Where'd You Go, Bernadette?

I laughed out loud. That is the mark of a great book. Not often do I laugh out loud. I might chuckle, or grin, usually I just inwardly "humph." But when I laugh, whole-heartedly, out loud, I know I have been entertained. Where'd You Go, Bernadette? is the story of young, Bee and her eccentric mother Bernadette. Bee is impossibly intelligent with eclectic tastes and very little self-editing abilities. But where Bee is outgoing and impish, her mother is somewhat of a hermit. Keeping to herself in their large, run-down home, she uses an assistant whom she met on the Internet to do all of her shopping, or anything that requires interaction with people outside of her home. Bree's father, a genius at Microsoft, has all but forgotten about his family when his wife goes missing. This story is sad, hilarious, and poignant. I didn't want the story to end. But when it did, I was not disappointed. There is a little bit of language in the book. 

Divergent

Dystopian YA fiction is a genre I had sort of gotten bored with. I have read the Hunger Games Trilogy. I have read the Matched Series. I've read some Zombie apocalypse novels and I thought I was done. I had grown a little bored with this type of story. But I kept hearing about Divergent by Veronica Roth and decided to take a chance. I'm glad I did. I have heard many comparisons to the Hunger Games, but, to be honest, the only similarities I found were that they are both about a girl, and they are both dystopian.  Divergent is about a strong, young woman who must choose between staying with her family in the home in which she grew up, with the standards she has come to respect, or choose another path. Choose the community that she has always admired and has felt a kinship with. There is a bit of a love interest, no YA novel would be complete without one.  Tris, the main character, has conflict, turmoil, teenage angst. And while all of this is not incredibly original, it is very entertaining. Don't let other reviews turn you off, if you are kind of tired of Dystopian fiction. This is a great story, with great characters. There are sequels to the book, that I may or may not read, but I believe this book does well to stand on it's own. 

Proof of Heaven

Colm is a little boy who is dying. He knows it. His mother knows it. His doctor knows it. Coming to terms with this knowledge, Colm tries to placate his mother by pretending to believe in the healing powers of faith that she believes in. But he grows tired, physically and mentally. It is time for Colm to tell his mother the truth: There is no God and there is no life after death.

In Mary Curran-Hackett’s “Proof of Heaven,” a little boy is trying to deal with a very grown-up problem of facing his own mortality. He knows he is going to die but he has one mission on this earth that he would like to fulfill before his life ends and that is to meet his father. He knows it will hurt his mother if he tells her this, so he does his best to do this on his own.

With the help of his Uncle Sean and his doctor, he is confident that he will be able to find his father and gently break the news to his mother of his impending death. While Colm’s mother, Cathleen will stop at nothing to save her son. Her faith in God is unwaivering, as is her faith in their doctor and new friend, Dr. Basu. She knows that there is a way to heal her young son and restore his health so that he can grow up with her.

This book asks questions about love, death, and the afterlife. It is an exploration of the unbreakable bond of mother and child. It is about what makes a family. Most of all, this book is a journey about faith. It is about the different phases of faith in people’s lives. There are many ways to exhibit faith, whether it be through the ritual of religion, whether it be through science, or whether it is simply through the faith we have in our friends and family. This book is a reconnaissance of faith in all of it’s facets.

This is Curran-Hackett’s debut novel. She uses experiences from her own life to paint a very real picture of a boy and his mother who seem to be out of hope, but are never out of faith.

The Violets of March

Emily Wilson has a seemingly perfect life. She has a perfect husband, a great career as a writer, and she lives is a beautiful apartment in Manhattan. Then her husband throws her a curve ball and all at once her marriage is over

To escape her own melancholy, she goes to visit her Aunt Bee on the West Coast. There she finds peace, a little romance, and something she never bargained for: a mystery.

Emily finds a journal at her aunt’s old house that contains a story of love and betrayal, but she cannot figure out if the story is real or fiction. The more she reads, the more involved she becomes and the more determined she is to find out who wrote this story. She has to figure out who the main players are in this story before she can get to the bottom of what really happened.

When Emily comes to terms with who the people are in the story and the end result of everything that happened, she is able to sort her own life out and free herself enough to find love and invite it into her own life.

“The Violets of March” by Sarah Jio is very much a romance. But because there is a great mystery involved, I did not mind the romance too much. It wasn’t mushy or boring as most romances tend to be.

While The book did not totally keep me enthralled, it was a fun, quick read that let me escape a little into that West Coast, beach front, life.  I did not necessarily identify with the main character, as my life is as far from hers as possible, but I could sympathize with her plight.

I was also very intrigued by the mystery surrounding the journal that she found. This was definitely the best part of the book. I wanted to know who the people were. Were they people that Emily knew? And where are they now? This dual storyline kept me reading with anticipation.

The Language Of Flowers Column 24

In Victorian times, before there was texting and Facebooking, there was floriography. This “language of flowers” used various flowers and floral arrangements to send coded messages to others. It allowed individuals to express feelings that they might not want to speak aloud.

“The Language of Flowers,” by Vanessa Diffenbaugh introduces a young woman aptly named Victoria who has an affinity for flowers and their meanings. She can communicate through flowers what she cannot communicate through words or any other way.

Victoria grew up in the foster care system. When she turns eighteen, it is time for her to find a job and take care of herself. She becomes homeless and plants and cultivates a garden of her own in a public park. When a florist discovers her talents, Victoria also realizes that she has a gift for choosing the right flowers for the right occasions for the right people.

Victoria is not a likable character. She is mean. She makes very bad choices. She has been hurt so much in her life that she hesitates to let anyone into her life. But I found myself drawn to her. I sympathized with her. I wanted to go back in time and take care of her as a 9 year old and tell her that everything was going to be okay.

This book takes place in the present as well as Victoria’s past. We find out why Victoria became the way she is.

I cried while reading this book. I sobbed while reading this book. I know some people might find it a bit sentimental, but I could not stop reading it. I read the book in one sitting.

Some people I have talked to feel like the character is so unlikable that they could not relate to her at all. I guess I have always had a soft spot for children in the foster care system. I was glad Victoria was a fictional character, but I worry so much that there are many children in our system that are just like her. It breaks my heart that they children can slip through the cracks.

The story was not the only thing that I loved about the book. There was so much information about this Victorian Language of Flowers that I had to know more! I find it fascinating all of the meanings of the various flowers. And flowers that so many of us associate with certain feelings, mean the opposite! For example, I have always thought of sunflowers as being happy and bright and cheerful, but the Victorian meaning is “haughtiness.”

At the end of the book, Diffenbaugh encloses Victoria’s dictionary of flowers and their meanings. It is definitely a reference that I will use in the future. This book made me want to send flowers to a friend. Of course, I haven’t done that, yet. I always figured, why send flowers when you can send chocolate? Is there a Language of Chocolate out there? That is something I need to get fluent in.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

            I remember going to the circus several times as a kid. Surprisingly, the most memorable was also probably the most uneventful.

We lived in Philadelphia at the time. I must have been about 11 or 12 years old and I was really excited. We had been to the circus before and I knew what was coming! I was anticipating the elephants, the acrobats, the clowns and the cotton candy.

We left on a cloudy afternoon to search for this circus somewhere outside the city limits. I am pretty sure my mom had no idea where we were going. And it started to rain. Then it started to pour. After what seemed like forever, we finally arrived at the circus and I remember having to tromp through a huge mess of mud to get to the arena. But when we got to the gates, the circus was closed. It had been shut down due to the rain.

I remember being totally devastated. I was angry with my mom for dragging us all the way out in the middle of nowhere for nothing. I had looked forward to all of the magic the circus had to offer only to have my hopes crushed.

            “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern invoked all of those feelings of wonder and anticipation that I had about the circus. The descriptions of the sights, the sounds, and the smells that you can only experience in a carnival atmosphere really made me feel like I was right there.

            The book does not tell the story of any ordinary circus, however. This is Le Cirque des Reves, a magical circus that arrives without warning. Within its tents, the stage is set for a fierce competition—an impossible battle of skill and imagination between Celia and Marco, who have been trained in magic since they were young. Now is the time for them to show what they have learned. However, this encounter can end with only one of them standing.

            This book is part fantasy, part romance, and part intrigue. There is no one category that could define this book. It was fun, and I wanted to find out what happened in the end. The cast of colorful characters was fun to get to know, and it was devastating to lose some of them.

            Morgenstern’s descriptive prose was so intense that I could picture in my mind exactly the way everything looked and felt. I still have those pictures in my head. “The Night Circus” left me wanting to go to that magical place. I want to find that circus, or any circus or carnival for that matter, so I can experience everything that goes with it.

            Unfortunately, circuses are few and far between. Their live performances have been replaced by screens. We are so inundated, as a society, with computer-generated imagery, that illusions and circus magic no longer impress younger audiences. 

But nothing can replace a good book. Your imagination is always more brilliant than anything that can be produced on a screen.

Column 22

Madeleine L’Engle is an author you may know from your childhood. She wrote “A Wrinkle In Time,” “A Ring of Endless Light,” “Troubling A Star,” and numerous other books for youth.

            Madeleine L’Engle was also of woman of great faith. She believed in the sanctity of marriage and of family. She lived a fascinating life. You can read about her life through her memoirs, a four-book series entitled “The Crosswicks Journals.”

            My favorite in this series is without a doubt “Two-Part Invention.” In this memoir, L’Engle explores her relationship with her husband. She begins by talking about her childhood and then her young adulthood. She quickly moves to meeting her husband, actor Hugh Franklin, and their courtship.

            Theirs was a chaste and atypical courtship in that they did not rush things or make flippant moral decisions as did others who ran in their circle. They were “theater people,” which meant that most of the people around them did not blink an eye about “sleeping around” and moving from one partner to the next without qualm. Both of them decided to stay chaste until marriage, despite the pressures around them to the contrary.

            When they were married, they were hopelessly devoted to one another. Never giving up his dream of acting, Hugh continued to work on Broadway and eventually in television, where he landed a long-time acting position as Dr. Charles Tyler on the soap opera “All My Children.” This was his most well-known role.

            L’Engle supported her husband in his often difficult career. She never asked him to sacrifice his dream. She became a mother and homemaker while keeping her career as well. She wrote many successful books and had an acting career too.

            In this book we see the ups and downs of their marriage through humor and stories that only L’Engle could make funny and interesting. When Hugh gets cancer, we see her undying devotion and the love and passion she has for her husband, even after many years.

            This has to be one of my favorite books of all time. I have read it three times. Each time I get something new out of it. Each time I read it I gain a personal strength that makes me know that, although marriage is tough, it is worth all of the pain. Your spouse is your best friend. Your spouse is the person with whom you want to share everything.

Through her intimate thoughts and memories, L’Engle shows the reader that a perfect marriage is possible. A perfect marriage is your own marriage if you work to make it that way. As L’Engle puts it: “Love of music, of sunsets and sea; a liking for the same kind of people; political opinions that are not radically divergent; a similar stance as we look at the stars and think of the marvelous strangeness of the universe—these are what build a marriage. And it is never to be taken for granted.”

L’Engle and her husband are no longer living, but their amazing example lives on in her immortal pages. I know that even though this was my third reading of “Two-Part Invention” it will not be my last.