Books – Page 39 – …on the B.L.

A Moonless, Starless Sky

September 1, 2017 RaeAnna

Read: Yes
Length: II (236)
Quick Review: Alexis Okeowo tells the story of four African countries in the midst of their own battles with extremism through people most affected by them.

I like to think of myself as a fairly aware person, and I have found my African knowledge to be extravagantly more informed than the average American’s. I will admit my knowledge of this century’s goings on in Africa are severely lacking. It is mostly my fault, but not entirely. Unless our soldiers are dying or a super celebrity gets a hold of something, the media seldom covers African issues. When they do, you probably have to dig for it. In college, my research focused on the linguistic evolution of North African immigrants in France, so naturally I have an extensive knowledge of North African history and culture. Okeowo addresses African issues with extremism as well as the lack of media coverage and more in A Moonless, Starless Sky without making you feel terrible for not knowing about the struggles of an entire continent.

Okeowo is a first generation daughter of Nigerian immigrants. Having grown up in the deep south hearing about the homeland, she decided to move to Lagos, Nigeria after college to work as a reporter. She is currently a staff writer at The New Yorker, but her time in Africa shaped her. Her debut book A Moonless, Starless Sky, which is released on October 3 of this year, addresses an issue she is so clearly passionate about.

Stories from the countries of Uganda, Mauritania, Nigeria, and Somalia are deeply moving, heart wrenching, and yet hope-filled looking to the future. Each country has been dealing with extremism for decades. As Americans, we have heard about the child soldiers in Uganda, slavery in Mauritania, the Boko Haram in Nigeria, and terrorism in Somalia. What was talked about briefly in the news has been ongoing for years and continues after coverage fades. Of the four countries, Somalia has been covered the most in recent American media due to the military interaction within the country, but still it has faded from our attentions and visibility. Okeowo tells the stories of normal people having to cope with the effects of terrorism on their lives, their families, their culture, and their country. Even in the midst of immense turmoil, there is a theme of bravery. Sometimes the simplest acts convey bravery and even resistance. In these moments, the average person can be thrust into a position of power becoming a symbol of activism providing a glimpse of hope for change.

Okeowo writes with intensity and honesty. She captures the humanity and struggle of those forced to commit atrocities with no problem pointing out double standards, struggles, scare tactics, and more she encountered while traveling, interviewing, and witnessing local life. She writes without qualm about the complexity activists face in their battle to extinguish extremism in their countries. Among the serious subject matter, she has poignant moments of humor, sarcasm, and irritation. The book is so relatably human in it’s approach to a topic saturated in monstrosity.

A work of literary journalism, Okeowo accomplishes a devastating roller coaster of feelings in a mere 256 pages. It is impossible to read A Moonless, Starless Sky without being emotionally sucker punched. Intertwining the larger issues with the stories of the impact they have on the people, Okeowo’s words will haunt your thoughts long after the book has been closed. My only criticism is: I want more.

Title: A Moonless, Starless Sky; Ordinary Women and Men Fighting Extremism in Africa
Author: Alexis Okeowo
Publisher: Hachette Books
Copyright: 2017
ISBN: 9780316382939

Books

An American Brat

August 27, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 317
Quick Review A young girl’s transformation after leaving everything she’s ever known in Pakistan for the US. A look into immigration, religion, culture, society, and familial obligation.

Bapsi Sidhwa published An American Brat in 1993. It deals with a lot of issues, which are still pressing, if not more prevalent, over twenty years later. She writes with a sense of humor and insight into two vastly different cultures.

Feroza is the sixteen year old daughter of Zareen and Cyrus. She is part of an upper class, tight-knit family in Pakistan belonging to the Parsee ethnic group of the Zoroastrian faith speaking Gujrati. The year is 1979, and a lot is changing in Pakistan with the rise of Muslim extremists. Having raised Feroza with a strong set of morals, Zareen and Cyrus send her to spend three months with her uncle in the US. While she’s in the US, she decides to apply for university. Once she is accepted, she moves to Idaho for her freshman year at a junior college. She keeps in touch with her family, but begins to find herself while exploring American culture, traditions, and friendships. After her freshman year, she relocates to Colorado with her roommate to go to a bigger university, where she meets people with similar ethnic backgrounds. Feroza begins to find her place and way in her new life navigating social norms, religious differences, cultural influences, and trying to meet her familial expectations.

I thought it was funny Feroza’s family wanted to send her to the very liberal and different United States in order to keep her grounded in Pakistani, Parsee, and Zoroastrian traditions. I really enjoyed how the women were portrayed throughout the novel. Sidhwa has very strong female roles, which differs from how most Middle Eastern women are portrayed throughout history and in contemporary media and art. These women have strong senses of self with leading roles in their homes and social circles. They have vibrant social lives even though they are not seen out and about like in Western cultures.

The title is An American Brat. You’ll read it expecting one person to be the American Brat, but the brat is constantly changing depending on the section you’re reading. Although, the bratty behavior is usually explainable and sometimes understandable.

There is a scene portrayed towards the beginning of the novel where Feroza is getting off the plane in the US and has to go through customs. As a white girl, I have never had an issue with customs. I have, however, watched people of other ethnicities have issues going through security and customs. Reading Sidhwa’s depiction, I can’t imagine the emotionally devastating impact it would have on someone, especially someone so young, sheltered, and alone as sixteen year old Feroza is in the novel. She is harangued by security guards and customs officers accusing her of lying and trying to stay in the country illegally. She is treated as if she doesn’t speak or understand the language, which is false. Remember this was published in 1993, which was almost a decade before 9/11 and security crackdowns. I can’t imagine what it would be like now.

Feroza must deal with trying to make herself happy while also living up to familial expectations. Her family expects her to return to Pakistan and marry a Parsee Zoroastrian. If she does not, she will be kicked out of her faith and left out of many important cultural traditions. It is also important to note the impact her leaving the faith would have on a wider scale. At the time, there were only 120,000 people in the ethnic group, so there is a scramble to keep the young people in the faith. Feroza is also dealing with the fact she and her family are not Muslim living in a Muslim country and culture. They are having to deal with a cultural shift.

While in the US, Feroza starts to realize her position as a woman. Growing up, she was told freedom would come to her once she was married. Through marriage, she would gain happiness and freedom. It is a way of keeping young girls pliable while maintaining traditional values. Living in the US, she sees how all of those qualities are completely attainable without marrying. Her mother, Zareen, visits the United States and starts to question the position women have in regards to their religion.

I overall, loved this book. There are so many complex issues Sidhwa explores throughout the novel. I couldn’t recommend it more!

Memorable Quotes
“In Pakistan, politics, with its social brew of martial law and religion, influenced every aspect of day-to-day living.”
“Finding herself awash in this exhilaratingly free and new culture had made her forget the strictures imposed on her conduct as a Pakistani girl.”
“… in the short while she’d been exposed to the American culture, she’d grown shockingly brazen.”
“To acknowledge it would be to advert that she was the cause, the irritant, the inducer of the evil.”
“Nevertheless, the schizophrenia she perceived at the core of America’s relationship to its own citizens and to those in poor countries like hers continued to disturb her.”
“Feroza realized with a sense of shock that she had outgrown her family’s expectations for her.”

Title: An American Brat

Author: Bapsi Sidhwa
Publisher: Milkweed Editions
Copyright: 1993
ISBN: 9781571310057

Books

The Bookshop on the Corner

August 15, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length
Quick Review A sweet story about a young librarian hitting a low point in her life decides to follow her dreams, which lead her to new places, a van, people, and even herself.

I liked this novel a lot more than I thought I would. I set the bar pretty low. I wouldn’t call it canonical, but I would call it entertaining and sweet.

From the very beginning, it is obvious Colgan loves to read. Her first words are the dedication different from most, the book is to all readers. The introduction spends eight pages describing all the best places and ways to read. She is a bookworm like the best of us. It becomes even clearer she has a passion for books because they are not only a central theme but become a character in their own right.

Nina Redmond is an introverted librarian in a big city who has devoted her life to books: reading them, acquiring them, and making sure the right book finds the right person. Nina finds herself jobless due to layoffs. Between friends joking she should and telling her she can’t, she finds her way to Scotland where she buys a bus renovating it into a mobile bookstore to bring books to those who have gone without for so long. Nina finds herself loving and becoming a part of her new home in spite of herself.

Nina starts out incredibly shy to the point of meekness in her actions and her thoughts. Throughout the novel she becomes more brazen and confident as she is met with obstacles beginning with friends telling her she can’t to sexism to being underestimated to a rude and sullen landlord. Nina finds her inner strength along her journey spreading warmth, kindness, and books.

When Nina first moves to Scotland, she has always had a book as a companion. She has spent her life reading and living within the worlds books provide, she has forgotten to inhabit the world she physically resides in. Leaving the city and entering a small town life, she is able to stop using books as a fortress against the constant barrage of noise, people, and activity. She becomes a part of something for the first time.

Colgan isn’t just writing about books. She is making astute observations on the changing world we live in. A recurring theme she touches on is how the job market is changing. In a very short amount of time, there is an emphasis on youth, media, technology, and extroversion. There is also less interest in paying people living wages or caring about the generations who have not yet caught up to the new world. Colgan drives home the fact that libraries and bookstores are disappearing at alarming rates.

I really enjoyed how Colgan made sure each character was different than what they appeared. She took the effort to make each character human. There was no evil. Every character had redeeming and less than admirable qualities. Colgan ensures each character’s faults can be understood because we all have our quirks, and there is always a reason for said quirks.

I enjoyed the emphasis of the novel was not on love or finding love. Romantic love was a part of the plot; however, it took a backseat to Nina’s search for herself. Romance was not even mentioned until page 87.

I found The Bookshop on the Corner to be evocative of Nina (coincidence!) George’s Little Paris Bookshop. They both have main characters owning nontraditional bookshops: a bus and a barge, respectively. Each character likes to think of themselves as a purveyor of more than books: a matchmaker or apothecary – setting each person up with the correct book at the correct time. Although the idea is not groundbreakingly original, I much preferred Colgan’s story. It focused less on love and more on books.

The only real downside of the story for me is the fact that Colgan made up book titles within the novel. I just think there are more than enough books currently in print or out of print that could have been name dropped instead of creating new ones. But I’m being nit-picky.

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan is not a book requiring a great deal of intense thought or deep contemplation. It is a lovely summer read or quiet afternoon read. It is a great novel to pick up when you want to follow along on a sweet story.

Memorable Quotes
“But sometimes she felt the world wasn’t built for people like her.”
“…she bought stationery the way other women bought lipsticks…”
“It’s like an entire generation has been thrown into a world they don’t understand and where nothing makes sense, and. they’ve just been told, tough luck, learn how to type or you can just starve to death.”
“There was a universe inside every human being every bit as big as the universe outside them.”
“Everyone’s love life went badly until the end.”

Title: The Bookshop on the Corner
Author: Jenny Colgan
Publisher: William Morrow Publishing (HarperCollins Publishers)
Copyright: 2016
ISBN: 9780062467256

Books, Fiction

Interpreter of Maladies

August 10, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 198
Quick Review A collection of eight short stories exploring the meaning of disappointment and unfulfilled expectations.

I had never read anything by Jhumpa Lahiri, so I was excited to experience her writing for the first time. She did not disappoint. Lahiri explores the meaning of disappointment and the feeling of unfulfilled expectations. In most of the stories, the hopes and expectations of the characters are met in a drastically different way than they hope; driving home the message that life gives us what we want, it may not be how we want. Lahiri shows the build up, the enjoyment of living in a world filled with expectation, the realisation, and the mourning period when the inevitability of life is so painfully tangible.

The following eight short stories are in the order they appear in the book. They are each around twenty pages in length, give or take a few.

A Temporary Matter
Shukumar and Shoba were both born in the US. They are of Indian heritage; unlike Shoba, Shukumar does not have childhood memories of visits to India. They are going through a difficult time in their marriage after the stillbirth of their first child because the pain has become a barrier dividing them instead of bringing them together. They reconnect during an hourly power outtage every night for a week.

When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine
A young girl and her family open their home to Mr. Pirzada, a Bengali man working on his degree in the US while separated from his family. The girl is torn between feeling like an outsider in her own home and excitement for having a new person visit every evening. She is also beginning to understand the difference between her family’s culture and that of the one she is surrounded by.

Interpreter of Maladies
Mr. Kapasi is a driver for tourists on the weekend, but during the week he works as an interpreter for a doctor.. He is driving a young family and developes a small crush on the wife. As they begin to talk, he realizes she is just as flawed as everyone else in the world and not a perfect creature.

Sexy
A young, career woman, Miranda, began an affair with an older married, Indian man, Dev, as she listens to her coworker, Laxmi, console a cousin whose husband is having an affair. To keep her affair alive, she spends money on a beautiful dress and lingerie hoping to wear it for Dev one day. Miranda ends up babysitting for the son of Laxmi’s cousin, who is aware of the affair his father had. Through an afternoon spent with a young boy, she becomes aware of the consequences her situation can have.

Mrs. Sen’s
Mrs. Sen watches Eliot after school, as she is trying to learn how to drive a car. Mrs. Sen is learning to drive and function in a new society. Mrs. Sen hates being far away from her home in India where she has whole fish and independence without a car. She has everything her family believes the could want like a rainbow of saris and a professional husband, but she misses the comfort of home.

This Blessed House
Twinkle and Sanjeev are newly weds in a house. Sanjeev isn’t sure he loves his wife but he’s irritated by her love of finding and keeping the Christian items left throughout the house by the previous owners. At their housewarming everyone is dazzled by Twinkle, and Sanjeev realizes he enjoys the status of his new, beautiful, young, charming wife.

The Treatment of Bibi Haldar
Bibi Haldar was plagued by an illness no one could diagnose or fix – which was probably epilepsy. She dreamt of having a husband to take care of. It was her only hope, and she couldn’t stop talking about it. After a particular episode, she was prescribed marriage to ease her symptoms, but no one would take her on as a wife because of her reputation as a lune. After a difficult few months of seclusion she was found pregnant. She never married, but, instead, had a son who she cared for without being plighted by another episode.

The Third and Final Continent
He was born in India, studied in London, and worked in Cambridge at MIT. His wife Mala joined him in the US having been married for six weeks but only spending five days together. They were strangers at the beginning of their journey, but looking back on their life in Cambridge they can’t imagine not knowing each other.

Memorable Quotes
““I only spoil children who are incapable of spoiling.””
“… life, I realized, was being lived in Dacca first.”
“It means loving someone you don’t know.”
“He did not know if he loved her.”
“ She wanted to be spoken for, protected, placed on her path in life.”

Title: Interpreter of Maladies
Author: Jhumpa Lahiri
Publisher: Mariner Books (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Copyright: 1999
ISBN: 9780395927205

Bookstores, Houston, On the Town

Texas Independent Bookstore Day

August 5, 2017June 23, 2019 RaeAnna

August 5th, 2017 is Texas Independent Bookstore Day! BookPeople in Austin, Texas and Brazos Bookstore in Houston, Texas came together to begin this new tradition in 2017 with the hope it will become an annual, widespread celebration.

I have been in and out of Houston so much since I moved to the city, I really have not had enough time to explore the city I live in. I knew Brazos Bookstore was a place I had to see because being a part of the Bookstagram community, Houston can’t stop talking about this lovely store. I had been to Brazos the weekend before spending more than I needed to, which happened to be my first time in the store. When I found out about this celebration, I knew I had to go back two weekends in a row. So… I spent even more money!

In this ever changing world of technology and online shopping, I do my best to support small businesses especially independent bookstores. There are so many people and so few active readers, I want to do my best to support and encourage writers, the publishing industry, and bookstores. As much as I love Barnes & Noble, I love the little bookstores that feel like home when you walk in the door.

To celebrate Texas Independent Bookstore Day, Brazos had a number of events. They kicked off the day with a Texas themed family morning, the debut of their Paper and Pen Pal Club, a Happy Hour, and a vendor market! I had wanted to be there for the Paper and Pen Pal Club since I enjoy writing letters and do so as much as possible. Alas, I laid on the couch reading too long. I made it in time for the Happy Hour, but I don’t drink. So I bought two books instead. It was hoppin’! Lots of people buzzing around the bookstore looking, chatting, and buying. Nothing I love more than listening to the hum of people discussing books, authors, and what makes a good book.

I really enjoy Brazos Bookstore. It is well organized. The decor is sparse with all the walls, shelves, and tables painted white allowing the books to become the centerpiece of the shop. Every month, they highlight a different cause. This month they are honoring female writers in translation. (As a woman and a translator, I am very excited about this.) The large windows at the front of the store are currently painted with a mural of Jane Austen. There are comfy leather chairs sitting by the windows for those too eager to wait until they get home to start reading, or maybe for those who are waiting on the more inclined readers. It is evident everything in Brazos is geared toward the reader, the writer, and the reader-writer because the most dedicated readers are usually aspiring authors. The people behind the counter making the magic happen are wonderful, knowledgeable, and helpful. Shelves are dedicated to staff picks, plural because it’s impossible to pick just one. Throughout the store, there are cards with helpful hints and facts about books and authors making it easier to decide which ones to take home. The store is full of gorgeous notebooks, stationery, which is incredibly dangerous for me, and other items helpful to the reader.

Brazos does not just sell books. They foster a sense of community creating spaces for those of all ages with a love of the written word. They are currently hosting a summer long series entitled “Summer of Austen” celebrating the life and work of Jane Austen. I’m hoping to make it to their final book club if I can read Sense and Sensibility in time. There calendar is full of events from Book Clubs to Story Times to readings and things in between! I love how involved they are in the literary scene and the Houston community.

I will be back… When I can afford it.

Brazos Bookstore
2421 Bissonnet Street
Houston, TX 77005

Books, Fiction

If on a winter’s night a traveler

August 5, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 260
Quick Review A really unique novel about the search for the perfect reading experience. I am not completely sure how to describe it.

This is my first Calvino novel. It is by far one of the most distinctive novels I have ever tackled. I am using the word tackle because there were days it felt just like that. Normally, I can finish a book quickly. This one took me awhile to get through due to the ever changing style. It’s hard to get into a rhythm when every fifteen to twenty pages the style and story shifts drastically.

The novel is made up of ten chapters. Each chapter composed of two parts. The first part of the chapter is a book within a book. The second part of the chapter is the book itself, but it is told in the second person. You, the reader, are the one taking part in the action.

The novel opens into a scene full of action, but then abruptly stops shifting to a scene where you, the reader, are thinking about what you just read. The story goes on to involve you searching for the rest of the book you just began because during publishing something happened, and you have actually begun two completely different novels. Each chapter has a different style, tone, and plot. It can get confusing and even frustrating because you’re continually in this game of tug of war with the novel: you’re interested and then the novel pulls back. There is a constant search for resolution within each part and each chapter, but that sense of fulfillment never truly comes.

I highly suggest it. It’s definitely not a mindless read, but if you’re looking for something new and different than what you’re used to, this is a wonderful novel!

I’m looking forward to another Italo Calvino novel to see if this is a normal literary tool for him. I think it might be a few months before I try again. I need a mental break from the constant mental tug of war.

Memorable Quotes
“The real revolution will be when women carry arms.”
“I say “should” because I doubt that written words can give even a partial idea of it.”
“Lovers’ reading of each other’s bodies differs from the reading of written pages in that it is not linear.”
“What makes lovemaking and reading resemble each other most is within both of them times and spaces open, different from measurable time and space.”

Title: If on a winter’s night a traveler
Author: Italo Calvino
Translator: William Weaver
Publisher: A Harvest Book (Harcourt, Inc.)
Copyright: 1979
ISBN: 9780156439619