Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder

When Deo landed at JFK airport he had $200 in his pocket, no job, no place to stay, and couldn’t speak a word of English. He was on the run, having escaped the genocide in his home country of Burundi (a neighbor to Rwanda). Haunted by nightmares, he slept the best he could in Central Park, worked as a delivery boy for $15 a day, and slowly starved. Two years later he enrolled in an Ivy League school. How did this happen?

Pulitzer-prize winning author Tracy Kidder details the amazing story of Deo’s adaption to his new home in New York City in this nonfiction work, Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness.

Kidder not only explores Deo’s flight from Burundi and his leap from homeless man to college graduate, but the people who helped Deo -- the ex-nun who found him a place to live, the New York couple who opened their home to him and paid his tuition, the lawyer who fought pro-bono for his American citizenship, and the people who gave money to help Deo build a medical clinic for the poor in Burundi.

I have always enjoyed Tracy Kidder’s writing, particularly the way he does not mold his subjects into people who fit a preferred storyline. Deo is an example of resilience and self-determination, but at the same time, he is shown as human, flawed and broken.

You can find Strength in What Remains at the Indianola Public Library on the nonfiction new shelf under the call number 305.896 Kid.

La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith

I am a big fan of McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Road series ( a new one is on my list of audiobooks to listen to!) and I found this book equally as enjoyable. This is not a part of any series - just one book. La (short for Lavender) is a smart young woman in the 1930's. Although she wasn't really looking, she met her husband while she was attending Cambridge. Life was pretty easy for the couple. Things dramatically change when her husband leaves her ( typical!) and then is killed in an accident. Wanting to escape London, La takes advantage of the kind offer of her in-laws to stay in their country home in a small village. She is there when war breaks out. The story revolves around how this small village dealt with the war. La tended hens for a farmer with bad arthritis. Perhaps this wasn't the most glamorous of war jobs but it was still an important contribution. And that is the point of this book - ordinary people during extraordinary times. I enjoyed the audio book very much.

Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler

I checked this book out because I read all of Anne Tyler's books. I didn't find any of the characters to be likable - from Liam, the main character to his grandson. There really wasn't much action in the book - other than a break-in at Liam's apartment at the beginning of the book. And yet I read this book in a few days. I think Tyler is a terrific writer and I just get pulled into the story somehow.
Liam has been a teacher for a long time even though he started out wanting to be a philosopher (never a great career choice!). Now at the age of 61 he has been downsized. He moves into a small apartment where he will think about what to do. He doesn't have long to think because the first night there he goes to sleep and wakes up in a hospital. He doesn't remember anything about the break-in and it is driving him crazy because he lost that time. Then he drives his ex-wife and his three grown daughters crazy too. Then he becomes infatuated with a woman he sees who appears to be a sort of aide for a gentleman with a failing memory.
It is a good thing that Anne Tyler has a good reputation as a writer because my blog wouldn't send anyone rushing to the library to check out this book ! Trust her reputation - it's a good book!

What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell 814.6 Gla

This book is non-fiction but it reads as easily as any good fiction book. I can't tell you what it is about because that would take forever. It is a collection of articles he has written over the years. He touches of a very, very wide variety of topics. For instance - back in the 70's (when I was young), there was really only one mustard on the shelves - French's. In the 80's along came Grey Poupon with a good marketing idea or two. Take a look at the mustard aisle the next time you're at the grocery store. You have lots and lots of choices. Now take a look at the ketchups. There are several brands but basically only one kind of ketchup. I know that doesn't sound interesting when I say it, but Gladwell really does make it into an interesting story! He also talks about the Dog Whisperer (Cesar Millan), the king of the infomercial, interviewing people, mammograms and many other bizarre subjects. I highly recommend it. Lots of great characters in the book, and they are all real!

Here's the Deal, Don't Touch Me by Howie Mandel 921 Man

I know that I am an oddity. I really don't know who Howie Mandel is other than the host of a game show. (No I didn't watch St. Elsewhere - I think it might have been in conflict with Knot's Landing or something else important!). I saw Howie a few times on talk shows being interviewed. The main topic was his problems with OCD. OCD is funny when you are watching Monk on tv - but not so funny when you hear how it affects someone's life. I was very intrigued and thus wanted to read his book. It was a fast read and rather enjoyable. There was less about his OCD and more about his career than I was anticipating. But all in all I thought it was an interesting read - but it could have been even more interesting!

The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King by James Patterson

The Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun is a fascinating historical figure – at age 9 he assumed control of one of the most powerful countries in the world but was dead less than a decade later under mysterious circumstances. The question of his death (was it murder from a blow to the back of the head or an infected leg injury?) still confounds scholars, but best-selling mystery writer James Patterson claims to have solved the case in his first nonfiction book: The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King.

Taking his cue from his famous fictional character, Alex Cross, Patterson follows a hunch about how Tut was killed and constructs a convincing conspiracy plot to murder the boy pharaoh. The action speeds along as Patterson jumps between three time frames – his own thought process in taking on this project, the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, and the events of Tut’s life. It is an entertaining, intriguing read.

But as a nonfiction book, it is unreliable. There is a heavy blurring between fact and Patterson’s conjectures. There are no reference notes to indicate what is fact and what Patterson has reconstructed from his imagination. While his solution to the mystery is plausible, it is more fiction than fact.

Want to read it for yourself? Find it at the Indianola Public Library on the new nonfiction bookshelf under the number 932 Pat. It is also available on audiobook.

For other perspectives on Tutankhamun and ancient Egypt, go to the 932 section of the nonfiction shelves.

Annie's Ghosts: A Journey into a Family Secret by Steve Luxenberg

All his life, Steve Luxenberg’s mother told everyone she was an only child. She would have gone to her grave with none the wiser if she hadn’t let it slip one day during a doctor’s visit that she had a sister. Her sister’s name was Annie, and she’d been “taken away” at age two. Why was she taken away? Where? Why had his mother kept this a secret? Luxenberg didn’t know, but he didn’t want to threaten his mother’s fragile health by asking. Yet the questions continued to nag him and after his mother’s death, he began to unravel the truth behind his family’s secret.

Annie’s Ghosts is part detective story, part memoir, and part historical overview of the psychiatric healthcare system in 1930’s-1950’s. Luxenberg’s research is thorough (this is where his 22 years as an editor at the Washington Post shines through) but not pedantic or boring. He learns that Annie wasn’t institutionalized at age 2 but at 21 – yet his mother managed to hide this from her children, her friends, her coworkers, and perhaps even her spouse. The book explores how she managed to pull this off, and more importantly, why.

You can check out Annie’s Ghosts: A Journey into a Family Secret at the Indianola Public Library in the new nonfiction book section under the number 306.872 LUX.

The Necklace by Cheryl Jarvis 302.34

I loved this book. It reminded a lot of The Girls From Ames. Jonell fell in love with a diamond necklace. She really didn't own much good jewelry and it's rather odd that this piece made such an impression on her. She went in the store to look closer and tried it on. The price tag? $37,000. (My first house cost $19,000!) She thought about it a lot over the next few weeks. Then one day she was back at the mall with her mother and couldn't resist having her mother try it on. Now the necklace was on sale for $22,000 and there was also a sign that said bids would be taken on any of the jewelry in the store. Her idea was to get friends to share the cost and the ownership of the necklace.
We hear the tale of how that took place. From there the book turns to the individual stories of the "owners". We learn about their lives and what transpired when they had the necklace. I thought it was fascinating. It is story of friendship, compassion and many other things. I hope a follow-up book is written so I can again follow the adventures of "Jewelia" (That's the name of the necklace - it was to honor Julia Childs! I loved that). I highly recommend this book.

Knitting Bones by Monica Ferris

After reading "Crewel Yule" I immediately looked for another book by Ferris. This one was another fun, quick read. Betsy is the owner of the needlework store Crewel World. One afternoon she is talked into going horseback riding by best friend Jill. An accident leaves Betsy with a broken leg and out of action for a while. When the husband of the Embroiderers' Guild 's president goes missing, along with a check they had raised for charity, everyone in Betsy's world is drawn into sleuthing on her behalf. Throw in an injured crow who hides out in Betsy's apartment and you have an entertaining book. (The crow would have been killed in Minnesota because of the injury - so it was going to be spirited away to Iowa where it could live out its days! Yeah Iowa)

Day After Night by Anita Diamant

This book kept me interested enough to keep reading - but not enough to stay up late and read. Although this is fiction, it is based on a true story. After WWII the British had an internment camp for "illegal" immigrants trying to get into Israel. In the book the story is toldy by four women in the camp. They all survived the Holocaust but each has her own story to tell. I don't know much about the aftermath of the war when it comes to the Holocaust survivors, so from that perspective I did enjoy learning more. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this book! I would like to hear what others thought about it.

This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

Another dysfunctional family! A while back I wrote about a book in which three sisters had to spend the summer together in order to get their inheritance. In this book Judd Foxman's father has died after an illness. Although they are Jewish, his father had been an atheist. So he is surprised to find out from his mother that at the end of his life his father had found his faith again and requested that his family sit shiva. The idea terrifies the siblings. Seven days of togetherness. Judd separated from his wife after finding her in their bed with his boss. His siblings all have their own problems - too numerous to go into now! There is quite a lot of sex talk bantered around in the book - just a warning so you know what you are getting into! I have enjoyed his previous novels and I think this one is equally well-written. Entertaining and a fairly quick read.

The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview

Caroline Bingley thinks she's alone when she dissolves in tears in the library following the wedding of Fitzwilliam Darcy to Elizabeth Bennett. Much to her shock, Darcy's American cousin witnesses her shocking lack of control - and the road to romance begins.

I was intrigued by how the author replicated the language and writing style of Jane Austen. She did a good job of achieving the sounds of the original "Pride and Prejudice" - especially when writing for Mrs. Bennett. The story is fairly predictable but I liked the characters. She even managed to make Caroline Bingley sympathetic!

I'm on a Jane Austen kick. That's all I can say. At one point, I only had "remakes" of Jane Austen books checked out. Now I'm moving on to some other genre!