ABAW: The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasmussen

The Bird Sisters: A Novel by Rebecca Rasmussen

Crown Publishers 2011 (library copy)

How do we go on after a tragedy? What if we walked willingly into the tragedy with our eyes open?

Milly and Twiss are The Bird Sisters, a pair of aging women who live on what’s left of their family farm. They’re called The Bird Sisters because they have a reputation in the town for fixing up broken birds, and the hearts of the people who find them. One day they are confronted with one last bird, and a family that reminds them of the hearts they were unable to fix.

Scenes of Milly’s day, minding the house, and Twiss’s day, roaming the barn and the field, are intercut with scenes of a fateful summer of their youth. A summer when many things changed.

The story is populated with an array of memorable characters. The broken father, desperate to overcome his poor background with his prodigal golf swing, who’s non-fatal accident sets the story in motion. The disappointed mother, who gave up her privileged background for love, but was unable to inspire a similar level of care and sacrifice. The priest, who declares his broken faith in dramatic fashion, and inadvertently supports Twiss as he stumbles back toward redemption. The minor characters who each have something to teach and give to the girls. The young girls, Milly, Twiss and their cousin Bett, spending a summer together, laughing and breaking each other’s hearts. Those three remind me of girls I have known. Their cajoling and loving and challenging of each other is depicted with such depth in just a few phrases.

I was stunned by several scenes in this book, such as when Milly and Twiss meet Bett for the first time and Bett fearlessly puts her hands into a beehive and becomes covered with bees. Rasmussen’s foreshadowing is brilliant in that it helps us see the marching inevitability of what is to come while still managing to surprise us.

Rasmussen shows how people can go on living, even when they are tangled up in a single moment of their lives. They live and breathe, and yet they are stuck wanting something they cannot have or something they have lost. She also shows us the power of the love of two sisters, and the way their dedication to each other can mend some of the gaps left by their losses. This story is filled with rich details and vivid characters, quietly woven together into a heartbreaking and inspiring story. Rasmussen’s beautiful words created images in my mind that were both modern and sepia-toned, making the noisy quiet of the hazy meadow fill my ears.

This is Rebecca Rasmussen’s first novel, though I hope it’s not the last. For more information about the author and her work you can follow @thebirdsisters on Twitter or become a fan of “The Bird Sisters” on Facebook.

ABAW: Anderson Cooper's Dispatches From the Edge

Dispatches From the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival

Harper Audio, 2006 by Anderson Cooper (library copy)

Journalist Anderson Cooper’s memoir is an engaging story of a driven professional haunted by personal loss. Cooper does not flinch from discussion of his famous family (the Vanderbilts), the death of his father when Cooper was ten, or the suicide of his older brother when Cooper was in college. Cooper recounts his early career in journalism, fact-checking for Channel One, and his first self-assignment, with a fake press pass in Somalia in the early nineties. Cooper weaves together these personal and professional memories with notable places and stories from his career. He relies throughout the story on the metaphor of a shark that must keep moving in order to breathe. He and other journalists are sharks circling the water when they sense blood or disaster, but in a very personal, psychological sense, Cooper doesn’t feel like he can stop moving.

I get the sense that Cooper feels apologetic for a great many things — his privileged background, his personal loss, the darker side of humanity — but his drive to be on the ground where big news is happening, and his desire to make the world a better place (even when he doubts his ability to do anything real) create an appealing image of the increasingly iconic journalist. The chapters discussing Hurricane Katrina are harrowing, all the more for the way Cooper juxtaposes them to events in bloody war zones around the world. You’ll never use the word ‘looting’ in the same way after you hear Cooper’s description of the doctor taking much-needed drugs from a CVS while police hold people back at gun point. Cooper is unable to sit still for very long, driven forward but seeking out the good in the world, thriving on field reporting even as his success has made him an anchor. His sense of responsibility to people keeps him human and humane. 

My favorite bits:

• “Desperate people sometimes do terrible things.”
• As a child, “[Andy Warhol’s] white hair scared me.”
• Also as a small child, seeing the statue of his forbear, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Cooper thought everyone’s relatives died and turned into statues.
• The frightening shock and teetering lawlessness of police and rescue workers in New Orleans in the Katrina aftermath is given some relief with the prank between the police precincts over the Fort Apache sign.

ABAW: The Walk by Richard Paul Evans

The Walk by Richard Paul Evans

Simon & Schuster 2010 (library copy)

I do not normally read inspirational fiction, so like other books I’ve read for the Book a Week project, this one pushes me into new territory. 

This story has potential. Alan is a man who loses his wife and business suddenly and decides to set out on a walk across the country. Stories of how we move on from tragedy can inspire us, can offer us the chance to envision our own potential for recovery. Unfortunately, the execution of the story feels flat, the characters lack depth, and I was frustrated that the story lacked a sense of authenticity for me.

Here’s an example of one of my problems with the story. The main character loves his wife. But why? What is it in her that he is drawn to (besides her beauty)? What makes these characters more than cardboard cutouts? I couldn’t connect with them. Their life is apparently awesome, but even though he’s smart enough to start a great business and win many awards in his field, he seems completely unaware of the world around him. At every turn in the story he seems baffled by people and stymied with inaction.

But Dani, you might say, he’s just lost everything dear to him. Perhaps the inaction is a product of his grief? Ok, I’ll grant that possibility. If that’s the case, I need a little more convincing. I am TOLD about everything that Alan does and feels, but there’s very little inflection or subtlety to SHOW me those things, to fill those feelings with life. 

Here’s another problem. Women in the story fall into two categories: Goddess and Rescuer. Alan thinks his wife — who he loses — is amazing. She is reified beyond compare, but what does she actually do? She seems to stay at home, being beautiful, not paying the bills, wishing they had children, and riding her horse. Why do I care about her? I don’t. All of the other women are just there, ready to rescue Alan from himself, even when he is a filthy, homeless stranger walking along the edge of the highway. Gah. People, are more complicated than that. 

This story should grip me with emotion. So where is it? Why, why, why does Alan choose to walk? Is he running away or running toward? Does he have any sense, even a fallible sense, of what is going to happen or what he might accomplish? How can I be inspired by a story that lacks depth and credibility? 

This book is the first in what will be a five-part series of Alan’s journals of his walk. The second, Miles to Go, was released earlier this month.

ABAW: Quick Hits in Early April

A Book A Week Rambles on with four quickies.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

 Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers, 1962, 1973 (personal copy)

I first read this when I was in third grade. I did not remember it very well. I have the sense that I enjoyed it, but was puzzled by some parts. The Sonars and I finished reading it aloud last week. There is a kind of honest sweetness to the story. I was still a bit puzzled by Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, as well as by the references to god. And though I found Charles Wallace irritating, Meg’s floundering uncertainty touched me. The ending feels abrupt, but I would go back to the series for the chance to travel the universe with Calvin.

Chuck Norris Cannot Be Stopped by Ian Spector

Gotham Books, 2010 (library copy)

This is a mildly entertaining little book, full of Chuck Norris-isms, but I quickly tired of all the raping and pronging. My favorites:

“Chuck Norris can squeeze apple juice out of a banana.”

“Jesus can walk on water, but Chuck Norris can swim through land.”

1001 Facts That Will Scare the S#*t Out of You: the Ultimate Bathroom Reader by Cary McNeal

Adams Media 2010 (library copy)

Another trifle, packed full of facts, and good for the sort of short perusals that some find appropriate for the bathroom. I have it on the desk for internet wait times. Gross or disturbing facts are delivered in short bursts with a little joke. Full citations for all sources are provided in case you want to check out any information further. Example:

FACT: Almost 60 percent of Americans know The Three Stooges by name, but just 17 percents are able to name three U.S. Supreme Court justices. Luckily, three of the justices are the Stooges. “Television & Health: Television Statistics,” Compiled by TV-Free America, www.csun.edu.

No Sneakers at the Office: A Practical Handbook for the Business World by Adam T. Scholl

LandMarc Press, 2010 (library copy)

A blurb quote on the cover led me to believe that this book teaches the rules to prospective corporate workers so that individuals can know better when to circumvent the rules to get ahead in creative ways. That is not this book at all. That said, this is a concise, easy-to-read, handbook for corporate dress, behavior, and communication in general circumstances. It would make a good guide and gift for interns and college graduates, or anyone looking to polish themselves up for business advancement. I particularly like Scholl’s emphasis on the difference between a job and a career (long-term thinking is better), having the right attitude for every situation, maintaining professionalism, and building goals. Scholl also continually emphasizes that people are complex and that being positive and building empathy can help make you more successful in communicating and working with people throughout your career.

ABAW: Reading, Accomplished and Projected

Back in January, my hyper-listing tendencies led to a bizarre (even to me) plan for almost everything I would read for the next year. The full, freakish list is on the wall here next to my computer. I shared the first quarter plan back in January.

What is the point of all this categorization and planning? There are so many books in the world that I want to read. I think if I plan ahead, I can make thoughtful choices that both appeal to my tastes and push me into new territory. Non-fiction in particular is something I don’t always enjoy, so pushing myself to read more non-fiction is healthy. Making a point to balance old and new, familiar and unfamiliar is about making sure that I’m still learning things about literature and maintaining my literary chops. That’s also why I write about the books here on the blog. Most important though, is books are my best writing teachers. The more broadly I read, the more I learn about the art and craft of writing.

Using four categories as guideposts, I planned once again to finish at least one book each week this year. I read all of the projected January books (though not all of them in January), half of the February books, and none of the March books (though I am reading one of them now). Toss in the unplanned books and I’ve finished sixteen books so far this year. But I did stick with the categories.

What I’ve Read So Far This Year:

Something I’ve missed

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Lolita, Daisy Miller

Something I’ve read before

The Great Gatsby, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Pride and Prejudice

Something Recent

Super Sad True Love Story (F), Reading Lolita in Tehran (NF), The Fall (F), The Red Pyramid (F), The Expert’s Guide to 100 Things Everyone Should Know How To Do (NF), Decoded (NF), Alice I Have Been (Hist F)

Recommended or Banned

Leviathan, The Chocolate War, Gossamer

My failure to maintain my plan exactly as planned does not deter me. Here are my second quarter goals.

April

Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson

The Next Decade: Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going by George Friedman

May

On The Road by Jack Kerouac

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hossein

June

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

The Art of British Rock: 50 years of rock posters, flyers, and handbills by Mike Evans and Paul Palmer-Edwards

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

I also hope to pick up some of the books I missed in the first quarter. What are you reading?