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.

Slaughterhouse Five

 

Kurt Vonnegut’s voice is exceptional.  The main themes of Slaughterhouse Five are deadly serious, yet the story is rich in humor, both simple and mordant, and has a unique viewpoint that features time travel and intelligent aliens.  It’s a perplexing yet commanding combination.  The narrator of the frame story is Vonnegut himself, who was a prisoner of war and one of the very few survivors when Dresden was firebombed in World War II. But the protagonist is Billy Pilgrim, who travels in space and time with a view of his entire life.  Billy witnesses innumerable deaths, each commemorated by “So it goes”, from his unique whole-life perspective.  Fascinating, thought provoking, outrageously funny and heart-rendingly sad by turns.

Love and War in the Apennines

Love and War is Eric Newby's account of his experiences after being captured in Italy during World War II.  He was initially confined, along with other POWs, to an orfanotrofio (orphanage) in Fontanellato in the Emiglia-Romagna region.  The Armistice (really a surrender) of Italy to the Allies was declared two weeks before the Allies actually arrived in force, allowing the Germans to immediately send forces into Italy to prepare for the Allied invasion.  Accordingly, when Newby and the other POWs were released, they fled into the countryside to avoid being recaptured by the incoming German forces.  

Newby's story, then, describes his experiences of being harbored by the Italian farmers and mountain people who, at great risk to themselves, assisted him out of their admirable humanity and because they hated the Fascists.  Newby is humbled by their courage and generosity and views his experiences with sympathy and humor. 

Here are a couple examples of the humor:

Drink and supplementary food were bought on the black market, which was even more extensive and better organized than it was in Britain, and a special float of Red Cross cigarettes was kept for this purpose, and for the general corruption of the Italian camp staff, by responsible members of the British administration, ex-bank managers mostly, to whom this sort of thing was second nature.

She used to tell me the latest news about my friends………how one officer whose identity I never discovered had been hidden in the castello of a local principessa who had been so impressed by his girlish face that she had the brilliant idea of dressing him as a young woman of fashion and putting him on a train to Switzerland.  This she had done but, unfortunately, he looked so desirable on the train that some soldiers had “interfered” with him, as the News of the World used to put it, and discovered the truth, although one of them got punched hard on the nose in the process of doing so.

And, in an example of the humanity and generosity of the Italian country people, one evening, a few days after the Germans had made a surprise raid to search for hidden enemy soldiers or Italian deserters, Newby was invited to a dinner with some important people in the town.  This was dangerous and he had to take special care to arrive unseen. 

I was motioned to take a seat and a glass of wine was poured for me. There was no small talk. The Chairman of the Board, for that was obviously what he was, said carefully and very slowly so that I could understand, "We have been talking about you among ourselves for some days. Many of the people in this village and in the farms round about have sons and relatives who are being hunted by the Germans.  Three of them were taken the other day. Some of them have sons in Russia of whom, so far, there is no news and who may never return. They feel that you are in a similar condition to that of their sons who, they hope, are being given help wherever they are , and they think it is their duty to help you through the coming winter, which otherwise you will not survive. I speak for them because my father was born here, and they have asked me to do so. And as it has now become too dangerous to shelter you in their houses, they have decided to build you a house which no one except the people assembled in this room, our families and one other person, and he is a kinsman, will ever hear about. The work will begin at dawn tomorrow".

The descriptions of where the home was to be located and how it was built are extraordinary.  A truly wonderful book.