Write What You Know: Book Recommendations
A Few of Alarie’s Favorite Books
Read in 2020
[From Archive, but good books are timeless.]
The best thing about self-quarantine – there’s plenty of time to read.
I can’t believe it has been almost a year since I filled a blog with book reviews. But I have a good excuse! I’ve been time traveling, visiting magical dimensions, places I wouldn’t dare to go, events that happened before I was born, and places I just plain can’t go during the pandemic. I hope you all share my thrill at getting lost inside books during this otherwise slow-moving time. Today I’m sharing favorite books I’ve read very recently: five with five Alarie stars for excellence — two memoirs and three novels.
Most of my Goodreads friends share 80 to almost 90 percent of my tastes, but that is only on books we have both chosen to read. I can’t be sure YOU will love these books as much as I did, so please read the reviews before deciding. If you are lucky and can borrow them from your library, by all means, try them all.
Five Books That Earned Five Alarie Stars in 2020
Young writers are always advised, “Write what you know.” Big duh – writers know about books, so their novels often contain characters who are authors, librarians, or who are such avid readers that they can’t help bringing books into the conversations of their characters. Memoirs give us an insider’s opportunity to spy on a writer’s life. Avid readers are equally fascinated by book talk, so it’s a win-win solution.
1.Watching as the Book Is Written
My first recommendation is a memoir, so Lisa Stewart is living this book (and taking notes) even as we’re following her and Chief down a country road. She also talks about her life as a writer and her husband’s literary career
The Big Quiet - One Woman's Horseback Ride Home
by Lisa D. Stewart
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53490708-the-big-quiet---one-woman-s-horseback-ride-home
It was a lifelong dream of the author to take a long trip around Missouri, alone on horseback, sleeping in her tent at night, enjoying “the big quiet.” At age 54, Stewart decided it was now or never and set off. She did find the quiet, the chance to examine her own life. There are also hardships and obstacles to overcome. Most of us women would let our fear stand in the way of trying this; but, because she grew up in the country, riding horses and learning to shoot, Stewart was far better equipped to undertake the rigors of this adventure. Since she combines contemplation, memoir, nature writing, and her horse Chief (both a champion and a royal pain), this is an entertaining read almost anyone would enjoy. Yet the main reason this is a five-star book is Stewart’s writing skill.
I knew I wanted to buy this book because I’d heard her read excerpts. I read very little nonfiction, but if all nonfiction writers were as gifted as Stewart, that would change. Her secret is using the full array of writing tools employed by good fiction writers. Some of her metaphors and descriptions are even poetic. One of my favorites was “We had Etch-a-sketched our way north and west from the Kents’ that morning through gloriously cool six o’clock and seven o’clock hours.” I often flipped back to the front of the book to see her travel route and appreciate how whimsically true that is.
Stewart also understands pacing, the importance of varying the text and finding the dramatic moments to bring us both laughter and tears. She can explain the crops, farmers’ lives, and breeds of cattle and horses because she knows all about them and is a practiced commercial writer — you can’t get a grant or sell a product if you bore the reader.
For an introvert, spending so much time alone in the quiet countryside with her writing notebook is a dream come true. But having to constantly look for water, safe pasturing for Chief, and permission to pitch her tent on a stranger’s land each night is a nightmare. The result: dramatic tension and surprises. Horses are skittish and don’t like surprises, so Stewart observes how the trip enriches them both: “Like me, so many things that scared [Chief] once, now redeemed him.” Stewart intended to ride east, but the search for safer roads changed her path, taking her back to a new understanding of her past.
2.The CIA and Dr. Zhivago
I was eager to read this book because I’m interest in women’s struggles to get good jobs before the 1980s. And who isn’t fascinated by looking behind the scenes at the CIA? It’s also a plus if you have read Dr. Zhivago or seen the movie.
The Secrets We Kept
by Laura Prescott
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3369822829?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
The novel begins in 1949, with flashbacks to show how much more respect and responsibility were given to women serving in the military during WWII, only to find themselves stuck back in the typing pool in post-war civilian life. They definitely had important secrets to keep, because they were working for the CIA.
I loved this for the usual excitement of learning about how spies operate. The main plot involves Boris Pasternak and his attempts to get Dr. Zhivago published, the reprisals against him and his mistress by the Russian government, and how the CIA got involved. I also loved the book for its feminism and the close bond of the typists, but I loved it most on a more personal level. It gave me more perspective on my mother (a Wave stationed in D.C. during WWII) and on some people I know who worked at the Agency during the Cold War.
3.Shades of Anne Frank
Like Anne Frank, Hélène Berr was recording her journal during the Holocaust. The main differences are that Berr was in Paris and older, studying at the Sorbonne. She initially had fewer restrictions than Frank, was able to get out into the world and continue life almost as normal for a surprising amount of time. Like our other memoir above, we are watching her life unfold. Classical music and her favorite literary works provide some happier moments in the narrative.
The Journal of Hélène Berr
by Hélène Berr
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3383922124?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
This memoir by a Jewish student at the Sorbonne in Paris during the German occupation of WWII can’t help but recall The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. We get to know the author’s intimate life, dreams, and heart during a time when it was difficult to believe anything good could be possible. There are obvious differences due to the young women’s ages, countries, and circumstances, but readers will still find themselves holding their breath, hoping “not today.”
In many ways Berr had things easier. She retained much of her freedom, went to school, went shopping, worked for a children’s relief organization, saw her friends. She even seems to have eaten well enough. She was also a gifted student of literature and music. Much of her social life was spent listening to classical records or playing her violin in duets or trios with friends. It was surprising how long she avoided being deported by the Nazis, yet all the more sad that she got through most of the war only to be trapped. Because she is smart and has witnessed the murders and roundups of so many, the fear and foreboding grow stronger and stronger throughout her diary. She is an accomplished writer and has fascinating things to say about books, music, human nature, nationalism, and Christianity. Her discussion of the teachings of Jesus versus the hate carried out in His name bring the point home. It’s surprising that this book wasn’t published until 2008. It’s an important insider’s view of the price of bigotry and hate.
4.More Horses, More Books
It makes sense that both books and horses are a good means of escape, especially if you just emigrated from England in the 1930’s to rural Kentucky, where your new husband and living in rural Kentucky give you almost no choice about how to live your life.
The Giver of Stars
by Jojo Moyes
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3341762572?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
Frankly, I’m tired of spin offs from You Before Me and thrilled by this departure to a historical novel. I don’t know which came first, the idea for the book or Moyes’ trip to Eastern Kentucky, but it seemed an amazing leap for a British author to write about the WPA’s Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky Program, initiated by Eleanor Roosevelt. The program lasted from 1935-1943, recruiting women to ride horses or mules up into the mountains in all sorts of harsh weather. They had few paths to reach dirt poor residents tucked away from outsiders, which was how many of them wanted it to stay. But these daring librarians coaxed and tutored the reluctant country folk and brought them a steady stream of books, comic books, and magazines to read. They became far more vital to the community and each other than their job descriptions.
This is not the quiet story you’d expect of librarians in town. The pace and drama will sweep you along. It’s an action-packed story, full of life and death situations and a group of feisty women who are fed up with being told what they can or cannot do by fathers, husbands, church, society, and government. I often worry that younger people don’t fully realize how few rights women had less than a hundred years ago. This story is so rich in character and plot, romance, danger, and friendship that it would make an excellent movie or Masterpiece Theatre series. It also touches on other hot buttons: corrupt government, employers out for profit at all costs, mob mentality, and racism. Sound like a soap opera? That’s just how things were in that time and place. Aspects of this novel reminded me of The Help by Katherine Stockett.
5.Harry Potter for Adults Who Wish They Could Live in Books
If you read and adored The Midnight Circus, all I need to do is mention the author’s name and you’ll run for this book. Morgenstern again creates a different world or dimension tucked inside our own everyday world. Only a true book lover will learn all its secrets. It helps if you love cats, too.
The Starless Sea
by Erin Morgenstern
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3335200420?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
Morgenstern is a sorceress who enchants us with her writing. It must be like hypnosis: her magic works best on those who are suggestible – avid readers who welcome stories that take us to faraway places and other dimensions. In this novel, she uses story and fable both as writing technique and as message. She creates a paradise for readers. Of course, any paradise is threatened by those who think they need to take over and choose who gets to stay in their realm. But no good story exists without complications, dangers, and…well, you must see for yourself.
For me, this was perfect reading during the COVID quarantine. I didn’t really need a reminder that reading is a refuge, but she did transport me to a place I’d rather be. There are many reasons to want to stay by the starless sea, but I don’t want to spoil the surprises. I’ll just say Morgenstern had good reason to reference Rowling’s Harry Potter books. (Don’t worry, this is not a spin off.) Rowling is undoubtedly an idol of hers, for she uses a similar technique. She adds so much unique detail to improbable events that they become real to you. If you’re a Potter fan, you never think of yourself as a Muggle. You’re a great wizard yourself, either a student or advanced to faculty status. Many an adult buys a wand. Fess up! Don’t mistake this for a children’s book, however, there is some adult content. Thankfully, wonder is timeless.
Happy Reading & Thanks
for Reading My Blog!