Must Read After My Death

Once again, this is not a book review but it is somewhat literary. And I have 3 books going right now-I may finish one.

In the past, Robin and I have discussed journaling. Not the "I arose to a beautiful cloudless blue sky, had dates and walnuts with tea for breakfast and went for a walk along the shore. The birds sang as the sharp salt air tickled my nose and sand encrusted the hem of my white linen shift much like a sequin trim" but the "my job sucks, my husband is an idiot and my children must have been switched at birth because there is no way they came from my body" kind of journaling. Our discussion usually revolves around what to do with those pages, keep them, hide them away for years or burn them. After reading Danny Miller's blog today-I'm thinking the purge by fire is the way to go. Danny often writes about his family and wonders who might be offended by the stories much as I do when writing even if it will only be seen by me. I soften the edges because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, not even in my own head.

Danny always includes great pictures in his posts and those of us born in the 50's-60's have similar pictures stuffed into shoeboxes in the top of some closet somewhere. Even though he was a Jewish boy growing up in Chicago and I was an excommunicated Catholic+Baptist=Methodist girl in a tiny town on the edge of Appalachia, I find his photos could be my pictures or a neighbors' and that's the fascinating thing for me-the picture only tells a part of the story. I grew up with 2 brothers, eight and 10 years older and one a few years younger. We were close-both parents in the home, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins within walking distance. Sunday dinner at MawMaw's every week, everyone together for holidays. A Mayberry kind of existence. We were happy-i have pictures to prove it.

We all left home as soon as we could, settled in geographically diverse areas, never visit and communicate only intermittently; the younger one speaks to none of us. We all look so happy in those shiny, B&W scalloped edge Christmas morning photos. The picture only tells a part of the story.

Must Read After My Death tells the other part of a story, not just the static version of old photos. I watched Capturing the Friedmans earlier this year and was so taken by the story I had to then watch the extended version with all the commentary and interviews. It is a fascinating film given the subject matter because it shows a "normal" family going through a shattering experience, much of it" captured" on film. I was fascinated by the fact that despite the lies, pain, anger, imprisonment, they were still able to find some love for each other.

I don't know the part of my family story that is missing but I may reconsider that purge by fire. Maybe what we can't say aloud should be left behind.

Judy

The Last Boleyn by Karen Harper

Six hundred pages in two-and-one quarter days. Oh, so this is what *not* being in school feels like! On one hand, this is quite a long tome, but we seem to be a gang that likes that in a book. On the other hand, it is written in such a manner that allows one to think (perchance to dream) that maybe one day they could write a book, too.

While you may be thinking, "My, aren't the Boleyns quite popular this year!" Ms. Harper released this book under a different title in 1983. This story of the Bullen (later Boleyn under Anne's direction) family is full of twists and turns one would not even dream of in modernity, but are amazingly believeable in medieval times. The attention to detail provides a wonderful literary screenplay, and the characters and plot are very well developed. The book does come screaming to the end, but the end really needn't be any more embellished to be striking.

I have been inspired to write a book of my own...perhaps...of the same time period, and perhaps with many of the same characters. Since this is an open blog, I won't post the concept here as I would intend to copyright it. I have been researching the topic & timeperiod and have not found a book of the same subject matter. I think it would fly, and will share with those that are interested via email.

I would recommend this read, a decadent page-turner of the Tudor period. Perfect with multiple cups of coffee or Turkish tea over a restful weekend!

~ Robin

"A Pigeon And A Boy" by Meir Shalev

At last I've fulfilled a post-graduate-worth-read. I choose most of my books by their covers, wandering about the library--and finally I got a good one! This is not one of my cheap entertaining stories, and took a little (though willing) effort on my part to get into. I did not know, until after I'd finished, that this book is translated from the original in Hebrew. That makes it all the more striking, because the way this guy writes is poetry in a way I like to read.

The book goes back and forth between two stories---a romance set in wartime Israel (when wasn't it that) and the narrator's own life story. It has an astonishing climax and an even more shocking event toward the very last pages. I rather wish we could do this in a book club because it's got SO much to talk about and so many wonderful phrases to chew over. I think I'll try to find his "Four Meals" to work on while you-all catch up on this one!

Olga