Spring Break Reads (2008 picks)
With Spring Break just around the corner, I asked the Punahou 'ohana for books that they would recommend to others. I have had a lot of great suggestions, so set aside some time to delve into another world while you are on a plane, at the beach, or curled up on your couch.
Hirsi Ali, Ayaan. Infidel. 2007. [B H613]
I'd like to recommend the book, "Infidel", to those "Kite Runner" enthusiasts. Although the book is non-fiction, Ms. Ali's account reads like a novel. The brutal murder of Theo Van Gogh, a Dutch film maker, by a fundamental Muslim serves as the backdrop of her story. She traces her journey from her childhood in war-torn Somalia and her upbringing by a strict grandmother and mother. Her father is an absentee parent because he is a leader in a rebel faction trying to overthrow the dictatorship in Somalia. Because of his status, the family is forced to flee to Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, then to Kenya. She recounts her struggle with Islam and her questions which go unanswered. She describes in detail the circumcision/excisions of herself, her sister, and brother and challenges the effects of the practice on her and other Muslim women. She is torn by the guilt and fear of displeasing Allah and her questions. When she is forced into an arranged marriage to a Canadian Muslim, she flees to the Netherlands on her way to Canada to meet her groom. She obtains asylum in the Netherlands and is confused by the freedom and acceptance of these Dutch infidels and the distrust and bondage of her Muslim friends. She finds employment in various entry-level jobs and some part-time work as a translator. She then goes to school and, eventually, receives a degree in political science. Her outspoken views of the injustice of Islam for women gains national attention and she is elected to the Dutch parliament. She is constantly threatened by terrorist elements but it is when she agrees to make a film, "Submission, Part 1", about injustice to women in the Islamic tradition that results in the death of her friend, the film maker, Theo Van Gogh. Despite the bleak prospects of a future in hiding and on the run, she ends the book with her gratitude and love for her family and an expression of hope for greater tolerance and understanding without being "Pollyann-ish".
-Yukio Hamada
Dallas, Sandra. Tallgrass. 2007. [F Dallas]
Seen through the eyes of a 13-year-old girl, living on a farm in southern Colorado during WWII, a Japanese detention camp is opened up adjacent to her family's farm, and filled with Japanese Americans from California. Murder mystery involved also. Very good!
-Barbara Jamille
Mortenson, Greg and David Oliver Relin.Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and build Nations - One School at a Time. 2006. [On order].
a must read
-Jerry Devlin
Larson, Erik and Isaac Monroe Cline. Isacc's Storm: A Man, a Time, And the Deadliest Hurricane in History. 1999. [976.4 L32]
worthy
-Jerry Devlin
(Provides an account of the hurricane which struck Galveston, Texas, in 1900 and killed ten thousand people.) Deb
Weisman, Alan. The World Without Us. 2007. [304.2 W43]
From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. If a virulent virus (or even the Rapture) depopulated Earth overnight, how long before all trace of humankind vanished? That's the provocative, and occasionally puckish, question posed by Weisman (An Echo in My Blood) in this imaginative hybrid of solid science reporting and morbid speculation. Days after our disappearance, pumps keeping Manhattan's subways dry would fail, tunnels would flood, soil under streets would sluice away and the foundations of towering skyscrapers built to last for centuries would start to crumble. At the other end of the chronological spectrum, anything made of bronze might survive in recognizable form for millions of years‹along with one billion pounds of degraded but almost indestructible plastics manufactured since the mid-20th century. Meanwhile, land freed from mankind's environmentally poisonous footprint would quickly reconstitute itself, as in Chernobyl, where animal life has returned after 1986's deadly radiation leak, and in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, a refuge since 1953 for the almost-extinct goral mountain goat and Amur leopard. From a patch of primeval forest in Poland to monumental underground villages in Turkey, Weisman's enthralling tour of the world of tomorrow explores what little will remain of ancient times while anticipating, often poetically, what a planet without us would be like.
-David Cox
Gruen, Sara. Water for Elephants. 2006. [F Gruen] See also entry under Summer Picks.
Grisham, John. The Appeal. 2008. [On order]
Probably have these but Water for Elephants, The Wonder Years, The Appeal.All easy reads.
-Darcy Iams
Abbey, Edward. Monkey Wrench Gang. 1992. [F Abbey]
Great spring break read light exciting and fun...ecoterroists in the American Southwest.
-Emery Mitchem
McCarthy, Cormac. All the Pretty Horses.1992. [F McCarthy]
Mother sells the ranch leaving 16 year old John Grady Cole with very limited options in his hopes of maintaining the cowboy lifesyle. So he crosses the Mexican border in search of work at a hacienda.
-Emery Mitchem
Follett, Ken. World Without End. 2007. [F Follett]
This is sequel to Pillars of the Earth, but it is not necessary to have read Pillars before WWE.
-Glenn Beachy
Patchett, Ann. Truth and Beauty. 2004. [On order]
"Ann Patchett and Lucy Grealy met in college in 1981, and, after enrolling in the Iowa Writers' Workshop, began a platonic friendship that would be as defining to both of their lives as their work was. In her critically acclaimed and hugely successful memoir, Autobiography of a Face, Lucy Grealy wrote about losing part of her jaw to childhood cancer, the years of chemotherapy and radiation, and then the endless reconstructive surgeries. In Truth & Beauty, the story isn't Lucy's life or Ann's life, but the parts of their lives they shared. This is a portrait that spans twenty years, from the long, cold winters of the Midwest, to surgical wards in Scotland, to book parties in New York." (From book jacket)
I loved its passion, honesty, and clarity.
-Shyrl Matias
Lynch, Jim. The Highest Tide. 2005. [On order]
A fascinating and beautifully written story about a teenage boy finding bizarre creatures in Puget Sound and the following events that change his life.
-David Del Rocco
Kittle, Katrina. Two Truths and a Lie. 2001
A suspenseful story featuring a woman who is a compulsive liar, and how her life is spinning out of control as she tries to solve the mystery of a close friend's death.
-David Del Rocco
Alarcon, Daniel. Lost City Radio. 2007.[On order]
Mesmerizing tale of identity, loss and survival amid the turmoil of revolution. Norma is the host of a radio show, "Lost City Radio," dedicated to the people who have vanished in the wake of a violent insurgency in an unnamed Latin American country. Ten years ago, her husband, a botanist, disappeared after venturing into the jungle to collect plant specimens. A young boy from that same area appears suddenly in Norma's life and things begin to unpeel. The writing is wonderful and the storytelling cinematically vivid.
-Carlyn Tani
Kearns-Goodwin, Doris. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. 2005. [B L63go]
Wonderfully told, well-researched story of Lincoln's political ascendancy and how he assembled a cabinet of former rivals that helped hold together and advance a fractured Republican party. The book offers anecdotes that illuminate Lincoln's character - his integrity, compassion and formidable determination - along with passages that give depth and context to the political and military maneuverings. We all know the ending, but it was a memorable, exciting read nonetheless.
-Carlyn Tani
Robbins, Tom. Another Roadside Attraction. 1990. [On order]
I really love to plug Tom Robbins books to anyone and everyone. My favorite is his first: "Another Roadside Attraction." You may have already read his stuff, but he's such an amazing thinker, really stretches your brain with his style of writing and his use of metaphor.
Crazy stories and unique writing.
-Lucas Morgan
Ross, Alex. The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century. 2007. [780.9 R31]
Ross is the classical music critic for the New Yorker Magazine, and in this book he tells the story of the 20th Century through the lens of classical music. He makes the point that unlike abstract art, theater of the absurd, post-modern literature, and other experimental art forms of the last century, 20th century classical music never really reaches an audience. He argues, though, that this music is everywhere in our lives; it's in film scores, commercial music, rock and roll, jazz, and even hip-hop in some ways. Mainly this book is just another interesting way to look at the nexus of music and history. He's a good writer who knows a lot about music, and the book reads like a novel. (Though an admittedly dense novel). It's also made me want to track down a bunch of music that everyone else has probably heard about, but that I never had until I read this.
-Tim Dyke
Prose, Francine. A Changed Man. 2005. [F Prose]
In this 2005 novel, a neo-Nazi skin head walks into the headquarters of an international human ights organization and says he wants to change his life. He wants to renounce his violent and hateful past and work for positive social change. The book asks how much humans can really change, and it asks people where their limits are when it comes to trust and compassion. This is a comic novel with a lot of suspense that really makes you think. It also raises thorny questions about the morality of people who work to save others on distant shores without doing enough to care for those in their neighborhoods and living rooms.
-Tim Dyke
Perrotta, Tom. The Abstinence Teacher. 2007.
In this book by the author of Election and Little Children, a female science teacher gets in trouble when she says something positive to her high school students about masturbation. In response, the school hires an abstinence teacher and the weird and awkward connections that form between this new male teacher and the female science teacher fill the plot of this book with social satire and thought provoking comedy. As was true for Election and Little Children, this book will make a good, funny, dark movie.
-Tim Dyke
The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass (referred to as the "His Dark Materials" trilogy) by Philip Pullman. I don't usually read fantasy novels, but I became interested in these when Michele Wie (sp?) told me the Golden Compass was her favorite book. I just got curious, you know? Now I've read all three, and they are definitely fun to read. It's hard to explain the plot, but the main character is a girl named Lyra, and the three books involve her efforts to help children retain their souls in the face of nefarious organizations that want to rip away these animate souls and replace them with more traditional notions. When the movie came out there was some discussion as to whether or not these books were anti-Christian or anti-Catholic. I think readers should judge that for themselves, but I found the books more thought provoking than spirit crushing. The movie of The Golden Compass in my opinion pales in comparison to the books.
-Tim Dyke
Diaz, Junot. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. 2007
When I first read this, I referred to it as "A Dominican Republic Catcher In The Rye." That really doesn't do it justice, but to say more is to give away all the weird and wonderful places that it goes (geographically and emotionally). It's a story about a sweet fat kid trying to make sense of a messed up world. And it's a lot better than I'm describing.
-Tim Dyke
King, Stephen. The Stand. 1990. [F King]
I finally read this long long book about the end of the world and I am a huge fan of it now. In the first third of the book, a bunch of people become aware that everyone on earth is dying of a plague except them. In the second third, these survivors realize that they are on one side or another in a battle between good and evil. In the last third, the battle ensues, climaxes, and resolves.
-Tim Dyke
Comment:
I agree with Tim about Stephen King's "The Stand." Even if you're not a Stephen King fan, it's an amazing book with a fascinating premise and absolutely great characters. His best work.
-David Del Rocco