Water for Elephants

Bibliography

Gruen, Sara. Water for Elephants. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2006.

Plot SummaryThis novel is written as a biography of one Jacob Jankowski, a veterinarian student that finds himself working for the circus. The novel spans seventy years and uses flashbacks to transport the reader from the past to the present and back to the past.

My thoughts
This was a great summer read! During lunchtime, I would sit outside and let myself "go" to the circus. I enjoyed the characters and the plot development. I learned about the other side of circus life---the life that "rubes" don't know about--the life that could mean life or death by the flick of a wrist. I became attached to the humans and the animals. I felt compassion for all.

Included are pictures (most from Ringling Brothers' archive) depicting different scenes of the circus life.

This is a love story, a mystery novel, and a testament to friendships that are made in life. I despised Uncle Al and August. I feel for Camel and Walter and wonder how many others live without families--even when they have one.

I enjoyed how Gruen intertwined the narrative. The prologue is actually part of Chapter 22. The use of flashbacks is not confusing but quite pertinent to the story. They occur when thoughts are interrupted.
VERY GOOD SUMMER READ!

In the Beauty of the Lilies

Bibliography
Updike, John. In the Beauty of the Lilies. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.

Plot Summary
This novel is actually four novels in one book. The novel follows four generations of a family, starting with Clarence Wilmot, a Presbyterian clergyman who loses his faith and ending with Clarence's great-grandson Clark's story that mimics the Branch Davidians in Waco.

Critical Analysis
It was hard for me to pick up this book and read. It just seemed to drag on and on and I would find myself counting the pages until the next section. My book club actually met 3 1/2 weeks ago to discuss it, and I just finished it today. Since I'd already invested so much time reading 3 of the 4 generations, I had to keep going, but it was not an easy read.

The characters are believable. Family connections are made and lost. People follow their own dreams. I never thought Updike included unreal characters. The Wilmot's family lines spread across the world and that is plausible. I liked how each book within the book followed a new generation and ties were shown to previous generations. I thought of my own family and how with each passing generation, the less we know about each other. I'm not sure if that's Updike's message to us or not.

Since I was beating the clock, so to speak, on getting this read by a deadline (even though I didn't finish the book by the deadline), I didn't mark as much in the book as I might had I enjoyed reading. I was just trying to get through it. I enjoyed reading Clarence's story (the first part of the novel). I marked several things in his story that spoke to me about my own church:
"Young members are the lifeblood of any church if it is to serve the needs of coming generations" (36) and "a church is a community whose strength lies in purity and zeal, not in its buildings" (37). I enjoyed the religious history that Clarence's story provides. There is even an allusion to Jonathan Edwards' sermon of how God holds us over the flames of hell like a spider (Updike 18).

The second story is Teddy's. This character seems too afraid to try that he just allows life to happen to him, and he is perfectly content with that. Teddy is not ambitious, but his daughter (the third book) is decidedly so. She makes things happen, moral or not.

One thing that I did mark was the title reference. Hannah, one character in the fourth section of the novel, comments, "We try to live as the lilies" (Updike 385).

This is a book that I probably will sell back to the bookstore.

Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee

Bibliography
Shields, Charles J. Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee. New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2006.

Plot Summary
As this is not really a fiction book, there's not a plot. The writer sets up a chronology of Harper Lee's life. He spends time in Harper's childhood, through the "assistantship" to Truman Capote in Kansas, writing Mockingbird, the filming of the novel and the aftermath of success.

My thoughts
I absolutely enjoyed reading this book! I've taught To Kill a Mockingbird a number of times, but reading this book helped me learn more about Harper and how Mockingbird is a reflection of her life, but it is also a stand alone reflection of life in the South during the 1930s.

In the opening pages, Harper is in New York writing. The author then sends the reader back to Alabama for the family history. Shields describes Harper Lee as "tall, with a long stride...the wind blew back her chestnut brown hair" (13). When I read that, I decided that I, too, wanted chestnut brown hair. (So, yes, I colored my hair brown).

I learned so many things reading this book. I took notes how Lee's life parallels the novel which I can use the next time I teach the novel. I marked pages that I want to refer to again when I teach the novel (how Capote felt about her Pulitzer, Harper's English teacher's "rules" for composition, the casting of the film). I feel like I know better the person Harper Lee now. I can understand her reluctance to publish anything else---everything will be compared to Mockingbird. I know how she helped Truman Capote access information to write his novel In Cold Blood. I see how family matters first to Harper and how she did not let fame and fortune ruin her friendships. She became a true benefactor to the town of Monroeville.

I have a feeling that Harper Lee has a storehouse full of writing that we will see long after she leaves this world. She just can't share with us while she's alive.

Home

Bibliography
Robinson, Marilynne. Home. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2008.
Plot Summary
This is a story that follows Glory and Jack and their coming home to be with their dying father. "Jack is Jack" is repeated throughout the book and the reader. The book spans just a few months, but these months are pivotal to the Boughton family. This story mirrors the story of the prodigal son.
My Thoughts
Home. This is a place of refuge to most, but to Glory and Jack, home becomes a place of resolving the past. "Home. What kinder place could there be on earth, and why did it seem to them all like exile?...how the soul could be put at ease, restored. At home. But the soul finds its own home if it ever has a home at all" (Robinson 282). They are minister's children who have not lived up to what their father expects. Glory has a "questionable" marriage and must quit her teaching profession. Glory is a sentimental character. "She wept easily" and a little too often in this book (Robinson 14) .

Jack has dropped off the face of the earth for twenty years. He is truly a character on the fringe of society. The longer he is at home, the more we find out about his absence and his state of mind. "It was hard for me [Jack] to be here. I could never--trust myself. Anywhere." (Robinson 273). The reader also wonders if Jack came home to receive his father's blessing. By the time Jack gets up the courage and conviction to say something about this to his dad, his dad's dementia has started.

One thing that I enjoyed about this book is Robinson's embedding of hymns. As I read, I caught myself humming the familiar tunes as Jack played them on the piano. I wish that I would have marked them as I read because I think they are significant. One hymn that is repeated in the novel is "Softly and Tenderly" which describes the mood of the house. Glory, Jack and their dad all move through the house softly and tenderly.

As Robert Boughton is a retired minister, there are many biblical allusions in the text. One ironic seed that is planted early comes from Proverbs. "Train up a child in the way he should go and even when he is old he will not depart from it. The proverb was true in her [Glory's] case" (Robinson 110). Even though Glory is the dutiful child and is taking care of her father, we see much more "training" with Jack. He knows Scripture. He questions his father's beliefs. He seeks understanding. Yet, he is the character whose life patterns are negative.

Home is a companion book to Robinson's earlier novel Gilead. In both novels, we see events from two perspectives: Glory Boughton (Home) and Reverend John Ames (Gilead). As I have not read Gilead, I was pleased to hear at the book discussion some connections or "the rest of the story" about events that happened to Jack.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and it raised questions to me personally, but it is not a book I will probably read again. I might try Gilead to see Ames' side of life in the town Gilead.

The Zookeeper's Wife

Bibliography
Ackerman, Diane. The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007.

Plot Summary
As this is non-fiction, there's not really a plot. Ackerman tells the story of Jan and Antonina Zabinski (Warsaw zookeepers) that aided the Underground and managed to save many people during the German occupation of Poland. Ackerman uses Antonina's diary as a primary source.

My Thoughts
I thought I would enjoy this book much more than I did. reading the book jacket piqued my interest. Ackerman includes historically accurate details, and at times I felt like I could hear the bombs dropping on my own house. However, the book seemed to drag on and included little "side stories" that I didn't think needed to be there. I do feel like I have a better understanding of what happened in Warsaw during WWII. I also enjoyed learning about what happened to zoo animals when bombs destroyed their homes. I've never really thought about it before now. I've read about cities being destroyed, but Ackerman relates more details than I've ever learned with a history text.

I was disappointed in Chapter 35 entitled "Aftermath" because there was no transition from Chapter 34 to 35. Ackerman tells us what happened after German troops left Warsaw, but this chapter seems to stand alone. Chapter 35 relates how the author came to gather information for the book, but the information is rushed. Chapter 36 begins by describing Bialowieza, the "awe-inspiring landscape" that "inspired many European fairy tales and myths" (Ackerman 318). After reading almost 300 pages, I expected something different at the end.

Barack Obama: We Are One People

Bibliography
Schuman, Michael A. Barack Obama: We Are One People. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 2008.

Plot Summary
This is a brief biography of Barack Obama. There are only nine chapters in the book, and it includes many illustrations.

My Thoughts
Two things: this is definitely a juvenile fiction book and the author apparently favors Obama. This was a quick read of Obama's life, which is what I wanted. Since he is our current president, I wanted to know more about him. I didn't follow all of the media blurbs and campaigns smears during the election, so I hoped by reading this book, I would get an unbiased, objective look at who this man is. At several times, I felt like the author was a cheerleader for Obama or the facts of the anecdote were a bit slanted.
Overall, I did learn about our new president, which was the goal of reading this book.

A Year in the South

Bibliography
Ash, Stephen. A Year in the South: Four Lives in 1865. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.

Plot Summary
This book, beginning on January 1, 1865, follows the lives of four people for the course of the entire year.

My Thoughts
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It coincided with what I was teaching at the time, so it offered four insights to that pivotal year. The portraits Ash created helped me understand things that a history book has yet to teach me.