Carol Anita Ryan's Blog, page 9

A literary shot of espresso!

 

Dreams Reign Supreme

Dreams Reign Supreme by Vincent Lowry is a book small enough to actually fit in your pocket.  And it’s the kind of book you’ll want there.  In spare moments the poems and short stories are waiting to transport you into another realm, one where your imagination gets to stretch out and go for a satisfying run.  In a time of multi-tasking and numerous interruptions a small book with short poems and intense stories is just the thing for mental refreshment.  It  is the literary equivalent to a shot of espresso.

Lowry writes clear evocative poetry and prose.  His poems and stories tell short but complete tales.  Whether he’s writing through the senses of an abandoned dog (and rarely has a dog been so accurately depicted), or a hapless crime victim, or a high school reunion impostor the reader will be drawn into the story and swept along to conclusion.

Chimpanzee

 

Oscar material

I saw ‘Chimpanzee’ yesterday on opening day.  For the first week of the film’s run a portion of ticket receipts are going to Chimpanzee research.  Since Jane Goodall asked, I wanted to support the movie.  The trailer looks like it is a semi-documentary and for once that’s accurate.  The photography is stunning and it’s worth the price of admission just to see African jungle on the big screen through the lens of these photographers.  If you saw ‘Avatar’ you might have been enthralled by how imaginative it was.  But, ‘Chimpanzee’ shows (for just one example) bio-luminescent mushrooms glowing at night making the dense forest seem surreal.  As is often the case, a gifted nature photographer can show the incredible diversity and beauty of the natural world, a world we rarely if ever glimpse.

The movie is about Oscar, a photogenic baby chimp.  The film makers followed his troop in their jungle territory and over time captured true-live drama.  With clever editing, soundtrack, and narration by Tim Allen, a story emerges.  Casting with baby chimps gives the film a head start, but the story is good enough to keep viewers following along.

Watching Oscar and his troop reminds me how little we’ve known about our near relatives in the animal world.  This film shows off how precarious life is for a baby chimp, even one lucky enough to be born in a perfect environment.  It takes a village, so to speak, for a chimp to learn how to survive in the wild.  Learning life skills is hard work requiring patience, strategy, and co-operation.  Every school kid in America should notice that, and so should we all.

Back in the 1950s, when American knowledge of chimpanzees was limited to J. Fred Muggs on the Today show, there were estimated to be a million chimpanzees in the wild.  Now there are probably 200,000.  Our human population during the same period exploded, and that fact has done the most harm to wild habitat for chimps (and other animals).  I hope you’ll see this film this week!

Speaking of History

Kiyo Sato, the veteran and me

I had the opportunity (thanks to a very thoughtful friend) to attend a class at Sacramento State University yesterday.  The occasion was a session on the Japanese-American Internment featuring several speakers with first-hand experiences. 

Kiyo Sato, author of Kiyo’s Story, and the other speakers gave a presentation aimed at making sure the unconstitutional mistakes of the past are not repeated.  Most in the audience were college-age and for them even the Vietnam War veteran on the panel must have seemed impossibly old.  Kiyo at 88.9 is therefore a living link with an important era in ancient history. 

Kiyo’s Story not only gives a first-hand account of the Internment, but also illuminates what life was like for her family before and after World War II.  The incredible resourcefulness and patience, especially of Kiyo’s parents, is the way the family (of nine children) survived and thrived, despite awful setbacks.   

That Kiyo’s Story took place in the Sacramento area adds to its local relevance.  Kiyo Sato is a national treasure reminding us of what has really happened, warning us to work against it ever happening again.

Finally the Vietnam-era vet on the panel spoke.  He is not Japanese-American but he grew up in this area (after World War II) surrounded by post-Internment Camp survivors who were mute about what they (or their families) had survived.  His comments about the difficulties people have talking of trauma (whether Vietnam War experience or Interment experience) for years after an experience was very moving.

 

I was feeling comfortable with the idea that we all know better now.  Nothing like the Internment could happen today.  But, the speaker reminded me of something it is so much nicer to overlook. During the panic of 911 the previous Administration took some shortcuts with due-process but President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have recently claimed the right to suspend constitutional rights of American Citizens who are deemed to be ‘terrorists’.  Without diligence, bad things can happen.

 

Drowning Review: Don’t judge by the cover

 

a misleading cover

The cover of Drowning did not look nor did the title sound like a book I’d normally buy.  I won a copy and because the book has won awards and is labeled a best seller, I was curious enough to start reading it.  I was immediately drawn into the story and found myself turning back to the book in idle moments:  it was that compelling.  The main character was imperfect alright, but the story never bogged down.  Why was she doing the things she did, why was she acting the way she was?  I thought the pacing of the book was excellent: like a well-written mystery novel the characters’ motivations are cleverly revealed at just the right time.  I was never sure where the story was going and I needed to find out.  The descriptions of island life in Washington State and motel life in Phoenix happen to resonate with me.  I could smell the mold of the island house and feel the deep dry heat of the roadway in Phoenix.  The author slipped in some Middle Eastern eggplant recipes, so I overlook a few sentences with wayward commas.  In the original Kindle edition there were massive formatting problems, but those have thankfully since been corrected.

In the end it’s a novel about family relationships and the need for honesty.  But it is a suspenseful ride before all is revealed.  It’s a book worth buying and reading.

 

Drowning Review: Don't judge by the cover

 

a misleading cover

The cover of Drowning did not look nor did the title sound like a book I'd normally buy.  I won a copy and because the book has won awards and is labeled a best seller, I was curious enough to start reading it.  I was immediately drawn into the story and found myself turning back to the book in idle moments:  it was that compelling.  The main character was imperfect alright, but the story never bogged down.  Why was she doing the things she did, why was she acting the way she was?  I thought the pacing of the book was excellent: like a well-written mystery novel the characters' motivations are cleverly revealed at just the right time.  I was never sure where the story was going and I needed to find out.  The descriptions of island life in Washington State and motel life in Phoenix happen to resonate with me.  I could smell the mold of the island house and feel the deep dry heat of the roadway in Phoenix.  The author slipped in some Middle Eastern eggplant recipes, so I overlook a few sentences with wayward commas.  In the original Kindle edition there were massive formatting problems, but those have thankfully since been corrected.

In the end it's a novel about family relationships and the need for honesty.  But it is a suspenseful ride before all is revealed.  It's a book worth buying and reading.

 

Flower Power and Memory

Lithodora in situ

Maybe I was a day late and actually played the part of an April fool on Monday.  I had the opportunity to go to a nursery and look for plants for my tiny garden.  I was gambling I know, buying tomatoes, corn and eggplant starts so early in the season.  There could be a month of cool rainy weather which would defeat my plans.  It's a gamble humans have been taking on since the advent of agriculture.

A modern problem for the springtime planter is deciding on what to plant.  Like all our shopping options, nursery fare is astounding.  A dozen types of tomatoes, dozens of other vegetables.  Then there are scores of herbs.  I navigated through all those temptations like sailors off the coast of Sorrento; never falling for the siren call of plants I had no room for; until I saw it.

Long ago, in what seems like someone else's life, I was married to a man who loved gardening.  He is a bright person who learned the English as well as the botanical name for every living thing in our huge landscape.  One of the beautiful plants we were able to grow in that more northern climate was lithodora (gift of the stones).  It has shocking, electric blue blooms as it covers the ground.  It's originally from southern Europe, I'm not sure it will survive a blazing summer here, but it might.

I seldom think about that other life I led, but the bright blue blossoms of the lithodora brought it back to me.  I'm glad I added it to my patio.

 

 

Spring time in the Northern Latitudes/ Come Alive When Winter Ends

 

peach blossoms

If you're human, living in the northern latitudes, you've noticed daylight is increasing.  Every year this end of winter darkness has been celebrated by diverse cultures.  One of my favorite cultural celebrations comes from Persia.  A very popular Persian poet today and for the past seven hundred years or so is known to us as Rumi.  Much of his poetry reminds us to embrace the delights of the senses and enjoy life—perfect for this time of year.

I recently had a couple of memorable meals at a Persian restaurant near Sacramento, Shahrzad.  You may not have such an opportunity to celebrate spring near you.  But I recommend this:  When seated our waiter brought a basket of pita bread, a bowl containing fresh sprigs of coriander leaves, mint, and dill weed, and a plate of spreadable white cheese.  The idea is you assemble a sandwich according to your taste from those ingredients.  The result of including the fresh greens is to wake up your taste buds and get ready for a magnificent meal. 

I had a bowl of lentil soup because although it was spring we had run into the restaurant dodging hail.  I hoped the soup would be warming.  It was so much more.  Waves of discrete flavors delighted me.  Lemon, mint, bay leaves were the things I could recognize; but there were other unidentified flavors.

That meal also included a smoky eggplant dish for me and lamb for my friends.  We completed the meal with ice cream made with saffron, pistachios and rose water.  It was the perfect way to commemorate the change in season.

I was lucky enough to travel by land across Iran not once but twice many years ago before Iran became dominated politically by fundamentalist religion.  It's kind of ironic that those who want out next President to be more influence by religion want us to bomb Iran.  Take a moment to enjoy a cultural tradition that's celebrated thousands of spring times.

 

 

Great House is not a great novel

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Great House is not a great novel, not even a good collection of short stories.  The book has some beautiful writing, the trouble being the good parts seem to be floating like icebergs in a muddy sea.  The reader who invests time in reading the book will come away (after heroically trying to make a story by linking together the random icebergs) covered in mud, feeling cold and tricked.

I read the book on my Kindle and at first I thought there must have been a serious screw-up with the formatting resulting in unrelated paragraphs turning up in odd spaces.  But, then I noticed that the narrators (often unnamed well into the book) would indulge in tangents completely unrelated to anything, certainly not the story. It wasn't a Kindle formatting problem.

Many contemporary writers skip around in time, point of view and narrators successfully (A Visit from The Goon Squad, The Impressionists are two of my favorites).  But those novels have intersecting stories that are linked together.  Krauss doesn't bother with that.  A desk is supposed to be the link in the stories, but that obviously wasn't enough.  I was going to reread the book, because I couldn't make sense of the plot.  But when I came to the rambling asides I couldn't make myself persist.  One sleepless night I resorted to mentally flow charting the characters' connections.  I think I put more effort into that than did Ms. Krauss.

There are passages in the book that are beautifully written.  There are interesting observations on the life of a writer.  There are thought-provoking ideas about loss.  But an editor would (or should) have cut away huge sections of text that merely distract from the worthwhile.

Lessons from a Friday the 13th misadventure

First, let me state that I am not a superstitious person.  In fact, as I get older I find myself more interested in science and statistical proof.  Still, the empirical first hand experience is hard to ignore.

 

It was Friday the 13th and I had my adapted Aquatics Class at 11:00.  It was a beautiful October day and because the water in the pool was heated, it was a perfect experience.

After class as I pulled out of the parking space, I gave a quick thought to stopping on the way home at the nice drive through bakery and treating myself to lunch.  But, I decided, since I was wearing only my wet bathing suit and a light jacket, to go straight home instead.

 

I carefully negotiated a path past the speed bumps and meandering oblivious students in the parking lot on the outskirts of the campus.  At one point a speed bump loomed and just beyond it a car was waiting to turn into my lane.  I paused just before the speed bump, to let him go ahead of me, and my van stalled.  I put the vehicle in park and turned the key.  Nothing happened after the various icons alighted.  I opened the windows and turned down the radio but the van wouldn't start.  I figured the engine was flooded so I decided to wait a few minutes.  That wasn't what a popular decision with the students waiting behind me to escape from campus and start their weekend.  After a few minutes cars started driving around me and giving me looks of exasperation or disgust.  One or two people slowed down and ask if I needed help.  I finally asked one guy to ask the campus police to help me, if he spotted one. He said he would go looking for one. A few minutes later an older policeman arrived. 

 

My seat was wet from my bathing suit, and I mentioned that to him as he had me move into the passenger seat and he slid into the driver's seat so he could start the car.  He tried all the things I had.  Another policeman came over and looked under the hood.  They decided my van should be moved a few feet away, to be less of an impediment to traffic.  One guy pushed, while the other steered.  They suggested I call AAA for a tow.  First though I called the company I bought my converted van from and asked their advice.  The mechanic there said to alert AAA to the fact that because it was a converted van and therefore extra low, a flatbed truck would be needed. 

 

That made me feel even worse.  I was starting to feel worried about getting home.  It was too bad that I had on the wet bathing suit, and that I needed a restroom.  Because of where my van was located, there was no room for the ramp to descend so I could leave the van, and the nearest building was about two-hundred yards away.  The AAA truck and driver arrived.  Before anything else could happen I had to ask their help to get to a bathroom.

 

The AAA driver and two policemen gallantly, and manually, lifted my electric wheelchair (which weighs a couple hundred pounds) out of the van.  Then I had to sort of crouch down on the floor and, with their help, fling myself into the wheelchair.  I headed for the nearest building which turned out to be the engineering building with a disabled bathroom in plain sight!  What a relief.

 

When I returned the AAA tow driver was on the phone arranging a ride home for me.  

Embarrassingly, he had thought of calling Paratransit and I hadn't.  But, I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't thinking very well.  Actually, the rule is you are supposed to arrange a ride three days in advance, so it never occurred to me that Paratransit would be flexible enough to help out in a crisis.  Thankfully I was wrong.  Within five minutes a Paratransit bus drove up and stopped.

 

I live about eight miles from campus, but I was lucky to get a direct ride home.  When I arrived it dawned on me that the AAA driver had all my keys.  Thank goodness my secret key was still in place in the back yard, so I wasn't locked out of my house.

 

When I tried to tip the Paratransit driver, who was my true hero, he said, "No, you've had a very bad day."

 

This happened a few years ago when I was still driving, but I learned a valuable lesson.  AAA will tow your vehicle, but it won't give you a ride home.  If you or your passenger won't be able to take a conventional ride home you may want to have a different towing insurance such as ADA (www.adaautoclub.com). 

 

ADA rescued me recently when my van broke down thirty miles from home.  Not only did they tow my van but also arranged for a special cab that could transport me, my friend, and my powerchair. 

The Man in the Wooden Hat

The Man in the Wooden Hat

The Man in the Wooden Hat is a companion to Jane Gardam's masterpiece, Old Filth.  It's an entertaining and enlightening expose of Betty Feathers, the wife we met and came to wonder about, in the earlier novel.  Gardam created so many intriguing characters in Old Filth that there was a need for this book (and I hope, others).   

It's hard for me to imagine this book separately.  The characters were so well drawn in the prequel that this book simply fills in the back story.  Perhaps that's why a plot is secondary; this novel is strictly character-driven.  But, much like Old Filth, the examination of well imagined characters set in an interesting world (the legal world of Hong Kong and England after World War II) is more than enough.  The reader of Old Filth has the good fortune to have many lingering questions answered in this book. 

I was a bit disappointed in Betty's character.  There didn't seem to be sufficient reason for her to be so instantly and permanently drawn to Veneering—the arch rival to her husband.  This is a central mystery that propels the whole story.  One thing the book demonstrates is the difference between generations in emotional reactions.  Perhaps Betty's decisions are understandable only to someone of her time and place.

Maybe Gardam should consider a Hong Kong Quartet to appease her fans?

 

If you're interested in an enthralling memoir of a real  British woman who was born and raised in China and forced into a Japanese prisoner of war camp, read 'The Mushroom Years' by Pamela Masters.

 

If you're interested in reading an enthralling