Keeping Busy

David Maraniss came to the Troy, MI library to talk about his latest book Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story. The auditorium was filled!

I read his book over a year ago through NetGalley. You can read my review at
http://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2015/09/once-in-great-city-detroit-story-by.html

Maraniss addressed the inspiration behind his book, his Detroit childhood, and the main themes in the book. He showed several short films including the Superbowl commercial that inspired him to explore his response of nostalgia.
 http://www.candgnews.com/news/michigan-notable-book-author-explores-detroit-60s-92631

Maraniss noted the changes in  Detroit since researching his book starting in 2011, mentioning the influx of young people and the new businesses in Mid-town. His book addresses the dismantling of historic African American communities under the guise of "urban renewal.  It prompted me to ask a question. I follow Angel Flournay, author of The Turner House set in Detroit, on twitter. A few weeks ago she was in the city and tweeted her shock at finding herself the only person of color in Midtown. So I asked Maraniss if he thought that Detroit's come-back was reflecting the historic racial split of Detroit's past. He replied that officials are aware of the need for all communities to be involved with restoration.

*****

We have removed a 40+ year old pine tree and trimmed out 40+ year old silver maple. It's all our neighbor's fault, as he was removing two trees and thought we would want to ( he wanted us to) remove the pine.

The Pine Tree Before

The Silver Maple Before

The trees in our yard were all planted in the 1970s by my father. The pine had a curved trunk, ran through all the electric and cable lines to the house, and the trunk split into two half way up. The maple has shallow roots and it hung over the electric lines and our garage roof. So we trimmed it up.

 We watched as he climbed up the tree and cut one branch of the trunk then the other.

And the maple looks so different now!

The neighbor's tree greatly shaded our yard. We actually have some sunshine now...which is giveing hubby ideas for plantings...

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren: Survive and Thrive

Reading the beginning of Lab Girl by Hope Jahren through The First Look Book Club I was charmed by Jahren's voice and put the book on my 'to read' list. When I saw it on the new book shelf at the library I brought it home with me.

"Each beginning is the end of a waiting. We are each given exactly one chance to be. Each of us is both impossible and inevitable. Every replete tree was first a seed that waited."

Jahren has faced many challenges: a lonely childhood, working herself through school, struggling as a female scientist against the prejudices of a male dominated field, finding funding for her projects. Her success can be verified by her choice as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People, her Fulbright Scholarships, and her long relationship with her lab partner Bill. She found love and faced a difficult pregnancy sans medication for her bipolar disorder to have the child that changed her life.

"I have learned that raising a child is essentially one long, slow agony of letting go."

Jahren's writing is so lovely to read. Her love of her work as a geobioloist and her awe of nature shines through the pages. She alternates chapters on her life with chapters about the world of green growing things around us.

The self-portrait Jahren paints reveals her personal challenges and insecurities without being confessional and raw. Her lab partner/best friend/soul mate Bill is interesting and complicated, eccentric and brilliant. He once lived in a hole in his parent's back yard. We come to love him as much as Jahren does. We are happy when her loneliness is ended by marrying a man who 'gets her.'

To read a section of the book go to http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/248239/lab-girl-by-hope-jahren/9781101874936/

To read an interview with Jahren go to http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/the-secret-life-of-plants-and-lab-girl-author-hope-jahren/

A gorgeous book of life. Jahren contains multitudes. Her book is love as life. Trees as truth.” —Beth Kephart, Chicago Tribune

Lab Girl
Hope Jahren
Penguin Random House
$26.95 hard cover
ISBN:9781101874936

For the Glory: Eric Liddell's Journey from Olympic Champion to Modern Martyr

I was barely into my twenties when I met Dr. Maybell Marion Holmes. She had been born to missionaries in China and later returned to China as a missionary. Her parents fled China during the Boxer Rebellion. Her father Rev. Thomas D. Holmes wrote a book, China Stories, about his experiences. Marion lived into her nineties. I only knew her for a few years before my husband's work brought a move.

While reading Duncan Hamilton's biography on Eric Liddell For the Glory I chastised myself for not having probed Dr. Holmes for stories. She had first hand experience of events of which I was totally ignorant. To think of what I could have learned!

The Chinese resented how the Western was influencing their country. Comprised mainly of peasants, the Boxers rebelled by destroying railroads, killing missionaries, and attacking foreign enclaves and diplomats. President McKinley joined Europeans in sending in troops. The Manchu Dynasty joined with the Boxers. It was the beginning of the Chinese Revolution.

Eric Liddell's parents were missionaries in China during the Boxer Rebellion until his father suffered a stroke. Eric idolized his father. "Be ye perfect" became Eric's goal, an example set by his father's embodiment of the ideals taught by Jesus.


Most people know Eric Liddell only from the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire which follows his career as a runner in the 1924 Paris Olympics.  The movie portrays Eric as a high minded idealist, adamant about keeping the Sabbath; he will not race on Sunday. A friend exchanges races; Eric runs feeling God's pleasure and wins a medal. The movie ends with a few lines about Eric becoming a missionary and dying in China.

1925 Liddell as painted by Eileen Soper http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/NormanCliff/people/individuals/Eric01/p_painting.htm

The story behind Eric's Olympic win is set forth in the first part of Hamilton's book, and he brings Liddell's personality and gifts to life. He comments on ways the movie altered truth for the sake of story.

But it is Eric's life after winning the gold that becomes most riveting, especially the last third of the book about his missionary career in China while under Japanese occupation during WWII. The author is certain he is writing about a saint, and makes us believe too.

Liddell returning to Japanese occupied China as a missionary

The man in these pages has the mind of a winner, the determination and drive to push himself beyond endurance. It is a trait he takes into all his life.

Eric was sent to an isolated village mission which fell under Japanese occupation. After a vacation break the mission society sent Eric back to the mission. It was a fateful decision. The missionaries were put under house arrest then rounded up and sent to a concentration camp in a run down former mission school. In over crowded, unsanitary, and claustrophobic conditions, the internees struggled to deal with the waste and developed a Black Market to supplement their scanty food supplies.

Eric kept up a public face of encouragement while teaching in the camp school, but also hauling water, cleaning excrement, offering non-judgmental counseling, and organizing sports events and races. His health steadily declined, and he died in the camp, emaciated and weak, after suffering several strokes. He had brain cancer.

For the Glory is a wonderful biography, inspiring and glorious, horrifying and sad. But beyond the sadness there is hope. Liddell's example of loving your enemies inspired a camp internee, Steve Metcalf, to become a missionary to Japan. Metcalf called it 'passing the baton of forgiveness.' To have witnessed the atrocities the Japanese inflicted on the Chinese, and yet forgiven them, came out of their deep faith and obedience to the teaching of Jesus.

Eric's daughter, whom he never saw, grew up resentful until she realized her father was meant to be in that camp, touching the lives of many, part of a bigger plan. She realized her family was meant to share him.

Eric's favorite hymn was Be Still My Soul, translated by a fellow Scott. Did he know these words would be needed to comfort him during his earthly trial?

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heav'nly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still now
His voice Who ruled them while he dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, his heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all he takes away.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hast'ning on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change are tears are past
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, believing, to Thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,
So shall he view thee with a well-pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.

http://www.hymnary.org/text/be_still_my_soul_the_lord_is_on_thy_side

I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

For the Glory
by Duncan Hamilton
Penguin
Publication May 10, 2016
$27.95 hard cover
ISBN: 978159420627

Thoughts At The Symphony

 Orchestra Hall

Since returning to Metro Detroit we have been enjoying the Detroit Symphony Orchestra directed by Leonard Slatkin. At Orchestra Hall or the neighborhood concerts, on the DSO to Go app or Livestream internet television, it has been a delight. Maestro Slatkin does a wonderful job bringing the music to the people.

 

Every time I hear the symphony live I realize how listening to a recording or radio is lacking.

Last evening we heard Joshua Bell performing Lalo's Symphonie espagnole, which I had only heard on radio before. It is a real showpiece for violin and Bell was amazing! The concert started with a tribute to Steven Stucky, performing his Dreamwaltzes, which Slatkin first directed 30 years ago. And the concert ended with Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major.

The program notes quotes Prokofiev: "I wanted to sing the praises of the free and happy man: his strength, his generosity and the purity of his soul. I cannot say that I chose this theme: it was born in me and had to express itself." It was written in 1944 "as a means of putting into music all of the mind-boggling suffering which Russia had endured during the Nazi invasion, but also to look forward to what many people then felt was an almost-sure final victory."

The symphony premiered in Moscow the day that the Soviet Army crossed the Vistula on their victory march into Nazi Germany. Prokofiev lifted his baton but was delayed by the sound of gunfire. As the symphony came to its end "it became clear that the end of the war was indeed insight."

With the coda, the martial sounds of war with the drums and percussion instruments driving the music louder and more belligerent, the couple in front of me turned to each other in silent laughter. I wanted to give them a Gibbs head slap. Where I was experiencing the impact of war into human life they thought the 'intrusion' was funny.

But I had been thinking of how 1944 was less than ten years before my birth, how I grew up thinking the war was ancient history while around me my parents and grandparents knew otherwise. And I considered how lucky I am: my grandmother and her family, and my husband's grandfather, left Russia a hundred years ago. And fifty years before that the German Ramers. Because had they been in Russia and Germany they would have lived through the war--or died in it.

Great music at once engages my rapt attention while also freeing my mind for free association, forging connections between my knowledge and experience to the music.

Leaving Blythe River by Catharine Ryan Hyde

Ethan has been estranged from his father ever since he and his mother caught him 'entertaining' his secretary at home. But when his mother needs to help her ailing parents her only choice is to send Ethan to live with his father who has moved into the wilderness.

Ethan has never received his dad's approval. City boy Ethan is small and timid and book smart. His dad is athletic, a risk taker, a womanizer. Their reunion is not going well.

One day Ethan's dad doesn't return from his typical twenty mile run. The local police can't find him and are not convinced he didn't just skip town. Ethan could have walked away but he can't leave until he has gone on his own search for the man he hates and loves.

With the help of three local misfits Ethan takes a journey into the Blythe River National Wilderness on an adventure that brings him self-knowledge, revelation, and personal growth.

Catherine Ryan Hyde 's latest book Leaving Blythe River will appeal especially to YA readers who will identify with Ethan's struggle for parental approval. His personal growth is the focus of the story. The supporting characters are well drawn and memorable. The wilderness journey will propel readers to keep reading. The ending is realistic.

There were some unanswered questions, such as how was Ethan's dad supporting himself while living in the wilderness and going on runs. As a mom, I was not convinced why mom was so accepting of her son's going on the dangerous quest into the wilderness.

I have been a fan of  the author for several years. The author's last book was Worthy which you can read about at http://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2015/06/worthy-by-catherine-ryan-hyde.html

I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Leaving Blythe River
by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date May 24, 2016
$14.95 paperback
ISBN:9781503934467

Dystopian Futures

I read David Mitchell's The Cloud Atlas for my book club and  Paolo Bacigalupi's  The Water Knife after reading the beginning through the First Look Book Club from  Random House. 


The Cloud Atlas was not easy to get into, but by the third section I started to see the connections, and by the time I got to the stories set in the future I was hooked. I ended up impressed and moved and loving the book. 

The novel is told through stories that cross time, each written in the language of a different genre. The structure is linear but then reverses backward through time as the ending of each story is revealed. As A.S. Bryant advises in her review appearing in The Guardian, you have to "trust the tale." It is worth it! 

The issues raised are deep and relevant: how humans perceive the world, what motivates human society and individuals, the way we condone and whitewash evil, the power of money, the evils of war, our denial of uncomfortable truths. The stories take us to a future that has reverted back to tribal warfare. But ending where he began, in the past, we are shown that individuals who choose to do good can, perhaps, alter the course of history. 

The Water Knife is set in a future world devastated by climate change where the Southwest and Western states are ruled by water cartels. The 'fivers' live in lush Chinese built communities where water is recycled; the poor, made of refugees from communities whose water has been turned off, live with Clearsac recycling of their own body fluids and huddle around water sources provided by charitable organizations. 

Angel is a Water Knife, hired to carry out the dirty work for the Vegas water lord. Lucy is tired of writing for the 'blood rags' reporting on ruin porn and follows a lead to perhaps another Pulitzer. Maria is a Texan refugee, on the lowest rung of society, just trying to survive. 

I really liked the issues explored in the novel. I did have trouble with the graphic violence and the descriptive kinky sex; I don't think these added to the story. But the novel does raise interesting issues and warnings of what could come. 

Emily St. John Mandel book signing 

Last week I attended a talk and Q&A with author Emily St. John Mandel whose Station Eleven I read a year ago and which I reread last month for book club. She addressed the issue of why dystopian novels are so popular and mainstream today. Emily listed reasons for the huge interest in dystopian novels which people across the country have suggested to her.

As Emily states in an NPR interview found here, post-apocalyptic fiction can be a reflection of the anxiety of life in an ever-changing world. No one likes change. Or perhaps we secretly like the idea of a do-over, another chance to get it right. Or perhaps the future is the only frontier left to explore.

I think this fiction allows us to see a projection of what will happen if we don't change and adapt. The visions are a warning, prophecies of doom based on our present actions. What I love about The Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven is the aspect of hope, that something of value is worth saving, that individuals who think morally original can challenge cultural norms and bring society one step closer to ideal. 

The Dog Merchants: Inside the Big Business of Breeders, Pet Stores, and Rescuers

Pets are a product. They are developed, marketed, and sold for profit says the author of The Dog Merchants, Kim Kavin. And too often buyers do not consider all the ramifications of what their dollars are supporting.

Once we understand the business, what can we do about it? Kavin believes that smart shoppers can make a difference, even in the dog industry.

I am a lifelong dog owner.

I was about four years old when my father brought home a puppy, Pepper, a mutt  I loved dearly. She would follow me to school. One day appeared she at my classroom door and I had to walk her home again. When my little brother began walking my grandparents took Pepper in; she was getting crotchety and needed a quieter home. When she was old and in pain my family let her go, and it broke my heart.

my Pepper in old age

After we lost our house trained bunny my husband and I bought two dachshunds from a pet store, adopted a dog through a want ad, came home with a home breed pure breed Shiba Inu, and fostered one adopted two more Shibas who were puppy mill breeder rescues. Eight dogs, eight sources that illustrate the cycle of dog ownership over sixty years: from mutts to commercially bred dogs to home bred to rescued.

our beloved foster Kara, who spent 9 years in a Missouri puppy mill.
He had serious health issues and lived nine months after rescue.

Kim Kavin's fine book considers every aspect of the industry that provides us with our animal companions. She explains the impact of the AKC breed standardization on canine health and well being and how dog competitions fuel a desire for designer dogs. Kavin reveals that puppy farms are producing dogs in expectation that the rescue societies will buy them! That sends chills down my spine.

We brought PJ from a pet store when grieving for the loss of our first dachshund Pippin.
We were ignorant about puppy mill breed dogs sold at pet store chains.

I respect Kavin for telling the truth in an objective and informative way. She offers examples of canine abuse without being manipulative.

I hate those commercials seeking funds that prey on one's feelings. Kavin never stoops to such tactics. I don't think I could stand 'the details' of puppy mill life any more than the details of combat. I saw the ramifications mill life had on my foster dog Kara and adopted girls Suki and Kara.

Our first Shiba Inu, Kili, lived over 16 years, locally home breed.

Everyone who loves dogs, or who are considering adding a dog to their family, should read this book. It will help in making informed decisions on all the vital questions: are you prepared to take responsibility for a dog, what are you willing to invest, what you should ask before making your purchase.

The book is published in conjunction with a website where pet owners can share knowledge through product-style reviews and ratings of breeders and rescues. Visit The Dog Merchants website http://www.dogmerchants.com. 

I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The Dog Merchants
Kim Kavin
Pegasus Books
Publication Date May 2, 2016
$27.95 hard cover
ISBN: 9781681771403