Preview of 2011 Book Lists #3

Dec28

SATURDAY December 31st, will be a special edition of the Saturday Review of Books especially for booklists. You can link to a list of your favorite books read in 2011, a list of all the books you read in 2011, a list of the books you plan to read in 2012, or any other end of the year or beginning of the year list of books. Whatever your list, itâ€™s time for book lists. So come back on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, to link to yours, if I missed it and it’s not already here.

However, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks gathering up all the lists I could find and linking to them here. I’ll be posting each day this week leading up to Saturday a selection of end-of-the-year lists with my own comments. I’m also trying my hand at (unsolicited) book advisory by suggesting some possibilities for 2012 reading for each blogger whose list I link. If I didn’t get your list linked ahead of time and if you leave your list in the linky on Saturday, I’ll try to advise you, too, in a separate post.

Brandon at The Thin Veil: My Favorite 15 Books of 2011. This list is also very Catholic-centered. For Catholic writers, I’m wondering if Mr. Vogt has read any of G.K. Chesterton’s fiction, particularly The Man Who Was Thursday and the Father Brown detective stories. I also strongly believe that all engineers should read poetry, and you can’t get better than John Donne and George Herbert.

Ripple Effects: All the Year’s Best. Arti includes movies and books on her list of the year’s best, both lists of selections are quite literary and contemplative. I think Arti would like more Madeleine L’Engle, including my two favorite fiction books by Ms. L’Engle, A Severed Wasp and The Love Letters and also the memoirs, A Circle of Quiet, The Summer of the Great-Grandmother and The Irrational Season.

Happy Catholic: My 2012 Reading Challenge Lists. I don’t know if it’s fair for me to try to add anything to what is already an ambitious set of reading lists for Julie for 2012, but that’s never stopped me before. So hey, Julie, have you read any Peter Kreeft? Brandon (see above) reminded me that I still need to finish Christianity for Modern Pagans: Pascal’s Pensees by Kreeft, and I wouldn’t mind reading some of his other books. For “happy Catholicism”, he’s a must-read.

Book Chase: Best of 2011. Blogger Sam Sattler reads and reviews a lot of books, and at least a couple of his besties need to go on my TBR list (Doc by Mary Doria Russell and Grant’s Final Victory by Charles Bracelen). For Sam, my picks are River of Doubt by Candice Millard and Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. (Yes, Unbroken is my favorite read of 2011, and I’m recommending it to more than one person.)

Linus’s Blanket: Best of 2011. Nicole reads supernatural fiction, historical fiction, nonfiction and contemporary fiction, and she lists favorites from 2011 in each category. I wonder if Nicole might enjoy Connie Willis’s To Say Nothing of the Dog or perhaps the YA verse novel A Girl Named Mister by Nikki Grimes?

The Fourth Musketeer: Raindrops on Roses, My Top 10 Favorite Books from 2011. Margo needs to read Mitali Perkins’ Bamboo People and/or the one I just finished from 2011, With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo—and then tell me what she thinks of them!

Devourer of Books: 2011–Best Books. Judging from the number of her favorites that I added to my TBR list, Devourer and I must have similar tastes in books. So, I’m fairly confident that she would like The Queen’s Daughter by Susan Coventry or maybe Daughter of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang.

CarrieK at Books and Movies likes to make multiple list, as do I: Favorite historical fiction of 2011
Favorite contemporary fiction of 2011.
Favorite Mysteries of 2011.
Favorite Nonfiction of 2011.
Favorite Speculative Fiction of 2011.
Favorite YA Reads of 2011.
Carrie needs to read City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell, and she needs to read Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry next in her pursuit of all things Berry-ish. Jayber Crow is my favorite Wendell Berry novel.

A Fuse #8 Production: 100 Magnificent Children’s Books of 2011. Elizabeth Bird, children’s librarian extraordinaire, makes a lovely list, but of course I see some notable omissions. Ms. Bird needs to read and make room for on her list The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton, and where’s Mo Willems and his three Elephant and Piggie easy readers that were published this year?
Fuse #8: The Ten Middle Grade novels I’m Looking Forward to in 2012. Betsy Bird knows about everything kidlit before I do, so I can’t really suggest anything new to her. And she’s working on a book about the history of kidlit, I think, so I can’t really suggest anything old either. She really needs to check the Jennifer Trafton book, though.

The Ink Slinger: Books Reviewed in 2011. I already recommended that Mr. Ink Slinger, who regularly beats me in Words With Friends, read The Chosen by Chaim Potok, Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, and The Silver Sword by Ian Serrailer.

Preview of 2011 Book Lists #2

Dec27

Eric the Read: Top 10 Nonfiction Best Books of 2011. Eric’s tastes seem to run toward economics and history. My favorite book in the area of economics is an oldie, but still applicable in today’s economy: The Tragedy of American Compassion by Marvin Olasky. For something more recent, I also think he might like Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy by Eric Metaxis.

Lonestar Librarian at Speed of Light: Favorite Books, 2011. This one was hard because Ms. Lonestar Librarian seems to have read about as many books as I have. But in a quick search of her blog, I don’t see any reference to my favorite book of 2011, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Perhaps she would enjoy that one.

Farm Lane books: My Favorite Books of 2011. The books on this list are all books published in 2011. She plans to make lists of the most important books published in 2011 and of her favorite books released in previous years. Jackie reads and blogs from Surrey, England. Based on this list and on my poking around her blog a little, I think Jackie would like Lionel Shriver’s So Much for That (even though it’s a polemic on the American health care system) or perhaps the Pulitzer prize-winning novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder.

A Common Reader: 2011 Round-up including Best Books. Tom Cunliffe, of East Sussex, England, lists several books that I’ve never heard of, mostly European in setting or authorship or both. I think he might like Anna’s Book by Barbara Vine (maybe called Asta’s Book in the UK), a discovery of mine this year or perhaps something by Spanish author Arturo Perez-Reverte. The Fencing Master or Captain Alatriste?

John Self at Asylum: Twelve from the Shelves: My Books of 2011. I’m not sure I’m literary or intellectual enough to advise Mr. Self, but I’ll make a stab at it anyway. I was going to suggest Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, but I see that he’s already read it. So perhaps Home by the same author? Or for short and quirky and death-filled, The End of the Alphabet by C.S. Richardson could be a good bet for Mr. Self’s reading list.

Quieted Waters: My 10 Favorite Books of 2011. This young law student blogger read and recommended the same Eric Metaxis biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer that I chose as a favorite this year, so I’m recommending back to him that he read Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship, if he hasn’t already done so. He also mentions a recent or impending marriage, for which I prescribe a dose of The Peacemaker by Ken Sande, not that it’s a marriage manual. It is, however, one of the best relationship books I’ve read lately.

Read. Breathe. Relax. Best Books of 2011. I’m wondering if this fantasy/sci-fi/romance reader has read all the books on this list. In particular, I recommend Unwind by Neal Shusterman, Epitaph Road by David Pateneaude, and The Declaration by Gemma Malley. Divergent by Veronica Roth was one of my favorites this year, too.

Reading is my cup of tea: Top 5 Best authors and Best books of 2011. For fifteen year old Molly, the Brit who blogs and drinks tea, I advise the same list as the one I had for Read. Breathe. Relax. above, since Delirium and Matched are already in her towering TBR stack. Divergent lovers of the world unite!

Thoughts of a Sojourner: Top books reviewed in 2011. Athol Dickson’s River Rising and My Hands Came Away Red by Lisa Mckay are the two thrillers with Christian themes that I would put at the top of Sojourner’s reading list.

Word Sharpeners: Favorite Books I’ve Read in 2011. For Tamera at Word Sharpeners, I propose Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr and The Cure by Athol Dickson.

Sommer Reading: My Favorite Books of 2011. Suggestions for Shelley: How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr (YA), The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton (MGF), and The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister (Adult fiction).

The Anchoress: Those Year-End Book Lists. THe Anchoress’s list is very, very Catholic, and so I’ll suggest some Catholic or at least Christian books: Saint Training by Elizabeth Fixmer, because I think Ms. Scalia would appreciate this children’s book about a girl who wants to become a saint, and how about Praying for Strangers by River Jordan, because I think The Anchoress would identify with this true story of a woman who decides to pray for one stranger each day.

Here’s a bonus book list that I contributed to at Breakpoint’s Youth Reads: Books to Buy Your Kids for Christmas. The list is good for after Christmas, too.

Preview of 2011 Booklists #1

Dec26

However I’ve spent the past couple of weeks gathering up all the lists I could find and linking to them here. I’ll be posting each day this week leading up to Saturday a selection of end-of-the-year lists with my own comments. I’m also trying my hand at (unsolicited) book advisory by suggesting some possibilities for 2012 reading for each blogger whose list I link. If I didn’t get your list linked ahead of time and if you leave your list in the linky on Saturday, I’ll try to advise you, too, in a separate post.

Semicolon’s 12 Best Adult Nonfiction Books Read in 2011.

2011 INSPY Award Winners. I was on the judging panel for the category, Literature for Young People, and I am proud of the book my panel chose. However, I’m especially pleased about the winner in the General Fiction category, City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell. This story of missionaries who feel as if they could be real people is a wonderful read. If any of my readers are interested in inspirational Christian fiction that deals with hard issues, I recommend City of Tranquil Light.

Dani Torres at A Work in Progress: Reading WWI: A Thursday 13. I include Dani’s list because it’s actually a list of the books she would ike to read in 2012, and it dovetails quite nicely with what the folks at War Through the Generations are planning for 2012, a focus on the literature of and about World War I.
My suggestion for Dani: a WWI novel I recently read, Gifts of War by Mackenzie Ford.

A Year in Reading by Mark O’Connell at The Millions. Mr. O’Connell, who lives in Ireland, read and enjoyed a couple of my favorite novels in 2011, Anna Karenina and Gilead. The Millions has an entire series of posts by their staff writers, and by other selected authors and writers, entitled A Year in Reading.
My suggestion for Mr. O’Connell: War and Peace by Tolstoy is just as good as Anna Karenina, if not better.

Amanda at Dead White Guys has a post about what she hearted and hated in 2001. (Language warning) She, too, hearted Anna Karenina, but she hated Doctor Zhivago. Not all Russian novels are created equal.
Suggested Dead White Guys: I think Amanda might like some Trollope, maybe The Warden or Barchester Towers? I could be mistaken, but it’s worth a try.

Jared at The Thinklings: Top Ten Books I Read This Year.. Jared has been reading a little bit of everything from Tom Sawyer to F. Scott Fitzgerald to Douglas Wilson.
For Jared Wilson in 2012 I suggest more Jane Austen and N.D. Wilson’s kinda, sorta tribute to Tom Sawyer, Leepike Ridge.

Reading the Past: Five historical novels published in 2011 have made the shortlist for this year’s David J. Langum Sr. Prize in American Historical Fiction. This list isn’t the work of Sarah Johnson who blogs at Reading the Past, and she only links to her reviews of two of of the five books that made the shortlist. I’d be interested to see what Ms. Johnson thinks are the best historical fiction novels of 2011.

Ten Best Books of 2011 by Brandon Schmidt at Youth Pastor Gear. Unbroken. Check. Son of Hamas. Check. Hunger Games. Check. You’re just NOW reading Lord of the Rings? What a treat–to read these wonderful books for the first time!
I suggest that Mr. Schmidt read The Hobbit, if he hasn’t already, and Divergent by Veronica Roth is a good follow-up to Hunger Games.

Books in Bloom: Kristin’s Top Ten of 2011. Kristin’s tastes seems to run to dystopian and horror-ish sort of YA fiction, not my cuppa. However, I can suggest that she pick up some of John Green’s earlier books, especially An Abundance of Katherines, and she might like Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.

Erin Reads: 2011 Goals in Review. Erin launched a Classics Reclamation Project for 2011, and as a result she enjoyed Jane Eyre, I Capture the Castle, and The Woman in White, among others. I think Erin might like to read Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden and Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya, since she’s also interested in literature set in India.

Pastor Carl Gregg: Top 10 Best Books Read in 2011. Pastor Gregg says he spends most of his available reading time on religion and philosophy. I would suggest Teach Your Own by John Holt, for a homeschooling classic from a completely different, rather libertarian, point of view, and how about Love Your God With All Your Mind by J.P. Moreland or Jesus and the Eyewitnesses by Richard Bauckham as counter-voices to Bart Ehrman?

LitLove: Tales from the Reading Room, Best Books of 2011. LitLove recommends at least one book that I must put on my TBR list, The Rossettis in Wonderland by Dinah Roe, a biography of the four Rossetti children including Dante Gabriel and Christina. I’m wondering if LitLove might like Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry or So Big by Edna Ferber, mostly because of the special litlove for Willa Cather.

Erin at analyfe: The Top Books of 2111, Not Necessarily Published in 2011. For Erin I’m recommending The Declaration by Gemma Malley, since she read two of my favorite dystopian fiction books, Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Unwind by Neal Shusterman, and enjoyed those. She also seems to enjoy the self-help and project books, so she might find something interesting on this list that I made of “project books.” Praying for Strangers by River Jordan fits into this genre, and it was one of my favorite books of 2011.

Kathy at Book Diary: My Best Books of 2011. I wanted to add almost every one of Kathy’s picks to my TBR list, especially Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard and The Report by Jessica Kane. Has Kathy read The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa? She might also like My Enemy’s Cradle by Sara Young for World War II historical fiction.

Bible Geek Gone Wild: 5 Favorites from 2011. From Greek to graphic novels about Martin Luther(?), this “33-year old man who reads an awful lot of nonfiction” might try Athol Dickson’s River Rising or for something old, Basic Writings by Jonathan Edwards.

10 Bad Habits: Favorite Reads 2011. Ooooh, one of my favorites is one of his favorites, The King Must Die by Mary Renaualt. Justin should read the “rest of the story”, the sequel called The Bull from the Sea. Then, he might check out Stephen Lawhead’s Byzantium or Taliesin.

Great Thoughts: Top Books of 2011. I haven’t read a single book on Great Thoughts’ list, but almost all of them look like books that I could enjoy. She says she likes historical fiction and books about other cultures, so I’m proposing that she try City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell or maybe Bel Canto by Ann Patchett.

O.K. enough for today. Come back tomorrow for more links to more book lists and more suggestions from me for more reading in 2012.

With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo

Dec25

Somewhere along the way, however, the good reverend decided a small town meant a poor town, and a poor town meant humble people. Ollie’s daddy was born to preach to those people. His daddy had been a traveling preacher, as was his daddy before him, all the way back to the time of Moses. The Good Lord ushered him into that long line of preachers, and then his parents gave him the name Everlasting Love.
It was everything he was.

A children’s novel with a father/preacher character who is not cruel, not confused, not pathetic, and not looney is a rare jewel. I can think of one, off-hand, Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn-Dixie. Now there’s a second.

And thirteen year old Olivene Love (Ollie), eldest daughter of Reverend Everlasting Love, is a PK who has no problem with being the daughter of a preacher; she just wishes he would settle down and preach in one place. The Love family spends three days holding a revival in one small town before moving on the next one: “[p]reaching, mostly—some singing and an occasional healing if the need arises.” Ollie is ready to stay in one place for a while, make friends, experience indoor plumbing and life in a house rather than a travel trailer.

I loved the characters in this book for middle grade readers. Ollie’s daddy gives her good advice:

“Be careful when you listen to people called they, Olivene. They often tell lies.”

“Some people are broken. They don’t know anything other than hatred. It’s like their heart gets going in the wrong direction early on in life, and they can never quite manage to bring it back around to love. It’s a sad thing and we should have compassion for them. Think of the joy they are missing in life.”

Ollie herself is a good girl, typical oldest child. Reverend Love says to her, “You are an example for your sisters in word and deed. I am blessed to call you mine.” Yet, Ollie isn’t perfect, not too goody-goody; she still gets impatient with her younger sisters, tired of living on the road, and sometimes a little too bossy for her own good. She reminds me of my eldest, whom I am also blessed to call mine.

Ollie’s mama, Susanna Love, is “like living poetry” as she welcomes the people who come to the revival meeting. Her sister, Martha, is the pessimist who’s always counting in her head to see who gets the most privileges or treats, but Martha is also the one who gets things done. Gwen, the third sister, is the spitting image of her father, and she wants to become a preacher just like him. Camille, sister number four, is “simple in mind”, but she almost has the dictionary memorized and has “an air of grace and dignity.” Ellen, the baby of the family, is friendly, a tagalong, and eager to please. Together, the Love family has a character and winsomeness all their own, rivaling other great families of literature such as the the Marches, the Melendys, the Moffats, the Penderwicks, or All-of-a-Kind Family. Actually, they remind me a little bit of the Weems family in Kerry Madden’s series Gentle’s Holler, Louisiana’s Song, and Jessie’s Mountain, maybe because of the time period (1950’s) and because of the way that each of the girls in the family has her own personality and way of coping with life in a preacher’s family.

With a Name Like Love is a good family story with a good plot (I didn’t mention the plot, but there’s a murder to be solved, friendships to resolve, and family decisions to be made) and excellent, heart-grabbing characters. Highly recommended.

What are your favorite families in children’s literature?

Since I’m Planning to Read about Africa

Dec25

I found this article, How To Write About Africa by Binyavanga Wainaina, at the website of a magazine called Granta. A few of Mr. Wainaina’s many rules for writing about Africa:

1. Always use the word â€˜Africaâ€™ or â€˜Darknessâ€™ or â€˜Safariâ€™ in your title.
2. Make sure you show how Africans have music and rhythm deep in their souls, and eat things no other humans eat.
3. African characters should be colourful, exotic, larger than lifeâ€”but empty inside.
4. Remember, any work you submit in which people look filthy and miserable will be referred to as the â€˜real Africaâ€™, and you want that on your dust jacket.
5. Never, ever say anything negative about an elephant or a gorilla. Elephants may attack peopleâ€™s property, destroy their crops, and even kill them. Always take the side of the elephant.
6. Always end your book with Nelson Mandela saying something about rainbows or renaissances.

Read the article, especially if you’re planning a book about Africa. Binyavanga Wainaina is a Kenyan author and journalist who follows his own rules exactly I’m sure. He wrote How To Write About Africa in 2003 (but it’s new to me). One Day I Will Write About This Place: A Memoir by Binyavnaga Wainana was published in 2011.

Christmas: The Grace Project

Dec24

“His secret purpose framed from the very beginning [is] to bring us to our full glory. (I Corinthians 2:7 NEB) He means to rename us—to return us to our true names, our truest selves. He means to heal our soul holes. From the very beginning, that Eden beginning, that has always been and always is, to this day, His secret purpose—our return to our full glory. Appalling—that He would! Us, unworthy. And yet since we took a bite out of the fruit and tore into our own souls, that drain hole where joy seeps away, God’s had this wild secretive plan. He means to fill us with glory again. With glory and grace.” From 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of Godâ€”- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husbandâ€™s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:11-14

Saturday Review of Books: December 24, 2011

Dec23

â€œIf you have never said ‘Excuse me’ to a parking meter or bashed your shins on a fireplug, you are probably wasting too much valuable reading time.â€ ~Sherri Chasin Calvo

Merry Christmas to all, and Happy Reading, too!

If you’re not familiar with and linking to and perusing the Saturday Review of Books here at Semicolon, you’re missing out. Hereâ€™s how it usually works. Find a book review on your blog posted sometime during the previous week. The review doesnâ€™t have to be a formal sort of thing. You can just write your thoughts on a particular book, a few ideas inspired by reading the book, your evaluation, quotations, whatever.

Then on Saturday, you post a link here at Semicolon in Mr. Linky to the specific post where youâ€™ve written your book review. Donâ€™t link to your main blog page because this kind of link makes it hard to find the book review, especially when people drop in later after youâ€™ve added new content to your blog. In parentheses after your name, add the title of the book youâ€™re reviewing. This addition will help people to find the reviews theyâ€™re most interested in reading.

After linking to your own reviews, you can spend as long as you want reading the reviews of other bloggers for the week and adding to your wishlist of books to read. That’s how my own TBR list has become completely unmanageable and the reason I can’t join any reading challenges. I have my own personal challenge that never ends.

For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Dec23

“This book is written as fiction but tells a true story.”

Suzanne David Hall was thirteen years old in 1940 when the Germans invaded France, and she later became a spy for the French resistance. While training to become an opera singer, she relayed messages that helped bring about the Allied invasion of Normandy. The 2003 novel For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is based on interviews with Hall.

The novel is quite exciting, and the tension builds as Suzanne is called on to deliver her messages more and more frequently and as the spy network in which she works becomes smaller and smaller when the Germans capture the spies one by one. Suzanne is a brave girl, and she continues her work even though she knows the Nazis will torture or even kill her if she is found out. The prose in the story is simple and straightforward, and the pacing is mostly good, although the novel does start out a little slowly. The book is halfway through before Suzanne’s spy adventures start.

For Freedom is a good introduction to so many World War II topics: Dunkirk, Vichy France, the French Resistance, German occupation of France, daily life under German occupation, the Allied invasion of Normandy. But it’s not just a nice “salad” accompaniment to the main course of the history of World War II. The story carried me along and made me feel how difficult it must have been to be involved in the Resistance, never knowing from one day to the next whether this day would be the last before you were captured by the Germans.

Isn’t that what courage is? Courage: to keep doing right, to persevere in the face of uncertainty and even valid reasonable fear. If I were doing something that I knew would lead to disaster, if I were certain that I would be caught and killed and unable to complete my mission, it would be foolish and useless to persist. But if it’s only very likely that I might be arrested and if what I was doing was likely to help many people if I could continue, then bravery would be required. Suzanne was a brave young woman, “a hero of France.”

Saraswati’s Way by Monika Schroder

Dec21

Twelve year old Akash sees patterns of numbers in his head. The village math teacher can only take him so far in math, bu he puts an idea in Akash’s mind of winning a scholarship to a school in the city. So Akash prays to Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and wisdom, to make a way for him to hire a tutor to teach the math he needs to know to pass the scholarship examination.

The last book I read, Words in the Dust, was set in Afghanistan and was very Muslim, and now this book, set in India, is very Hindu. Akash prays to Saraswati, goes to the temple, performs Hindu funeral rites for his father (Bapu) in hopes that his Bapu’s soul will be freed to go . . . somewhere good. If this honest and vivid depiction of Hindu religion makes you uncomfortable, as I must admit it did me to some extent, then maybe that’s a good thing. I tend to forget that there are people who live and die in the grips of what I would consider an enslaving and false religious tradition.

Akash becomes a child of the streets, living in the railway station in Delhi. He works and works to find a way to attend a school where he can learn more, especially more math. He makes some good decisions (saving his money and not sniffing glue) and some nearly disastrous ones (dealing drugs to make money). And in the end, the reader is left with only the hope that Akash might, just possibly, be able to go to school and get off the streets.

Author Monika Schroder says in her Author’s Note:

A boy like Akash has only a slim chance of fulfilling his dream in contemporary India. Yet I wanted to write a hopeful book about a child who, with determination, courage, and some luck, achieves his goal against all odds.

If you like this book about a street child in India and you’re interested in similar or related stories, I recommend:

Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth. Brief Semicolon review here.
Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins. Semicolon review here.
Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan.
What Then, Raman? by Shirley Arora.
The movie, Slumdog Millionaire.

Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy

Dec20

I found the story behind this book almost as intriguing as the book itself. In an author’s note at the end of the book, Mr. Reedy says he wrote the novel by accident. He planned to write children’s books set in small town Iowa, but he was sent to Afghanistan in 2004 as a part of an Army National Guard unit. At first, he hated his job providing security for reconstruction teams that were rebuilding Afghanistan’s infrastructure after decades of war and repression. He felt as if he were being cheated of his chance to repay the Al Qaeda terrorists for their actions on 9/11. Then, he began to meet and get to know average Afghan people, including a girl named Zulaikha who was afflicted with a cleft lip. American army surgeons were able to perform corrective surgery on Zulaikha’s lip and palate. And Mr. Reedy had a story that that he was anxious to tell.

“I have never been a girl and I am not an Afghan. Many would say that stories about Afghan girls should best be told by Afghan girls. I agree completely. I would love nothing more than to read the story of the girl who we helped in her own words. However, the terrible reality is that by some estimates, 87 percent of Afghan women are illiterate. . . Though progress is being made in Afghan education, too many Afghan girls are unable to get their stories out. In spite of this, or maybe even because of it, I believe it is very important for more Afghan stories to be told, as a greater understanding may foster peace.”

So, Words in the Dust is the fictional story of Zulaikha, a Muslim girl living in northern Afghanistan, based on the story of the real Zulaikha and on the stories of other people Mr. Reedy met during his time in Afghanistan. I thought the story was fascinating, true to life as far as I am able to judge, and somewhat horrifying. Some really, really bad things happen in Zulaikha’s life in in her family. So this book is not for young readers or tender minds. Mr. Reedy describes the bad stuff in a respectful, almost understated, way, but it’s still bad stuff.

So I would classify this book as Young Adult fiction, emphasis on the adult. Zulaikha is an engaging heroine, and again quite representative of what I would think Afghan girlhood is really like. The culture is very Muslim, very male-dominated, and the book ends with Zulaikha’s hopes for the future along with the word, Inshallah, “God willing”. Words in the Dust would be a good introduction to life in a traditional Muslim culture in a country that has been torn by war and nearly destroyed by Taliban terrorism and persecution of females.

I appreciated the story and the look into another way of life and the possibilities and problems that are present in Afghanistan even now.