Cheaper by the Dozen

 This delightful old-school tale is the loosely autobiographical story of a family with twelve children, two of whom are the authors.  It was suggested by a friend who heard that JEHOE are moving to Montclair, New Jersey, also the home, in the 1900's and 10's of the large, talented and amusing Gilbreth Family!

Both the father, Frank Bunker Gilbreth, and mother, Lillian Moller Gilbreth, were internationally known time-and-motion efficiency experts, and they ran their home (with remarkable efficiency and good humor) as a kind of collaborative experiment:

"One reason he had so many children - there were twelve of us - was that he was convinced anything he and mother teamed up on was sure to be a success".

This book, which depicts American life at the turn of the century and is very funny, was very popular: two Cheaper by the Dozen movies were made, one with Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy, and a much later version with Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt.  

I quite enjoyed this breezy, optimistic and amusing story.

Venice Rising

Venice Rising: Aqua Granda, Pandemic, Rebirth, edited by Kathleen Ann Gonzalez, presents the stories, some in English and some in Italian, of about 25 Venetians describing their experiences and emotions during the Aqua Granda (a once-in-a-century level high tide) of 2019, which did tremendous damage to treasured artworks, gardens, antiques and workshops, followed almost immediately by the 2020 Covid pandemic: “Financial loss and emotional devastation crushed the city residents and business owners.”   But the subtitle of the book also includes “rebirth”, honoring the strength and resilience of the citizens of La Serenissima.

In one account, Catherine Kovesi, an art historian from Australia who has lived, researched, and taught in the city of Venice over many years, wrote:

The day after the storm, I waded across the Piazza San Marco, bucket and mop in hand, to assist a friend whose maggazino (storehouse) had flooded for the first time in her memory.  Suppressing adrenaline and a rising tide of grief, I struggled to get past tourists relentlessly posing with smiles on their faces as they delightedly memorialized their presence in a city destroyed.  Their smiles seemed ghoulish to me.  Could they not see the tragedy all around?  I wanted to scream at them all to put down their smartphones and help, or perhaps better still, simply to

            stand, look, and weep in solidarity

Pachinko - Min Jin Lee

Our March bookclub book was Pachinko, and WOW, it was fantastic!! The best book I've read in a long time. It tells the story of one Korean family across 4 generations, from their roots in Korea in 1883, to their lives in Japan up through 1989. 

Before reading this novel, I was ignorant of Japan's occupation of Korea, and the way Japan oppressed Korean expats after the war. (I had been aware of the shameful history of conscripted "comfort women," but not the broader context of colonization,  oppression, and forced assimilation). This ugly history is not exactly the center of this story, but it is its pervasive backdrop, and influences all of the major events in the family's lives.

The story is beautiful and heartfelt, and although parts are truly heartbreaking, it was a pleasure to read, because of the fascinating characters and their resiliency and even success, despite the many hard years of their lives. The author is clearly a brilliant observer of human nature, as her character studies read so true. The character Sunja is perhaps the central figure, as the story follows her life from young girl to septuagenarian grandmother, and her clear-eyed view of the world is deeply compelling. I would strongly recommend this book to all!

Mordew - Alex Pheby

As my contribution to our 2021 bookclub schedule, I nominated Mordew, by Alex Pheby. It appeared on a top books of 2020 list somewhere. I would describe it as grotesque fantasy, about the struggles of a slum boy named Nathan, in a city ruled by the magic of the Master. It was quite long at 617 pages, but I enjoyed it. The writing style is an interesting mix of snappy and florid, and the ideas are very creative. I love the fantasy genre, but don't often find new adult fantasy that I really enjoy. Ultimately, I did not find the plot wholly satisfying, and my attention waivered a bit toward the end, but there were lots of interesting ideas in this book. Would recommend.

To Be Taught if Fortunate - Becky Chambers

 

With the pandemic, I have barely been reading, so it's been a long time since I've contributed to our book blog! But I'm hoping to get back on track in 2021. My first read of 2021 is this novel by Becky Chambers, for my bookclub. I love space exploration sci-fi, and this was fresh and evocative light reading. Spunky like The Martian, thoughtful like (but not nearly as dark as) The Sparrow (also by a woman, Mary Doria Russell).

Besides Ursula K. LeGuin, Octavia Butler, and Madeline L'engle, I don't know that I've read many female science fiction authors, which is too bad, since it's one of my favorite genres. I don't know that I would say the author's gender was really relevant to this book, though I did find it interesting that in one passage the main character (who is also a woman) muses that 

"We astronauts are taught to compartmentalize the realities of flight. [And the fact that everyone you know will be dead when you return.] ...You wonder if you're a bad daughter, a bad friend, a selfish asshole placing her own intellectual wankery above the living, breathing people who poured everything they could ever give into her, and were rewarded with the sight of her walking away forever." 

I don't think I've heard this sentiment much in the male-centered space exploration stuff I've read, and it struck me the extra pressures women explorers face, since we are usually expected to be caregivers for elder family, etc. -- more guilt and conflict there. So I found that interesting.

Anyway, all in all, a good book for the new year.