The Books of January 2011

This synopsis is a bit late, but thought it best to get it posted now, even if it does interrupt my current article series on homeschooling.

*Note: This may appear several times in your reader. For that, I apologize! I am having "issues" with my text editor and I. Am. Not. Happy.

Here are the books I completed in January:

White Picket Fences by Susan Meissner (fiction). Susan is one of the authors regularly highlighted by She Reads (notice the new button on the right sidebar) but I do not think this book was one of their monthly selections. If it was, it was picked before I started following. White Picket Fences was written in 2009 and I didn't discover She Reads until early in 2010.

You may recognize the name of Susan Meissner from her book, The Shape of Mercy, because it is one that I read last year and discussed just a few weeks ago. Ms. Meissner was kind enough then to send me an email to thank me for my recommendation.

I recommend this one also. Like The Shape of Mercy the present tiime is influenced by past events. In White Picket Fences the Holocaust provides a series of mysteries for the protagonists to unravel. And like all individuals, the modern-day people have their own secrets. Let's just say - for the sake of providing a nudge in the direction of this book without spoiling anything - that the characters might seem to be part of the perfect family (hence the reference to the proverbial white picket fence) but appearances can be deceiving, even to the individuals themselves.

I do have one criticism concerning the use of mild profanity. I say mild because they are Biblical words but they are not meant to be King James English. I do understand that authors, even Christian ones, feel compelled to have their characters speak authentically, however, I don't need to read such in order to know how people talk. One of the reasons I choose Christian fiction is to escape such language. Nor do I think it's usage was appropriate even in the context. Granted, it was a mild-mannered individual who used "mild" profanity and not one of the more worldly characters who did so, but that just begs the whole question of why even go there if everyone isn't going to speak freely?

Aside from that caveat I would recommend this book. It was a touching story about the seemingly perfect family that obviously is not all that it seems. Life with its interpersonal relationships is, um, complicated. This book deals with that issue.

I also recommend this book because I love a story that looks back through a character's genealogy. The blending of modern individuals with snippets of information concerning their family heritage makes a story right up my alley! This book does that as well.



7 Events That Made America America by Larry Schweikart (nonfiction). This book looks at some events of American history that were not seen as bellwether events in their time. For instance, did you know that the era of big government began in 1820 with Martin Van Buren? Or that when Dwight Eisenhower had his heart attack in 1955 the media set in motion the nanny state to control the diets of all Americans?

Each of the seven events highlighted is compared and contrasted with the concept of government that the Founding Fathers set in motion with what our government does now. And as you might imagine, what it gets wrong. He uses historical events that show that private enterprises and individuals can and will meet any needs that arise better than the government can. The problem is that the government will rarely leave well enough alone and goes so far as to get in the way by regulating the altruistic that step in to help. This in turn causes more chaos, which in turn causes more government regulation, etc. For example, the tragedy of the Johnstown, PA flood was contrasted with Hurricane Katrina flooding and argued that individuals that are familiar with the people, resources, and the topography of a devastated area are better able to offer assistance than FEMA agents.

In another chapter the book goes so far as to say that the bad boys of the 1960s era, the anti-establishment rockers, were pure capitalists. What? You thought they weren't in it for the money? Ha! Ha! Ha! How many of them held concerts for free? Hmm. Even the Beatles weren't happy with the British tax code and moved their enterprise elsewhere. And to think, our politicians want to emulate the European model!

Remember that last year I read a book about "myths" promoted by the North after the end of the American Civil War? I mentioned that our family had lively talks around the dinner table that were inspired by that book. And seriously, the anti-Lincoln slant of last year's read had somewhat unsettled me. Well, this book helped answer some of our questions. The real racists were ensconced within the Supreme Court, that branch of the government that overstepped their boundaries even back then.

Even one of our modern heroes, Ronald Reagan, is written up in this book for his crucial and erroneous decision to send our Marines into Lebanon on an impossible peace-keeping mission. They had targets painted on their backs the moment they set foot in the place, figuratively speaking.

The study of history is important to our nation. It is only by protecting the system set in place by our founders that we can be protected ourselves. I thoroughly recommend this book! Read it and cringe.


The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne (audiobook). This classic fiction was a required reading in The Bear's literature study. He didn't read it. One of the nice things about being the homeschool teacher is that I can make any necessary substitutions to fit the program. The American Literature guide that we bought from Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) had this Hawthorne book scheduled as part of its study of the Romantic Era. I chose to substitute Hawthorne's book The Scarlet Letter (which was listed as the honors text, but don't tell The Bear that.) because I am more familiar with it and until this month I had not read the other. This would make me able to discern whether The Bear was actually keeping up with his reading. (Don't tell him I said that either.) Okay, this is not a discussion of The Bear's reading habits so I'll move on in the discussion of mine.

Hawthorne suffered from verbosity, as do I, but probably because I read a great deal of American literature when I was young and was therefore highly influenced by it. His wordiness is evident in both books.

In classic Hawthorne fashion, the reader is introduced to the story through a prop. In The Scarlet Letter it is an embroidered letter that the author found in a drawer the leads to the invention of a story about the woman who wore it. In The House of the Seven Gables it is Hawthorne's house that fuels the author's imagination as he constructs a tale about its prior inhabitants. Again, this is a ploy that I find appealing! I'm much more amenable to reading historical fiction set in my own ancestors' haunts now that I am aware of such. Before I pursued my study of genealogy I had no clue where I fit into the history of the United States. This makes Hawthorne's writing as much a study of the New England culture as it pertains to my genealogy as it does of the Romantic period itself.

This book did not take me long to "read" on my iPod. A few days of basketball practice, some housework, time on the treadmill, and this book was completed! Again, if you haven't discovered the world of audiobooks, you really must. I'm blessed to be able to download mine free through the Ohio ebook program, but I'm sure there are other ways of procuring them frugally.


The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis (audiobook). Again, I'm using audiobooks to read some of the classics that I missed as a youngster. For one thing, my tastes have changed and now I appreciate certain genres so much more than I once did. It isn't that I didn't like Lewis. I read The Screwtape Letters when I was young and thoroughly enjoyed it. But the type of fantasy that he, Tolkien, and their kind usually produced? Not so much.

Now, however, thanks to the movie adaptations I have become a fan. I decided that I wanted to read the book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader before seeing the movie, but I decided to go back and read them in order. Okay, I am aware that "in order" is somewhat of a misnomer when it comes to the Magician's Nephew but I read it first since it is the prequel to the others and I didn't want to have to go through another Star Wars type flashback experience. This book tells how the events of Narnia came to be a part of the human world before they were discovered through the wardrobe.

The audiobook is particularly enchanting, the narrator being Kenneth Branagh who reads it in his lovely British accent. Somehow, that just makes it all the more appealing.

In fairness to my complaint about mild profanity I need to point out that it exists in the C.S. Lewis classics, too. I wasn't aware of that when I began reading them (I'm so naive) so it was somewhat of a shock when certain words came through my headphones. I'm also acutely aware that British and American vulgarities are not necessarily the same. I know an American who served as a pastor of a British church who unintentionally shocked his congregation by the use of some words we Americans use daily. And we'll leave it at that. :)

This month I read 4 books. 1 was non-fiction, and 2 of the 3 fiction were classics enjoyed via audiobooks.