Coconut Library

Harry Potter

 I have finally finished the Harry Potter series. As I have mentioned before, I bought book seven (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows) when it first came out, but have been unable to read it. I just didn't want this series to end. However, the other night, I realized I must read it before I can no longer remember what happened in book six! So, here I am -- having finished the series and wanting to weep because it's over. I cannot believe what a creative mind J.K Rowling has. Her prose makes you feel like you did when you were a kid reading your favorite books, yet she has the ability to keep adults interested because of the fast pace and intricate plots. Believe me, I have read much children's literature (and am still reading it for a particular class), and I love it. But there are few authors who can keep me as engaged as the children are. Most of the time I read the books to students, or others in my care, because I want to share the experience with them. With the Harry Potter books, I read them for me. If you are one of the, what? 2%, of people in this world who have not read this series... what are you waiting for??? Honestly, if you are looking for a good book (or series for that matter) that will pull you in and have you reading a 700 page book faster than the two-hundreder (just made that word up) you read last month, you have no excuses... these are your books. 

Ah, weep, gulp, gasp. Goodbye beloved series... I will miss you and, absolutely-most-definitely, read you again someday.
Five Coconuts

xo,
The Coconut Librarian

Committed

 Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, brings us its sequel (if you will) in Committed. Though she does not explicitly write about what happened in her previous book, this new account does, for the most part, pick up where she left us. 

After having both been through horrible divorces neither Gilbert nor her beau, Felipe, ever want to be married again. Live together, be together, commit to each other, and love each other; yes. Marry each other; no. Frankly, they not only don't see the point, they see a strong disadvantage to being legally married. However, when the United Stated Homeland Security gives them the ultimatum of "get married or get out... forever" they must come to terms with marriage and what it means for them (or what it doesn't mean, in this case). 

Gilbert's research on the institution of marriage over the course of history is incredibly interesting (if you are interested in that type of thing, which I am). Will sociologists and others have information to add to, and probably refute, some of what Gilbert says? Of course. This is not the unabridged version of marital history -- it is the incredibly abridged, tailored for Gilbert, with emotional elements tagged on version. However, I thoroughly enjoyed her refreshing take on women and marriage. I admire that she is not ashamed to also reveal that she does not want children; a topic that still, even in 2010, is more taboo than it ought to be. Though her vision of not wanting to be married is even more taboo, because she is, after all, a woman. All women want to be married. Right? All little girls plan out their weddings their entire lives. Don't they? It's up to us, the women of the world, to convince the men that they want to be married. Isn't it? Gilbert says no. And she has statistics to back her up for why we should agree with her (though she is careful not to alienate those who don't). I devoured this book, because Gilbert was speaking my language, and I do (for a large part) agree with her. 

The subtitle of this book is: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage. I would venture to say that it's not that Gilbert so much makes peace with marriage in the end, but rather -- when forced to -- realizes that she can recreate marriage to fit her and Felipe, and finds peace in that.  

Women of all ages, who want love but are not willing to sacrifice themselves (or the ones they love) in the process, will enjoy this book. And wise women of all ages who already have in one form or another done the sacrificing and lived to see the other side, will cheer Gilbert on in her exploration to find more balance and autonomy while also having love. And those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about -- you must be from Denmark; a country noted to be statistically in the bottom ten of the world's marriage rates*, as well as being that which studies by Forbes, The Independent, Oprah, and Businessweek (as well as others) find to be the top happiest country in the world. Coincidence? Elizabeth Gilbert would probably say not.
Five Coconuts

xo,
The Coconut Librarian

P.S. If you are a non-married man, please disregard all this talk about not getting married as it doesn't apply to you. While non-married women are considered to be the most productive (and happiest) of all human beings, non-married men are considered to be the least happy as well as least productive, members of society.** So, for goodness sake -- go find yourself a wife! 

* Compared to the USA, which is on the top of that list for the most amount of people who get married.

** According to Elizabeth Gilbert's research in Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage. 

Wolf Hall

 I have finally finished this book. It has taken me three weeks, which may not sound like a long time, but for someone who finishes books in a few days at most, this one was a comittment for me. In fact, I took a short break once I reached 100 pages to read another, lighter book, then came back to finish the next 400+ pages of this one. Boy am I glad I did. And while I am utterly sick of looking at this book -- I also have a strange sense of loss (mixed with accomplishment) since I have spent so much time holding this book in my hands and lugging it around with me. I feel as though I have completed and passed my AP History course. 

This is one of my favorite passages from the book as it explains the whole,

"The fate of people is made like this, two men in small rooms. Forget the coronations, the conclaves of cardinals, the pomp and processions. This is how the world changes: a counter pushed across a table, a pen stroke that alters the force of a phrase, a woman's sigh as passes and leaves on the air a trail of orange flower or rose water; her hand pulling close the bed curtain, the discreet sigh of flesh against flesh." (from page 499).

One thing that many people are saying is how much this book compels you to do research. Not boring-homework-research, but the type that you get lost in looking through resources (like Wikipedia) because you want to know more not because you have to. Because of this book I am now immersed in "The Tudors" (from Showtime) and from that, along with Wolf Hall, I am now feeling quite different about these infamous real-life characters than I did previously. After seeing several sides of these people (the book and the tv series often portray quite opposite views of most of the characters) I am reminded that these were legitimate people and that all of us have more than one side to our outward character. It's curious how when it comes to history we try to make heads or tales of people just because we know the way their stories ended. In reality, they were only mortals who were not necessarily villains nor saints rather just people -- trying to make it through life to the best of their abilities with the knowledge they possessed. Some did it poorly and some did it well... isn't that the struggle of the human existence? It is hard to remember, while still in the midst of it, that someday it will be over -- that we won't be remembered for our thoughts or intentions (however noble they might be) but for our actions. 

Be wary of the language of the book, as it can be discouraging at the beginning. Give it 100 pages or so to get used to it, and you will. I might have given this four coconuts because it was so difficult to read and (often) to understand, but I will give it five because I am sure that the author meant for it to be difficult and it is rare that we come across a book that is simultaneously difficult to read yet absorbing and educational. 
Five Coconuts

xo,
The Coconut Librarian

The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club

  I wonder if the fact that I am now craving tea everyday, took up crocheting again, and am dying to get back to England means that I was influenced by the charming book The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club. Gil McNeil gives us a story about Jo, who after being told by her husband that he has had an affair, loses him in a car accident. McNeil spares us the agony of going through the tragedy and allows us the uplifting glimpse of Jo's life, with her two young boys, as she rebuilds after. She moves to the English seaside, takes over her grandmother's yarn store, makes new friends (including an international movie star) while keeping close contact with her refreshing and witty best friend and rebuilding her life with her two (quite funny) adorable boys. I devoured this book in a big gulp, and can't wait for a second helping. You can almost hear her boys as you laugh out loud at them, and see her seaside house which I imagine is a bit shabby chic and utterly comfortable. Her life and  story are charming and real. Thanks to Hyperion/ Voice for this pleasant little surprise in my mailbox. I would giveaway a copy, but I won't because I'm not ready to part with mine... I plan on reading it again (kind of like comfort food and your favorite movies combined). 

Although the sequel has been published in the UK, we will have to wait until May for it to come out State-side. I can't wait. 
Five Coconuts

xo,
The Coconut Librarian

The Help

 I've wanted to read The Help by Kathryn Stockett since the moment I saw it on the shelf about a year ago. I put it on my wishlist, but kept reading other books. As the months went by I heard people say how much they loved it while it rose on bestseller lists. I finally bought it in October (because the hold list at the library was a mile long), and though my book club read it in November, I still procrastinated. I knew this was going to be a good book; too many people loved it for it to be a flop. However, I (wrongly) thought it was going to be a large commitment. A thick hardback about segregation in early 1960's Mississippi? That to me was a no brainer... get ready to have some heavy reading in a book you should be reading, even if you don't thoroughly enjoy it. Wrong. Incorrect, mistaken, false; if I could remember how to say it in another language I would. 

This novel, that I thought was going to be more of an education than an escape, was nothing like what I expected it to be. It reads smoothly, like you are sitting at a kitchen table sipping sweet tea with the very characters themselves while they are filling you in on the gossip of their town. The narration switches between Miss Skeeter (a white aspiring writer and new college graduate in her early 20's), Minny (a black maid and sassy mother of five in her 30's), and Aibileen (a black maid, sought after baby nurse, and talented writer in her 50's). Skeeter returns home to Mississippi after graduating from college in 1962 only to find that she no longer quite fits in with her lifelong friends. While they left college after one or two years to marry and start having babies, Skeeter finished her education and came home with plans for a career. Once home, the town's views about segregation and the roles of black and white people as citizen classes do not bode as well with her as they do with her friends (one of whom is the Junior League president, and staunch segregation supporter). And, to top it all off, her beloved maid and nurse, Constantine, has been fired and nobody will tell her why or where she's gone. Skeeter, wanting so much to be a writer, begins a project that has the potential to bring light to the circumstances in Jackson, Mississippi (one of the most notoriously racist cities of the time) but she will need the assistance of Aibileen, Minny and other Help even at the risking of their own lives. 

Though Stockett includes tragic events in the story, they are not the crux of the novel. They add to the setting because they explain the time. This is not a hard book to swallow, however, and you will not be wading through pages of history to get to the heart of the story. This book is actually the opposite. It wears it's heart on it's sleeve and adds history as relish to give the story depth and authenticity. The chapters narrated by Aibileen and Minny are especially beloved by many readers, me included, for the tone, rhythm, and flavor that they add to the story. 

I can't make you read this book, but I can tell you that you will be missing out if you don't. There are not very many books that pull you into them in such a way that you enter a different world while you are reading. This is one of those. I envy those of you who will be opening it and reading it for the first time. Don't pass it up.
Five Coconuts

xo,
The Coconut Librarian

Say You're One of Them

 After reading each story in this book all I could think was thank God I live in America. Some would say this is a small minded, uncultured point of view. To those people I say; perhaps you need to educate yourself about the perils of living in some of the other countries in our world, and possibly you need to survey your surroundings and be grateful for the abundance, freedoms, rights, and opportunities we have in this country. That's not to say that the United States is perfect, it is far from it. But we, who live in this country, are blessed beyond measure compared to others around the world, and lest we be arrogant enough to forget it Uwen Akpan has written a book that will strikingly remind you of it. 

This wasn't the easiest book to read, and not just because of the heartbreak. The prose was often choppy, and the dialects used can be hard to follow unless you are reading carefully. It is not a book that you can speed through -- nor would you want to. I've heard people say they can't put this book down once they started, but I did not feel the same way. Though I wanted to know what ultimately happened to each child, it was not in a form of eagerness and excitement. It was because I felt like I should know what happened to each child, as they are representations of many, many human beings out there.

Whether they be facing the dark realities of religious intolerance, child trafficking, prostitution, or genocide, each child in these stories reminds us of the pure place from whence we all came. The dearness and innocence is prevalent throughout this book, and such an amazing eye opener. What incredibly different experiences human beings can have. Even if living in the same country, but especially living a world apart. What a fantastic reminder to not only open your heart to help with what's important (do we really need another building in someone's name when there are children being traded as sex objects?), and to be utterly grateful for the amazing blessings in our lives. If you are reading this on your computer, you are far and away more blessed than 80% (get that, eighty percent) of the world's population. So whether or not I think you'll love this book is irrelevant. Whether or not I think you should read this book is definite. You should. When was the last time each of us volunteered, donated, or reached out on a regular basis? These are important questions to ask oneself, and these are questions you will not be able to ignore after reading this book. 
Five Coconuts

xo,
The Coconut Librarian

(poverty data taken from www.globalissues.org)

Life Amplified

 Divine Caroline is a site written by women for women. Anyone (you included) can write an article, submit it and (assuming it gets approved) see how it effects the women reading it. I love this site. I read the articles often, and post many of my reviews there. One of my current favorite sections is called Life Amplified. In this section you'll find articles such as; "Are You Leading Your Life or Following It?", "How to Really Get Happy", and "I Want to Feel Purposeful and Fulfilled." These are among other articles that talk about men, bodies, and inspiration... all on the same page (and many, many other topics fill the site). It's like an ever updated magazine written by women who are not worried about marketing and sales ratings. 

If you participated in voting for me in the Love! That Site Awards, you already have an account and can read and comment on all of the articles immediately. Those of you who don't have an account can make one easily in just a few quick steps (it's free). If you are not a fan of extra newsletters etc., simply opt out of the e-mails and you won't receive any. 

Enjoy the site, and don't way I didn't warn you... it's addicting!
Five Coconuts

xo,
The Coconut Librarian

(image taken from Life Amplified section of DivineCaroline.com)

The Christmas List, Challenge, and Book Club - Oh My!

 Usually I save my review of the Book Club selection until the end of the month, but seeing that this book has a Christmas theme, it is best read during this season. I want to post the review now to really encourage you to pick up this small book and read it this month. In fact, if I could, I would be buying this as a Christmas gift for all my friends and family. After reading the description on the back cover, I thought this would be a cheesy, cute Christmas novel for us to read for December. Having now read the book, I realized this is an original twist on a timeless story, and an incredibly inspiring one at that. 

James Kier is a very successful real estate mogul, who has lost his values along his way up the corporate ladder. He has no regard for the feelings of others, and has a vision for nothing else besides money and his own pleasure. A newspaper headline and following article about his untimely (and incorrect) death sends him on a journey through his past to those he has hurt. This is where the similarity to Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol ends. Richard Paul Evans' story jolts us out of the comfortable familiarity of a tale we thought we knew, and propels us on with his heartening tale of what turns out to be a thought provoking tearjerker. We readers learn lessons throughout the book, even if unable to relate entirely to the main character, as Evans gives us examples of not only trying to make wrongs right, but what matters in the meantime. Part of why I read is to change who I am. Whether it be to escape into the life of the character I am learning about, travel to a place I've never been (or revisit some of my favorites), or find encouragement and inspiration to find ways to make this world, along with my own personal world, a better place. The Christmas List is a book which I didn't expect to be the latter. Reading it honestly makes me want to be a better person, and I'm not the only one. After watching the video and reading people's reviews on GoodReads, I see that hundreds of other readers feel the same way I do. If you don't believe me, read it yourself. It will only take a few hours to read this absorbing novel. 
Five Coconuts

Announcements:

 On another note, I am taking part in The Christmas Challenge at The True Book Addict. The rules from this original Challenge are as follows:

The Christmas Reading Challenge:

• will run from Thanksgiving Day, November 26 through New Year's Eve, December 31, 2009
• you can choose 1 - 3 books...I know it seems a small amount, but it's a busy time of year and the challenge is only a little over a month.
• These must be Christmas novels, books about Christmas lore or a book of Christmas short stories (sorry, no children's books, but YA novel is okay).

I am adding an extra boost to the challenge, and instead of 1-3 Christmas books, am reading as many Christmas books as I can until Christmas (seriously, what other time of year can I do this?). So, if you would like to join, you can do the regular challenge (The True Book Addict version), or the boosted challenge (my version)! Usually by the time December 26th comes around, I am sad that Christmas is over for an entire year. What other month is there so much hope, so many inspirational movies and songs, so much love in the air, and pretty decorations along the city streets? I realize this challenge is for those who celebrate Christmas whichever religion you are, as I know people who are not practicing Christians who still love Christmas. If you are bah-humbug about Christmas, Coconut Library's goal is to be all Christmased out by December 26th, and ready for a new year and you can rejoin us for all of the great books coming to kick off the new beginning! 

 Last thing: As you know, I am a big fan of GoodReads and can hardly understand why everyone isn't on it. You get no advertisements, you need not post any personal information (as well as being able to set your account to private), you can review and get hundreds of reader reviews on any book that is published, and it's free! As has been mentioned, CL moderates a book club called Heartwarmers, and you are welcome to join that one. However as of December 8, 2009, CL will moderate a Coconut Library Book Club on GoodReads! It will be open for readers of Coconut Library and will feature the Book Club selection for each month. This will be a place where, regardless of location or time availability, we will all be able to discuss the current month's book together. Please take a moment to check it out. What do you loose if you don't like it? You can cancel your account immediately. Come join us to discuss The Christmas List this month. Looking forward to seeing you there!

xo,
The Coconut Librarian

One Thousand White Women

We all know the atrocities that people have faced in our country. Whether it be from race, gender, or age, we have seen it all. One Thousand White Women brings it home by expanding on a particular group and a partial truth. (The following is a general summary of the Author's Note.) In 1854, a prominent Northern Cheyenne chief approached the U.S. Army authorities asking for one thousand white women as brides for his tribesmen. The Cheyenne are matrilineal and believe that a person belongs to the tribe of their mother. In this case, if a white woman and a Native American man procreated, the child would belong in white society. This was their hope for the future, their hope for peace. Of course, the Army refused. In the authors' words, "the Cheyennes' request was not well received by the white authorities - the peace conference collapsed, the Cheyennes went home, and, of course, the white women did not come. In this novel they do."

What follows the author's note, is a story not only about Native Americans and the white women that marry into the Cheyenne tribe but a story about humans; how different we all are, and how cruel we can be. 

You will not be convinced that this experiment was a good idea, you will also not be convinced that this is a story (either the fiction aspect or the reality of what happened in our nation's history) that could be changed, but you will know the story better. You will be more aware of how cruelty comes with ignorance, and how cruelty comes with the quest for survival. My education about native Americans ended around 8th grade, as it does for most of us in this country. However, it is one of the saddest stories in our country. It is much different than the story of the slave, but - in many aspects - it is just as bad because, ultimately, it continues today. 

If you can, for a moment, close your eyes and imagine men from a foreign country (pick whichever one you are most frightened of) coming into your home, taking the title of your house and your cars, your birth certificates and social security cards, and then handcuffing you and taking you to the projects and telling you that you may not leave. You may, however, enjoy your new surroundings and your new "home" for the rest of your days. There is no one coming to rescue you, there is no one who thinks what happened to you is wrong. And guess what... the generations who come after you will live there too and will see nothing of the life you built and had before when you were free. They will know nothing of who you were except for the stories they hear that become myths and fiction through the years. Of course, I will not have you imagine what else would happen, including what often happens to women when invading men have free reign and what happens to the men who try to stop the intruders, or what happens to children and babies in these situations, because you can guess that on your own.

This book opened my eyes, in a new way, to the horrors that humans can, do, and will inflict on one another. May Dodd, the narrator of this story, says it most simply, yet profoundly. "God forgive us all... God forgive mankind...". Lest you think you will leave this book hating all humans, you won't. There are some very beautiful moments, funny ones too. The characters will become real and you will care for them. You will learn, and your perspective will grow... not just about this situation, but about our current world as well. You will want to know what happens and the story will draw you in. 

I recommend you read this. Not only for entertainment value (because you will be entertained), but for the expansion of your mind. Most of us will never know what it's like to be displaced from our homes, or have our lives taken from us yet have to live to see what happens after. The next time you see an ad on television, or a politician's campaign about Indian Reservations, or you see a casino on native American land, you will think about this book and how we, mankind, create and change the course of history thinking we are doing what is right. Because isn't that when we make the most damage? When we are sure that we are right?
Five Coconuts

Stay Tuned: Coming Up Next Week...
* November Book Club Selection Announcement
* The Postmistress (review)
* Dracula (review) -- this was our October Book Club Selection. 

xo,
The Coconut Librarian

The Day the Falls Stood Still

I am  liking what Hyperion/Voice is publishing (and sending out) lately. I just finished The Day the Falls Stood Still and I have to say, I am impressed. This is Cathy Marie Buchanan's debut novel, so I was expecting it to feel like one. Buchanan, in her first attempt, has created an evocative story.  

This novel is set in World War I era Niagra Falls (Canadian side), which is where the author is from. Her familiarity with the area comes across in her writing, as does her reverence for this natural wonder. Although one could say the story is about many things -- the Falls, WWI, the beginning of (and subsequent conflict about) hydroelectric power in this region -- it is truly about Bess. It's a love story of all kinds. Even though Bess and Tom are the most obvious love story in the book, there are other love stories that are just as important adding to the theme of the full story: Tom and the Falls, Bess and Isabel, Isabel's parents, and more. 

This novel has been compared to The Notebook and Atonement, and I think that is a correct comparison. Bess and Tom embody romance, love, companionship, and mutual respect. We know that we want them to be together, and we know that we also dread it, because how many stories (including reality itself) allow us to get what we want without a price? Like other good authors, this one adds in the elements of life. There is no sensationalizing in the prose; Buchanan doesn't go overboard trying to tug our heartstrings, she doesn't have to. She writes the story as it would have happened. 

I found myself looking back to the cover art towards the end of this book. The haunting image on the front is a great introduction to what you'll get inside. Like the picture, the wording is subtle; the elements of the story are presented to but not pushed on you. The author doesn't try to lasso the reader in with big cliffhangers, or unsaid words. She tells you the story; letting it unfold gently until the end. 

The feeling this book gives much resembles a storm. One that starts with light fog and some grey clouds, and gets louder and heavier as the outburst in the weather progresses until the world outside is lashing and the wind is frightening. And when it is over the sun gently beams through soft clouds hardly resembling the tantrum that it threw, or maybe because it is exhausted from it, and the day goes on. Such is life. Such is The Day the Falls Stood Still. We leave Bess while she is still a young woman, though it hardly feels that way, and realize, upon shutting the book, that we have only caught a small glimpse of her life. Her story reminds us that a storm rages and destroys, but the sun shines through again even if ever so faintly, even if just so you know it isn't still night. 
Five Coconuts

xo,
The Coconut Librarian

(Take a moment to watch the book's trailer here.)