The Inheritance

The Inheritance

by Sahar Khalifa

Finished The Inheritance by Sahar Khalifa, a Palestinian author who shares the moving story of a young woman, Zayna, born in America from the union of a Palestinian father and American mother.  Her mother leaves the family after her birth and she lives with her father in Brooklyn.  At age 15, she violates his honor by getting pregnant.  His rage includes an attempt to kill Zayna, but he is stopped by her maternal grandmother.  Her father leaves her to go back to his homeland in the West Bank, and she remains with her grandmother.  After a successful academic trajectory, which included receiving her doctorate and being hired as a professor, Zayna longs to be reconnected to her father, which leads to a search of his homeland.  The second part of the book focuses on Zayna’s unhappiness in life, and a letter from an uncle informing her of father’s impending death.  Zayna decides to face whatever she will find in the West Bank and a family she didn't know existed.  What she finds is a new “stepmother”, who recently wed her father, who has done well financially.  Her uncle and his family believe that Zayna should inherit all of his land and money, but his new wife informs all that she is pregnant, even as a woman in her 40s, 30 years his junior (she was inseminated just a few months prior to her husband’s illness.)  The rest of the story goes into great detail of the issues related to family, the role of women in the Middle East during the 1990s, and who should get the inheritance of a large financial windfall.  The story reveals the restricted role women have in Palestine through the lens of a woman.  Father against children, daughters against brother, and raw horror of sexual abuse are all detailed in a very moving story.  (Note: it is translated into English so the glossary in the back is helpful for Arabic idioms and language nuances.)  Another book hard to put down.

  

Moments Captured

Moments Captured

by Robert Seidman

An interesting story by Robert Seidman in Moments Captured, which uses the real-life photographer, Edward Muybridge, and some stories from his life in conjunction with some divergent storylines.  It is a unique approach to utilize one of the “father figures” of photography to create a story.  Muybridge had two patents and is best known for his work in capturing animals in still and moving pictures.  In the novel, Muybridge, who hails from the UK, moves to the US in the 1860s at the time of the gold rush and migration of the east coast residents to the great west.  Muybridge assists in capturing a ‘gunslinging’ robber by taking a still picture of him, well before cameras were known by most people.  The picture helps capture and eventually is used to find the man guilty of the crime, for which he is later executed.  During the incident, Muybridge meets Holly Hughes, and they immediately become lovers.  The author goes into great detail describing the sexual exploits of the couple, and we learn that Hughes is a self-made woman who believes in “free-love”, being comfortable in numerous relationships at once (though her feelings for Edward make her think otherwise).  Hughes is a renowned French dancer and feminist and she pushes her agenda to the aristocracy of the San Francisco Bay area.  Muybridge gets hired by Leland Stanford (the man after which Stanford University is named) to help capture the movement of his horses on film.  Stanford later hires him to take stills of the building of the Pacific rim railroad tracks.  Hughes’ old lover, Jacques Fauconier, arrives during her opening night show, which she ends by spouting why “corsets are damaging to women” while the rich, white audience is aghast.  Fauconier tries to seduce Hughes, but she reneges his advances because of her attachment to Muybridge.  Muybridge becomes so enthralled with getting a large salary from Stanford, coupled with his desire to enhance his standing as a great photographer, that he leaves Hughes for a few months and forgets to contact her.  While he is away, Fauconier is finally able to convince Holly to spend an evening together.  It is an “over the top” sexual escapade that ends with him returning to her home.  That same evening, Muybridge returns after abruptly leaving the winter mountain site of the Pacific railroad buildout.  He finds Fauconier and Holly nude, asleep in each other’s arms.  He becomes so angry that he kills Fauconier with a gun that was given to him by a friend to escape from the mountain.  A trial ensues and Muybridge is found not guilty of manslaughter because of temporary insanity.  Holly can’t forgive him for killing Fauconier and leaves town for good.  Muybridge’s life is never complete now that he has lost Holly.  Will they ever get back together?  How will Muybridge ever move forward with his life having lost his work for Stanford?  What further contributions will he make to the field of photography?  It’s a really interesting story with some further twists related to the feminist movement, photography, and the story of the man who helped create Stanford University.  This was one of those books I couldn’t put down.  Interesting plot line with lots of twists, and a surprising plot from the very first part of the book comes into play at the end.  Again, like the device of using real-life people but changing many aspects of their life.       

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

by Jules Verne

Finished what some believe should be on the greatest 100 classic novels of all time, Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  It isn’t a short read, so be prepared as it has a great deal of detail throughout (I’d argue too much at times).  The story takes place in the year 1866, and some believe there is a sea monster in the ocean that needs to be captured.  Professor Aronnax, a French marine biologist who serves as the narrator of the story, accepts an invitation to join the expedition along with two other interested parties – a harpoonist (Ned Land) and Aronnax’s faithful companion, Conseil.  They leave from New York’s harbor and get to the Pacific Ocean where they face the monster!  They are knocked into the ocean and captured by the “monster”, which, in reality, is a submarine.  Submarines were not recognized at that time, and as the three men are brought aboard, the captain, Captain Nemo, welcomes them to the vessel - the Nautilus - which was built in secrecy.  Nemo also shares that the state-of-the-art boat is used for scientific experiments and is not to be revealed to anyone – hence they are now his captives forever.  The three captives endure 20,000 miles of travels throughout Earth’s oceans.  They see fish species they had never seen before, all types of organisms, and shipwrecked boats under the sea.  They endure being trapped under icebergs in the South Pole and they see landscapes from one continent to another.  The men become depressed as the months move on, realizing the Nemo has no intention of ever letting them free.  The men plan an escape, but, before they can act, the submarine enters the Norwegian “Maelstrom”, one of the most turbulent seas in all the world.  Will they escape? Will they be stuck on the Nautilus with Nemo forever?  You will need to pick this one up to learn what happens to Aronnax and his two shipmates.  While it is a classic, it does tend to roam a bit.  The story picks up a bit in the last ¼ of the novel.  I can take one more of the “greatest written” off my list to read.

  

A is for Activist

A is for Activist

by Innosanto Nagana

Lessons can be learned from all books, ranging from large volume books to 16 page children's books. The latter is the case in Innosanto Nagana’s A is for Activist.  Nagana’s book goes through the alphabet, educating young children (and adults, I’m sure) on aspects of civil engagement.  The illustrations that accompany the lessons for each letter are a plus.  I won’t go through all 26, but below is a sampling of some of the best:

            “C”: Co-op meaning cooperating cultures

            “D”: Democracy is more than voting

            "H": Healthy food

“M”: Megaphones making noise

“P”: Peace, power to the people

“Q”: Question

 “R”: Radical reds, (w/pictures of key advocates of peace: MLK, Nelson Mandela, Rosa                        Parks)

 “S”: Sun, fuels all life

“W”: Wondrous world, we cannot be whole unless we delight in diversity

Nagana chooses just the right words to help one think through the importance of voice, participation, and being active in all that is around us.  The book brings me to the letter “Q” for question: am I doing enough myself in these turbulent days we face? 

Endurance

Endurance

by Alfred Lansing

Alfred Lansing, renowned author, penned a historical novel titled Endurance, which combines portions of the journals of several shipmates on Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic expedition to the South Pole in 1914.  The twenty-eight-member crew began their journey from England to head to South America before trying to be the first to circle the area and return home.  The book outlines the harrowing journey in which the ship gets caught in ice and has to set a new course, using small life boats to finish the trip.  The intricacies of the crew’s survival and hopes to be saved after it escapes in the smaller boats is one of the most amazing tales I’ve read.  Lansing does a terrific job of taking separate crew members’ journals to piece together the daily struggles which lasted over two years!  Shackleton and his crew are faced with many minute-to-minute decisions that challenge their survival from being on the seas, stuck on an iceberg, or when they are on the last leg of the journey, having to descend a thousand feet down a cliff.  The book keeps you at the edge of your seat thinking there is no way they will live, yet they do!  Unbelievable that men can live in subzero temperatures, wet, with limited food, no water for 2-3 days and no way to get dry.  It makes one ask, why are we as a society so weak today?  Great story of courage, passion and perseverance.  Lansing’s work is top notch and an inspiration to read how it all unfolded.  Read it!

Centre of My World

Centre of My World

by Andreas Steinhofel

It was hard book to find, since it was written in German and recently translated into English, but I found a copy of it, and I’m glad I did.  Centre of My World by Andreas Steinhofel is a really good book that I could not put down.  Glass, a seventeen-year-old who is 8 ½ months pregnant, abruptly leaves America and goes to a remote part of Europe to move in with her older sister, who owns an old mansion.  As she approaches the mansion, she falls down and begins experiencing contractions, delivering a set of twins (Phil and Dianne) in the midst of the winter eve.  She is found by a woman, a lawyer assigned to find the mansion’s owner as the sister has died.  Now the story begins….The mystery surrounding Glass and her children coming to the new town, the strange people who inhabit the area, the people who befriend Glass, and the stories of Phil and Dianne growing up.  The author’s device of returning to earlier aspects of the story to fill in what we don’t know works well.  The family dynamics between Glass and her children and learning who their father is becomes an ongoing issue that plays a role in Phil’s development.  Phil is the protagonist of the story and his friendships, need for a father figure, and understanding his sexuality, and learning to love are all beautifully presented.  Phil’s relationship with a mysterious classmate, Nicholas, and what happens when his best friend, Katja, learns of his budding sexual relationship turns into jealousy and an unexpected outcome.  So much in this book, great character development, real family drama and love, jealousy, envy, and secrets.  This is one of the books you pick up with low expectations and end up changed a bit because of what you experienced.  Growing up is never easy, but unanswered questions about your history make it all the more difficult.  Glad they decided to translate this one to English.  I see this as a new AP English book for high schoolers!  Very good book that keeps you guessing throughout.  It never is as you think it will be.

The Freedom Writers Diary

The Freedom Writers Diary

by Erin Gruwell

Growing up in South Central in Los Angeles, California in the 1990’s can’t be easy.  Imagine attending an integrated high school that has all levels of students but is broken into ethnicities based on academic performance. So, based on their elementary school preparation, the students are separated into groups:  Asian, White, Black and Hispanic.  Enter the world of Erin Gruwell, a recent college graduate teaching 9^th grade English to the lowest level class, an unmotivated mixture of students from low-income families.  Gruwell decides she will have students read books that reflect the students who are in the class: classics written by Asians, African-Americans and Hispanic authors.  She introduces play acting, drawing, and movie-making to the class.  She brings in authors who wrote about their experiences being held captive by the Nazis, fighting as a youth in Bosnia, and succeeding professionally despite coming from low socio-economic backgrounds.  After the first year, she was given the opportunity to keep the same class for their sophomore & junior years after winning accolades in local and national media.  The class receives computers and trips to Washington DC to speak with the US Secretary of Education. During their senior year, they are welcomed to NYC upon the announcement that the class was going to have their story published as a book: The Freedom Writer’s Diary.  Each of the entries tells the real-life story of numerous students in the class, addressing issues of sexual abuse, the shooting of friends and family members on the streets of NYC, drug abuse, pregnancy, poverty, and a litany of other personal hardships.  The success of the book is not only showing students that their voice matters, but also illustrating the importance of their story, that it needed to be told – they just needed a way to be validated and motivated to do so.  Gruwell’s creativity and persistence to never give up is a model for all educators who want to make a difference for students who don’t know that a future is possible.  An inspirational, real-life story that any and every educator should read.  We can change the dial for success.

Why We Broke Up

Why We Broke Up

by Daniel Handler

A great book written by Daniel Handler for young adults encountering love for the first time: Why We Broke Up.  Min, a sixteen-year-old junior in high school, decides to write a letter to her first love, Ed, the co-captain of the basketball team, after being with him for 4 weeks.  She drops off the letter with a box of trinkets she collected during their brief but intense relationship.  Min writes this tell-all story of how they met, when Ed shows up uninvited to her best friend Al’s bittersweet birthday party at his home with the artsy kids.  Ed and his friends are a year older (seniors) and a bit drunk.  Min is attracted to Ed and hence the budding relationship begins.  But the two are so different: Min wants to be a movie director, and Ed thinks only about high school sports, girls and friends. As each chapter unfolds, Min shares a new object that she has included in the box for Ed.  Ed has a list of former girlfriends, many of whom Min meets during the relationship, including one who befriends her. This girl, Annette, makes an effort to show her that Ed really does love her.  This is Min’s first relationship, and over the next few weeks, she contemplates having sex with Ed, as she believes she loves him.  Min turns to her friend Al for guidance – he remains supportive but is unwilling to encourage her relationship with Ed.  After much discussion and contemplation, Min decides to give up her virginity to Ed, who continues to profess that she is different from the other girls given her artistic/non-cheerleader style.  The day after they have sex, Min and Ed work on planning a birthday party for a former movie star the two think they saw when they went to their first date at an old-time movie.  When they go to get flowers for the honoree of the party, the florist thinks Min is Annette, the former girlfriend, for whom Ed has just ordered flowers. The florist has a note for her.  Min grabs the note and reads that Ed misses Annette, and all hell breaks loose as Min realizes Ed is just a sex-crazed high school athlete who has used her…hence Min’s letter explaining “Ed, let me tell you why we broke up”.  A sad reality that I think happens way too often in this generation of high school students.  A pretty compelling book for the 13-15 year olds to read to better understand the realities of today’s life for the young.  It’s a quick read, has good pictures and details a girl’s hard lesson in “love”.

The Immortals of Meluha

The Immortals of Meluha

by Amish Tripathi

It will be a reading weekend for me! First up, The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi.  It is a trilogy - good to know before you pick up the first book - but I only plan to finish part one.  What an exciting read! It was hard to put down.  The story flowed with action, great character development, and suspense.  It begins when the leader of Shiva’s land decides to lead the people of the war stricken area to the land of Meluha, a place of ethical rules and codes of strict behavior among its people.  When Shiva and his people enter Meluha, they are given a cleansing solution to drink, which causes Shiva's throat to turn bright blue.  This is the sign for the Meluhans that their God has arrived to help them continue their good work across the lands.  Shiva’s adventure causes him to fall in love with the Emperor’s daughter (who is deemed ‘scarred’ by the Meluhans), to lead the Meluhans to victory against the warring neighbors, and to drive change in some of the rules of the country.  Book one ends with Shiva and Sati (the princess) getting married with a child on its way while they are caught in a fight for their life against the evil Nagas.  Will Sati have their baby (she had a miscarriage years earlier)?  Will Shiva be able to convince the Meluhans that some of their rules are actually inconsistent with their philosophy?  Will Shiva’s throat continue to be blue? Or will it change colors, causing the people to lose faith in him?  So many questions and so much intrigue – I’m actually interested in books two and three, which rarely happens in trilogies.  Great story!

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

by Judy Blume

You never know what you might read about next with the RA Favorite Books.  I don’t have a daughter, my sisters were ten and twelve years older than me, so reading this book, about religion and young girls having their periods, was, let’s say…a learning experience.  Enter the world of Judy Blume (yes, NYU alumna) and the coming-of-age book, Are you there God? It’s Me, Margaret.  Margaret, an eleven-year-old girl from NYC, relocates with her parents to their new home in suburbia New Jersey.  Her parents were raised different religions (Jewish and Christian), and because of the difficulties they experienced, they decide not to force religion on Margaret and allow her to choose her own belief structure later in life.  Simultaneously, Margaret is introduced to sixth grade in NJ, meeting new friends and being asked to do a yearlong project, which leads her to consider what religion she should practice.  All the while, Margaret and her three girlfriends create a secret club that focuses on boys, bras, and trying to guess when they will get their period.  Well, what can I say…this probably was an impactful book for the RA and many other young girls.  Might even be an eye opener for young boys, if they are mature and want to learn about the life changes that members of the opposite sex experience, though I surely wouldn’t have been at that age.  But I opened this blog never knowing what I’d read next!  Hard to rate this one as my perspective and life really didn’t intersect much with this topic.  Reads light and quick, good message for those who would benefit….