The Boys in the Boat

There is nothing better than finishing an outstanding book from the list of RA Favorites.  This one was one of the better books I have read in quite some time.  The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown is the real life story of the 1936 Olympic Gold winning crew team from the University of Washington (UW).  Brown met one of the members from the UW team, Joe Rantz, when he visited his home one day to learn more about the history of the team a year before his death and 70+ years after the Olympics.  George only agreed to tell the story if he in fact told the whole story, and not just about him.  So began the initial journey back to the days before the depression in the Western US, where a poor young son (Joe) was born into a family in which he lost his mother at a very young age, had his aunt become his stepmother, be removed from the family because of the four new children and the inability for his family to provide for him.  Joe went on his own as a teenager, made it to college, joined the crew team and entered the dream of a lifetime.  The author does an impeccable job of capturing the relationships among the men, the challenges of the day by painting the bleak picture of a stark world, and even the perspiration that occurred with every stroke the team made on the journey.  As a reader I was totally engrossed in the various battles for making the team, competing against UC Berkeley, Cornell, and eventually the world at the 1936 games.  But the most important aspect of the book was the backdrop in which the world was in the midst of dealing, the developing Nazi nation in Germany led by Adolf Hitler.  The stories fit perfect and throughout I was moved by the emotional upheaval of the men fighting to win, pay for college, and understand the world was being besieged by a new type of enemy, which would be much more known after the Olympics.  The lessons I learned about World War II were enhanced by having a better context of the foundation that Hitler was developing through the propaganda war that his staff was creating for the rest of the world.  This is an outstanding book, presenting the glamour of athletic triumph and the various stories of the individual who comprised the team.   I will read this book again.  I hear it is a movie and while not a big fan of the big screen, this will be one to watch!  Read this one!

Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman

First, Happy Anniversary to my wife!  26 years.  Didn’t have much time to read tonight so picked up a children’s book from the RA Favorite list, Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman.  It is a very brief story of Gracie, a young African American seven year old who had a great imagination and loved to play make believe parts.  In class one day, the teacher asks the children, who  would like to play the part of Peter Pan, Gracie immediately tells her friends she would like to do so.  Her classmate Raj says, “you can’t play Peter Pan, you are a girl” while her other classmate Natalie says “you can’t play Peter Pan you are black”.  Later that evening at home she tells her mother and grandmother and they adamantly disagree.  Over the weekend her grandmother takes her to the theatre to watch Romeo and Juliet, cast with an African American Juliet.  The experience reinforced what her mother and grandmother said, that anyone can play any part they want.  The next two days she practices for the role of Peter Pan.  When it is time for the audition, everyone votes for her as Peter Pan!  The moral of the story, don’t let stereotypes and the negative messages of others stop you from following your dreams!  Some great messages about perceived gender roles and issues of race.  Lots to think about in this very short story.  The illustrations add to the story as well.   

Margaret Edson’s W:t

Whenever I meet with a Tisch student I am never sure if I will get a book or a play.  This time it was a play.  Margaret Edson’s W:t is a riveting story of a fifty year-old college professor who is stricken with stage IV ovarian cancer.   Vivian Bearing is a renowned John Donne scholar who over the course of the play, throughout her eight-week trial chemotherapy treatment, declines quickly.  The clinical fellow at her bedside is a former student who took her toughest undergraduate course on Donne.  The two exchange their experience with Donne, interspersing couplets of prose all trying to understand death and the demise of a person.  Vivian agrees to the experimental process knowing that there is limited chance of surviving. This strong-willed woman is succumbing to the worst that cancer can throw at someone.  Vivian’s transformation is all so frightening true in stage IV victims.  Not being a John Donne scholar, I only could find the surface level of his work to Vivian’s demise.  Hard to imagine the staging of this play, but the dialogue is absolutely on-point and I could feel the pain and anguish as Vivian begins to realize her pen is not mightier than the fight with cancer.  Two cancer reads in a week are about my outer limit of dealing with the disease.  The playwright makes her points through the story.

A Time for Dancing

There are books that you learn from,  books that you are entertained by, books you read that you will never remember, and books that make you cry (lots of other types too).  But this RA favorite is the former, a tear-inducing book.  A Time for Dancing by Davida Hurwin is the story of two best-friend seventeen year olds.  Julie and Sam grow up outside San Francisco.  Sam, a product of divorced parents, a mom who pays her little attention due to her burgeoning romance with a new man, and her Dad who has remarried and has started a new family.  Sam has her best friend, Julie, to rely on.  They do everything together and are each other’s “One and Only” bestie.  Julie is coming off a relationship in which she was dumped by her boyfriend of a few years, and now he is dating another student, while Sam is all consumed by dance lessons and doing well in school.  All of life comes to a “halt,” after a few months of doctor appointments for back/hip pain, Julie learns that she has cancer, stage 4.  The remainder of the story captures Julie’s struggles with chemo, and her eventual decision not to continue the treatments based on the side effects.  Simultaneously, Sam fights her guilt with Julie’s inability to sustain the relationship in the same way she did pre-cancer, her on-going battles with her parents, and a major slide in academic commitment with the various challenges of the time.  Julie makes one triumphant return on the dance floor at a competition with her “one and only” as her dance partner.  Yes, tears flow as the savagery called cancer destroys life as we know it.  The book doesn’t provide the type of depth that Stuart Scott’s book does, as this is more of a young adult book, but still pretty raw.  Life is not easy.  OK book, probably more of an after school special type of TV watch, if you remember those days.  I guess I’m dating myself a bit.

Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain, A Nandi Tale by Verna Aardema

It’s always fun to read a children’s book that contains a thoughtful message and great pictures to brighten your imagination while also teaching children the importance of our earth’s greatest resources.  Welcome to the world of Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain, A Nandi Tale by Verna Aardema.  The brief tale is based on folklore from South Africa regarding the plains that contained wild animals and farming.  The plains were gorgeous, full of beauty, greenery, flowers, flowing rivers, and animals who lived the land fully. Then came the drought!  Everything started to turn brown, animals fled the area, or started to die.  But young Ki-pat who watched the herd was not to be deterred.  His animals were hungry and he was unsure what to do, until an eagle flew by and dropped a feather close to where he was standing.  Ki-pat made a bow and took the feather to make an arrow of it as he believed this was a feather to help change the weather.  So he aimed it at a passing cloud - BAM, he hit the cloud, out clapped the thunder and down came the rain, and it kept coming down.  It changed the color of the grass, back to green, the riverbanks flowed, and the animals could start to eat again.  Everything changed back to what it was, which led to Ki=pat finding a wife, and having a little Ki=pat son of his own, who in turn watched the herd.   A true “circle of life” story!  The message of nature helping itself is right on target!  Great for little children and adults to remember how important and precious the rain is for us.

Super Sad True Love Story

 

A political satire that reflects the future of the American society is captured in Gary Shteyngrat’s Super Sad True Love Story.  The story is built around the diaries of the main character, Lenny Abramov, a 39 year-old single Caucasian of Russian Jewish heritage and his love interest, Eunice Park, a 23 year old Korean woman, whose family emigrated from Korea and is financially secure.  The author uses the diary writings of Lenny and the on-line posts of Eunice as a way to capture the relationship of the two characters.  Lenny is an out of shape, middle class man who leaves the US to escape to find more to life by going to Rome.  Lenny falls in love instantly with Eunice and invites her to come back to the US by offering her a place to live, which she eventually accepts, even though at first she is “grossed out” by him.  Eunice over time begins to fall in love with Lenny, and over time introduces him to her family, who don’t see the match!   It is a strange match for sure, as she is interested in making Lenny fit her mold.  He will do anything for her.  As the relationship evolves so does the grim political situation where America is in fiscal disarray falling to their arch-rivals the Chinese, who have the US financial clout and are holding them hostage in an economic way.  The US government is trying to discourage unrest and promote consumerism.  The diaries of Lenny and the emails of Eunice serve as a reminder of capturing the moment and later serve as a reminder of how life is now being presented in the mainstream through social media, where “everyone knows one’s inner life story.”  Things get worse as the economy bottoms out, Lenny introduces Eunice to his 75 year old “youthful” boss who is a big-wig in a health related business to keep people looking and feeling young, and war seemingly has broken out in the New York City area (and both Lenny and Eunice’s family can’t be found).  Will Lenny and Eunice’s love withstand the trials and tribulations?   Will the US fall to China?  Can people keep their youthfulness?  There are some laugh out loud (LOL) moments in this one.  Lenny and Eunice’s relationship is quite non-traditional and demonstrates the lengths someone will go for staying young, getting the means they need to live their life, and trying to find out what love really is…  It is an acquired sense of humor and you will like it or not.   Kept me turning the page, so I enjoyed it.   A big departure from the recent reads I have had.

An Experiment in Love

Finished another RA Favorite book, An Experiment in Love by Hilary Mantel.  The story provides a glimpse into the life of Carmel McBain, a young English woman who enters a prestigious London University living in a residence hall with other classmates during the late 1960s, the age of the rise of feminism. The author uses the method of weaving the main character’s current life and many of the pieces that led to her coming to the college, from elementary school through high school both within the Catholic education system, which was quite conservative and leads to her current reaction to a new found freedom, sex and rebuffing family wishes.  The other members of the friend group (Karina, Julieanne, Susan, and Lynette) grapple with their own coming of age during the era of “free love” each seemingly finding a beau and deciding whether to get on the pill, joining a community group fighting an issue, or determining their own place in this “man’s world” of their time.  Struggles with money haunt Carmel, as does self-image issues, leading to a battle with anorexia after her boyfriend of two years dumps her.  The reader enters Carmel’s friend difficulties and how hard it is in the time to create your own path.  The story ends with a strange twist and for me, doesn’t really come to any closure.  Maybe that was the point to enter the lives of a group of people and then step out of it?  It took me a while, but I really started wanting to know more about the relationships and how each was affected by the behaviors of the other characters.  The strengths of the book was clearly the character development and the psychological changes as the years progressed.  The characters are real and do represent what was happening for young women, at least from my own insight to my sisters growing up at the same time, making me even more intrigued.  Still not happy with the fire at the end, ok I won’t give away that one of the characters dies…    

Awaken the Giant Within

A different type of inspiration for today’s RA Favorite Book, motivation to how you live your life!  Yes, self-help time.  The quintessential motivational speaker provides his life lessons on “being who you can become” in life in Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins.  This 1991 published book provides lessons that are embedded in all I learned through the NYU Life Coaching program I took in 2005.  Robbins is the life coach for the stars and every CEO who has made millions, or at least he says he has.  The book is broken into four parts: unleash your power; taking control-the master system; the seven days to shape your life; and a lesson in destiny.  Robbins stories are grounded in well-known people (celebrities, athletes, politicians, military heroes, and yes, the common person who has overcome great adversity).  His own story of growing up poor, working hard with no direction, is the perfect foundation for others to view themselves through.  He has compelling arguments and his suggestions make… perfect sense.  I did get a little worried when he said he actually counsels people (he has no formal training).  Other criticisms include: his use of some border-line sexist language and examples (hey its 19991, does that make it ok?).  I also am not sure how much he notes that changing thinking, I mean REALLY changing your thinking is really hard work.  I think he presents plans and gives the impression that it is easy… how come the 1% has the vast majority of power/money/wealth in society today.   He provides the seven areas to focus on change: Emotions, Physical well-being, Relationships; Financial; Conduct of Self; Use of Time; and Relaxation.  The book serves as a workbook, where you capture your thoughts, goals, aspirations, emotions, etc. (serving as a journal of sorts).  The most compelling area of Robbin’s work is his suggestion for mastery in the area of emotions.  Here are his steps:  1.) Identify what you’re really feeling 2.) Acknowledge and appreciate your emotions, knowing they support you 3.) Get curious about the message this emotion is offering you 4.) Get confident 5.) Get certain you can handle this not only today, but in the future as well 6.) Get excited, and take action.  All of this is great, smart and worthwhile advice.  My favorite Robbins acronym: CANI – Constant and Never-ending Improvement.  Shouldn’t we all be looking to have that happen in our lives?  Overall, a long read, but flows as you think through who you want to be, connecting your values to your actions, documenting as you go along.  Why shouldn’t we want to reflect on being better, having better relationships, seek to understand others, take care of your health, be there for others, and connect to a spiritual side of life.  All so important.  I think everyone should read a book like this, but I would suggest timing is important, i.e. are you ready to put in the work to get to where one could be a better person?  Pick it up!

Where the Sidewalk Ends

An absolute classic read which I needed to find after the last book.  It is the quintessential child’s ‘imagination run wild’ book, Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein.  It is the 40^th Anniversary edition!  Who doesn’t love rhyming lines of the most creative and ingenious short poems that push the boundaries of a young child’s thinking, or even my own.  I have so many favorites as this was one of my nieces favorite books (Tessa, Happy birthday as well!).  I think that is where she actually found her imaginary friend Fritz, a little white speck who would appear and disappear, sometimes giving her a funny voice to speak through… the book begins with an invitation:

                If you are a dreamer, come in

                If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,

                A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer…

                If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire

                For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.

                Come in!

                Come In!

And so I did, and hope all of you do as well.  I loved so many, especially Jimmy Jet and his TV set (see what happens when you watch too much of it?  Wonder what will happen when TV sets are no longer). Or the great Unicorn!  There are so many characters to remember, so don’t forget to believe in your child’s concern for that monster under the bed, don’t be like the boy’s dad who looked and then was no more, as he was eaten!  Or Nancy Bates the weightliftress who will remind you she is strong, or even the little blue engine who could… until he ran out of steam at the top of the hill went backward and crashed into everyone else!  Smiles... that’s what this book brings.  It is a MUST purchase for any 4, 5, 6, or 77, year old.  Life and bringing creativity to it never gets old.

A Child Called It

A really hard book to read today, it was disturbing and frightening to even fathom.  The book was called A Child Called It written by David Pelzer and written in the early 1990s.  The book is the real life story of the author who experienced tremendous physical and mental abuse at the hands of his mother, though his father was a supportive witness who did nothing (or very limited) to stop the abuse.  The author goes into great detail of the physical beatings, stabbing, and starvation that his mother did to him over a seven year period.   It was really hard to get through this book.  I can’t even understand how a mother of five singled out one child, attempted to kill him and encouraged through repetition to have her other children watch and even join in near the end.  His mother and father’s relationship was strange and clearly she had something over the father to allow him to be a quiet observer, though a few times he attempted to stop it.  If it wasn’t for the assistance of a substitute teacher and the school nurse, I have no doubt David, who was called “the boy” by his mother, would have killed him.  Freezing him, having him eat out of the trash, having him drink ammonia, doing chores all day and night, ten days without eating, the list goes on and David tells the higher levels of the abuse.  Children are sacred and to enter this hell was unfathomable.  There are two more books to the series as this one ends when the principal of the school finally intervenes after three other thwarted attempts.  This is not a book for that I would read as light reading.  It is heart wrenching, sickening, and a story that I’m sure needed to be told.  I pray that all victims of abuse find the courage and the support to receive the help that they deserve.  Congratulations to David for escaping, becoming a father, and loving his son as he never was as a child.