge of womanhood.

From there the book flows from one interesting character and incident to another. From Daisy playing poker in the black pool hall to her and a friend peeking in the curtains of the girlie show. Each get-rich-quick scheme of her father's from raising worms to having the best soda shop on the out of the way beach to having Daisy die and come back to life. Each escpade has it's truth and it's fiction and it's hard to know what to believe and what not to..much like it is for Daisy Fay.

The final joke is on her when she enters a beauty contest to win the runner-up prize to college in NYC. Who is laughing when she actually wins...

This is a fun read!

Dingley Falls by Michael Malone

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I'm not sure about this book. I liked this but I didn't like it....

I was in the mood for a big old fat book that sucked me in to the world of the story. This didn't quite do that. It was big and fat - 588 pages. It was filled with odd and quirky New England characters. It took place in 1976 -the year of the bicentennial. But, I just couldn't quite get immersed. There were too many story lines, too many characters and not quite enough connection. It had everything it needed - but it just didn't quite make me escape.

So, let's see. Dingley falls is a basic village started by a disgruntled old English fellow who made his money and started factories in the 1800s. The town is divided by a river with the working class and factories on one side of the river and the stores and land owners on the other. Typical of lots of other places.

The story begins with 4 women who are some of the uppity ups. They are sucked in to the world of avant garde art of the 70s and bring a disgusting poet to thier town to read some of his filthy poems. He needs to be shown around the town to kill time and Beanie Abernathy is stuck with that. But, there is a connection between them - and by the end of the afternoon Beanie is willing to walk away from a 30 year marriage to "feel" with Richard Rage the poet.

So - at this point I was intrigued. I kept reading.

I was introduced to Polly and Joy - two girls on the edge of adulthood. A pharmacist, Sammy Smalter, who is also a hidden crime author. Oh yeah, he is also a descendent of one of the town founders and a 'dwarf.' There is also Judith Haig who is a real ice princess with a bad heart and her husband is the town cop. And then there is Limon Barnum, an antique shop owner and hidden neo-nazi with a desire to feel his life - it doesn't really matter if that is a good or a bad feeling. There is Chin Henry, the Vietnamese refugee married to a total wacko, Maynard Henry. A cynical newspaperman, a male librarian connected to the elite and a town dr. sure that people are exhibiting signs of heart problems when none should exist. It kept sounding more and more like Gilmore Girls - a dark Gilmore Girls.

And then.. hidden on a stretch of swamp outside the town there is an odd government facility. A germ warfare facility that noone in town knows anything about.

So these are some of the players. I was waiting for all these players to meet up and explode. But, that didn't happen. Instead some of the players sort of fizzle out to nothing. Others flash and explode in unexpected ways. But, I still didn't really care.

And. then. the. book. just. ENDS....

So, I feel like I've slogged through all these pages, been engrossed and been bored and at the end it just stopped.

I hate books like that!!!

Three Cups of Tea by Mortenson and Relin

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Our April book club book.

What an amazing book! I don't think you can read this book and not be changed. I went right to the CAI website and bought 2 copies of the book to give to others to read, and because a donation is made to the CAI (Central Asian Institute).

Now let me tell you about the story. Greg Mortenson is a failed climber... He was attempting to climb K2 when he got separated from the other hikers and his porter. He was discovered after a cold and miserable night only to be separated a second time. This time he ended up in the village of Korphe. A tremendously remote and incredibly poor northern Pakistani village. As he wandered in he was made to feel so welcome. He was sheltered, fed and sent on the correct path, but not before making a vow to come back and help the village...by building them a school.

So begins Greg's life. He is the child of missionaries in Africa - his dad helped begin a medical school and his mom a different school. But, Greg was a bit of a maverick - not really having a profession - trained as a nurse, but spending most of his time, energy and money climbing, preparing to climb or returning from mountain climbing.

Suddenly, he had a new purpose. He raised the money and returned to the village a year later ready to build the school...but Korphe really needed a bridge to cross the deep river first. And Greg learned his first lesson - listen to the people. Their most important need and his were not quite the same...This was followed by many other lessons - living in a Pakistani world as a Pakistani, not an American, wisdom comes from many different people - often those we don't expect and PATIENCE - with others and with ourselves.

These lessons have carried him across the ocean countless times - through the wilds of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Congress. He founded an organization called the Central Asian Institute to build schools and women's centers in this remote and volitale part of the world. Through his hands on approach to the people both in Asia and here he has successfully built dozens of schools. He has educated girls in a male-dominated world. He has put a face on Muslims in Asia. He has become the voice of reason in the "War on Terror." His philosophy is that education breaks down barriers and leads to true peace. Education and relationship building is changing the world.

The book does not make Greg Mortenson out to be a saint. Rather it shows you his limitations alongside his incredible gifts - just like the rest of us. It makes you believe that each of us has the same potential. He is a reluctant hero...that makes him all the more endearing

Now - I read this and feel guilty for being stressed by the pressure of report cards and life in small town Iowa. But, that is missing the real meaning of htis book. This is an actual hero - and he is inviting us to change the world with him. By helping out this cause, we can be a part of the solution.

This is an amazing and empowering story!!!

I would recommend it with as many stars as there are to offer!1

The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian

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Oh my goodness!!

That's about all I can say about this book.

Our book club is reading Midwives or Double Bind for the March book and oh my goodness!

This is the story of Laurel, a young woman brutally attacked by two men while riding bike in Vermont. She graduates from college as a social worker and begins working at BEDS a homeless shelter/low rent housing facility in Burlington, Vermont, very close to the town of her attack. An older man, Bobbie, dies and in his things is a box of photographs of famous people, houses and a blurry young woman riding a bike on a road in Vermont.

So begins Laurel's quest to figure out who Bobbie was, why he ended up homeless and why in the world he had a picture of her...

I can't say more - because it is so fragily woven it would unravel in my retelling.

Suffice it to say I would strongly recommend this one. It's a typical Bohjalian - a little hard to read - a little wordy - a little plodding at parts - but so worth the end.

Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

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This is the kind of book that you need to pause and reread. It's a very short book and an easy read.
 But, there is so much to it.

On the surface it's a simple travel story about a simple young Spanish man who wants to travel instead of becoming a priest. He becomes a shepherd so that he may travel around the Spanish countryside and see what the world is. He is happy.

Then he has a dream of treasure, meets a gypsy fortune teller who asks him for 1/10th of the treasure he will find by the pyramids in Egypt, and an old man in a village who tells him of the Soul of the world and the quest for his Personal Journey.

Suddenly it is not enough to simply be a shepherd, instead he feels the challenge and the call of the unknown.

So, why does this mean anything to me? It's the idea of a personal journey. Something that we feel and understand when we are children and slowly give up as we grow older. That nudge that we feel toward a certain something...and then it gets buried deeply under the pieces of our life.

What have I buried? What would it take to seek it out again. That is what this book asks me. And as the young man travels and meets others and learns to listen to the sounds of the desert and the camels and the world and as he notices the omens in his path I wonder.

What have I failed to hear and notice?
What have I been afraid to notice?
Is it too late??

There was one story in particular that brought me up short. It is a story told about an old man who is assured one of his sons' words will be known for generations. One of his sons was a warrior and the other a poet. The father is thrilled to think his poet son will be remembered. Then at his death he is taken into the future and he sees his son's words. But, they are not the words of a poet, rather they are the words of a Centurion who believed that Jesus Christ could heal his servant with out even being there. The faith and the belief of this warrior son have lived on for thousands of years.

So I want to read again. I want to read it with a pencil in my hand, because I'm pretty sure it's right in front of me.

Trapped in Slickrock Canyon by Gloria Skurzynski

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This is another one I read to my students. This is a GREAT read aloud - filled with action and adventure.

Justin and Gina are first cousin who despise one another. There is so much cousin rivalary that they can hardly stand to be in the same place.

Justin grew up on a farm in Arizona working hard to earn everything he has. Gina grew up in Denver daughter of an orthepedic surgeon and a mom who decided to leave home to throw pots in San Franciso.

This story takes place in the canyon land of Arizona. Justin and Gina's Dads have gone rock climbing. When Gina's dad almomst falls everyone decided it's too hard for Gina to watch, so Justin unhappily leads her on a hike to see a rock petroglyph. As they near the rock carving they hear a buzz saw and discover two men stealing the carving. When Gina lets out a huge scream, the men discover them and the chase is on... Add to this quick sand, gun shots, a cloud burst and a flash flood and you have just the kind of book 4th graders love to hear.

This was a Iowa Children's Choice Book one of the first years I taught.... that was a long time ago!! But, my students have enjoyed it every time I've read it since.