People Change

Finished June 21

People Change by Vivek Shraya

This short book looks at change from a human point of view. The author herself has undergone many changes in her life: professional changes and personal ones. Here she looks at what factors lead to change for us, based on her own experiences. Sometimes there are things that happen early in our lives, when we are still figuring ourselves out, and events or experiences can influence us in major ways. 

There is also a common fear of change, and that is covered here as well, sometimes trapping us in a place in our lives that we may not always recognize as a trap. 

This book encourages us to celebrate our changes, to be open to experiences that offer different ways of being, and new inspirations for our existence. 

Sometimes, this book feels 'stream of consciousness' in its flow, and other times it digs deeper into the motivations beneath those meandering thoughts. I read this book slowly, pausing to consider different ideas along the way. 

Kapo

Finished December 17

Kapo by Aleksandar Tišma, translated by Richard Williams, Afterword by David Rieff

This novel has a central character who is hiding his past. Lamian was born to Jewish parents, but baptised in an attempt to avoid prejudicial treatment. He went away from his small town to university in the city, and was drafted into the Yugoslav army. That was followed by his taking on another identity as he tried to return home, but he was captured by the Germans and sent to Auschwitz, where he survived by catering to the officers and becoming a kapo. He is haunted by a woman that he took advantage of, one of many that he provided with food and other "gifts" for sexual favours. It was only after his encounter with her that he realized that she was a Jew like him, but one labeled with the yellow star. Because he had assumed another identity, he was a secret Jew.

After the war, he came back to Yugoslavia, resumed his old name, and hid his WWII actions, becoming a government administrator. He now lives in the Bosnian town of Banja Luka, and lives a respectable quiet life. When he sees a name in the paper, one of the woman who he knew from the camp, he is haunted by the possibility of discovery. This is the story of how he reacted, how he got to where he is now, and his feelings around it all.

He has guilt, fear, and a desire to be both seen for himself, and to bury his own past. This is a very intense, brooding book, and is the third book in what is known as his Novi Sad trilogy. It is the saddest of the three, a tale of a man who is both a victim and a terrorizer. 

Despite its sad nature, it drew me in, wanting to see what happened to this man who was so conflicted and who had lived his life alone, damaged by his past.

Hello, Dark

Finished October 8

Hello, Dark by Wai Mei Wong, illustrated by Tamara Campeau

This picture book was inspired by the author's experiences as an early childhood educator with children with nighttime anxiety. The main character here is a little boy who has been afraid of the dark. He takes control of the situation by talking to the dark, and asking it to be friends with him. He first expresses his worries about the dark and how it makes him feel. He then talks about some of the good things about the dark, how it protects those creatures that are active at night and allows us to see the moon and stars more clearly. This is when he makes his offer of friendship, describing how they can talk to each other, play imaginary games together, listen to music and count sheep. 

The illustrations show the dark as a shape, but not as a monster, more as a shadow, and I loved the details of the boy's room and the outdoor world. His interest in vehicles is clear. 

This is a book that directly addresses the fears that some young children have about the dark and allays them. I liked that the boy took control, a good message for kids about how they interact with things in their world, as a active participant. 

I think this will be a useful book for many families. 

Ben and the Scaredy-Dog

Finished April 8
Ben and the Scaredy-Dog by Sarah Ellis, Illustrated by Kim LaFave

This book is part of a series of picture books featuring the young boy Ben. Ben has two older siblings: a sister, Robin; and a brother, Joe. He is at first interested when he sees a new family moving in across the street, especially when he sees a child his own age. But when he sees their dog, he isn't as interested.
That is because Ben is afraid of dogs. He sees their big mouths and their teeth, and doesn't want to be around them. But the new family comes over to visit and brings the dog, Max, and then the new girl, Erv, invites Ben over to play with her Lotsablox.
Ben is worried about this because the dog will likely be loose inside the house, and Robin reassures him, giving him a phrase to say to himself when he feels fearful of the dog and tells him to think positive thoughts, "Big Brave Ben" is the phrase. He finds that the visit isn't as bad as he expects, because Max is afraid of the shiny floors and is sitting on a small rug. But when Erv has to go to another room for a bit, and Ben is alone with the dog, his fear returns, and he does as Robin suggested and thinks positive thoughts. When he things he hears the dog move behind him, he begins to hum. And when the dog comes closer, he finds it is a different experience than the one he feared. And he begins to find that Max isn't that scary after all.
I loved the drawings here. They really made the story come to life. And the story is a nice one, especially if you have a youngster who has some fears of dogs. This book could help.

The Breakdown

Finished September 1
The Breakdown by B.A.Paris

I'd read her first book Behind Closed Doors, and found it a real page-turner, so I was interested to read this one. It was just as good. Great psychological thriller, with a fascinating plot. I guessed at some things, but not at all at others.
Cass is a school teacher, married nearly a year, and starting to think about children with her husband Matthew. Cass's dad died relatively young in an accident, and her mother died just a couple years ago from early onset Alzheimer's. Cass had left her teaching job to look after her for the last couple years of her life. Imagine Cass's surprise to find out that her parents, despite living a penny pinching life, had actually had quite a large nest egg. Cass is a nice woman who likes to give people thoughtful gifts, and now she can do things like that. She is excited to think about her best friend Rachel's upcoming 40th birthday this fall and the look on her face when she finds that Cass has bought her the French cottage that she fell in love with. No one knows about that surprise, not even Matthew, but that's partly because he doesn't seem to really like Rachel all that much.
Cass has made friends at the school she now teaches at and is at the leaving party to celebrate the end of the school year as the novel begins. It's a stormy night and she decides to not go on to the after party at her friend's house, but to go home instead. When she phones her husband to let him know, he tells her that he's got a migraine and is going to sleep in the spare room, but to be careful on the way home, and he emphasizes that she shouldn't take the short cut through the woods, in case of downed branches or other issues. Cass intends to follow his advice, but the traffic on the motorway is so bad that she makes a sudden decision to take the shortcut after all. The road is clear, but she is nervous, and she is surprised to see a car stopped in a layby. She only gets a glance of the woman driver through the rain and car windows, but she stops ahead of it to see if the woman needs help. Nothing happens, so she continues intending to call the police about the woman when she gets home, but a text from Rachel distracts her, and she forgets.
When the woman in the car is found murdered the next morning, Cass is freaked out. She doesn't want to admit she took that road after all, and she didn't see anything anyway, but she's still scared because of how close to home it happened. When she begins forgetting things, small things, but also important things, she gets scared that she's getting the same disease as her mother.
As we follow Cass's descent into fear and uncertainty, we see the people around her that don't know the whole story not understand her issues. She moves into a world of oblivion to get away from her fears, but in a way that is worse for her.
This is a story of manipulation, of unreliable characters, and of betrayal. A fantastic read.
And an extra element is an interview with the author at the end of the last disc.

Bellman & Black

Finished November 30
Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield

This novel centers around William Bellman. When William is ten years old, her makes a challenge to himself in front of his friends that he can hit a bird with a shot from his slingshot, a shot that should be beyond him, but he does indeed hit the rook and kills him.
Years later his paternal uncle offers him a position at the family mill, and discovers that William has an aptitude for the work, good at analyzing, good with numbers, and good with people. William's father had run off when he was only an infant and his grandparents had cut William and his mother off from that side of the family, but his uncle is willing to buck the pressure and take a chance on William. And William's life changes forever.
But when a mysterious stranger begins to appear in William's life, his luck changes again, and doesn't change until William believes he makes a deal with the man.
William ends up building an empire in the business of death, providing not only funeral services, but also all the trappings for funerals and mourning. This part was particularly interesting to see the details of Victorian funeral conventions.
The rook theme introduced in William's youth also reappears again and again through the novel, perhaps associated with the mysterious stranger. I liked the chapters on rooks, each one giving an interesting term for a group of these birds.
This is a tale of a man's life, triumphs and regrets, happiness and sorrow. And an underlying fear that follows him throughout.

Vacation Reads

These books were read over a three week trip to Newfoundland for fun and business and where my reading was definitely not up to my normal level!

Finished May 26
Tsunami: The Newfoundland Tidal Wave Disaster by Maura Hanrahan
On November 18, 1929, an offshore earthquake on the Grand Banks triggered a tsunami that hit the Burin Peninsula of Newfoundland, killing 27 people, destroying homes, wharves, flakes, and boats and sweeping away everything from provisions and heating fuel for the winter to the fish ready to be sold. This meant that families lost not only homes and supplies, but the source of income and the tools for earning the income. This book tells the story of the communities, individual victims, and those to who stepped in to help them and it brings the disaster to life.
An excellent read.

Finished May 12
The Devil's Feather by Minette Walters
This queen of psychological crime fiction has done it again. Reuters correspondent Connie Burns grew up as the daughter of a white farmer in Zimbabwe. She has often had the role of a war correspondent, covering civil unrest in Sierra Leone, and most recently, the war in Iraq. While Connie was based in Sierra Leone, there were several incidents of women found raped and hacked to death in their own homes. A British DI, Alan Collins, in the country as part of a training force, is troubled by the crimes and by the way the three young men who are indicted for the crimes are caught. He thinks the assaults were the work of one man, maybe even one of the foreign contingent and mentions this to Connie. This remark focuses Connie's suspicions on John Harwood, a foreigner on private contract as a bodyguard. She remembers his face from a previous stint in the Congo, but thinks he was a mercenary soldier there under a different name, Keith MacKenzie. When she is posted to Iraq and encounters him there working in a private security firm apparently under the name Kenneth O'Connell, her interest in his previous crimes is awakened. She is blocked from contact with him, and this encourages her to research crimes in Iraq that are similar to those in Sierra Leone. She contacts Alan Collins to get his advice but she is already being stalked by someone gaining access to her hotel room when she is out. As she becomes scared enough to leave town, she is kidnapped on the way to the airport. When she is released 3 days later, she has no visible signs of abuse, but flees to England, and eventually to the British countryside. Here, she meets her independent neighbour Jess Derbyshire and draws from the young woman's strength of mind to face down her experience and her fear. The characters are brilliant and there is true suspense.

Finished May 8
Q&A by Vikas Swarup
This delightful novel tells of a young Indian man's difficult and eventful life story through the means of a television contest, "Who Win Win a Billion?". Ram Mohammed Thomas, abandoned as a baby, and brought up in a variety of environments, has entered and won the contest. The television producers are unprepared for such a win this early in the show's history and don't believe he could have done it without cheating. He is questioned by the police and unexpectedly rescued by a young female lawyer. She goes through the footage of the contest with him and he explains how his life experiences gave him the knowledge to answer each question. The characters come alive as do their difficult circumstances. I found myself cheering for him throughout.

Finished May 6
Twenty Questions by Alison Clement
The main character, June, is married to Bill and works in the school cafeteria. When her car fails her one day, a man offers her a ride and she refuses. She hears later that a woman was killed after accepting a ride from the same man. Ronald Pruett is arrested for strangling Vernay Hanks. Vernay's daughter, Cindy, is a student who assists in the cafeteria. She finds herself drawn to Cindy and pretends a friendship with Cindy's mother. She gets drawn into Cindy's home life with her uncle, Harlen, and finds herself having a secret life that her husband is not aware of. When her two worlds collide, she finds herself having to make a decision. It took me a while to get into the story, but once I did it was engrossing. You really get to understand June and how her life has become what it is.

Books finished Jan 26 and 27

Finished January 27th

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway: Dynamic Techniques for Turning Fear, Indecision and Anger into Power, Action, and Love by Susan Jeffers
This is a book that has been on my to-read list for a while and I finally got it out on unabridged CD and listened to it. As one of the classic self-help books, it has some lessons that I have since heard in later books. I found it interesting though as I often have a fear of starting something in case I don't do it well. This looked back at the root causes of fear and of what we can change in our outlook and behaviours to change our actions. It teaches the reader tools to remain positive, trust one's intuition and say yes to the actions we need to do to grow. I can see why it is a classic.

Finished January 26th

Say Please, Say Thank You: The Respect We Owe One Another by Donald McCullough
This book has been beside my bed for a while and I finished it off last night. The author is a president of a seminary as well as a theological professor, but it doesn't come off as overly religious. The book is all about respecting each other and ourselves. I think a lot of this respect has been lost in the rush of life lately and this just reminds us of what we should be doing.
The book covers many interactions including: acknowledging others assistance; not hurting others' feelings unnecessarily; road (and other types of) rage; respecting occasions and others' time and plans; manners at meals; waiting one's turn (one of my pet peeves!); acknowledging boundaries and cultural differences; apologizing; different forms of communication; listening to others; not talking down to others; keeping secrets; cleaning up after yourself; not imposing your interests on others; following the rules; and strengthening community bonds.
All useful lessons to remember in this busy world of ours.