Book For The Week - 8/29/11

Never Let Me Go

by
Kazuo Ishiguro

This is the first book I read on my Kindle and it is one of those books you never forget.   The person who recommended it to me called it a masterpiece and oh my it is.   I am not sure I want to watch the movie.  It can't be as good as the book.  Click on the author's name and the title to follow links to learn more.

Book For The Week - 8/22/11

Murder on Nob Hill


by


Shirley Tallman


This pm I just finished listening to  Murder On Nob Hill by Shirley Tallman.  While I would definitely put this book in the "chick lit"  category,  I did enjoy it as a fluff book to sandwich in between more serious books.  Mystery is not my favorite genre but once in a while I do find a series that is great to pick up one of the novels when I need an escape book.   Much on the same level as Victoria Thompson's Sarah Brant,  Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody,  Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plume,  and Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone -  Shirley Tallman's Sarah Woolson is a gutsy female that makes a series hold one's attention.  Murder On Nob Hill  is the first in this series and it is delightful.  The story is set in the late 1800s in San Francisco and Sarah Woolson is working her way into the male dominated field of law.  She takes on cases where she defends women who would other wise be swept under the carpet and ignored by the male attorneys who dominate the career of law.  In this first novel she is working to clear a woman who is accused of murdering her husband and in the process becomes in danger herself.  Learn more about this book,  the other titles in this series and the author by clicking on the author's name and the title of the book.    A big thank you to Heidi for telling me about this book series!

Book For The Week - 8/18/11

Uncle Tom's Cabin
by
Harriet Beecher Stowe


Next month a friend and I have a trip planned to Cincinnati Ohio to visit some of the Underground Rail Road sites.   One of the places I hope we get to tour is the home that Harriet Beecher Stowe lived in between 1832 and 1850 when she was living in Cincinnati.    After my vacation last year to the greater Boston area and the fun I had touring the homes of Louisa Mae Alcott,  Ralph Waldo Emerson's grandparents home where he wrote Nature,  Henry David Thoreau's Waldon Pond and Nathaniel Hawthorne's House of Seven Gables,  I came home and listened on audio to  The House of Seven Gables,  Nature,  Little Women and On Walden Pond.   As I listened I knew it would have been better to listen first and visit second.   As a result,  earlier this week,  I finished listening to Uncle Tom's Cabin.   Even though I can't remember ever reading it,  I must have either read it a long time ago or had parts of it read to me as a child because there were portions of the book that were very familiar to me. 
While listening to the story several things came to mind.  It is of course propaganda that was meant to encourage people to become involved in the abolitionist movement just prior to the civil war.   I was surprised to see the amount of time that the author spent developing the point of view of the southern slave owner and her defense of their point of view.   She did make it crystal clear that even a kind and generous slave owner put his slaves at risk for mistreatment if he should die unexpectedly by having the character in the book who was a kind and generous slave owner have an unexpected fatal encounter.   She also developed at great length the separation of families that took place with the system of slave trade that was practiced in the south.   The author allowed us to be a part of one families escape and to experience the underground rail road that they followed to Canada. 

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin filled to the brim with her Christian point of view.  It is a book filled with religious references and was meant to be read by a Christian audience.  There were many places where the Bible was quoted and Christian language was used throughout.   The novel made clear in the character of Uncle Tom how the idea of the  "Promised Land"  was used to endure hell on earth.
This book is a classic and should be read by everyone.  It is believed that Abraham Lincoln accused Harriet Beecher Stowe of starting the Civil War with the writing of Uncle Tom's Cabin.    This year is the 200th anniversary of Harriet Beecher Stowe's birth.  What a wonderful  time to read or to re read her book! 
Please follow the links to learn more.  It can also be listened to HERE.

She's Alive... Beautiful... Finite... Hurting... Worth Dying for.