The $64 Tomato

The $64 Tomato
by William Alexander
****

How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden.

Gardening time is here, is it not? And if you are a gardener, then this is a must read. As the title suggests, we who deign to plant and attempt to grow things sometimes do not know the actual cost of the fruits of our labors. This book is one man's experience at gardening (or really, small-scale farming), working in concert with nature to provide his family with fresh, healthy produce.

But the best-laid plans, and all that.

The author tells us how his family moves to a small, rural town in New York where his wife sets up her medical practice. They buy an old house, pay too much for it, and then pay even more to renovate it. Scarcely finished with that, the author looks longingly at the wild acreage surrounding the hosue and begins plannning for a fantastic garden.

Our hapless gardener becomes a victim first of landscapers, then of pests of the large and small variety, disease, weather, and simply exhausting labor. Nevertheless, he pushes on and year after year manages to produce for his family wonderful fresh produce.

The cost is great when he sits down to calculate the cost of his home-grown produce. But he does not give up -- the benefit is too important.

The author tells his experiences with humor and interesting detail, including helpful information to other gardeners. I enjoyed this book, though I am no vegetable gardener --flowers only, for me. But for anyone who likes to dig in the earth, and enjoys the hopefulness of planting a seed or seedling and seeing where you can go from there, wiill enjoy this book as well.

What Remains, a Memoir of Fate, Friendship & Love

What Remains, a Memoir of Fate, Friendship & Love
autobiography, Carole Radziwill
***

I began reading this book just at the time Caroline Kennedy was being considered as the replacement senator from New York. Carole Radziwill is a cousin, by marriage, to Caroline, and reading the book served somewhat as a historical reference to current times.

I say somewhat as Carole does not refer a lot to the Kennedy family in her book except to John F. Kennedy, Jr., who was cousin to Carole husband, Anthony Radziwill. John's mother Jacqueline, and Anthony's mother Lee were sisters.

The story should have been a fairy-tale with a happy ending. A girl from a lower-middle class family achieves success on her own and ends up marrying a handsome prince. But instead, it's a sad story, indeed. The book starts out as Carole and Anthony are sitting at the beach in Martha's Vineyard awaiting the arrival of John and his wife Carolyn Bessette who is also Carole's best friend. It was that fateful day we all remember when the plane John was piloting crashed into the bay, killing John and Carolyn and her sister.

To make the story even more sad, as they waited on the beach, not yet knowing the terrible news, thoughts were of Anthony who was in the final throes of a fatal bout with cancer. Carole would shortly lose the three most important people in her life in a very short span. She quotes Orson Welles, at the start of her book, If you want a happy ending, it depends on where you end your story.

The book then turns to Carole's childhood, growing up in a family that lived a marginal lifestyle, providing sometimes unsavory role models for young Carole. I won't elaborate on the journey from childhood to princess, but it is an interesting story, and I'll offer no spoilers here.

I am not a follower of the famous, and this book would probably hold more interest for one who is. I found it more historically interesting as it fit into the nooks and crannies of things I already knew. The book is very well-written -- a beautiful use of language and style. I always enjoy a book so well-written.

I only gave this book three stars because I felt it was a book with a limited audience - those who like to peer into the lives of the rich and famous. However, it was, I hope, a cathartic book for the author, as she did have three very tragic losses to deal with.

A Girl from Yamhill, and My Own Two Feet

A Girl From Yamhill
My Own Two Feet
two autobiographies by Beverly Cleary
****
My own introduction to Beverly Cleary was in the mid-50's at perhaps age 9 or 10, when at a weekly visit to the Emerson Stone Branch Library I came across Henry Huggins. I became an immediate fan and went back looking for more from this author. I read the few available Beverly Cleary books in our little library and re-read them from time to time.

When my friend passed these two autobiographies (published in 1988 and 1995, respectively) to me to read, I was not sure I was interested (and I wondered why two autobiographies). I did enjoy them, however. A Girl from Yamhill takes Beverly from her earliest memories only to junior high school. My Own Two Feet picks up from there, taking you through public school, the Depression, college, marriage, World War II, and finally the publication of her first book.

As you read of her life, you soon realize that her children's books are so successful because her stories come from real life experiences.

Beverly was an only child, born in 1919 and still living today. She was well cared for despite many financial struggles her family faced. She recalls a happy childhood filled with fun and adventure that kids are bound to find when left to their own devices. Her parents were not restrictive in her younger years while they lived on a large farm in Yamhill. Beverly enjoyed less freedom after they moved to Portland when the farm could no longer support them during the Depression. As Beverly grew older, her mother become more and more possessive and even jealous of her daughter's youth and friends and fun, but Beverly rarely rebelled until college age. Beverly was always eager to leave home and become independent, and in college studied to be a professional librarian. At an early age she discovered a desire to write, and found she had a knack for storytelling, especially to children. She was offended when teachers asked her if her stories were original, thinking a young girl could not have written so well. She was in her late 20s before she finally sat down and started her first novel, Henry Huggins.

If you are a fan of Beverly Cleary books, you will enjoy both of these well-written books, which also include pages of photographs of Beverly and the people in her life during those growing up years.

Sky Burial

Sky Burial
by Xinran
*****

UPDATE: I have learned this is not a true story after all, and am somewhat disappointed at being led to believe it was. Still, I recommend the book, it is a good read. The book jacket says:

It was 1994 when Xinran, a journalist and the author of The Good Women of China, received a telephone call asking her to travel four hours to meet an oddly dressed woman who had just crossed the border from Tibet into China. Xinran made the trip and met the woman, called Shu Wen, who recounted the story of her thirty-year odyssey in the vast landscape of Tibet.

Shu Wen and her husband had been married for only a few months in the 1950s when he joined the Chinese army and was sent to Tibet for the purpose of unification of the two countries. Shortly after he left she was notified that he had been killed, although no details were given. Determined to find the truth, Shu Wen joined a militia unit going to the Tibetan north, where she soon was separated from the regiment. Without supplies and knowledge of the language, she wandered, trying to find her way until, on the brink of death, she was rescued by a family of nomads under whose protection she moved from place to place with the seasons and eventually came to discover the details of her husband's death.

This story will grab your attention and grab your heart. It is hard to imagine the twentieth century life in Tibet she describes. Things changed so little from centuries past for the little nomadic family of sheepherders who saved her life and then took her into their family. As you read you become aware there must be some great passage of time, but only a couple of times does the author reveal to you just how many years have passed during Wen's sojourn in Tibet.

The book is just over 200 pages in length, small pages at that, and easily read in a single cozy afternoon. It has all the elements I love most in a book: stories of women and their loves and their friendships, stories of unfamiliar cultures (I am particularly drawn to stories of the far east), stories of love and struggle, and stories that are true.

I won't tell you the outcome of Wen's quest to find her husband as you need to read it in the words told by Wen herself.

After the story was related to her, the author [claims] she lost track of Wen, and has since desperately tried to find her or the nomadic family with whom she lived.

I highly recommend this splendid book

On Writing, a memoir of the craft

On Writing, a memoir of the craft
by Stephen King
*****

I have read exactly one Stephen King novel. I saw part of Kujo, the movie, and I'm still scared of barking dogs. So, I'm not exactly sure why this book appealed to me. But it turned out to be a really great read, both from the standpoint of a writer and for sheer entertainment.

King tells us this is not textbook, and it's not. But it is full of advice. For example, "Adverbs are not your friend." He tells us how he writes. That he writes constantly when he is writing, even on holidays, lest his characters get "stale". He listens to loud rock music. And he says he does not "plot" his stories. I found this last particularly interesting.

In my view, stories and novels consist of three parts: narration which moves the story from point A to point B and finally to point Z; description, which creates a sensory reality for the reader; and dialogue, which brings characters to life through their speech . . .

. . . my basic belief about the making of stories is that they pretty much make themselves. The job of the writer is to give them a place to grow . . .

. . . I lean more heavily on intuition . . . my books tend to be based on situation rather than story . . .

. . . The situation comes first. The characters--always flat and unfeatured, to begin with--come next. Once these things are fixed in my mind, I begin to narrate. I often have an idea of what the outcome may be, but I have never demanded of a set of characters that they do things my way. On the contrary, I want them to do things their way.

Isn't that a cool concept? I love it so much, I'm going to try it myself if I ever get down to writing my stories.

The book is also highly autobiographical and we learn so much about King's life and experiences starting from a very young age. His story is as compelling as any novel.

If you are a writer, an aspiring writer, or just someone who appreciates good writing, you will love this book.

The Worst Book Ever Written--The Shadow God

The Shadow God

by Aaron Rayburn

(no stars)

I didn't read this book. I just read the review of it on Amazon.com. I sincerely enjoyed the reviewer's writing at least, and from the excerpts provided, I'd have to say he's probably close to right in his estimation.

For a chuckle, click this link and read the review for yourself. http://www.amazon.com/review/R1LPA5YOND6TGD/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Here are a couple of my favorites from the excerpts provided:

"Spiers's eyes popped extraneously from their sockets, as his face turned from a deep red to a sickly purple."

"Of all the things to think, he never thought he'd think that."

"Eubanks looked annoyed. He exhaled annoyingly and said..."

As our reviewer said, "It's enough to make aspiring writers want to give up . . . "

Year of Wonders

Author: Geraldine Brooks
Rating: ***

Our Reel Women movie group decided to take a foray into books and perhaps even alternate between book and movie club each month. Judy's daughter-in-law even thought of a great new name for us: Reel Women with Spine!

So to kick off the book club, March's selection was Year of Wonders, Since I'm writing this review, the rating is solely mine, and would have been higher except for a flaw I'll mention later.

The book is set in a real English town in 1666. According to the book notes, some of the characters in the book are based on real people and others are fictional. The story centers around the main character, Anna Frith, who loses so much and in the end proves to be a strong resilient woman in the face of the tragedies she witnesses.

The town is beset by Bubonic Plague, introduced most likely by fleas carried on fabrics. The town in real life and in fiction, under the leadership of its minister, decides to isolate itself from the world - no-one will leave, no-one will enter - until the plague has passed. They rely on supplies from a nearby wealthy landowner. They leave requests by a boundary rock and stand back while previous requests are delivered.

The illness is terrible, the toll is terrible, and the story intersperses some interesting human interactions that might be imagined living under those circumstances. Our group agreed it was particularly of interest how the two main women took over the herbal medicine practice of the town "witch" and through their study provided much-needed medical care.

It was an interesting book and occasionally challenging to read. The author's liberal use of early English vocabulary, many words I'd never heard of before, gave it a ring of authenticity. The subject matter seemed to be well-researched, making the story believable. Some in the group felt that some of the characters failed to show sufficient emotion at their loss, but Judy, our reviewer, suggested it might be more true of that time than we realize, that life expectancy was much shorter and infant mortality much greater, and, in context, it made sense that those people were more accustomed to such losses.

I won't reveal the ending of the book, although we know historically how this devastating illness ran its course. But to mention the one flaw I found in the book, our heroine made some dubious choices at the story's end that I thought were totally out of character. I would have liked the story to have ended differently for our fictional character. I will say that some in our group agreed with me and some did not.

The author is a Pulitzer Prize winner for her book March.

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Our group enjoyed a lovely evening hosted by Judy and her husband Sydney, with appetizers provided by each member, and joined by Judy's son and daughter-in-law, Michael and Sara. We agreed that perhaps we should stick to movies with our group and not pursue the book club route. I'm relieved as May is my month to choose and the next book club would have fallen on May.

But since that was probably our first and last book club for the group, I'm posting this review here instead of on the Reel Women page.