Reading in the Garden

Out of Human Bondage Into Emotional Bondage Beloved  by Toni Morrison is about a woman who escapes slavery to the free state of Ohio where she settles into her mother-in-law’s house with her kids to try and start a new life. The book slowly reveals Sethe’s horrifying journey out of human bondage into an emotional bondage.  The story enthrallingly dissolves in and out of the past and present offering readers glimpses of wholly tragic situations.  It begins in the middle when Sethe’s  mother-in-law dies shortly after her  two boys run away.  This leaves Sethe alone with her daughter, Denver, and the spirit of her dead baby, Beloved. Beloved is an oppressive reminder of the meaning of freedom and eventually manifests herself in a human form to reveal the haunting truth behind her death. I’ve read a couple other moving novels about slavery, but nothing like this.  This book unfolds vivid, raw descriptions of unimaginable horrors—atrocious a...

Power Couple in the Logging Industry Serena by Ron Rash is about a newly married couple who owns a timber company in North Carolina in the 1930s.  While Pemberton efficiently runs his successful logging business, his new bride, Serena, a smart, self-assured, and manipulative woman, steps in with steely resolve to take production to the next level.  Pemberton (as he is ever referred to, even by Serena who never calls him George) is in awe of his wife’s strength and knowledge and proudly watches her smooth management skills not just in the logging industry, but also in their fight to control great portions of wooded land that politicians want to turn into a park—The Smoky Mountains National Park.  To what level of ruthlessness will this power couple take their quest for dominance?  This book was a page-turner and an eye-opener.  I kept turning the pages because I wanted to see what that slimy Serena and her accomplice husband were up to next. The eye ope...

A Sea of Supernatural Incidents The Ocean at the End of the Lane   by Neil Gaiman   is a book about a boy’s childhood filled with paranormal activity—not the kind where a possessed person is watching you sleep, but the kind where three women have “unusual” talents for recipes (spells) and one other-worldly, evil being reeks havoc in all four of their lives, mainly the boy’s. When a man goes back to his hometown for a funeral, he starts to remember odd occurrences when he was seven years old, things he had forgotten and will later forget again.  It all begins when he meets Lettie Hempstock, an eleven-year old at the end of the lane.  Like in the movie The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, a 1977 movie starring Jody Foster, strange things are happening there.  Instead of dead people though, there are strange people like Lettie, her mother Ginnie, and grandmother Old Mrs. Hempstock, who seem to know things they couldn’t possibly know.  They’re olde...

Happy Birthday to Notable Authors Born in February! Click on the links to read reviews. James Michener February 3, 1907 American author known for long sagas of historical interest set in distinct locations:  Alaska, Hawaii, Caribbean, Texas , and Poland to name a few. So far, I’ve read Sayonara and Tales of the South Pacific , both of which I’ve enjoyed.  Michener won a Pulitzer Prize in fiction for Tales of the South Pacific . Charles Dickens February 7, 1812 An English writer known for his classic works including A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Great Expectation, and A Tale of Two Cities to name a few. Jump into tales of struggles and hardships of the downtrodden. Laura Ingalls Wilder February 7, 1867 American author known for her Little House on the Prairie series based on her pioneer childhood in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Kansas.   Sinclair Lewis February 7, 1885 American novelist and playwright ...