Haven‘t been here for a few months, but for this public health/OB/infectious disease oriented person interested in Ireland‘s history of orphanages, mother baby homes, and all, it was a wonderful read. Did all the things good books can do for someone, you know what I mean. A note of caution for those with Covid tragedies, I‘m so sorry. And, this one may not be the best book for you now. A respectful bow to Donoghue‘s diverse talents.
Loved loved this one. The waiter—a man who‘s so opinionated (“decaf coffee is a surrogate for the feeling of belonging”), so observant re subtleties (“raising the chin is a nod that goes backward”), so judgmental (“behind elegance is an undethronable tackiness”), and so aware of his love of the habits that form his life (“habit is like a blanket that settles over the nature of things”).
This one isn‘t for everyone, but it‘s profoundly moving. Couldn‘t stop reading, couldn‘t stop thinking about it, couldn‘t stop remembering faces of women I‘ve known who harbored the kind of pain and secrecy described so skillfully here.
From the first page I was swept into Turkey, mostly the history of Turkey. Learned so much, including the very real story of The Struma. Can‘t think of a better way to have spent most of a day of this cooped-in-ness.
Do read this, a superb “detective-like” memoir. Covid-house-bound, I spent almost all day with this, finished without even realizing the day had unwound. Yes, a Holocaust memoir, but much more than that.
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pickI spent years working in public health and hadn‘t heard of the American Plan or of Nina McCall. An excellent read.
pickThis is exquisitely written, imo. Although I visited the Anne Frank house years ago, were I to go again I would see it all with different eyes. This is about generational trauma, family secrets, the ways adverse childhood experiences affect long term health, and so much more. Having been so moved by The Cut Out Girl: A Story of War and Family, Lost and Found by Bart van Es, I was primed for this one.
I loved this book and recommend it heartily. Yes, it‘s imperfect, but anyone interested in “existential loneliness”, the experience of trying to reconcile genetic history with cultural history, the ins and outs of ancestry testing (really great chapter about that), and immigration/acculturation/assimilation overall likely will enjoy this. I esp loved learning more about Burmese history.
“If the knowledge from around the world could, in fact, help tamp down the vitriol and hate that was increasingly defining us, if it could undermine the Us vs Them dichotomy in our present national debate or slow the spew of demagoguery, then it might actually be worth it” (referring to “faulty results, questionable science, the arbitrary classifications and significant blind spots” of DNA ancestry testing)
"The history of life on this planet can be seen as a single path made in the walking of it. We are all the inheritors of that line, but also its pioneers. Every step, we push forward into the unknown, following the path, and leaving a trail."
This is such am amazing read, great writing, powerful. If you like memoirs, or anything about grief/trauma etc., try it. I found it after the NYT books podcast reviewers all were reading and recommending it (at the end of every podcast each reviewer talks about what they're currently reading). I concur.
I read this oh so slowly, trying to take it all in. This is dense, smart, and amazing. Anyone who feeds children or anyone who loves, hates, or has any kind of food/eating issue should read this. Or anyone who simply cares about food, eating and health. Wonderful.
Found this one because I loved the author's book Eleven Hours. This slim wonderful book was well worth it. It's kind of a love story of NYC, esp Central Park, but also of bookstores, books, libraries, and routines. Issues of displacement, homelessness, emotional health and loneliness also.
Promised myself not to write anything here until landscape view is available, but am breaking that promise to tell you to READ THIS BOOK! It's so incredibly well-written, imo, a long time since I read a love story this moving. That it's political is true, but that directly impacts the relationship, is essential to the story.
"Eating should be a joy, not a battle."
"Hortensia remembered her father telling her about hurricane scares when he was a boy.When the electricity was cut off, how to keep the eggs fresh: every few days turn them over. That was how they made love. It was a domestic task to keep something from rotting."
Almost bailed....too long for an audio-read, for me anyway. Stayed because I began to really like a couple of the characters.
I loved this one, so satisfying. First book I've read set in a polio hospital.Fascinating to read about the lives of children in one of those places, especially as the child Frank and parents were Hungarian refugees, "New Australians". What happens to childhood love, what is the long term effect of having that devastating illness, and how does that kind of experience change one's assimilation into a new country?
Sent from my iPad
Tree planting communities and culture on Vancouver Island and parts of Canada. Great writing, with exquisite detail, and with a significant amount of science thrown in. Highly recommended.
" It is in the nature of things to be lost and not otherwise. Think of how little has been salvaged from the compost of time of the hundreds of billions of dreams dreamt since the language to describe them emerged, how few name, how few wishes, how few languages even....
It is as though we make the exception the rule, believe that we should have rather than that we will generally lose."
Loved this on audio. Digesting past experiences, especially one as momentous as this, well, good for her for writing this. Certainly helped me consider some of my own not-yet-examined memories. I work in reproductive health, some of her experiences at the "facility" made me cringe.
Survivors remember the past in pieces......................It's more like time melts into Dali-like puddles, or convulses, slamming together faces and events...........sometimes the pain is so buried it ceases to exist. Then it springs up suddenly, like an allergy, even when it seems there's no irritant. Or descends, like a fine but malevolent mesh.
Whether we want it or not, for better or for worse, our deeper nature usually gets what it wants, or thinks it wants. Blindness with respect to the forces, events, and influences that have shaped that nature leads to many if for most of our worst decisions.
The worst form of exile is from the self. From that one problem all kinds of ills arise, including the inability to forgive that which we can't begin to understand.
A long look at Japanese Americans before, during, and after the war. Starting in Auburn, WA, this is a true story of a complicated family living in two worlds. So many perspectives that it seemed dizzying at times, but this was history, felt I needed to finish and learn. Perhaps because I live in the PNW I keep finding more and more books depicting the Japanese experiences.
I can't really explain why I feel so connected to Meryl, but it's true. So,reading this was like a gift. Didn't know about her early life--family, her move from stage to film, her involvement with Cazale, so much more.
Read this straight through, whew. Then found THE poem, Lines for Winter by Mark Strand. Maybe I'll learn it by heart.
In those years, when "she" that is, history, gave orders, there were those who were warriors, others who were spies, some were ready to succumb and others were capable of seizing flashes of dignity.
Middle grade book, but I tested it out before gifting it! A local (Pacific Northwest) story about the L pod of orcas getting struck in an inlet,and the struggle to help them get out before they starved. Based on a true story-- I was totally "in" with the 12 year old heroine. So cool to have the names of the orcas, as well as a map of the inlet.
This is not exactly a sequel to Slow Motion (quite a bit of time passed between the two memoirs), but a great mid-life reckoning, the story of a seeker. Any book that includes the wisdom of Sylvia Boorstein, someone I admire greatly, is a great find. Loved it.
I'm completely hooked on this author's writing, and will read anything she writes! That the places, the kinds of twisted thinking, and the events in this book aren't so very far from reality is haunting.
Have long followed the Rosenberg saga, so this work of fiction about Ethel as a mother was so welcome.
Fire Flowers (Ben Byrne) led me to listen to this one. Fascinating stories of repatriation.
My second by this author, love descriptions of place, especially the desert in this one. Likely the closest I'll ever come to Saudi Arabia!
This is a great memoir--to the author for all the difficult work it took to get to a place where he was able to write this, remarkable resilience, thank you.
The first memoir, events after parents' terrible car crash eventually led to sobriety and moving away from a part of her life that was clearly unsafe/unhealthy. Haven't decided if I'll read Devotion, the next memoir.
Loved hearing this one, learning about post civil war Philadelphia Africans' lives, and about Lazaretto.
Quirky, yes, but I admit this made me uncomfortable, kept going because it is pretty short.
Loved how Noel would sit and read to Vee. Also how he loved the library!
A great book for Audio, Indian and English accents were lovely. Some of the obvious difficulties with surrogacy were uncovered in this novel about a British couple, with discordant ages and ethnicities, who search for a way to get pregnant. This may not be the most wonderfully written book, but was still very enjoyable.
"She was like someone who keeps both eyes open but presses on one to watch the situation from another side."
Enjoyed this, loved hearing more about being absorbed, adjusting to a new life. This book shads light on "the pooled inheritance of residual trauma".
Have read this so I can go to Nancy Pearl's book club at a local bookstore, my first time, and talk about this 2003 Pulitzer prize winner. An amazing novel!
Great book, my kind of weird for sure. Words, phrases and sentences to savor.
A memoir by the author of Hush. The needs of a "special" child in a Chassidic family with many children--an honest account, at times painful to read.
Adolescence, anorexia, spirituality, literature, epilepsy, the 60's/70's/80's, deep thinking. When I wonder why I'm not reading the serious works of an author that I "should" read, I go for the memoir.
Because I enjoyed Someone Knows My Name so much, wanted to try this. Maybe it could be called almost-historical fiction? Too long, but still glad I found this.
