My Summer Reading "Soundtrack"

One of my all time favorite things about summer is the ability to read with reckless abandon. This summer  I've been traveling, tackling numerous home improvement projects, and perfecting my "locavore" lifestyle by picking, freezing, and canning all sorts of farm fresh produce. I wouldn't have nearly enough time to read if it weren't for audio books. While painting my basement I listened to Into the Woods a detective novel set in Dublin, full of quirky and amusing characters, a suitable number of plot twists, and an ending that, if not completely satisfying, did wrap up the various plot-lines and solve the mystery. I picked blackberries while listening to The Goldfinch a widely acclaimed novel by Donna Tartt. I have yet to finish this book, but it is proving to be a darkly fascinating tale of a young man, a priceless piece of art, and a world that seems utterly against him. We meet all sorts of shady characters from the high rises of New York City to the seedy underbelly of Las Vegas. Of course, road trips provide the best venue for audio books. This summers' first road trip was graced by Jennifer Senior's nonfiction expose All Joy and No Fun, a sociological look at the evolution of parenting, and the multifaceted demands, judgments, and expectations that parents face from their children and their community. Most recently, I've been listening to War Brides by Helen Bryan. This book started out a little slow but has picked up in intensity. Though the aforementioned "war brides" residing in the English hamlet of Crowmarsh Priors are not exactly kindred spirits, they are, for all their flaws and foibles a likable bunch. They are humans. They are not paragons of patriotism and courage, but normal women facing the threat of German invasion and worrying about their family members on the Continent all while eating "carrot fudge," smuggling ration booklets, and complaining over the cramped conditions of air raid shelters.

Despite all of my summer projects I've also found time to sit by the pool, on the beach, or in a plane with my nose in a book. Recently, I've had several people ask for some recommendations. So here are a few of my favorite books this summer: 

#1: The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor - This is the story of a girl who travels to America on the Titanic (well - at least part of the way on the Titanic, that is) and lives long enough to tell her tale to her great-granddaughter, 70 years later.  I began listening to this book shortly after visiting the Titanic Museum in Belfast earlier this summer. While the story is a work of fiction, many of the details about the ship, its crew, and some of its more famous first-class passengers are true. Gaynor even uses exact quotes from actual telegrams sent in the fateful moments before the accident. In one such instance, the telegraph operator, a minor character in the book actually used the words "shut up" in his reply to another ship which was warning of icebergs in the vicinity. I remember reading that message in the museum, and the book's depiction was spot on. But I'll have to admit that the main reason I loved this book was that I became totally and fervently attached to the main characters. They were all such good people. I don't usually read books about nice people!  Throughout the book I was really truly rooting for lovers to be reunited and for friends and family to find one another. And the ending? Well I won't tell you that, but I will tell you that it was satisfying. It was as close to a Disney ending as a book about the Titanic can get! Move over Jack and Rose - this is a MUCH better story. 

#2: Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown - I'm not sure if I loved this book because I'm an AP World History teacher, or because I'm a redhead. Cinnamon and Gunpowder is the story of redheaded female pirate, Hannah Mabbot, and her captured chef, Owen Wedgewood, whose survival depends on his ability to concoct gourmet meals using whatever foul items happen to be in the ship's galley. The chef, who formerly served the head honcho of the Pendleton Trading Company (a.k.a. The British East India Company), is at the outset terrified of this redhead whose brutal punishments and unrelenting demands characterize her as nothing short of demonic. The chef is firmly attached to God and Country, so it takes him awhile to see the world from Hannah Mabbot's anti-imperialist point of view. Through a blend of ferocious tirades, sarcastic humor, and no little bit of brooding, this pirate slowly convinces her captive to take her side and fight the Empire, avenging the numerous atrocities perpetrated by the Pendleton Trading Company.  I must admit, despite Wedgewood's reticence, I loved Hannah Mabbot from the start - but then again, fiery redheads are my thing. This pirate's dry humor and ardor for justice make her my favorite fictional character of the summer. I laughed. I cried. And if I knew her, I'd join her crew, fight her cause, and enjoy some gourmet mussels along the way. 

#3 & #4: Shanghai Girls and Dreams of Joy by Lisa See: These last two books comprise a two-part series. The story begins with two sisters from a respectable Shanghai family. When their father loses the family fortune, Pearl and May find themselves forced into into marriage with two Chinese brothers who are emigrating to America. After a rather miserable double wedding, Pearl and May, are to follow their new husbands to America. However, history intervenes in the most tragic ways. Japan invades China, and Japanese soldiers storm the Chinese countryside raping women and children as they go. Finally escaping to America, the sisters find themselves navigating a complex immigration process at Angel Island and then adapting themselves to a difficult and disappointingly unglamorous life in America. With the end of WWII and the advent of Communist hysteria in the United States, Chinese immigrants are increasingly targeted and held under suspicion by the U.S. government. This is where the second book picks up. Pearl's daughter, Joy, faces the typical struggles of a second-generation minority. Frustration with her parents' backward Chinese values leads to her to join an underground student movement supporting the values of Chairman Mao and Communist China. When her disagreements with her family push her over the edge, she travels back to her mother's homeland, seeking a Communist utopia. What she finds is a country in the midst of the "Great Leap Forward" a national campaign to ramp up production, which only led to the squandering of China's environment and resources. This actual leap "backward" resulted in massive famine, cannibalism, and thousands of children left to die by the side of the road. Pearl undertakes a treacherous journey into her Communist homeland to save to save her daughter. While Pearl, May, and Joy are completely fictional, their lives represent the experiences of so many Chinese and Chinese-American women. The suffering they encountered was real; the novel presents a stark, disturbing, and honest portrayal of the lives behind the history books. These two novels, characteristic of all Lisa See's works, not only give a face to Chinese history, but also help Western readers gain an acute understanding of Chinese culture, values, and the many harrowing struggles faced by Chinese women throughout the centuries.