The Stranger in a Strange Land

Enter the land of the “twilight zone”…. And the strange phenomenon of space men landing on Earth and what happens.  This is one of the early sci-fi books that has greatly influenced much of what is written today, The Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein.  The book was edited after the author’s death to include 30% more of the story, which I would have liked to know which parts were added, but nonetheless a really good book.  Who could not fall for our man from Mars, Valentine Michael Smith, a human, raised on Mars.  On a second expedition to Mars, Smith is found and brought back to Earth and hidden at the Bethesda military hospital under tight security.  Thanks to ace reporter Ben Caxton and nurse Gillian Boardman, Smith is removed from lock and key to interact with the real world!  After becoming a “water brother” (the highest form of personal connection in Martian terms) to Gillian, Smith has a new connection developed that frames much of his exiled life. Smith gets stuck in a political struggle with the governmental factions who both want oversight of the millionaire owner of Mars, so says the Larkin ruling that determines he may be the only and rightful owner.  Through the work of Caxton, Gillian and lawyer/writer Jubal Harshaw, Smith becomes a free man and starts to experiment in all that Earth offers, traveling and interacting with many of the religions on the planet and finds a home with the Fosterite Church of the New Revelation, otherwise known for their hedonistic rituals and beliefs.  Smith’s life within the formal church reflects strongly on the mark of organized religion during a time of great upheaval in our society against social norms that were beginning in the early 1960s, the time the book was written. Smith eventually succumbs to the rivals within the Fosterite Church, but ends up saving others, like Jubal, as did Jesus Christ in the Christian tradition.  A real blending of future with rich historical church doctrine.  The story of Smith, his escape, and influence from society is much like what we see today, but not the teleportation from another planet.  Heinlein’s book provides great intricacies of story about the future but having connection to the past.  Enjoyed the book tremendously.  I can see how this book serves as a pre-cursor to those that followed.  Sci-fi fans, add to your list!

Holes

Driving to DC and finished listening to Holes by Louis Sachar, which I really enjoyed!  It is a great read for young people to learn a life lesson about a bad luck life which becomes good luck… at some point in time.  Imagine being named Stanley Yelnats, yes that is your first name being spelled backwards for your last.  An innocent boy who get charged with stealing shoes (which were actually thrown out the window of a car, hit him on the head, and then blamed for the theft).  Stanley is sent to the “chain gang line” in Texas to dig holes.  The group of young adolescents are serving their time digging these 5 by 5 feet holes…. Why?  You will find out in the end which brings all things together.  Poor Stanley, what a bad situation to be in, but like all things he does his time, dealing with a group of “hard core” young boys who place Stanley at the bottom of the pecking order.  But Stanley befriends one of the boys and after a rift occurs runs away to look for on the dessert grounds of their “jail”.  A wonderful story, great message and quick read!  We all have our journey to live, but it is how we live it and help others along the way that make it worth living.  Thanks Stanley for you and your family’s story!  Get this one, a fun read!  Listening was great as well.

The Pact

The second book I finished yesterday was The Pact by Jodi Picoult, a seemingly favorite author since she has the most favorite books from the RAs, six on my list!  Like most of Picoult’s stories, she begins with a brief “end moment” and then she fills in the details.  Picoult’s books remind me of a lengthy “Lifetime” channel movie of the week.  I have no doubt her books become movies of the week on Lifetime. The Golds and the Hartes are next door neighbors for eighteen years.  Their families share everything… meals, vacations, and children who are best friends.  Emily and Chris grew up being born three months apart from each other and eventually become romantically involved.  During their senior year, as the college application process looms large, an “event” occurs, which will change forever the two family’s bond to each other.     A phone call comes in late to both families.  The call from the police asks both sets of parents to come to the hospital immediately there has been an “accident.”  When the parents arrive, they learn that one child is dead, the other appears to be critically injured.  Once the “dust settles” we learn that Emily is dead by a gunshot to the head, and Chris is fine with 70 stitches to the head.  What happened?  Initially it appears as a suicide pact between two teenage lovers, but the district attorney thinks otherwise.  Chris is charged with homicide and the rest of the story captures the months leading up to the trial, Chris being in jail, and the demise of the relationship between the Hartes and the Golds. Chris himself doesn’t know whether he actually pulled the trigger or not and finally it is the turn of the jury to make their decision on Chris’ fate. With most of Picoult’s books the reader is never really sure what will happen.  I won’t reveal the ending to this “mystery” story.  I will say, while the story is riveting and one really never knows what will end up happening in Picoult’s books, I really felt the story itself was quite disturbing.  Hard to be completely comfortable with a teenage suicide past.  There were some strange character behaviors that didn’t seem consistent, nor did I really like a few of the parents.  The psychological churnings of the main character of Chris was believable but a hard sell for me to really endorse this one from Picoult.  Maybe her seventh book that the RAs suggest might be a winner for me.

The American Wife

Welcome to the summer solstice! I was able to complete two books on this gorgeous day, though I’ll only write one entry for today and one for tomorrow. In some ways the two books had a lot in common, drama!  Let’ start with the book I actually finished first, The American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld. Enter Alice Lindgren, the somewhat likeable young liberal from Wisconsin who works as a librarian in the local elementary school.  Who would have thought this book was drawn from the real life experiences of former First Lady Laura Bush!  While there are many “similarities,” I’m sure there are also some embellishments along the way.  Now back to Alice’s life… Alice grows up in 1950s in suburban America the only child of a stay at home mom and banker Dad (and a grandmother who has moved in).  The story follows Alice’s journey from awkward young teenage girl, to her arrival to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as the wife of the President.  Sounds like a lovely fairy-tale, right?  Not quite.  Alice‘s critical life detour comes when she has her first “high school crush” on Andrew Imhof, whom she “steals” from her best friend, Dena, after Dena breaks up with him.  Because Dena is so jealous of the fact that Alice is falling for her ex, she makes Alice feel guilty, which leads to Alice not driving with the group of girls to the big picnic, which Andrew is to attend.  As fate would have it, Alice gets in a car accident (she misses the stop sign which is somewhat obstructed from her view) and the other driver is killed.  Of course who would the other driver be?  Andrew!  It goes downhill from there…  After months of guilt, Alice goes to the Imhof family to deliver an apology.  What turns out to be a note under the door, turns into Alice being used as an “object of physical aggression” by Peter, Andrew’s brother.  When Alice learns she is pregnant, her grandmother who notices the signs, brings her granddaughter to Chicago to have an abortion performed by the grandmother’s female lover, which will come back in the story!  Years later after working in the library, her friend Dena convinces her to come to a party where she meets the son of former Governor Charlie Blackwell.  The rest is history, well, sort of.  Alice get married after a quick dating period (well really a pretty intense sexual encounters), has a daughter, gets involved in the community, deals with her husband’s alcoholic ways, almost gets divorced,  deals with her grandmother’s death, her mother’s failing health, and becoming the First Lady.  Remember that abortion that Alice had… well when it comes time for her husband to appoint the next Supreme Court judge, guess who plans on letting the world know about Alice’s history, grandma’s lover, who does not agree with the candidate’s Pro-Life stance.  The book is well written and the pace moves quickly.  I can see why it received lots of awards, but for me, read more like another book I finished later in the day… The Pact!  (see tomorrow’s entry).  I have to say, I guess I didn’t pay much attention to the public life of our President as I had no idea some of the real revelations that were shared in the Alice Blackwell story.  Not that I needed to know.  Not a top read for me, but for someone looking for a book while hanging on the beach over a tequila… hey, why not?

Kitchen God’s Wife

A relatively short read, and even shorter when listening on tape at double speed, but I didn’t do that!  The book was the Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan.  I would call it a “chicklit” book mainly because of the focus on female relationships.  The story is about a Chinese-American woman, Pearl, and her learning the history of her family’s heritage.  Pearl is called by her mother, Winnie, to attend a family engagement, which she doesn’t want to attend, but the next day learns of her aunt’s death.  When she arrives, she meets with her Aunt Helen, who wants Pearl to inform that she has the debilitating disease MS to her mother.  Aunt Helen holds over Pearl the fact that she has a brain tumor, though she doesn’t let Pearl know it is benign.  Helen also encourages Winnie to tell her daughter her life, and all of the things that she went through coming to the US. Winnie goes into great detail her horrific life in China, including being abandoned as a child, being married to a abusive man, not really being related to Helen, and finally the fact that Pearl was not really the biological daughter of the man that had raised her, a loving Chinese Baptist Minister, who helped Winnie escape from the rapist husband and come to the US.  Wu-Fen, the husband of Winnie at that time, was actually Pearl’s biological father.  After learning of these revelations, Pearl shares with her mother her serious medical condition. All the sharing leads the three women to plan a trip back to China.  Obviously there is much more to the depth of the sharing and issues that arose from Winnie’s history, but I provided some of the highlights.  The story gives insight to some of the atrocities and secrets that stay within families.  A well written story, but just not my favorite type of story.  I think this would be a good short book club read for twenty-somethings.