Cambridge by Susanna Kaysen

I picked this book up off the "new releases" shelves at the Rapid City Public Library. It was a good choice. The narrator in this story, Susanna, grows from about six or eight years of age to about 13. The story chronicles her thinking and fascinating life as a daughter growing up in the fifties, with her father, a Harvard professor, and her mother, a sparkling stay-at-home mother. The family spends years abroad in the English Cambridge, in Italy, and in Greece. Susanna's reactions and thinking capture some of my thinking and feelings at this age very accurately. While Susanna is very different than I was at that age, there are similarities. She feels alien in her family; which I occasionally did. Her careful listening to her parents' disagreements and her interpretations of them felt very familiar to me. She has a nuanced ear for emotions behind the words.
I enjoyed reading about her relationships with her Swedish nanny and her mother, in particular. And it's interesting that she never gives her little sister much credence or even tells us her name. But what was especially intriguing to me was her intense dislike of her mother, and how it angered her that her mother was always right and always knew what she was thinking. She could verify her father's knowledge in the encyclopedia, but her mother's assertions were baffling to her. How did she know those things? It reminded me very strongly of Leonard's frustration with his mother over similar issues. She asserts things with great confidence that "everyone knows" but really aren't true. Like..."50% of football players are homosexuals."
I also enjoyed reading about Susanna's music lessons and her fondness for her teacher. It's just a fascinating age to reconnect with and the author does a very credible job of recreating that thinking.

The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan

Leonard surprised me with this book. He chose it because he remembered that I liked The Joy Luck Club by the same author. I love how Amy Tan opens up the world of Chinese immigrants, especially those in the San Francisco Bay Area, to her readers.
This was an engaging book, from beginning to end. The modern daughter has no idea about her mother's past; this book is the story of her mother's coming of age in China. It reveals a harsh male dominant culture that is hard to read about. The powerlessness of women in that society is described in graphic but tasteful detail. Winnie, the mother, tells her story with lots of questions about her own role and choices in it. It's fascinating to read about how she considers herself both weak and strong. We are invited along her thought process and get to witness incredible patience, courage, fortitude, and love. It's inspiring.
I enjoyed this book because both my sister and I had Chinese friends in high school and college. While reading, I would sometimes think back to some experiences I had with them...this book explained some things for me...It's fascinating to consider how different and how hard the transition to American life would have been for these immigrants. And how baffling their own American-born children would be to them! I imagine this book could be a welcome bridge-builder in those families.

Faithful Place by Tana French

So for my two days in the car coming home from California, I chose this mystery. It certainly held up for the 16-plus hours, but the story was a dark one. Set in Dublin, Detective Francis Mackey returns to his boyhood home and family to solve the mystery of his missing (for 22 years) first love. Colorful characters, violent family members, raw language and painful emotions all make for a lively story. French is a lyrical writer; her descriptions and analogies are beyond compare! And often they make me laugh out loud. The reader's Dublin accent was difficult to understand at times, but certainly added to the authenticity of the story.

One aspect of this story that was educational to me was seeing a dysfunctional family in action. It felt authentic. The cruelty of the parents inspired some of the children to become protectors of the others. Their courage and resourcefulness was bittersweet. And the price they paid for the dysfunction was huge. It also prompted me to wonder about the strength of genetics and environment on the children...

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny

I didn't read this book; I listened to it on my recent solo road trip to California. I have to say, it got a little long. I usually enjoy Penny's characters and settings, but this one was different. The setting is a monastery and the characters were not as intriguing to me as usual. However, I did enjoy the spiritual references and the explanations of the monastic life. Of course I love Chief Inspector Gamache, and he didn't disappoint! I also enjoyed learning about the history of ancient chants. When I got to California, I spent quite a bit of time at Mont La Salle, a Christian Brothers retreat center. So it was fun to feel like I had a deeper understanding of the place. Another less enjoyable aspect of this story, and one that is unusual for this author, was the gradual and painful undoing of Jean-Guy Beauvoir...

The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City by David Lebovitz

My sisters got to see David Lebovitz when he hosted a dinner in the Bay Area. They avidly read his blog before they went to Paris last summer. They both heartily recommended this book to me, and I was not disappointed!

This is nonfiction writing at its most entertaining. Often witty, often ascerbic, always insightful, his view of all things Parisian is very enjoyable reading. I could readily relate to the people he describes after having spent quite a bit of time with Parisians in Berlin in the 70's, and in Paris itself on several occasions. Love it, love it, and, like, Lebovitz, find myself also perplexed!

I also learned quite a few tricks in the kitchen and would enjoy trying out some of the recipes. However, I decided Sierra would enjoy this for her birthday, and so I gave it away. If I ever borrow it back, I would like to try some of the simpler dishes.

The Likeness by Tana French

This book is a loose sequel to In the Woods and contains many references to that mystery. It also continues the story of one of those main characters, Detective Cassie Maddox. This time, she goes undercover and becomes part of an intimate group of college students in Dublin. They are in the process of living an almost alternate reality, and their story is intriguing.

While the premise is far-fetched, that is, that Cassie could impersonate someone who was so close to her group of friends; the story is nonetheless suspenseful and interesting on many levels. Will she be found out? Will her desire for closeness cause her to sell out? What, exactly, is going on here?

French is a wonderful writer with insightful and beautiful descriptions. Her milieu is dark, however. This was a dark read, but a real page-turner. I think I would have enjoyed it more if the previous novel were more current in my brain so I could make some of the connections. Still, I was able to follow the story and wonder about the permeability of personality. I really think this would make an interesting movie...

Home Tonight by Henri J.M. Nouwen

The subtitle of this book is "Further Reflections on the Parable of the Prodigal Son." The further reflections are beyond his previous book, The Return of the Prodigal Son. I enjoyed that book and related to it so well that I ordered this one with anticipation. It, too, is wonderful, but slightly less compelling and interesting to me. I found it hard to connect to the ideas and to the highlighted quotes by other authors. I did enjoy the chapter on the elder son, however. Nouwen explores his own role as the eldest son in his family and very eloquently describes his resentment and bitterness. It's instructive because it's a trap that is so easily fallen into!

Like in his other book, Nouwen is masterful at describing the unconditional love of our Heavenly Father. It feels lush and abundant! I love how he describes it! Here's an example from page 103:
 "Our spiritual journey is nothing more than a return to the intimacy, the safety, and the acceptance of that very first relationship with Love, that is uniquely present within each one of us."

From page 110: "True homecoming is choosing the way of Jesus, where we acknowledge the good and painful in our lives and we ask for patience and courage to forgive all those who have wounded us on the journey. Their love was limited and conditional, but it set us in search of that unconditional, unlimited love. This way takes us on a path through the desert of suffering to our hidden wholeness and to our utter beauty i the eyes of the One we name God."

From page 111: "In your stillness, listen and respond to the question "Who is your God?" Listen deeply for what you believe are the characteristics of the very Source of your life. Listen to how your heart relates to your God. Next look again at the painting of the meaningful but limited image of the One Jesus called God. Listen to the Heart of all hearts longing for intimacy and togetherness. Imagine the eyes of the father figure moving from the son to embrace you and to invite you to take the place of the adult child. When you are ready, put your head on Love's breast and allow the tender female hand to touch you in gratitude for your return. Feel the strong male hand caress you with joy and thoughts of celebration. Listen to words of tenderness, welcome, unconditional love directed toward you."

From page 113: "Let us be aware of small gestures of love offered us by others that remind us of our unique beauty. Let us try to gratefully accept the smile, the tender word, the caring embrace, and the recognition that affirms our personhood. These are but reminders of the overwhelming reception awaiting our every return to communion with God's Spirit, and that mercy is always available and always confirming the truth of our belovedness."

Here's an example of the highlighted quotes; this one from the epilogue:
"We do not hae to be saviours of the world! we are simply human beings, enfolded in weakness and in hope, called together to change our world one heart at a time." From Becoming Human by Jean Vanier, 1998, House of Anansi Press, Toronto, p. 163

From page 130: "When I saw the poster of the Rembrandt painting with the returning son being embraced by his father, I was totally overwhlemed and I said, 'That's where I want to be.' I began to think of myself as the runaway son wanting to return home. But then...the older son suddenly started to speak to me. I'm the oldest son myself and I recognized a lot of resentment in me, a lot of not fully enjoying where I was in my life. I woke up to the truth that both these young people lived in me.

"More than a year later something incredibly important happened for me. I suffered from depression and was on a long sick leave from L'Arche Daybreak. One member of my community came to visit me and in the course of the conversation she said, 'Henri, you're alwasy talking about yourself being the prodigal son, and you're often talking about yourself being the elder son, but not it's time for you to become the father! That's who you're called to be.'

"Look at the father figure in the painting. This person has the hand of a mother and the hand of a father, the male hand and the female hand touching a beloved child. Look at the figure of a father who is like a mother bird with a big cloak to safely enwrap her young close to her body. Look at the one who wants to welcome the child home without asking any questions. The father doesn't even want to hear the story of the younger son. He simply wants them 'home,' around the same table with him, growing up to become like him.

"In a moment I suddenly realized that my final vocation is not only to return hoe but also to welcome people home by saying, ' I'm so glad you are here! I'm so glad you're here! Come now. Bring out the beautiful cloak, bring the precious ring, find the best sandals. Let's celebrate because you've finally come home!'