February was not meant to be my month to read books subjected to a ban, whether in school, prison, or overall. But here we are. Book 1: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr Thanks to my cousin Suzanne for recommending this wonderful novel. Set in Germany and France during World War II, it presents some of the impossible challenges faced by children of war-torn Europe. Male protagonist Werner is a child genius who just happened to be…
Although I rarely try to theme each month’s book choices, in January it seems each told the story of transformative life changes, whether in war, living on the land, or in the aftermath of death. Book 1: One Man’s Meat by E. B. White Before E. B. White wrote Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little, he wrote a series of columns for Harper’s Magazine. These chatty essays described his new life on a farm in Maine. Up until that point in…
Now that I’ve looked up “cornucopia” to be sure it means what I thought it did (indeed: horn o’ plenty), I must share that the original horn was from a goat. I kid you not! That said, November’s cornucopia of books numbered five volumes. Two autobiographies, two crime mysteries, and a children’s novel. Book 1: A Box of Delights by John Masefield Last month’s reads included The Midnight Folk by John Masefield. Since this second book unfurled the next chapter…
As I finished up each book this month, I’d tell Farmer Gary: Time for a lighter book. But it wasn’t the weight of the volume that needed changing. With horrifying acts of terrorism around the world and crazed gunmen here in the U.S., it was time for an escape. Somehow, though, each new book was also filled with sorrow. Book 1: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque The title was so familiar, but I’d never before…
Just when I’m about to declare how fast September flew by, I look at the list of books I read and that first book seems so long ago. Book 1: The Watchmaker’s Daughter by Larry Loftis Corrie ten Boom told of her part in the resistance in the Netherlands during World War II in her memoir The Hiding Place, which was assigned reading in my high school. Half a century later, Gary gave me this volume and I wondered how…
In a file folder containing Dad‘s retirement documents from 1988, I came across a five-page typewritten document. Titled: Autobiography A handwritten note at the top of yellowing paper indicates it was completed on July 21, 1954. Was it written by request of a potential employer? We may never know. Here it is, in its entirety: Autobiography by Harold E. Vayo, Jr. My birth occurred, I have been informed, at St. Luke’s Hospital, Utica, New York, about four-thirty on the morning…
No, I’m not referencing the situation here in America. There’s another former president from a far-away land who also says he didn’t do it. This year is the 25th anniversary of the Kosovo War. That country’s former president pleaded not guilty at The Hague today to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Mom had a way of deeply humanizing stories of political and ethnic conflict through her writing. From Paddy McCarthy’s part in Belfast’s Bloody Sunday in 1971 to the…
From Vonnegut to Dr. Jekyll to a Covid housemate, this month’s reads told stories of war, both external and internal. Book 1: The Marmalade Diaries by Ben Aitken February started out with a gift from Gary. He’d picked up this delightful diary that was published just last year. Subtitled The True Story of an Odd Couple. The author is a young man in London, looking for a place to live. He found an ad for room and board in a…
Lots of reading this month, with a mix of fiction and non-fiction. Although about half were also made into movies, I made a point to watch only three. The foolishly banned Maus came in two volumes, and left me especially grieving for the author’s loss of his mother and her journals. Lots of trigger warnings for this month’s batch of books, as Maus – along with any Holocaust story – is deeply disturbing. There’s also language in books written in…
Mom‘s fable about two soldiers and an old bear is best read aloud, to a child or a child at heart. Or anyone who questions war. Bear, Who Would Not Be a Soldier There was once a bear who lived in shabby comfort in the heart of an old forest. He had been a woodcutter, other times a guide, but never had he worn a uniform or joined a society. Now he was old and heavy like a grandfather tree,…