book pushing

I've been doing a great deal of reading, what else do you do in the winter in the UP.  And actually, some of what I've "read" I've listened to in the car.  For months after Jim died, I didn't have the concentration for audio books; all I could manage was some nice, soothing folk music.  Or loud, pounding rock.  But not a plot of any kind.  

But, thankfully, that's changed.  So, let me make three very different recommendations for your reading pleasure.

(1) A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.  Set in Afghanistan, this novel spans several generations, and begins sometime in the late 1960s, and ends in the present day.  The writing is clear and concise, the story is gripping, and the characters will grab your heart and break it a few times.  I've not read The Kite Runner, which is Hosseini's first novel (or, perhaps his first one released here?), but it's not on my list.  I listened to this one with a sense of real foreboding.  Tragedy is around every corner in this book, but Hosseini creates such empathy that I really fell in love with the women in his novel.  Additionally, the novel taught me much about Afghanistan.  I know there is a danger about learning about contemporary politics from a novel, but if the novel reflects the contemporary situation in any way, then it's no wonder that the situation there is such a mess.  And, it's no wonder that they have such hatred for Americans.  Read this novel, friends.

(2) Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.  This novel's been around a while, having been written nearly 20 years ago, though it's getting big press, since Mr. Follett finally released the sequel folks have apparently been begging him to write for years.  I picked it up about a month ago at the airport, when I finished all my work, unexpectedly, and it looked like the least grim in a series of bad airport newsstand choices.  I was so wrong.  It's wonderful.  Follett has written a novel about 12th century England, and the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge.  It's by turns funny, gripping, and suspenseful.  It's a real commitment, weighing in at nearly 1000 pages, but if you like historical fiction, this one is good, and well written.  And while I am no British historian, it rings true.  It's a real treat.  I don't get to sit and read for pleasure much, and I resent the time I'm away from this one.

(3) Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. This book is some odd combination of travelogue memoir confessional spiritual guide, written by a woman who's about my age.  Liz sets out to spend a year in pursuit of pleasure, God and balance, having survived a brutal divorce followed immediately by another broken heart.  She realizes that she must get her life in order.  So she goes first to Italy to learn Italian (something she has always wanted to do, simply because she finds the language beautiful).  Next she heads to the ashram of her guru in India.  Finally, she goes to Indonesia, where several years previously, she encountered an Indonesian medicine man who tells her to come back sometime and visit him.  

Liz Gilbert reads the audio version herself, which is great, because she's got an ear for accents, and her ability to relay conversations with Richard from Texas or any number of the folks she encounters is worth the price of admission on the audio book.  But the book is worth a read, or a listen, for more than this.  The questions that she raises about life and love, and the energy that she devotes to her spiritual practice put me to shame.  This woman meditates for hours every day.  And she's funny.  Gut splittingly funny.   And poignant.  There were times when I was crying so hard that I might have been dangerous, as I was driving down the road.  There were also times when she was a bit self-absorbed.  But hell, it was her book, so I think she gets the right.  I actually ordered the book tonight.  Because I liked it so much, after listening to it, that I want to read it.  I want to hold it in my hands, and underline things.  I want to write quotes down.

And, I certainly want to encourage some of the people I love to read the book.