I pointed out in my August 25, 2014 blog entry that I read mostly non-fiction. Since then, I have tried to add some fiction to my library borrowings. I wasn't really moved by any of the following novels. They were just okay in my book.
The Wind Is Not a River by Brian Payton - In 1942, a Canadian born journalist loses his pilot brother to the war. Said journalist leaves his lovely young American bride to go traipsing off to the the Aleutian Islands to get the story of the recent Japanese invasion of American soil. An exceedingly improbable tale follows in which our journalist assumes his dead brother's identity, dupes the American military into flying him to the Aleutians (because the Americans would not necessarily know that a Canadian pilot was dead), survives crash landing in the icy Alaskan waters, and eludes the Japanese on the island of Attu by living in a cave (all the while stealing their food and coal). In the meantime, his wife, who hasn't sung since appearing in a high school play, manages to get a job in a USO show that is going to Alaska. She lets a few people know that her husband snuck into the Aleutians before the show disbands. In the end, the journalist is rescued and reunited with his wife, but he dies from his ordeal three days after their reunion.
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi - Things are not what they seem. Boy is actually the name of a young woman. Snow is the name of Boy's step-daughter. The child is named Snow because of her lovely white complexion. Snow, Snow's father (Boy's husband), and all of the in-laws that Boy knows are really black people passing as white. This secret comes out when Boy gives birth to her daughter Bird. Bird comes out looking like a mixed race child, so the whole family has to own up to their genes. Here's the real spoiler: Bird discovers that her grandfather (Boy's father) is really a woman who has masqueraded as a man since the rape that caused her to conceive Boy. Yikes!
The Blue Girl: A Short Story of Scotland Yard's Murder Squad by Alex Grecian - Short stories are nice. Usually they are found in collections, but this one was a stand alone. I added the work "bespoke" to my vocabulary as a result of reading this piece.
The Wives of Los Alamos by Tara Shea Nesbit - This is a work of fiction but the book was inspired by the World War II Los Alamos, New Mexico atomic testing facility. It's the story of how it might have been to be a wife in that place, during those times.
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DeSclafani - In the 1930's Thea Atwell is banished to boarding school after her part in a family scandal. I doubt I would have handled things the way Thea did.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - You might have heard of author, Sherman Alexie. He is a native American poet, writer, and film maker. In the 1990's, he published a collection of short stories titled Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. This collection inspired the all-Indian 1998 film "Smoke Signals." He also published the novels Reservation Blues in 1995 and Indian Killer in 1996. I "discovered" Alexie in the 90's when he appeared on "Sunday Morning" or "60 Minutes" or maybe both of those shows. I grabbed up this latest book, a young adult novel, because I wanted to see what Alexie would write for a younger audience. In my opinion Diary is just a reworking of his old stuff - the same semi autobiographical stories. I also think he could have edited out a lot of the cussing since the audience for this tome is supposed to be of tender years.
My non-fiction reading included:
How I Became Hettie Jones by Hettie Jones - Hettie Cohen married LeRoi Jones (now Amiri Baraka) in 1958. Her Jewish family cast her out for marrying a black man. Her black husband cast her out when his work as a civil rights activist was hampered by having a white wife. This is Hettie's struggle to find her own identity.
The Lost Child of Philomena Lee: A Mother, Her Son, and a Fifty Year Search by Martin Sixsmith - Ireland was not the place to be an unwed mother. The nuns, who seem to have run all the homes for unwed mothers, enslaved young mothers and sold their children to couples who could not conceive. Philomena's son came to the United States. He looked for her, but he died of AIDS before he could find her. His partner buried him in Ireland. Philomena, finally able to admit to having a child out of wedlock, began searching for her son. She found him in his Irish grave. The movie "Philomena" was based on the book.
Before I Burn by Gaute Heivoll - This book was translated from Norwegian. It is about a series of arsons committed in the 1970's. The author was a baby living in the community at the time the arsons occurred. The stories he heard his whole life compelled him to write the book.
Last of the Blue and Gray: Old Men, Stolen Glory, and the Mystery That Outlived the Civil War by Richard Serrano - This book tells the story of two men who were still alive in the 1950's, when the federal government began making preparations for the Civil War centennial celebration. Both men claimed to be Civil War veterans. Only one old soldier is telling the truth. You have to read the book to find out who is the impostor. It seems that the Great Depression of the 1930's drove lots of old men to claim they served in the Civil War. It was a way to get a monthly pension check. It was especially easy for Southerners to get a pension. Most of their records were destroyed, so they just got someone to swear that they served. They usually claimed to be drummer boys during the war since children as young as eight or nine years old would serve in this capacity. Others claimed to be 15 or 20 years older than their correct age. Once you tell a lie you have to stick to it - all the way to your 100th birthday and beyond.
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