Link to 2016 Reading Journal

http://myreadingjournal2016.blogspot.com/

"The Power and The Glory" by Graham Greene. ****

● Audiobook
●  US author
●  Originally published in 1940
●  Review:  A lovely subtle novel, set in communist Mexico.  A renegade priest eludes the law for years and the reader comes to understand the meaning of humility and holiness.  Thought provoking!

"Go Tell It On The Mountain" by James Baldwin *****

• Audiobook
• US author
• Originally published in 1953
• Review:  James Baldwin......I know...what more is there to say about this powerful, profound writer.  This story of spiritual journey is eloquent, moving and engaging.  How did John come to his commitment to the Lord?  Read and you will know.  This novel is about individual and collective faith and identity.  It is about the humanity of the devout.  It is about leaps of faith and deep wisdom.  And, it is about family.

"The True Deceiver" by Tove Jansson *****

• Summer Sub Club with Beth
• Swedish author
• Originally published in 1982, translation published in 2009 
• Introduction:
• "Anna Aemilin, has no foothold on winter and is a being particularly associated with spring."
• "How does deception relate to truth?"
• Quotes:
• p.12..."Anna Aemilin had the great persuasive power of monomania, of being able to see and embrace a single idea, of being interested in one thing only."...the ground, the promise of what's to come in spring?  
• p.23..."But you never know, you can never really be sure, never completely certain that you haven't tried to ingratiate yourself in some hateful way-- flattery, empty adjectives, the whole sloppy, disgusting machinery that people engage in with impunity all the time everywhere to help them get what they want...".
• p.50..."And politeness can sometimes be almost a kind of deceit, can it not?"
• p.128..."...I would much rather be cheated than go around distrusting everyone."...Anna to Katri....me too, maybe
• p.171..."What's happened to me is that I can no longer see the ground."...Anna
• Review:  When I finished this novel from Finnish author, Tove Jansson, I sat quietly, feeling deeply moved, a little sad, even almost teary.  Set in a stark, isolated Finnish town in the dead of winter, the author draws the reader into an understanding of the role illusion plays in our lives, and what some of the consequences are when those illusions are stripped away. Using the metaphors of a trained dog losing its purpose, we are witness to the discovery that the real "true deceiver" is ourselves.  I strongly urge you to come visit the child's author at the rabbit house, the boat builder in town, the mailman on skis, the shopkeepers, and the two protagonists, Anna and Katri.  Beware of your heartstrings, for they will be tugged by the beautiful, profound tale and the poignant characters!

"The Starling Project" by Jeffrey Deaver ***

• Audio performance
• US author
• Originally published in 2014
• Review:  Not much to write home about here.  The plot was run of the mill.  The interesting part was that this is an audiobook which is an actual audio performance which made listening to it a bit like listening to the golden oldie radio shows of yesteryear. An interesting experience versus an interesting read.

H is For Hawk" by Helen MacDonald *****

• Book Club Selection for November 2015
• English author
• Originally published in 2014
• Vocabulary:
• pickelhaube: Prussian spiked helmet
• louche:  dubious, shady
• accipitrine:  raptorial, related to hawks
• coracle:  a small, round, or very broad boat made of wickerwork or interwoven laths covered with a waterproof layer of animal skin, canvas, oiled cloth, or the like: used in Wales, Ireland, and parts of western England.
• brumous:  misty, foggy
• Quotes:
• p.22..."It seemed that the hawks couldn't see us at all, that they'd slipped out of our world entirely and moved into another, wilder world from which humans had been utterly erased."
• p.27..."When I was six I tried to sleep every night with my arms folded behind my back like wings."
• p.39..."The safest way to avoid trouble if one may not be going to fit is to take as great a part as possible in what is going on." ...T.H.White, about his efforts to hide his homosexuality and sadistic tendencies
• p.58..."What happens to the mind after bereavement makes no sense until later."
• p.60..."What we see in the lives of animals are lessons we've learned from the world."
• p.65..."The hawk had filled the house with wildness as a bowl of lilies fills a house with scent."
• p.86..."The hawk's apprehension becomes your own.  You are exercising what the poet Keats called your chameleon quality, the ability to 'tolerate a loss of self and a loss of rationality by trusting in the capacity to recreate oneself in another character or another environment'.
• p.171..."You see that life will become a thing made of holes.  Absences.  Losses.  Things were there and are no longer.  And you realize, too, that you have to grow around and between the gaps, though you can put your hand out to where things were and feel that tense, shining dullness of the space where the memories are."
• p.199..."he archaeology of grief is not ordered.  It is more like earth under s spade, turning up things you had forgotten.  Surprising things come to light...".
• p.275..."In my time with Mabel I've learned how you feel more human once you have known, even in your imagination, what it is like to be not.  And I have learned, too, the danger that comes in mistaking wildness we give a thing for the wildness that animates it."
• Notes:
• chalk cult
• Review:  Imagine a combination of a journal of grief, a biography and autobiography, and a journey through time.  Helen McDonald provides all of this in her memoir.  In the midst of great loss, she turns to what she knows, falconry.  She takes the reader on her journey of grief, immersion in nature, and training of her goshawk, Mabel, all in eloquent prose.  She lets go of her sense of self and regains it during this intimate time with Mabel, while getting perspective throughout by juxtaposing her experience with that of renowned author, T.H. White. Falconry ties it all together, prose brings it alive.  Absolutely lovely! 

"24 Hours" by Greg Iles **

• Audiobook
• German author
• Originally published in 2000
• Mystery/Suspense
• Review: Very disappointing!   Usually, Greg Iles' books are engaging  and multi-layered.   Definitely not true in this suspense novel.  The story is straightforward and simple, a tale of kidnapping.  Nothing about it stands out. Too bad!