Audiobook Review: Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming

Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming: Alan Cumming is a Scottish actor who currently plays Eli Gould on The Good Wife and stars in the Broadway production of Cabaret. This book, however, is not about his life as an actor or how he found his calling to act - it is about his tortured relationship with his father who physically and emotionally abused him throughout his childhood. At times difficult to listen to, the book is raw and insightful and ultimately, quite brave.


Alan Cumming is the youngest son of Mary Darling and Alec Cumming and, with his older brother Tom, grew up in Scotland on an estate for which his father was the caretaker. His father was stern and had high expectations of both boys but seemed to reserve his greatest ire for young Alan. In talking about his childhood, Alan Cumming describes fearing his father and how the family walked on eggshells expecting the next outburst. His father often put the boys to work around the estate doing very manual labor and then criticizing the work they did including physically beating them when it was not to standard. In the rare moments when Alan got to act like a child such as when he rode his bike through the village, he recognized how little of that happiness was in his daily life and how he lived with a pervasive anxiety. He repressed that through much of his life but as an adult, its effects began to become obvious and he could no longer ignore it.

As the book begins, Alan is about to appear on the British version of Who Do You Think You Are? and the producers are going through his family tree looking for a line/story to follow. When his father learns of this, he worries that they will discover his secret so he abruptly discloses to Alan that he is not his real father and that Alan was conceived following a dalliance by his mother. At this point, Alan's relationship with his father was non-existent but this news rocks him and prompts him to re-examine what he thought to be true about his father and their difficult relationship. Interestingly, the show actually ended up exploring Alan's mother's family and focuses on Alan's grandfather. Through that, Alan discovers his Grandfather also had secrets and discovers parallels between the his own life and that of his Grandfather.

My Thoughts
At times, this book was difficult to listen to - I could feel my own chest tightening as Alan recounted the cruel words his father spat at him or the blows he struck. There is a tenderness in how he tells the story because, despite all the therapy he has obviously been through to cope with his history, there is still a rawness to his emotions and he has insights which are revelatory.  I thought the story line of the work on Who Do You Think You Are? provided a nice counterbalance to the conflict with his father. It is also emotional but in a different way and I looked forward to the revelations in that story line. After listening to the book, I actually watched Alan Cumming's episode on the show and it was interesting to see what I had listened to played out on the screen and see expressions on his face which he had described in the book.

The book is read by the author and I enjoyed his Scottish accent but more than that I appreciated the authenticity of the reading of a memoir that only an author can bring to the production. In addition, Cumming is a trained stage actor and his professionalism comes through in the reading of the audiobook. All in all, although his story is very painful, his journey through it is a triumph and provides hope. Definitely recommend.

Weekend Cooking: Coconut 24/7 by Pat Crocker

It seems that everywhere I look these days, I see coconut - coconut water, coconut milk, coconut oil and even coconut flavored teas! In addition to it's delicious taste, coconut has a lot of health benefits and it is this feature which is contributing to its current surge in popularity. In Coconut 24/7, Pat Crocker, discusses the various benefits of coconut and then provides recipes featuring coconut from shakes and apps to entrees. In an age where recipes abound on Pinterest and elsewhere, I appreciate that this book added a lot of discussion about the health benefits of coconut and how to store and cook with it to maintain all those benefits.

 The book opens with a primer on the coconut and the various forms in which you can cook with it - the author even covers how to extract milk and water from a fresh coconut. Realistically, that is not going to happen in my life so I was glad she then moved on to discussing the coconut products you get off the shelf. I began using coconut milk in a mango protein smoothie this summer (tastes like the tropics!) so I was particularly interested in her discussion of coconut milk. In general, the author advocates limiting the processing of the coconut (hence the detail on how to extract milk from the raw coconut) so she recommends looking at coconut milk packages for unwanted ingredients like cane sugar, carrageenan and inulin. She also recommends selecting milk in the tetra packages rather than cans which can be tainted with BPA. Based on a review of the carton currently in my refrigerator, I am going to need to look a little harder for a less processed version. This was definitely eye-opening for me since I thought I was being "healthy" as I enjoyed my tropical smoothie.

 After the coconut primer, the book is separated into meal categories - breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizers and snacks, spice blends, sauces and dressings, beverages, and desserts. The final chapter is "spa recipes" and covers how to make your own body products, like hand cream, using coconut products. Probably a little ambitious for me so I focused on the recipes. I wanted to expand beyond my smoothies and the entrees chapter offered a lot that appealed to me. I especially liked this Coconut Curry Chicken - it reminded me of many of the great dishes I had while in Thailand:

Coconut Curry Chicken

2 tbsp coconut flour
1 tsp sea salt
8 chicken thighs
2 tbsp melted coconut oil
2 onions, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp grated ginger
3 tbsp Madras Curry Spice Blend
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup coconut milk
1 banana, coarsely chopped
1 sweet potato, coarsely chopped
1 bay leaf

1. In a flat bowl or pie plate, combine flour and salt, Dredge chicken thighs to coat. Reserve extra flour mixture

2. In a dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat.  Add chicken thighs and cook for 10 minutes or until browned well on all sides. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

3. Drain all but 2 tablespoons of oil in the pot. Add onions and saute for 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and curry spice blend and cook stirring constantly, for 2 minutes or until onions are soft. Return reserved chicken to the pot along with any reserved flour mixture. Add broth and milk. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and add banana, sweet potato and bay leaf. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes or until potato is fork-tender and chicken is cooked through and reaches 160 degrees on a meat thermometer.

This dish is delicious! If you are interested in how to incorporate coconut into your diet in a healthy but delicious way, I recommend trying this cookbook.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

Audiobook Review: Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink

Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink (read by Kirsten Potter; 17 hours, 33 minutes) recounts the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina from the perspective of inside the walls of the city of New Orleans's large downtown hospital. Caring for many of the city's most vulnerable, those at the hospital made fateful decisions amidst the chaos following the hurricane - decisions for which some of the physicians and nurses faced criminal charges in the aftermath of the storm. A physician and investigative journalist, Sheri Fink takes the reader right into the hospital during the storm and tells the stories of the doctors, nurses, administrators and patients caught in the frantic deterioration following the devastation of the storm.

 The book opens a few days prior to the storm as the city prepares for the forecasted hurricane. Inured to the rituals of hurricane prep, many took the warnings less than seriously and didn't heed all the warnings. At Memorial, they arranged to have staff on hand but otherwise additional precautions were not taken. In addition, many of the staff and those that lived near the hospital used it to shelter during the storm. As the storm bore down on New Orleans, the hospital was bustling but everyone felt the hospital would ride out the storm without issue. Of course, the storm was stronger than expected and the breaking of levees with the resulting flooding was not anticipated. As conditions worsened at Memorial in the days following the hurricane, the shortcomings of the city and the hospital's disaster planning became increasingly evident. With power out over the city, the hospital was dependent on back-up generator power. The generators, however, were on lower levels below the flood line; very quickly, the hospital had no power. With patients on ventilators and other equipment, the situation soon became dire. The hospital staff had to figure out how to get patients evacuated from the hospital.

At this point, the lack of coordinated effort between the hospital, its corporate ownership and government became obvious. Messages were going out from the hospital but either not being heard or responded to with inaccurate information that drove some bad decisions. Ultimately, doctors in the hospital triaged patients for evacuation by making judgement calls on the likelihood of surviving the evacuation but they were not operating with the best information about the conditions and timing of any evacuation. Based on where they were triaged, some patients were essentially sentenced to death. Faced with patients they believed were not going to be able to leave the hospital and increasingly deteriorating conditions outside, some doctors and nurses made decisions to hasten the deaths of patients with lethal injections.

 My Thoughts
This story was gripping and read with the pacing of a thriller - the narrator was new to me but kept me gripped throughout without overdoing the drama.  Although the outcome of the storm and the fact that some patients were euthanized was known at the start of the book, I found myself anxiously listening to hear the details and the analysis that was not well understood outside of this book. The author tells the story from a neutral viewpoint and didn't demonize the doctors, nurses or officials but let the facts speak for themselves.

One statement that really stayed with me was that the lack of planning on so many levels is actually the failure of morality in the situation - not necessarily the actions of any individual. During Hurricane Sandy in NYC, seven years after Hurricane Katrina, I watched on television as they evacuated patients from NYU Hospital because the storm waters flooded the lower levels of the hospitals which is where the generators were located - the same situation faced by Memorial. I hope our government and public health officials commit themselves to adequate disaster planning so patients never have to face what was faced at Memorial.

Review: Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan

Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan: Kelly Corrigan, recently graduated from college, wants nothing more than to get out and explore the world. In her mind, everything good happens outside the home - you are not really living unless you are out there doing things - or anything, really. Her practical, cautious mother advises her to work hard and save but Kelly has other plans - she wants to travel. So against her mother's advice (any maybe just a little because of it) she heads off with her friend Tracey to travel the world. When funds run low, however, she ends up as a nanny in Australia for a family with two young children whose mother has recently passed away from cancer. Before she knows it, she is living a life oddly parallel to her mother's and gaining new insight into her Mom and what makes her tick.

Practical, efficient Mary Corrigan would tell Kelly and her two brothers growing up, "Your Father is the glitter and I am the glue". Mary kept the family home running and doled out the discipline while her husband breezed in with jokes and a lighthearted sensibility. Kelly had a special relationship with her Dad but always felt that her mother didn't necessarily understand her and she bristled against the no nonsense approach her Mom took to parenting. The difference between her Mom and Dad can be seen right in the beginning of the book as they accompanied Kelly and Tracey to the airport - her father was enthusiastic about the adventures which awaited the girls while her mother barely concealed her misgivings about this trip and coolly warned her daughter to be safe.

When Kelly meets the Tanners and contemplates all these young children have lost with the recent death of their mother, she begins to value her own mother and counts herself lucky to have benefited from her guidance and discipline - even if it was practical and much more like glue than glitter.  Playing mother on a daily basis to the Tanner children, Kelly began to see the sense in how her mother approached the daily tasks of motherhood. Many women begin to understand their own mothers better as they become mothers themselves - Kelly got a head start on that as a nanny.

My Thoughts
I LOVED this book  - so much of it resonated for me and I saw my own mother in Mary Corrigan. My Mom is practical and unsentimental and that has been a point of contention between us at times. Like Kelly, however, I have learned to value and understand my Mom's practicality and realize that it kept things running smoothly in our home - there wasn't much time or room for frivolity. I attended an event in NYC where Kelly did a reading (you can see a YouTube video of the reading here) and took questions. At one point, she said her Mom didn't show love so much with words or hugs but by serving - taking care of her children and doing for them. My Mom is much the same - she shows her care and concern by doing.

My Mom and Me - Alaska, 2013

Kelly articulates her perspective on her Mom with wit and grace so that this book is a real tribute to Mary Corrigan but still immensely readable and relevant. I have already purchased copies of the book for my Mom and many friends!

Review: One Doctor : Close Calls, Cold Cases and the Mysteries of Medicine by Brendan Reilly, MD

In One Doctor: Close Calls, Cold Cases and the Mysteries of Medicine, Dr. Brendan Reilly brings readers to the front lines of medicine today and exposes it's fractured, ailing state. A distinguished internist  at a major academic medical center in Manhattan, Dr. Reilly sees the spectrum of patients as they are admitted to his service and he navigates the healthcare system in trying to provide the best care to each patient. By weaving together his thoughts on the healthcare system, the mysteries of some of his most challenging patients and the very personal story of caring for his own parents at end of life, Dr. Reilly has created an informative but also gripping look at medicine today.

Dr. Reilly began his career as a primary care physician in small town New England and practiced medicine in a way one imagines it was practiced years ago - with house calls and an in-depth knowledge of each patient. This experience, though not without its own challenges and during which he encountered his most mysterious case which haunts him to this day, informs Dr. Reilly's approach to treating patients. In this quote he reveals his philosophy as a doctor:

For many doctors, the purpose of medicine is to cure disease. For these "curing" doctors, if you don't have a definable disase - panic attacks is not a disease - then you've come to the wrong place. But, for other doctors, the purpose of medicine is the same today as it has been for centuries: to relieve human suffering - sometimes by curing disease (when we can) but always by empathizing with, understanding, and trying to comfort the sufferer.

He laments the fact that the vocation of being a doctor and comforter to patients has been devalued in the current business culture of medicine with healthcare as a "commodity" and patients as "consumers" and "customers" while the doctors are "providers".

Although Dr. Reilly provides his opinions on the state of healthcare today, the book is not merely an examination of healthcare policy from within the industry. Perhaps it's greatest offering is in bringing the reader to the bedside as Dr. Reilly and his team of colleagues, interns and residents see patient after patient and try to solve their medical mysteries. In each case,  the doctors use a mix of basic physical examination, patient interviews and more advanced medical technologies like CT Scans to get to the source of the symptoms presented by the patient and land on a diagnosis. The reader sees the process used in diagnosis, the challenges of managing not just the patient but their families, and the inevitable race against time as patients begin to worsen and the narrow window of time to diagnose and treat successfully narrows.

The counterbalance to the doctor at work is the doctor trying to doctor his own parents. His father, also a physician, has metastatic bladder cancer which has significantly impacted his quality of life while his mother is suffering from dementia and also needs significant daily care. With their care, Dr. Reilly experiences first hand what many of his own patients' families grapple with including challenging end of life decisions. How much intervention is enough or too much? It is interesting to watch him practice the same deductive approach to medicine without the benefit of distance - he is obviously emotionally invested in his parents and it complicates his care for them.

My Thoughts
I could not get enough of this book - it is fascinating on so many levels. With the health care debate so front and center now with the launch of the Affordable Care Act, it is interesting to explore, on a less superficial level than offered by the media, the many drivers of our issues in healthcare today. It also confirms my belief that there is no silver bullet to our healthcare challenges today and each solution will have some sacrifice with its own downsides.

More than that, however, I loved the front row seat to the practice of medicine and watching the doctor at work. It was like watching an episode of Gray's Anatomy or ER - gripping and emotional. In each case, you see the doctors struggling with their own issues - there is actually quite an exploration of regret in medicine and how it is not well understood or discussed - and juggling multiple patients and a plethora of information as they try to both cure and comfort each patient. At the core of each case is a patient looking to the doctor and the healthcare system for relief and a doctor trying to solve a mystery in order to do just that.

This book is definitely a top read for me in 2013 - highly recommend!

Audiobook Review: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (narrated by Rob McQuay; 9 hours 47 minutes) - Bill Bryson is a favorite travel writer of mine - I love his wry observations and dry wit. In A Walk in the Woods, Bryson takes on the Appalachian Trail. In addition to facts about the AT and a brief ecological survey, Bryson does what he does best - recounts his experiences on the trail with self-deprecating humor and keenly observes those around him.

Bryson decides to tackle the AT despite a relative lack of hiking experience or even stellar physical fitness.  Needing a partner, he recruits his college roommate, Steven Katz, to join him on the trail. Katz is even less well-prepared for the rigors of hiking hours each day and his inexperience and misunderstanding about what lies before them is evidenced by his hiking pack which is full of heavy canned food and Twinkies.  Bryson seems to take some pleasure in musing at Katz's ineptitude if only because it makes him the superior hiker. Katz certainly gives Bryson material to work with in his funny re-telling of their time on the trail but there are really no shortage of characters encountered by the two along the trail.

Perhaps their funniest encounter, however, was with a bear while camping one evening. Bryson so perfectly describes the scene, including his absolute terror, that I found myself laughing out loud while listening.  Prior to the scene, there had been much commentary from Bryson about bears and his fear of them which made the scene all the funnier.

“Black bears rarely attack. But here's the thing. Sometimes they do. All bears are agile, cunning and immensely strong, and they are always hungry. If they want to kill you and eat you, they can, and pretty much whenever they want. That doesn't happen often, but - and here is the absolutely salient point - once would be enough.” 

Bryson also tosses in some commentary on  people's general lack of respect for nature

and inability to peacefully coexist with it - you are either immersed in nature doing a trek like the AT or completely divorced from it living in a land of concrete with little natural influence.  Over time, nature has become less interwoven into people's daily lives. His other favorite commentary, despite his own admitted less than stellar fitness level, is about our lack of movement.

“I know a man who drives 600 yards to work. I know a woman who gets in her car to go a quarter of a mile to a college gymnasium to walk on a treadmill, then complains passionately about the difficulty of finding a parking space. When I asked her once why she didn't walk to the gym and do five minutes less on the treadmill, she looked at me as if I were being willfully provocative. 'Because I have a program for the treadmill,' she explained. 'It records my distance and speed, and I can adjust it for degree of difficulty.' It hadn't occurred to me how thoughtlessly deficient nature is in this regard.” 

 My Thoughts
This is another winner from Bryson for me. I was a little disappointed to see he doesn't read the unabridged version of the book (only abridged) and it took be some time to get used to the the narrator's voice - likely because I had been looking forward to Bryson's dry delivery. Over time, I got used to his narration and felt he did a good job telling Bryson's story but would have preferred to listen to Bryson.

While I enjoy day hikes, I have no grand designs to hike the AT and this book did not inspire me to do that. Rather, it allowed me to get the AT experience and learn about the trail without actually having to hike it myself. I had a lot of laughs along the way an enjoyed seeing how the experience changed Bryson and Katz. Whether or not you are a hiker, you will find a lot to like in A Walk in the Woods.

Review: The Alley of Love and Yellow Jasmines by Shoreh Aghdashloo

The Alley of Love and Yellow Jasmines by Shoreh Aghdashloo: Shoreh Aghdashloo is a Emmy award-winning Iranian actress and the first Middle Eastern actress to be nominated for an Academy Award. Like many actresses, her road to success was filled with struggles, doubt and tireless focus on her craft. Shoreh, however, has a whole other set of challenges to face - she fled Iran following the revolution when her ability to speak freely and to continue to pursue acting became threatened. In a daring but necessary move, she left her entire family behind and escaped to Europe and ultimately to Los Angeles.

Shoreh Aghdashloo had a relatively privileged upbringing in Tehran. Despite her parents' more practical plans for her, Shoreh was drawn to modeling and then acting at a young age. Although her father felt putting herself on display was not respectable for a young woman, he saw quickly that she would not be deterred. She married Aydin, a painter, at a young age and he agreed that she could follow her passion for acting. When revolution swept Iran in 1979, however, both women and acting came under attack by the Islamist government. In a bold move and with th e help of her husband, Shoreh escaped across the border to Turkey and ultimately settled in London. Aydin, however, would not leave Iran so they parted and, ultimately, ended their marriage when it became clear that Shoreh could not (or would not) return and Aydin would not leave Iran. Shoreh also lived separated from her parents and fearful for their safety back in Iran. Once in London, she pursued and obtained a university degree but acting was never far away. Shoreh acted in a series of plays, many of which were popular with the expatriate Persian communities in London and throughout Europe. She met her second husband in one of those plays and together they continued to act over the coming years. Once in LA, Shoreh was given the chance to act in The House of Sand of Fog and for that role, she was nominated for an Academy Award. After much hard work and and an unusual amount of sacrifice, Shoreh had achieved commercial success and recognition.

My Thoughts
The author's story has all the elements of a moving, lyrical tale - two loves, escape from oppression and a passion for the arts. Unfortunately, the telling of the tale is not particularly lyrical. The text is choppy and the author moves from event to event rather rapidly. There were a number of non sequiturs and I kept wanting some of them to be developed more but then it would be dropped and we would be on to something else. Some of the most powerful, moving moments in the book got lost in its telling  - it felt as if pivotal events would just be mentioned without any reflection.

Despite its shortcomings, however, the book does deliver in immersing the reader in Persian culture and educated me on the political history of modern Iran and its devastating consequences for its citizens. In addition, the author conveyed two key themes very effectively; first, her desire for a free Iran and her commitment to staying out of the country at great personal cost until that is realized. Second is her passion for acting - I was impressed by how diligently she worked at her craft, often in relative obscurity. She didn't seem to be in it for the attention but for the pure satisfaction of acting and bringing plays to audiences, no matter how small. Shoreh Aghdashloo has a powerful story to tell and overcome almost unbelievable odds to pursue both freedom and her craft.

You can read other reviews of this book by checking out the TLC tour here.

Thank you to TLC for providing a ARC of this book. 

What My Mother Gave Me by Elizabeth Benedict (TSS)

What My Mother Gave Me is a collection of essays edited by Elizabeth Benedict. In each essay, a woman writes about a gift given to them by their mother. These gifts are more than material -their value generally lies in the meaning and lesson beneath the object if one is given. In many of the stories, the relationship between mother and daughter is fraught but with distance there are still lessons to be learned. The collection is a tribute to motherhood and the varied ways in which women bring their own history to bear on the act of mothering.

 Each of the thirty-one essays in the collection is authored by an accomplished writer - contributors include Roxana Robinson, Lisa See and Joyce Carol Oates. In each essay, the author speaks of a gift given to them by their mother. In some cases, mother and daughter share a close relationship and the gift is lovingly appreciated both in reflection and when it was given. But in many more cases, the mother and daughter relationship was difficult and the gifts could only be appreciated upon reflection. There were a number of stories where a generational divide could be seen with a mother who placed traditional expectations on their daughter who was fighting to be anything but traditional. Often the daughter was surprised to realize her traditional mother actually respected the daughter's less than conventional decisions and enjoyed watching her daughter live a life not afforded to the mother.

Me and Mom - circa 1975

 This is not a sentimental collection (although a few stories did bring tears to my eyes) - emotions between a mother and daughter are strong and these essays do not sugarcoat that. They do, however, highlight the different ways in which women mother. Some women use a strong hand while others indulge their children; some face terrible odds with little support while others need tremendous support due to illness or affliction. In all cases, however, mothers impart tremendous lessons to their children and especially to their daughters. Those lessons are best learned in reflection and the authors of the essays in What My Mother Gave Me beautifully reflect on them. Their tributes make a wonderful gift for any mother.

Read about Elizabeth Benedict's inspiration for the collection and her own gift from her mother
here

 Happy Mother's Day!

Review: When Summer's In the Meadow by Niall Williams and Christine Breen

When Summer's In the Meadow by Niall Williams and Christine Breen picks up where their first book O Come Ye Back to Ireland (my review) leaves off at the conclusion of their first full year living in rural Ireland.  In this latest installment, Niall and Christine learn they cannot have a child and start on the journey to adoption.  When they bring baby Deirdre home, she adds another dimension to their chosen life on the farm and they discover their chosen home of West Clare all over again.

The couple's first year on the farm after moving from bustling NYC to rural West of Ireland was filled with struggles as they battled the elements to eke out a living on their farm and tried to adjust to a new culture. As they head into their second year, however, the couple has hit their stride.  They revel in their small farm and their new found skills as farmers. They have come to rely on their neighbors in the village and learned the idiosyncrasies of rural life.  This shift from being more comfortable on the busy streets of NYC to being more comfortable in the fields of their farm in Kiltumper is evidenced when they return to Manhattan for a short visit after their first book is accepted for publication.  Niall describes their first day in the city:

Outside on the streets again we were like leaves in the wind. We've both lost the NY attitude and betray ourselves terribly by looking at things. New Yorkers don't look but seem to stride, gliding fast forward between offices and apartments with the certain knowledge that all around them and over them is a city so extraordinarily various that nothing it throws up in front of you is surprising anymore....Windows of dazzling jewels and expensive clothes don't necessarily stun you, for why should they, New Yorkers seem to say . . . tenaciously holding to a belief in the possibility of all things. This, more than anything, marks the foreignness of the city for both of us now. It is the thing we are most unused to, this attitude of confidence in the future, of certainty in attaining a goal.

 While they are settled in on the farm and comfortable in their decision to leave NY and live in Ireland, Niall and Christine struggle with coming to terms with the fact that they cannot have a baby and anxiously begin the adoption process in Ireland.  They are  thrilled when they bring baby Deirdre home and they rediscover the joy of rural living as they watch their new baby discover the joys of the farm for the first time. They are plagued by anxiety, however, as they wait for the adoption to become final - they cannot imagine baby Deirdre being taken back from them.

My Thoughts

Co. Mayo, Ireland

Yet another delightful installment from Kiltumper! I enjoyed continuing to read about Christine and Niall's adventures in rural Ireland and the shift in focus to their personal struggle with infertility. I would, however, still recommend starting with  O Come Ye Back to Ireland - it best captures the disorientation experienced when one moves to a new country and it is fascinating to watch the couple discover things about their new life in West Clare. When Summer's In the Meadow is more reflective as Niall and Christine consider how far they have come since first moving to Ireland.  The discoveries in this book are seen more through the eyes of their daughter - as Deirdre grows, explores and discovers during her first year of life on the farm, Christine and Niall see the farm and the life they have chosen in new ways and reap different benefits from their rural idyll. I definitely look forward to reading the next installment and seeing what else is in store for this family and especially for the peeks into the rural West of Ireland. 

Little Princes by Conor Grennan

In Little Princes: One Man’s Promise To Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal, author Conor Grennan recounts how a between jobs trip to Nepal turned into a calling to help the orphaned children of Nepal.  As much as the book is about his quest to help the young orphans, it is as much about what Nepal offers Grennan - both in terms of self discovery and love.

 A Three Month Stint
Twenty-nine year old Conor Grennan decides to leave his day job and travel around the world for a year.  He had planned this trip well and saved for the opportunity to be job free for a year.  He started his trip with a three month stay volunteering at a Nepalese orphanage - his opportunity to give back before he started his around the world trip of leisure. Upon arrival at the Little Princes Children’s Home, he is charged at and tackled by a group of wide-eyed Nepalese children excited to have a new playmate join them.  Immediately, Conor is overwhelmed by their enthusiasm and worries that he has taken on more than he can handle.  There is a vulnerability in these children’s willingness to embrace him that, although endearing, unsettles Conor.

As the weeks go on, however, Conor just accepts the enthusiastic love these children have to offer.  Along with his fellow volunteers, Farid and Sandra, Conor fills the children’s days with games of cards, soccer scrimmages and school lessons. The three months fly by and Conor has to leave the orphanage for his around the world trip but he vows to come back to Little Princes.  He makes good on the promise and the children are as happy to have him back as Conor is to be back at the orphanage. Conor grows attached to the children.

As he becomes more attached to the children, Conor also wants to protect his young charges.  Nepal is in the throes of a civil war and the young children are key targets for the Maoists who would like to recruit them into their army. When Conor learns these children have been pawns in the civil war for the entirety of their young lives, he is even more determined to protect them. Conor discovers the children are not really orphans - many of them have parents but were taken from their villages by traffickers who promised their parents that they would protect them during the Civil War by taking them to the safety of the Kathmandu valley.  They would collect large sums of money from the parents for this “service” but then just abandon the children.  Orphanages like Little Princes would take the children in but they were raised far away from their families without any knowledge that their parents were still alive.




Something Must Be Done
Conor learns the scope of the problem in Nepal is huge and that orphanages like Little Princes are only able to help a small percentage of the vulnerable children. A mission is born - Grennan knows he must do whatever possible to expand the services to children in Nepal.  He starts a foundation to help the trafficked children of Nepal. Next Generation Nepal  supports a three-pronged approach to helping the children of Nepal.  First it rescues these children from the street and places them in transitional homes; second it supports reconnection and reunification by finding parents in remote villages of Nepal to ultimately reunite them with their children in these transitional homes.  Lastly, the foundation works on prevention by targeting trafficking at its root causes.  All this (and a budding romance!) from a three month stint volunteering before traveling around the world - amazing!




My Thoughts
I devoured this book - I found Conor’s story and especially the stories of the orphans compelling.  I enjoyed reading about their daily lives at Little Princes and the many funny moments as they sought to understand each other. There were many heartbreaking moments in the book as the vulnerability and suffering of these children are revealed. But, the book is also one of hope.  There is hope in the work of Next Generation Nepal but especially in the humanity of people like those working in these orphanages and their dedication to doing right by these children.  This is a book I won’t soon forget!              

The Queen: A Life in Brief by Robert Lacey

In The Queen: A Life In Brief, Robert Lacey distills the volumes which have been written about the Queen (much of it by him in his bios Monarch and Her Majesty) into a 175 page book which captures the high points of the British Monarch’s life while offering interesting insights which may not be widely known.

The book starts, as one might imagine, with the early years of the Queen’s life including her uncle’s abdication of the throne and the subsequent ascension to the throne of her father, King George. Lacey describes then Princess Elizabeth as a relatively unassuming young girl who loved and admired her father fiercely. As her father had when he unexpectedly took the throne, Elizabeth - a girl who was never born to be Queen - began to come to terms with the fact that she would one day succeed her father to the throne. With all the apparent privilege of being King or Queen, the role also comes with a tremendous responsibility and duty to the British people.

The realization of that responsibility humanizes Elizabeth and the author offers examples of the many ways in which she has served her country and where it has required sacrifice on her part. Her schedule is grueling - with more than 365 events a year at which she must make an appearance. Many of these events span the British Commonwealth which extends across Canada, Africa and Australia, among others. At times, she has served the British people at the expense of her family’s needs - she often left her young children home for months at a time while she traveled abroad for these events.

How the obligations of the role of Queen have impacted Elizabeth and her family can most obviously be seen in the family’s choices in marriage. It seems many were denied their true love only to have the marriage they did choose end in ruins. When Prince Philip asked King George for Elizabeth’s hand in marriage, he was denied. Elizabeth’s parents felt she was too young for marriage but they also had concerns about Philip because he was not a British subject - he held both Danish and Greek royal titles. But Philip overcame the King’s objections, became a naturalised British citizen and was eventually given permission to marry Elizabeth. I found it interesting that Elizabeth faced obstacles in marrying who she wanted to marry when she seemed to place similar obstacles in front of her own sister and children. Princess Margaret was forbidden to marry a divorced man while Prince Charles, famously, denied his love for Camilla to marry a more suitable (young, virginal) Diana only to have that marriage end tragically. Elizabeth’s other children’s marriages also seemed to tremble under the pressure of royal life.

Overall, Lacey paints a very favorable picture of the Queen as a woman who has steadfastly served her people and done her duty with little fanfare. It is a fitting tribute at the Queen’s celebration of the Diamond Jubilee after 60 years on the throne. The more salacious events in the Queen’s life are glossed over in the book but not ignored. The length of this book was perfect, in my opinion. I was not interested in reading a 400+ page biography of the Queen but I did enjoy reviewing the high points in her life especially with the insights offered by the author which made the book much more than just a regurgitation of facts already well known. If you are at all interested in the Queen or the British Monarchy, this book is a great primer!

Thank you to Harper Perennial for providing a copy of this book for review

Review: I Know I Am, But What Are You? by Samatha Bee

I Know I Am, But What Are You? by Samantha Bee
From Amazon:

A senior correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the Toronto-born comedian pokes fun at herself in a witty collection of personal essays. Recalling her upbringing, she lightheartedly and hysterically skewers her parents, stepparents, grandparents, and even the nuns who taught her math, half of whom "looked and smelled like the rejection of life itself." Bee's stepmother took camping "very seriously," and preparing for a trip was "like preparing for the End of Days;" her father, claiming to be thinking up strategies for better fuel efficiency, was really "just reading Penthouse on the toilet." Regarding the nuns at her Catholic school, Bee doesn't hold back: "You could see that they had all their lady parts, but you just knew that once a month they menstruated dust." Bee takes readers from childhood to adolescence and beyond, reminiscing along the way about her first boyfriend, comparing their sexual chemistry to that of a "sea cucumber that sits motionless on the cold, dark ocean floor and dreams of dry-humping a nearby scallop." Bee successfully brings her witty, self-deprecating, slightly cynical, and semi-scathing world view from screen to page.

My Thoughts:
This memoir is told in a series of essays each recounting a cringe-worthy story from Bee's childhood or adolescence.    Now most of our childhoods and certainly adolescences offer material galore in the humor department but it takes talent to write and package those scenes into funny, sardonic essays with just the right amount of detail.  Samantha Bee definitely has a self-deprecating sense of humor and is not afraid to make fun of her younger self which makes for a more humorous story.  With divorced and somewhat eccentric parents, Bee seemed older than her years as a child watching and assessing the exploits of her parents.  She may not have realized it at the time but all that observation would turn into a funny, entertaining book!

The author I can most easily compare Bee to is David Sedaris - she has a similar sarcastic tone and tells personal stories as he does - however, I think her book approaches the humor found in a David Sedaris story.  I definitely found myself laughing out loud but I feel Sedaris is just that little bit more witty and exacting in his prose.  With that said, I Know I Am, But What Are You?, takes dysfunction and makes it funny - and maybe makes us all feel just a little bit better about our own childhoods!

FYI - Although I read it in print, I think this book would likely be excellent in audio (check out S. Krishna's review of the audio) as I am sure Samantha would deliver her witty one-liners with just the right inflection. 

Thank you to Kristin at Simon and Schuster for providing a copy of this book for review

Review: Everything Is Going To Be Great by Rachel Shukert

Everything Is Going to Be Great: An Underfunded and Overexposed European Grand Tour by Rachel Shukert is the smart and witty telling of the author's trip through Europe (well actually through Austria and the Netherlands) on a non-existent budget.  The "grand" is definitely tongue in cheek - Rachel goes to Europe as part of an ensemble cast  performance in which she has an non-paying, non-speaking part and is forced to wear a "poo" hat.  And we're off .  .  .

Dedicated to her craft, Shukert is just happy to be part of a cast and thinks little about the fact that she will not be earning money while in Europe.  You have to admire her sense of adventure and willingness to take risks.  The risk-taking continues as she meets men while abroad and dives into relationships and casual sexual encounters.  As much as I could not imagine taking these risks, I couldn't help laughing at the predicaments in which she found herself.  When she loses a cap and needs emergency dental work, she lands herself in one of the most outrageous scenes of all with three Italian men.  Again, not something I imagine myself doing but her telling of the story is smart, irreverent and self-deprecating.

This may appear to be a travel memoir but you will find little in the way of not to be missed sights or historical highlights.  The book is really more of an anthropological study - Shukert shares observations about the essence of people in the countries she visits and examines their customs with her trademark humor.  I can still see the pre-Christmas scene in Amsterdam as the Dutch clamor to see Sinterklaas - the Dutch answer to Santa Claus.  Here is how Shukert describes Sinterklaas:

There is no Santa Claus in Holland.  Santa is jolly.  Santa is too fat to ride a bicycle, and his obesity is a drain on the national health care system.  Santa is financially generous for no logical reason.  Santa is completely antithetical to the Dutch way of doing things. 

Photo  Credit

In Santa's place is a tall, thin and fastidious bureaucrat called Sinterklaas who dresses like Torquemada, the leader and spiritual godfather of the Spanish Inquisition

Despite Shukert's derisive description of the Dutch holiday tradition that is Sinterklaas, she heads out to see him arrive at the main train station on his feast day and is nearly trampled by the masses as they clamor for a sighting or perhaps a small piece of candy from Sinterklaas. While being trampled, she keenly observes the Dutch - her observations, like much of the book are insightful and irreverent. 

While not a traditional travel memoir, this book is a wonderful coming of age story as Shukert learns valuable life lessons and quite a bit about herself amid ill-advised sexual escapades and a near poverty existence.  Best of all, she keeps you laughing throughout!

Thank you to Erica at Harper Perennial for providing the copy of this book for review

Jan's Story by Barry Petersen

Jan's Story: Love Lost to the Long Goodbye of Alzheimer's tells the story of Barry Petersen's struggle as his wife declined into the confusion of Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease at the young age of 55.The story is heartbreaking but also inspiring as Barry conquers his loss and moves through it.

Alzheimer's Disease destroys brain cells causing problems with thinking, memory and behavior.  It is progressive and ultimately fatal.  Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease, defined as a diagnosis before the age of 65, is particularly devastating because it can be more aggressive, progressing quickly and rendering its victims significantly handicapped and unable to conduct a normal daily life.  The person left is merely a shell of the their former self and is often unable to care for themselves at all.  The impact of the disease to the patient's family is tremendous - in addition to the horrific loss of their loved one before their eyes, the family must also deal with the logistics of providing care for the increasing limited patient and the financial burden of that care.  Barry Petersen's story follows that journey and beyond.

Jan Petersen first showed signs of being "altered" while they lived abroad when Petersen was posted outside the US for his work as a network reporter.  The event that precipitated her diagnosis at age 55 was  dramatic and also had many hallmarks of the disease.  Although she returned to "normal" after the approximate 3 day episode, her behavior, memory and personality began to show signs of decline.  Barry devised ways to keep his wife safe - employing friends to take her shopping, managing all her medication, ordering in so she wouldn't have to use the stove and perhaps forget to shut off the burner.  All the while, he mourned the loss of the Jan he knew as pieces of her slipped away.  It was particularly difficult to read about Jan as she became antagonsitic and fought with Barry - her sunny disposition was a part of her character that drew Barry to Jan so I can imagine it must have been horrible to see that sunny disposition replaced with anger and vitriol.

There were some choices that Barry made that seemed unusual but I cannot judge without having been in his shoes.  For example, while posted in Asia and after Jan's diagnosis, Barry shuttled the couple between Japan and China every few weeks. For someone with memory impairment, it must have been very disconcerting and scary to be in a different country every few weeks - different apartment, different friends, different currency.  At the same time, Barry could only afford to continue to care for Jan's increasing care by maintaining his job which required this travel.  It is not surprising, then, that Barry was the focus of criticism from Jan's family and friends who felt his decisions were not in her best interest and even questioned if Jan was really as impaired as Barry had indicated.  To suffer this judgement must have been terrible as he also lost the love of this life.

Althought the book is entitled "Jan's Story", the story is just as much Barry's.  It is the story of his loss, his hitting rock bottom as the rigors of being a caregiver completely wore him down and the story of his renewal as he recognized that his wife was lost and he needed to move on.  I appreciate that Barry shed a light on this devastating disease - how it destroys the patient but also the family and caregivers.  It seems the caregivers are really the unsing heroes of this fight and there is a need to figure out new ways to adequately support patients and families through this disease as its incidence rises. However, what I most appreciated about this story was the courage shown by Barry in moving through this horrible time in his life and pulling himself from the depths of despair - his story is inspiring and gives hope to anyone facing a terrible loss.

Barry will donate a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book to the Alzheimer's Association - you can also visit their site for information about the disease, resources for families and patients, and information about how to help.

Thank you to Tricia from Media Muscle for providing this copy for review. 

Audiobook Review: In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson

I am a big fan of Bill Bryson’s books and I recently started listening to him on audio – he reads his own books and his dry, sardonic humor delivered in his mid-Atlantic accent is perfect and actually adds to my experience of his stories.  I posted a review earlier this year of the audiobook, Notes from a Small Island and I had a lot of comments from fellow Bryson followers.  Many commenters, including Cori from Let's Eat Grandpa!, Amy from Black Sheep Dances and Becky from Page Turners   recommended In a Sunburned Country so I promptly downloaded it and began to listen.    Now I want to go to Australia  . . .

In a Sunburned Country is Bryson’s ode to Australia and recounts his multiple trips to the “land down under”.  Bryson combines witty anecdotes of his adventures in travel, including a near drowning incident, with a review of Australia’s history, people and flora/fauna.  The balance seems just about right – as soon as I found myself getting bored with a description of yet another animal that is unique to Australia, Bryson would start a comic story about one of his adventures down under.  One of my favorites occurred during his trip to Alice Springs (which I am pretty sure I visited at least twice when I re-started the audiobook at the wrong point!) where he found himself with no hotel reservation in a spot with limited room availability.  After one unlucky attempt to secure a room, he moved on to the next hotel only to wait in line behind  an American couple and listen to their incessant line of questioning of the desk clerk about everything from the cost of a stamp for their postcards, whether there was an ironing board in the room to the location, to the hotel restaurant's hours and their best dishes.  When the couple finally moves on, the desk clerk informs Bryson that they got the last available room in the hotel!  Bryson's description of the scene was perfect- I could totally imagine standing behind this couple!

Bryson covers a lot of ground in the book - he travels all throughout the country and the fact that the Australia is such a large country is one that came up frequently - to the point when I began to wonder "When is he just going to accept that the country is big - things are far apart from each other?" His griping about the size of the country aside, however, Bryson's fondness for Australia is clear.  His descriptions of the many natural wonders certainly make me yearn for a trip down under -  I have added it to an already burgeoning list of countries I must visit.  In the meantime, however, maybe I will re-listen to the audiobook and take my third trip to Alice Springs!