Mornings on Horseback

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McCullough, David. Mornings on Horseback: the Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt. Narrated by Edward Hermann. New York: Simon & Schuster Audio, 2003.

I am really, really glad I chose this as an audio book. I don’t think I would have had the patience for an out and out page turning book. Don’t get me wrong. The writing is amazing. David McCullough can hold your attention like no other. The story in itself is extremely detailed and reads like a pool liner breaking – slow and trickling at first but by the end gushing out of control. It follows the lives of not just Theodore Roosevelt (the man we think of as President) but also the lives of his parents, siblings, and other important figures in his life. Indeed, the building up of Theodore Roosevelt’s childhood with his family is meticulous and yet his adult, political years and presidency are hardly touched upon with the same amount of detail. Those years are mentioned almost as an afterthought in the wrap-up.
What Mornings on Horseback is really good at is describing a culture; what it means to born into privilege. It is also really good at painting the complete picture of the Roosevelt clan from a genealogical perspective. The reader is immersed in the lives of everyone and not just the future president of the United States. From a listener standpoint I enjoyed every word.

Shocking moments: Theodore Roosevelt could be a violent man. According to McCullough Roosevelt once shot and killed a dog running beside his horse. Another shocking moment – learning TR lost his dear mother on Valentine’s Day and later that same day his wife (all of 22 years old) died as well. So sad!

I think the title of this book is misleading. Theodore Roosevelt was born Theodore Roosevelt so he didn’t become his namesake. I think it would have been more appropriate to say “…the unique child who became president.” Yes, Theodore had many nicknames (Teedee as a child) but he didn’t become Theodore Roosevelt.

Book Trivia: Mornings on Horseback won a National Book Award in 1982.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called “Presidential Biographies” (p 192), and again in “What a (Natural) Disaster (p 242). Note: There are no substantial natural disasters in Mornings on Horseback.

February ’12 is…

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I feel like I should be singing that diet song that Jennifer Hudson sings – you know the one about it being a new day, a new dawn or a new whatever? Every February I see a chance to refresh, renew, in other words start the fukc over. Think New Years resolutions only a month late. But. But! But, I have my reasons. I was born in the month of February so to me, this month IS my new year. I shouldn’t be here so every year that I am is like starting over. But, enough about all that. Here are the books:

  • Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban in honor of Hoban’s birth month. I plan to read this on a smoke break. LOL
  • Personal History by Katharine Graham in honor of February being Journalism month.
  • Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer in honor of February being a big month for history.
  • Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien to continue the Lord of the Rings series that I started with The Hobbit last month.

I did get notification that I got an Early Review book from LibraryThing. That’s cool. What’s even cooler is that it’s a book about the Coast Guard. Having just come from an very, very classy veteran’s (air force) funeral for my uncle I am interested to explore the history of my father’s military branch.

Edited to make a correction: I misspelled Mrs. Graham’s first name as Katherine. My apologies.

Bread and Jam for Frances

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Hoban, Russell. Bread and Jam for Frances. New York: Harper Collins, 1993.

Okay. A confession first and foremost. I am fortunate enough to work in a library. While it’s an academic I often can find books for the Book Lust Challenge in our collection. Since we have an Early Childhood reading program that means we have most of Russell Hoban’s books as well; specifically his ‘Frances’ series. Normally it isn’t big deal to grab a children’s book off the shelf, read it at lunch and return it without fanfare. Not so this time. Our copy of Bread and Jam for Frances is over-sized which means walking around with it isn’t as inconspicuous as I would have liked. You can’t exactly slip out from the stacks with a 2′ x 1′ book in your hand without being noticed. It’s not like I can hold it up and announce I’m reading War and Peace, the large print version.

Unlike an earlier Hoban review (Bedtime for Frances) I enjoyed rereading this childhood favorite, Bread and Jam for Frances. This time around I identified with wanting too much of a good thing. Frances the Badger only wants to eat bread and jam. Morning, noon, and night it’s the only meal she will stomach. This time when her parents give in to her every whim the lesson is soon learned. You can have too much of a good thing. I feel the same way about Chipotle restaurant being in my back yard. When it was all the way across the country and harder to get to going there was a treat. Like Christmas. Having the big burritos I obsess over just down the road diminishes their specialness, their chocolate-cakeness, if you will. Frances learns this the hard way, too. While her family is enjoying such delicacies as veal Frances is clearly missing out only she doesn’t know it until the repetition of bread and jam finally gets to her. Soon she too is enjoying lobster salad sandwiches like the rest of her family.

Cute moment in the book: Frances questioning her food: “string” bean, for one. I wished she would have asked her parents where veal comes from. I would have loved their answer to that!

Today is my birthday and it seemed more than appropriate to read something from my childhood.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Russell Hoban: Too Good To Miss” (p 113). PS ~ Only two more books to read from this chapter of More Book Lust.

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell

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Max, Tucker. I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell. New York: Kensington, 2009.

If there really is a Hell down? there, those fated to that destination will have this book to read, over and over again. Seriously. How can I describe this thing? Honestly, in one sentence, it’s the escapades of a guy in his early 20s. Big deal. That’s it. Only this guy happens to be an alcoholic womanizer with money to burn and a posse like-minded friends to have tag along. The book is nothing more than a series of drunk-to-excess adventures hooking up with ditzy, drunk, trashy women. Sex described in minute detail. Reading it is like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, only each story gets progressively worse and worse. Every misadventure is more and more exaggerated until you start to question the author’s grip on reality. Drink to the point of puking. Have outrageous sex with big chested blondes. Repeat. The most stupefying thing about this book is that not only was it born out of conquest-written blogs, but it was so popular that it was made into a movie. People love it (the blog, the book, the movie). Women (supposedly) throw themselves at Max and his crew at every chance they get. The more vile he is the more people adore him. His biggest dilemma used to be ‘which woman do I fukc?’ until he realized it didn’t matter. Both would have him.
I admit, there were parts of the book I giggled about. There were certain lines I had to reread because they were funny. Max does have a sense of humor. But, he can’t write. I spent more time cringing at the grammatical errors and implausible situations than anything else. Then, there is that repetition I mentioned before. I ended up skimming or even completely skipping parts if I thought they sounded too familiar (which ended up being half the book). The best thing about I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell is that I will be selling it back to the bookstore and getting my money back.

Zimmerman Telegram

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Tuchman, W. Barbara. The Zimmerman Telegram. New York: Viking Press, 1958.

I can only imagine how popular this book must have been in its day. The First Great War was not a distant memory at the time of its publication. In fact, the events of World War I were probably still fresh in everyone’s mind having just survived the Second World War. I know The Zimmerman Telegram was required reading for at least one political science course at my college.

Probably the most compelling thing about Tuchman’s writing is her ability to make even well-known history as compelling whodunnit mystery. Written as smoothly as a novel The Zimmerman Telegram recounts the events leading up to the United State’s involvement in World War I starting with a telegraph written by Arthur Zimmerman to Imperial German Minister in Mexico Von Eckhardt. This telegram was  proposing a partnership between Germany, Mexico and Japan to form an allegiance against the U.S. Intercepted by the British, it is important to point out that the U.S. was reluctant to join the war until provoked by this telegram.

The line that summed it all up for me (and was ironically enough on the first page),”Mute and passive on the paper, they gave forth no hint that a key to the war’s deadlock lay concealed in their irregular jumble” (p 3).

Disclaimer: I wasn’t supposed to read this until 2013 but I felt so bad about abandoning A Distant Mirror that I wanted to read something else by Tuchman before the month was over.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Barbara Tuchman: Too Good To Miss” (p 225).

Jan ’12 was…

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When I think about January I feel as though it was a month of waiting. Balancing between going somewhere and leaving something. Always on the verge of some destination I never could quite explain. I’m sure part of it stemmed from my uncle passing suddenly at the end of December. I knew there would be a funeral but when? Finally, when the date was set (1/27) it seemed so far away. Until it was 1/25 and I had to get on a plane to fly across the country. Then it seemed too soon. It was a push-me, pull-me month in all kinds of ways.

But, that’s for the other blog. Instead, here are the books:
For the Book Lust Challenge:

  • The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien in honor of First Month, First Chapter.
  • Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin in honor of Franklin’s birth month being in January
  • 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff in honor of January being Journal Month. Okay, 84, Charing is not exactly a journal, but it’s like one.
  • All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy in honor of Celebrate Mentors Day (January 24th). I see Cole being a mentor to Rawling.
  • Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie in honor of January being a good time to visit India. To be honest, I didn’t get into it as much as I thought I would.
  • And speaking of books I didn’t get into – Distant Mirror by Barbara W. Tuchman in honor of Tuchman’s birth month. Okay, I admit it. I didn’t finish this one. Didn’t even come close.
  • Zimmerman Telegram also by Barbara W. Tuchman, because I was determined to honor her birth month with something!

For the hell of it I read The Gravedigger’s Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates, a recommendation from my sister. I also read A Simple Act of Gratitude by John Kralik on the flight from CT to CA. On the return trip I’m sorry to say I also read I hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max. I don’t know how I’m going to write a review for that!

I didn’t read anything for the Early Review program for LibraryThing but I did receive notice on the last day of the month that I won a book for February.

A Simple Act of Gratitude

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Kralik, John. A Simple Act of Gratitude: How Learning to Say Thank You Changed My Life. New York: Harper, 2010.

My first “off schedule” read for 2012. Why? I was boarding a plane & heading across the country for a funeral. Flying + funerals = Frightened me lately. I needed something to distract me from the twelve plus hours we would be traveling. As for the who, what, where, when and why details I’ll leave them for another day and another place.

So, back to the book review. I chose A Simple Act of Gratitude because it looked like something I could devour on a cross-country flight. I was determined to start it on the east coast so that I could finish it and return it on the west coast. A Simple Act was that kind of book.

If you haven’t heard of this book the premise is simple: typical lawyer is losing his grip on the good life. He is going through a divorce, his company is failing and is about to be evicted, his girlfriend just broke up with him and his seven-year-old daughter has to sleep in his grungy, cramped, falling-apart apartment every time she comes to visit. He’s losing touch with friends and family because he has nothing good to say about anything or anyone. He’s even gaining weight. Then one day he has an epiphany and this is where I get a little confused. On the back of the book it describes how a thank you note from John’s ex-girlfriend inspires him to set out to write 365 thank you letters in a year, one for each day. That’s all well and good – to give the girlfriend credit – until you read page 17. On page 17 John is hiking alone on New Years Day when he is inspired by the memory of his grandfather and a story about a silver dollar and the moral of the story amounts to this, if you thank me for the silver dollar I just gave you another silver dollar will come your way. It’s that promise of “good things to come” that supposedly prompts John to write all those letters.
Regardless of who inspired John in the first place, the ex or the grandfather, amazing things do start to happen after John writes a few letters. It inspires him to write more and more and more. His life slowly starts to turn around. John’s journey to gratitude IS inspiring. He makes so many transformations you are prompted to put pen to paper yourself…just to see what happens.

Favorite lines, “I wanted to be more than another lawyer slinging hatred for a living” (p 13) and “I was way past the weirdness of writing a thank-you note to a cat lady” (p 58).

Midnight’s Children

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Rushdie, Salman. Midnight’s Children. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995.

There are a few things you need to do when reading Midnight’s Children. First, you need to lose your logical mind. Nothing happens in chronological order so don’t even try to keep even a chaotic timeline in your head. Second, don’t try to get to know every single characters. There are so many different people, a nation of characters coming and going in the story you would need to draw up a family tree and a community profile to keep them all straight. Third, look past all the repetition. In the first 50 pages Rushdie is obsessed with a nose and a perforated bed sheet. So much so you will feel as if you have read the same sentences more than a few times. Finally, say goodbye to the real world. If you are a fan of magical realism, Midnight’s Children is the book for you. For those of us grounded in sensible reality,  my best advice is to read it as “loosely” as possible.
Despite all the seemingly negative comments above this is a book you should be reading. The language is spectacular.The journey is sublime. You won’t regret giving it a chance. So, here’s the story in a nutshell: 1,001 children are born in India at the very moment India gained its independence from British rule. All 1,001 children are born with magical powers yet those born closest to the midnight hour have the strongest powers. Two such children are Saleem Sinai and Shiva. Swapped at birth they are destined to be enemies. Saleem, born of poor Hindu parents, is raised by a wealthy Muslim family while Shiva ends up with the impoverished Hindu clan. The struggle between these children mirrors the larger issues of India: religion, culture, and of course, politics.

Favorite line, “She waxed anaemic in the summer and bronchial in the winter” (p 28). I have no idea what that means, bit I liked it.

Author Fact: Rushdie won  Booker Prize in 1981 for Midnight’s Children, his second book.

Book Trivia: Midnight’s Children is destined to become a movie one of these days.

BookLust Twist: Talk about redundancy! Midnight’s Children was mentioned a whopping five times in Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust. Yes, it fit into all five categories, but I think it was unnecessary to include it so many times. It is listed in the following chapters, in pagination order, the introduction (p xi), “Magical Realism” (p 149), “My Own Private Dui” (p 166), “100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade (1980)” (p 179), and “Passage to India” (p 181).

Distant Mirror

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Tuchman, Barbara W. A Distant Mirror: the Calamitous 14th Century. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978.

Huge confession. Although many people called this a interesting read, I couldn’t get into it. I barely reached page 24 before I was groaning with boredom. It is obvious Tuchman writes really well and this isn’t a dry account of some historical beginning or tumultuous end, but I couldn’t get into it. At all. The premise is simple. Tuchman is comparing the 14th century’s turmoil (the Black Plague) with that of the horrors of World War I. Okay, it’s not only about that; Tuchman makes other comparisons between the 14th and 20th centuries, but that is mainly where the title gets its name. That’s as far as I got. Sad, I know.
I did manage to find one quote that I particularly enjoyed: “Nothing is known of this individual except his name, but once established on the hilltop, he produced in his descendents a strain of extraordinary strength and fury” (p 7).

Author Fact: Tuchman has a dormitory named after her on the Harvard College campus.

Book Trivia: A Distant Mirror has had a couple publishing reissues.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Barbara Tuchman: Too Good To Miss” (p 225). Obviously.

All the Pretty Horses

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McCarthy, Cormac. The Border Trilogy. New York: Everyman’s Library, 1999.

All the Pretty Horses is the first book in a series called The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy. For the sake of the Book Lust Challenge I am only reading the first book, All the Pretty Horses. When All the Pretty Horses was first published I shied away from it thinking it would be too violent for me. At the time I wasn’t really reading fiction as it was deemed “lazier” then nonfiction. Somehow I must have been sleeping when it was made into a movie. At any rate, I missed everything about this book and I’m sorry for that. All the Pretty Horses is violent, but no more so than other books I have read for this challenge.
The plot is really quite simple. After his Texas family farm is sold John Grady Cole sets out with friend Lacey Rawlins for Mexico. As teenagers they are quite mature in their knowledge of the landscape and how to survive the elements. Along their journey they meet a young boy with a horse and gun too mature to belong to him. This boy, Jimmy Blevins, only brings Cole and Rawlins trouble. I can see why All the Pretty Horses was made into a movie. It would appeal to animal lovers – Cole is an experienced horseman. He understands even the wildest beast. There will be sex – it isn’t long before he falls in love with a rancher’s older daughter and seduces her. And violence – Cole and Rawlins are thrown into prison accused of stealing horses. Americans in a Mexican prison. Nothing good can come from that. I’m sure the sweeping vistas of the southwest afforded the film some amazing scenery as well. McCarthy does such a beautiful job with description and dialog you won’t need to see the movie, just read the book. Seriously.

Quotes that throttled me: “Something imperfect and malformed lodged in the heart of being. A Thing smirking deep in the eyes of grace itself like a gorgon in an autumn pool” (p 71), “Sweeter for the larceny of time and flesh, sweeter for the betrayal” (p 141), and “There is no greater monster than reason” (p 146).

Book Trivia – All the Pretty Horses won the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1992.

Author Fact: Cormac McCarthy is a private person and doesn’t give interviews that often.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust more than once. First from the chapter called “Boys Coming of Age” (p 45), and again in the chapter called “100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade (1990)” (p 179).

84, Charing Cross Road

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Hanff, Helen. 84, Charing Cross Road. Recorded Books, Inc., 1993. Audio cassette.

My first audio book of the training season! I have to start off with a confession. I didn’t expect 84, Charing Cross Road to be so funny. I don’t know if it’s the actual story or the way the actress reads it. Maybe it was the combination of both. I had some real laugh-out-loud moments.

The year is 1949. Helene Hanff is a Jewish writer who prefers to mail order books from Marks And Company, Booksellers, a small book shop in London, England instead of frequenting a bookstore just blocks away from her one room apartment in New York City. She doesn’t explain how she came to find this particular shop nor what first prompted her to write to them specifically, but what follows is a series of letters written between Ms. Hanff and different employees of the shop, the most notable recipient being Mr. Frank Doel. In her letters Ms. Hanff comes across as a sassy, brash, and sometimes demanding American while Mr. Doel’s British replies are decidedly courteous if not stuffy (otherwise known as prim and proper). Over time Hanff wins Doel over with her sarcastic wit and he “loosens up” little by little. So begins a 20 year love affair between book lovers. Hanff also writes others in the shop as well as their families. She generously sends post-war gifts of food and clothing (items rationed at that time) that win over the entire shop. While the book is short (just 84 pages long or two hours of audio) you are drawn into Hanff’s relationship with the employees of the book shop. You end up hoping she takes that trip across the pond to meet them.

Book Trivia: 84 Charing Cross Road was made into a movie and a play.

Author fact: Helene Hanff died of diabetes when she was 80 years old.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Journals and Letters: We Are All Voyeurs at Heart” (p 131).

Six Years

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I have to stop for a moment and catch my literary breath. For the past six years I have been reading at a break-neck speed. Between Early Reviews for LibraryThing (started in 2007), gifts and recommendations from friends and The BL Challenge I have been reading a lot. Tons. Here’s the thing. I never stop at the end of the each year to really review the progress. People ask me where I am at with “The List” and I can easily say how many Book Lust books I have read for the month but. but! But, that’s only half the story (or a third of it if you want to get down to brass tacks.)

So, it might seem crazy, but here is six years in review:

October- December 2006 – I read 19 books total. 12 for the Book Lust Challenge and 7 “for fun.” To be fair, I started really reading in late October. Interestingly enough, my first BL book was Last River by Todd Balf, reviewed on November 15th. Favorite book? Hands down, Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck.

2007 – I read 106 books total. Two yoga books for fun, six for the Early Review program in conjunction with LibraryThing, and 98 for the Book Lust Challenge. Favorite book? Griffin and Sabine by Nick Bantock. I will always love this book.

2008 – 100 books total. Again, two for fun, fifteen for the Early Review program, and 83 for Book Lust. Favorite Book? Without a doubt, The Translator by Daoud Hari. His words resonate with me to this day. Read it! Read it!

2009 – 123 books total. Four for fun (gifts mostly), 11 for Early Review, and 108 for Book Lust. Favorite? And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts. Astonishing.

2010 – 104 total. Again, four for fun, 14 for Early Review, and only 86 for Book Lust. Favorite has to be Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper.

2011 – 111 total. Two for fun, 11 for Early Review, and 98 for Book Lust. Favorite? It was a tie between The Long Run by Matthew Long (I am still recommending it to people, anyone who will listen) and Losing Clementine by Ashley Ream (which I will be recommended to everyone who will listen as soon as it is published in March 2012).

The grand totals for everything: 485 challenge books, 57 ER books, and 21 fun. 563 in all.

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

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Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Minola: Dover Publications, Inc., 1996.

Originally written as a letter to his illegitimate son, Benjamin Franklin sets out to tell the story of his life’s work. It briefly covers his childhood but focuses more on his years of employment, first as a printer’s apprentice, then as a prominent political leader among many, many other things. By the end of it you will be asking what didn’t this guy do? However, it ends (abruptly) before his involvement in the Revolution or his efforts to free slaves, two aspects of his life I find most interesting. Peppered throughout the autobiography is Benjamin Franklin’s adamant call to humility, modesty, and virtue which is humorously contradictory for a man with such a long list of obvious accomplishments.

Reading Benjamin Franklin’s list of accomplishments and life interests has caused me to dub him “the most interesting man in the world” after the guy in the Dos Equis commercial.

Book Trivia: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin has been translated into hundreds of languages.

Author Fact: Benjamin Franklin loved the ocean. Really cool.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Founding Fathers” (p 91). Of course.

The Hobbit

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Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. New York: Ballantine Books, 1965.

The Hobbit has got to be one of the best loved, most well known fantasy-adventure stories out there. It paved the way for the Harry Potter series for sure. The Hobbit in question is one Mr. Bilbo Baggins. He has been tricked into joining a band of dwarves on an adventure to recover stolen treasure. Handpicked by Gandolf the wizard it is unclear to the rest of the group why Mr. Baggins has been designated “burglar” of the adventure, but in time Bilbo rises to the challenge as only a bumbling hobbit can do. The grumbling group encounter an impossible variety of challenges: ogres, goblins, wolves, spiders. Each obstacle brings them closer to Smaug, the treasure-hoarding dragon where they must fight their final battle to win back their rightful bounty.

This is something I didn’t discover until the rereading of The Hobbit and yet I find it subtle and very interesting. Bilbo’s last name is Baggins. Baggins sounds a lot like baggage and I have to wonder if that was intentional because until Bilbo finds the infamous ring he is more baggage than help to his traveling companions. “It is a fact that Bilbo’s reputation went up a very great deal with the dwarves after this” (p 92).

Favorite quotes, “Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a great deal of telling anyway” (p 51).

Author Fact: J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were friends.

Book Trivia: The Hobbit has been made into movies, plays and award winning games. Interestingly enough, on a personal note, it was published on September 21 (my father’s date of death), 1937 (the year my father was born).

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust mentioned three times – in the introduction and two different chapters. First, in the chapter called “Christmas Books for the Whole Family to Read” (p 56) and again in the more logical chapter “Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror” (p 213). The first chapter shouldn’t count because Pearl was only making reference to a Christmas book Tolkien had written but conceding he was better known for The Hobbit.

Somewhere out there there is a picture of me reading The Hobbit. The most interesting thing about the picture isn’t my age (I think I’m eight) but rather the fact I have folded myself into a box. I have no idea why. As an another aside: I must have loved this story because I also had the reading of The Hobbit on vinyl; a 45 that spun on a very old, cheap record player. I can still remember the “Greatest Adventure” song at the end.

Gravedigger’s Daughter

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Oates, Joyce Carol. The Gravedigger’s Daughter. New York: Harper Perennial, 2008.

I was in such a mad rush to finish Losing Clementine (so that I could leave it for my sister to read) that I didn’t think about the long trip home; how I would have nothing with which to while away the miles. It was with surprised relief I accepted the loan of The Gravedigger’s Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates. Oddly enough, I didn’t start it until we were firmly back at Hilltop. I’m not sure why.

Normally when a book is over 500 pages I balk at it’s length. I see it as a chore I must tackle with a barely suppressed sigh. In my opinion, the best books have always been neat packages of 350 pages or less. It shouldn’t take more than that to say what you need to say. It’s a rare treat when 500+ pages goes by in the blink of a read. The Gravedigger’s Daughter is that rare treat. I read 234 pages in three days without sighing or shifting positions. I didn’t need bathroom breaks or snack interludes. For once, I was content to stay completely still, eyes glued to the page.

The Gravedigger’s Daughter is exactly that, a story about Rebecca, a gravedigger’s daughter. Her story is wrought with tragedy. Her family (father, two brothers and pregnant-with-Rebecca mother) fled Nazi Germany in 1936. After Rebecca’s birth on U.S. soil the family finds themselves in a small town in upstate New York. Rebecca’s father in his former life was a high school teacher, but in America is reduced to sole cemetery caretaker and gravedigger. With his place in society diminished he grows more and more discontent with his family and way of life. After a horrible tragedy Rebecca is left to escape; to reinvent herself; to renew her place in the world. Her story is one of terrible beauty and bittersweet courage. My only “complaint” is in the end the length did bother me; it took a long time (over 500 pages) for Rebecca to get where she’s going.

Favorite lines, “For she’d come to hate him, he had so lacerated her heart” (p 18), “Nature has provided a wondrous assortment of exits from life” (p 158), and “You live your life forward and remember only backward” (p 401).