Book Look: Elizabeth I

I love Margaret George's works. I guess I am a history dweeb. Not everyone will enjoy her new Elizabeth I as the plot covers so many years and the intrigues against the crown are ongoing every minute of every day.

I liked the way George brought in some Shakespeare, taking a chance at naming the "dark lady" of the sonnets and the love triangle Shakespeare brings out in the sonnets.

Besides war and court politics, there are beautiful passages of English springs and summers, moments of admiring jewels and wardrobes, memories of Elizabeth's father, Henry.

The rambling plot makes the book a good one to read a chapter and then something else, for the thrill of an outcome is already known.

Good history, good book. LONG book. Fun stuff for me.

Jaya Miceli's cover art is truly a testament to the book, incorporating pictures of Elizabeth, the red roses of Lancaster, and the Earl of Leicester.

Book Look: The Land of Painted Caves

Like thousands of other readers, I fell in love with Ayla years ago as she fought her way from the "different" one among the Flatheads (Clan of the Cave Bear) to a young woman living alone in a forbidding environment (Valley of the Horses) where she developed her emotional connection to animals.

In this final volume of the Earth's Children series (Land of the Painted Caves), Jean Auel presents Ayla as a young mother, someone of stature in the 9th cave, in line to become the Cave's Zelandonia.

My problem with reading this book was not Ayla, Jondalar, or any of the characters we know well.

Instead, it is the constant repetition of greetings (Welcome, Ayla of the 9th Cave, daughter of, mate of, mother of, spirited by) on every other page and the intrusive, static "telling" dialogue, the sort of "By the way, did you know. . . " dissemination of information wide and far that kept me from anticipating every next adventure.

The early books were better. It pains me to say that this one, like Shelters of Stone, limped along.

I'm looking for the next big writer of prehistoric lore. Suggestions welcomed.

Book Look: New California Writing

I won this on a goodreads giveaway. What a treasure! I will keep and share this book. It almost makes me wish I were still teaching (almost).

"Like America, but more so" said Wallace Stegner about California. In this anthology, edited by Gayle Wattawa, we get the voices of the spectrum that makes California the place it is. It is not always the Golden State; in places, the tarnish shows through the veneer.

Diversity is the key word in this anthology. Each of the selected pieces highlights another aspect of California life, some particular to the Golden State and some "like America, but more so."

There are non-fiction pieces such as the address to Berkeley grads from the department of Geography. In it, Gray Brechin makes a plea for education and above all, liberal arts education. He notes the great works of the WPA and the inscriptions etched into public places. The one that touched me most is this one: "What you would first have in the life of a nation you must put into its schools."

The comedic excerpt, "George Bland Ate My Homework" (Brad Schreiber in Black Clock) captures the adolescent trying to wrangle his way out of a missing assignment; "Dear Mr. Atende" (Susan Straight, The Normal School) is much more serious, as a hard-working, single mom tries to explain a project that parents are not supposed to help with but of course other kids' parents do since they don't work two jobs and have a car to run all over town gathering supplies.

Wattawa includes poetry particular to the beauty and the challenges of California, "San Clemente," "Om," "Love Poem for Los Angeles," "Point Lobos Outlook," and others touching on universal experience, "Boy Cleaning Trout."

I have five favorite pieces, each about a family. "Ask Me if I Care," is a chapter from Jennifer Egan's award-winnning, "A Visit from the Goon Squad," with its punk-rocker problem children, a lost generation if there ever was one. I was surprised at how dear the baby became to me in Beth Alvarado's "The Motherhood Poems," as I am not one to ask to hold the baby or coo over a newborn. But her piece is told so tenderly, the reader feels the parents' and the grandparent's hope and dreams for this child. "From Blood Strangers" (Katherine Briccetti) tells of boys born by artificial insemination to a lesbian couple. All they want is to be parents, not a science experiment on display. "Father Close, Father Far" enters the memories of a boy, the child of the boss's mistress. He is not ashamed; he is happy to have a job. He knows his sons will never live the life he lived, and he says this with both pleasure and pain (Dagoberto Gilb).

A heartbreaking story of childbirth, "Polaroids of Tom," (Burlee Vang) introduces Hmong customs specifically and the reluctance to talk about death universally. Vang's retelling of his brother's still birth is a glimpse of lingering memory and suffering.

Taken as a whole, the anthology helps dissect what it means to be a California writer, someone who has chased a dream, lost one, or found one. This volume is one to be read and reread, shared aloud, and contemplated. The power of the written word to move the reader surges through the pages.

Word Nerd: California

From the Online Dictionary of Etymology:
"California is the name of an imaginary realm in "Las sergas de Esplandián" ("Exploits of Espladán"), a romance by Spanish writer Garci Ordóñez de Montalvo, published in 1510. It was a sequel to his "Amadis de Gaula," and was said to have been influential among Spanish explorers of the New World. It could have led them to misidentify Baja California as this mythical land and to mistake it for an island. The Amadis tales are the Iberian equivalent of the Arthurian romances; they are older than 1510 (traces of them have been found mid-14c.) and were wildly popular. That conquistadors and sailors would have known the story in all its imaginative detail is hardly surprising.

Amadis de Gaula ... set a fashion: all later Spanish writers of books of chivalry adopted the machinery of Amadis de Gaula. Later knights were not less brave (they could not be braver than) Amadis; heroines were not less lovely (they could not be lovelier) than Oriana; there was nothing for it but to make the dragons more appalling, the giants larger, the wizards craftier, the magic castles more inaccessible, the enchanted lakes deeper. Subsequent books of chivalry are simple variants of the types in Amadis de Gaula: Cervantes made his barber describe it as 'the best of all books of this kind.' This verdict is essentially just. Amadis de Gaula was read everywhere, especially in the French version of Herberay des Essarts. It was done into Hebrew during the sixteenth century, and attracted readers as different as St Ignatius of Loyola and Henry of Navarre. Its vogue perhaps somewhat exceeded its merit, but its merits are not inconsiderable. [James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, "Spanish Literature," 1922 edition]

Where Montalvo got the name and what it means, if anything, is a mystery. Californian is attested from 1785. The element Californium (1950) was named in reference to University of California, where it was discovered."

Book Look: Blind Sight

Offbeat and wonderful. . .

Meg Howrey's "Blind Sight" lets 17-year old Luke narrate his story although some parts of the book use third-person. While this kind of switch in narration is commonly taught as a no-no, it worked for me.

Luke is a guy brought up in a family of women: his Nana, his two sisters, his mother. He runs cross country to keep from becoming a typical high school jock, and that's where he feels comfortable, running until it hurts and laughing with the guys.

They live in Delaware. His mother, a latter day hippie, teaches yoga and tries to keep the children on the straight and narrow by offering them choices to act in the right way. When in doubt, quote Buddha or Hindu philosophy. Their Nana is more strait-laced, a church-goer. When necessary, she hits the kids with "the arrow," a single look with a variety of impacts.

When Luke is invited to California to meet his father, a one-night stand for his mom, Sara graciously allows him to go.He loves California, he feels comfortable after a few days with his dad, and they enjoy a lot of quality time on marvelous, teen-nurturing adventures. Luke does a lot of thinking and a lot of writing for his college-application essay, complete with excerpts for us as well as titles of essay-help books (hilarious). When the time comes, it is almost too much to ask for Luke to go home to his former life again, especially with his two sisters off to college.

When he gets home, everybody wants to hear about California, the movie star life, the beaches, the possibilities that he is no longer a virgin. But his mother seems aloof to his new ideas and the material goods he has brought home.

BIG FINISH in this novel, which I will not reduce with spoilers.

Howrey has a good ear for dialogue and for the sensitivity of the kids: Aurora, Pearl, and Luke. I really loved this book. Howrey is on my top-ten for 2011!

*Something else I found funny and ironic is that Howrey includes a character with the last name of Portnoy. That was my married name in 1969 when "Portnoy's Complaint" was making a big splash. No one in my college classes could believe I was a Portnoy.

Word Nerd: Coming of Age

I saw a discussion of "coming-of-age" novels on both kindleboards and on Facebook. Some people disparage the term, as they want to know, "what age?" I would say it's the age of maturity, the age when a youth sees adults as fallible.

From ask.com, "One where the main character is younger, and goes through struggle/conflict which teaches life lessons and the outcome changes them and makes them a wiser, more mature person."

Since most novels deal with people learning life lessons and the outcome changing them, this definition seems a little vague. I would say a coming-of-age novel has to do with a young person, not yet 18, learns life lessons that bring them closer to adulthood in mind and emotions.

Book Look: Noah's Wife

T.K. Thorne's "Noah's Wife" is well-written and well-researched. It is the story of life in an ancient civilization. Although the title refers to Noah (of Ark fame) and Noah is there in his solitary life, the Great Flood and the ship of animals are not the primary focus.

Our heroine is Na'amah, a woman who has with a special bond with animals and who feels she is "too damaged" to fit in with the people of her village. She has what we might call autistic tendencies today.

We watch her grow up from her pre-bridal days, living joyously among the sheep she loves and then follow her to her betrothal and ultimately to her married years. Throughout her life, she has not felt truly loved or truly needed. As she grows older, she endures terrible hardships and wild adventures that keep the story suspenseful. She makes enemies, who feel her oddness and her beguiling beauty are a danger.

Na'amah's sincerity of spirit and ingenuity in surviving are both central to her character.

I found this a fascinating story interwoven with historical/sociological information so that I felt richer after reading the story, both emotionally and intellectually.

If you want the scientific assessment of the Great Flood or a biblical explanation of the animals two by two explained, this is not the book. If you enjoy an adventure with a heroine who is unique, give "Noah's wife" a chance to steal your heart.

Word Nerd: motley

While motley is a common word for "ragged" or "scruffy," its origin is from the motle, a cloth of more than one color.(1371) Originally, the word meant variegated.

Book Look: The Day I Killed James

I was introduced to the writing of Catherine Ryan Hyde by one of my friends who took a writing workshop from her. I had no idea how much I would enjoy Hyde's unusual YA lit until I read "Becoming Chloe." Now with "The Day I Killed James" also making its mark with me, I am a devoted fan of this author.

The story focuses on Theresa, a teen grappling with guilt and grief. She has been dumped by her boyfriend,Randy, and lets a neighbor boy take her to a party. Her motivation is to make Randy jealous.

When James dies, Theresa cannot cope, feeling she is the root cause of his death. She tries many self-punishing techniques and nothing makes her feel better. Even a new identity in a new place doesn't really work except to make her the object of intense speculation and desire among the young men.

Her meeting up with an abused child takes her on a new journey that unravels in very unexpected ways.

Of all the memorable works and quotable lines I have read this year so far, this one stands out, "Do not be careless with someone else's heart." If we lived more with this in mind, our world would be a better place.

The book highlights the local color of the beautiful California community of Cambria and the surrounding coastal communities.

Book Look: Swim Back to Me

I loved Ann Packer's new anthology, "Swim Back to Me." I would have loved it more as a novel. Although there are connections between the stories, especially the first and the last, I enjoy the greater depth of the novel form and getting to know all of the characters deeply.

That said, each story in the anthology holds its own, with memorable characters and solid conflict. Most of the stories are set in the Bay Area of California. Packer opens with 8th graders, Sasha and Richard, children of academics. Richard's mom has left the family. His father, a good man, is trying to get through life as a single dad, but he is extremely ill at ease as a dad. Sasha, Richard's new friend, has a family full of lively play and games though Sasha's dad is the somewhat feckless Dan Horowitz. Sasha's adventurous spirit and insouciant attitude move the story along.

"Molten" and "Her Firstborn" deal with grief, each different, each the same. That feeling of shock that the world dares go on without the one the character is mourning.

"Dwell Time" takes us into a blended family, and the conflict is a surprise. I loved this story.

The only story that left me shaking my head was "Jump." That one I will reread.

Ann Packer creates vivid, real characters, lovely phrasing, and deep emotions. I anxiously await her next novel.

Word Nerd: tenure

The debate rages on about tenure for teachers.

The word come from 1414, first meaning a holding of a tenement or an estate. The sense of holding a position or status, developed by 1599. The root is Anglo-French.