Truth is Stranger than Fiction

Our motto at the office is, "You can't make this shit up."  We even talked about having shirts printed!  For years, we've believed we could write stories of the things our CASA families have done and could pass them off as fiction, because no one would believe they were true!

The Man in the Rockefeller Suit could be one of the stories we tell in our office.  Mark Seal interviewed more than 200 people who knew Clark Rockefeller in his various locations and identities.  The ultimate con man, Rockefeller (originally Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter and then many other names) was constantly changing his identity as he moved up the social ladder.

This book was absolutely fascinating - I didn't want to put it down.  It begins with Rockefeller's kidnapping of his own daugther during a supervised visit and culminates with a court hearing for that charge.  His wife, an incredibly successful business woman, describes the typical domestic violence relationship dominated by power and control.  Her realization that her husband wasn't who he claimed to be and the courage it took her to leave a dangerous man was the highlight of the book for me. 

Vacation Reading

While walking a half-marathon at the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer was the purpose of my recent trip to Santa Barbara, I also had some time to relax and read!  Here are the four books I read, all of which were worth reading!

I started with The Flamenco Academy by Sarah Bird, having recently read and enjoyed her newest book, The Gap Year.  While this was the fictional account of a woman who as a senior in high school fell in love with a Flamenco guitarist, which changed the course of her life, I particularly enjoyed it for the lesson on Flamenco and the Gypsy culture.  I learned about Spanish Gypsies, who created Flamenco as a means of expressing their frustration and grief.  The guiding principle for Flamenco is "Dame la verdad" ("Give me the truth), meaning the dance should reflect what is most true in your life or in your heart. 

Next I read Lisa See's Shanghai Girls, which was published a couple of years ago.  Much like The Flamenco Academy, I enjoyed learning about China in the 1930s, the second Sino-Japanese war, immigration at Angel Island off the coast of San Francisco, and the Chinese immigrant community in California in the mid-20th century.  At the start of the book, sisters Pearl and May are "beautiful girls," meaning they model for painters.  Their family is financially sound, and Pearl has graduated from college.  However, their father owes a significant amount of gambling debts to a local gang, and he trades his daughters for his debt, arranging marriages to the sons of a Chinese immigrant in America.  The girls refuse to board the ship to America, and in doing so, become stuck in Shanghai at the start of the Japanese invasion of China and are caught in the middle of a war.  They eventually make it onto a boat, but are detained for months at Angel Island.  Will they ever be happy in their arranged marriages?  This was by far my favorite of the four books I read on my trip.

I next read Ann Patchett's highly acclaimed book State of Wonder about drug exploration in the Brazilian rain forest.  When Marina's lab partner fails to return from a trip to visit their company's researcher in the rain forest, Marina must make the trip to determine what happened to him and to see what progress is being made on a fertility drug.  After many road blocks, she finally makes into the heart of the rain forest and learns much about herself.  I have to say I have no desire to go to Brazil after reading this book!  Biting bugs galore, giant poisonous snakes, and high humidity aren't my idea of a good time.  However, the book was interesting if not completely worth the hype.

Finally, I read the first book in Alexander McCall Smith's latest series, Corduroy Mansions about people living in three flats in a converted mansion in London.  Much like his series, 44 Scotland Street, the characters are quirky and have a number of interesting interactions throughout the book.  My favorite character in this book was Freddie de la Hay, the vegetarian dog who comes to live with the main character, William, in the hopes that Williams' dog-hating adult son Eddie will move out of the flat.  Much like 44 Scotland Street, this book was published daily in the Daily Telegraph by chapter over 100 days.  The second book in the series has just been released, and I'm on my way to the library tomorrow to check it out! 

Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captivity

I read a review of this book in The Manhattan Mercury and checked it out from the public library.  I've always had mixed feelings about zoos.  Certainly in their current incarnation, most zoos are designed for maximum space and stimulation for the animals and the majority of the animals in zoos were bred in captivity rather than being captured in the wild.  And accredited zoos (like our own Sunset Zoo) are active participants in conservation education and breeding programs to help maintain genetic diversity for endangered animals.  However, I have always felt sad for the animals kept in captivity and on display. 

Thomas French is a reporter in Florida who wrote a series of articles on the Tampa Zoo, which he used to write this book.  His in-depth look at the animals in the zoo (including their life histories) along with the humans who choose to work daily with these animals is fascinating.  The politics of zoos is also examined, particularly through the lens of the overambitious director of the Tampa zoo. 

This book made me cry more than once for the animals and their keepers.  If you love animals and nature, this book is well worth your time.

"The Gap Year" by Sarah Bird

I enjoyed this book enough to go to the library this morning and check out another book by Sarah Bird.  The Gap Year is the story of seventeen-year-old Aubrey Lightsey and her mother Cam.  Can is a single mother who works as a lactation consultant.  Aubrey's father left them when she was two to join a religious cult.  The book alternates between the summer of 2010, when Aubrey should be getting ready to leave for college, and the fall of 2009, when Aubrey's life changed without Cam realizing.  A great look at how well we really know those we love the most.

"Beach reads"

I hate the label "chick lit," so I'm using "beach reads" instead!  Sometimes I just want to read a fun, romantic book - kind of like watching "When Harry Met Sally" or "Notting Hill."  Here are two books I've read recently that would fit into the genre.

Following her parents' death in a car accident, Dora grew up with her grandmother, Mimi.  Mimi owned a vintage clothing store, which Dora returns to run after Mimi suffers a stroke.  Dora discovers that Mimi had been writing secret lives for many of the dresses in her store.  What stories would your clothes tell if they could talk?  I truly enjoyed The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean.

Have you ever pulled a charm from a wedding cake?  My pledge daughter followed this southern tradition at her wedding, and I pulled a Kappa fleur-de-lis from her cake that I still wear on a necklace.  In Kim Gruenenfelder's There's Cake in my Future a group of friends pull charms from a shower cake.  Nikki had rigged the cake so she and her friends would get the charms she wanted each to have, with each charm representing something coming in your future.  However, the cake is shifted and each woman pulls an unintended charm.  Do these charms change their fate?  Gruenenfelder has two previous books, and I read A Total Waste of Makeup recently - another fun read.

Finally, my favorite read every summer is the new Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich.  These books make me laugh aloud every time I read them!  Imagine Lucy and Ethel as bounty hunters in Trenton, New Jersey, and you get the idea.  If you haven't read the Stephanie Plum books, you must!  I think the first book (One for the Money) is a difficult read and not very enjoyable, which I think turns a lot of people off to this series.  So, I'll give you a recap so you can jump in with the second book, Two for the Show.   Stephanie Plum grew up in Trenton.  Her parents still live there, in a neighborhood called the Burg.  Stephanie's maternal grandmother, Grandma Mazur, lives with her parents.  Grandma Mazur is one of my favorite parts of the books - she is a gun carrying granny who likes to go to funeral homes for fun.  Stephanie was married to attorney Dicky Orr for about thirty minutes, until she discovered Dicky having his way with Stephanie's nemesis Joyce Barnhardt.   Stephanie worked at the feminine product factory, but when she lost that job, took at job working as a bounty hunter for her cousin at Vinnie Plum Bail Bonds.  Her sidekick is Lula, a former 'ho with a propensity for wearing very tight spandex and for shooting people (with her taser or a gun).  Stephanie has two love interests - fellow bounty hunter Ranger and police officer Joe Morelli.  That should be enough to get you started!

Finally a book worth sharing!

I haven't written in some time.  Despite reading numerous books this summer, I haven't had many that have stood out.  Jeffrey Archer is one of my favorite storytellers, and I was excited to find he had a (relatively!) new book on the discount rack at Barnes and Noble.

Paths of Glory is a fictional account of the life of Englishman George Mallory and asks the question, what if Sir Edmund Hillary wasn't the first person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest in 1953.  What if Geroge Mallory, who was last seen 600 feet from the summit in 1924, was actually the first? 

Archer's Kane and Abel, which I first read in high school, still ranks as my single favorite book with his As the Crow Flies in my top 10.  Archer's historical fiction is thrilling, the characters are fascinating.  While searching today, I saw he has a new book coming out in August - I can hardly wait!

Reading on my recent trip to Washington, DC

What does it mean to be a mother?  Is it nature or nurture?  Shilpi Somaya Gowda attempts to answer this question in her Target Club Pick book, Secret Daughter.  Asha is adopted from an orphanage in India by two American doctors, Somer and Krishnan (who was born and raised in India).  Asha's mother (Kavita) risked her own life to bring Asha to the orphanage after her husband killed their first-born daughter, as daughters are seen as a financial drain.  The book's narration alternates between Somer, Kavita, and Asha. 

I read this while on a flight to Washington, DC for a conference and truly enjoyed it.  Highly recommended!

Another book I read on my trip was Zeitoun by Dave Eggers.  A recent edition of the K-Stater magazine featured an article about K-State reads, a new program for incoming freshmen.  Every incoming student was given The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins during orientation with the thought that all freshmen would come to college with a shared experience and discussing the book would be an icebreaker.  The book for 2011-12 freshmen is Zeitoun.  Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a successful Syrian-born painting contractor, decides to stay in New Orleans and protect his property while his family flees Hurricane Katrina. After the levees break, he uses a small canoe to rescue people, before being arrested by an armed squad and swept powerlessly into a vortex of bureaucratic brutality. When a guard accuses him of being a member of Al Qaeda, he sees that race and culture may explain his predicament.  A fascinating look at New Orleans during and immediately following Hurricane Katrina as well as it's impact on one family.