Roll out those lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer....

Why is it that being lazy is "OK" in the summer? Is it because there was no air conditioning in the olden days, so people couldn't move fast or complete tasks? Because school always let out in the summer, creating a natural break? For whatever reason, we all seem to get a little lazy when the summer months arrive. We eat ice cream cones. We take naps. We take vacations.

"Summer Reading" is a synonym for "unimportant", "unrealistic", or even "dumb". I went to the library on a hot day recently and deliberately chose a big stack of "summer reading" books. They were all paperbacks. All by women. One was even a mystery!

But, as I sat in front of my room air conditioner, watching a re-run of "The Middle" I had seen a couple of times before (don't you just love Brick?), I found myself really enjoying the books I selected.

"Tainted", by Brooke Morgan is a mystery set on Cape Cod. A shy single mom, Holly, who doesn't realize she is beautiful, meets a handsome, witty, smart, irresistible Brit, Jack Dane. He asks her out, but when he realizes she has a five-year-old daughter, he tells her he can't see her any more. However, events out of Holly's control bring them together again. Jack is just perfect...except for those bizarre outbursts of anger when there is any noise. The creep who fathered Holly's little girl and abandoned them both, doesn't seem to share Holly's opinion about Jack Dane's perfection. Who is right? And why does the British woman whose number is on Jack's cell phone keep denying she knows him? This first novel kept me interested all the way to the end.

I have seen Elin Hilderbrand's books on the library's shelves for years, but have never wanted to read one. With titles like "The Love Season" and "The Beach Club", they just didn't seem like my glass of iced tea. Where would I find the concentration camp survivors? Members of the French underground? Nonetheless, something made me pick up one of Hilderbrand's books, "Nantucket Nights". It is the story of a twenty year friendship between three women who meet once a year, at midnight, to drink champagne, swim in the buff, and share secrets. They call themselves the "night swimmers". One woman is a high-powered attorney, one is a reclusive millionaire who had been a great dancer, and our heroine is a wife and mother who battles with her weight and tries to take care of everyone. Not surprisingly, the night swimmers encounter a lot more than waves when they try to carry out their ritual this year. Are they really "friends", or has that all been an illusion? I have to admit that I will be taking out the rest of Hilderbrand's beachy paperbacks as soon as I return this one.

Another first novel, "Why the Sky is Blue", by Susan Meissner was my third paperback this week. I will divulge that this book is on the "Christian-lit" side, for anyone who minds that sort of thing. Meissner is the wife of a pastor. Claire is leading a wonderful life...she has a loving husband (he is even a veterinarian), a healthy boy and girl, and she teaches English at the local high school. But, one night she is brutally attacked by a stranger and her life, and the lives of everyone she knows, changes forever. Claire might be able to recover from the attack. She has strength, support, and faith. But she is facing much more than anyone knows. Will her courage be enough?

I can't imagine reading any of these books in the winter. But, for now...well, they are like a soft ice cream cone from Jumpin' Jack's...with sprinkles. Enjoy!

The Choice Isn't Always Easy

Some books stay in your mind and heart for years. You find yourself recommending them to friends. You find yourself re-reading them. Others are enjoyable, but forgettable. The story may keep you up way too late (yes, that happened to me last night) and yet, you can recognize the flaws in the story even as you are reading.

Recently, I read Ann Hood's new book, "The Red Thread". It is about six American couples who adopt baby girls from China through an agency called "The Red Thread." However, it is equally about the heartbroken and courageous Chinese mothers who have no choice but to give up their beloved infant girls. It was a solid, good book. There was nothing wrong with it. I enjoyed it very much and would recommend it to anyone. However...several years ago I read "Digging to America" by Anne Tyler, which is about two very different types of American families who meet at the airport while waiting to meet the little girls they have adopted from Korea. I loved this book! I loved the two families, who shared nothing except the adoption of these babies. I loved learning about the Iranian customs Tyler describes; I could almost taste the tea that grandmother Miriam brewed. I could feel how uncomfortable Jin-Ho Donaldson was with her Korean name.

Perhaps Hood tried to do too much by telling twelve stories within this fairly brief novel. Perhaps I just felt so disgusted by some of the Americans that I couldn't bear to see them acquiring these children. Tyler, however, doesn't flinch when she shows her her characters' flaws and weaknesses. Yet, I never once doubted that these two couples were loving, deserving parents to their daughters.

I also recently read two historical fiction books, "The Kommandant's Girl" by Pam Jenoff and "Purge" by Sofi Oksanen. I have read another of Jenoff's books and have her third waiting for me. So, I really do like her writing. But...things just go way too easily for the Jewish heroine, Emma, who poses as a Catholic, Anna, and finds work as an assistant for the German Kommandant in occupied Poland during World War II. Even the Gestapo isn't very frightening in this book! And while I understand Emma escaping from the ghetto, I do not understand how she seems to ignore her imprisoned parents for the greater part of the story.

Oksanen's book, "Purge", tells so many stories and takes the reader into so many painful places that it could be difficult for some to read. For me, however, this is the way we can all learn about the horrific events in history that shaped those from behind the Iron Curtain. Two women, Aliida and Zara, meet. They are suspicious, as all Estonians must be. We learn about Aliida's painful, almost unbearable past, and we learn that such horrors are still happening to women in the present, through Zara's story.

Some years ago I visited what I consider to be the best museum in the world, "The House of Terror", in Budapest. The story of the victimization of Hungarians by both the Nazis and the Soviet Union is told in a simple, yet chilling, way. Every item I saw at that museum has stayed in my mind. That is how I feel about many of the scenes in "Purge".

For me, there is always time enough to read two, or three, or three dozen books on any given topic. But for many, a choice is necessary. While you will enjoy "The Red Thread", you will remember and be touched by "Digging to America." While you might stay up late to finish "The Kommandant's Girl", as I did, you will feel and be haunted by Aliida's and Zara's victimization in "Purge."

True Grit

I am sure you are all getting mighty tired of my fixation with World War II books. So, I am going to touch on some other wars...I know, I know...why so much war? But battle, or the fear of battle, teaches people to find strength they didn't know they had. We all fight battles, every day. Some are important. Some only seem important at the time. We may have to fight a battle to control our emotions after the death of a loved one. A battle to control our tempers when that person at work you want to depend on calls in sick yet another day. A battle to conquer our fear of death. A battle to be patient with elderly parents who will not listen to our good suggestions. A battle with a teenager who wants to do something you know is unsafe (because it was back when you tried it, too).

When I visited Ypres, Belgium, there was a wonderful bookstore devoted to writing about WWI. I chose a non-fiction book there, "Thirty-odd Feet Below Belgium", edited by Arthur Stockwin. After the death of his mother, and his father's relocation to a nursing home, Stockwin found a chest full of letters. To his surprise, they were not his parents' love letters, but correspondence between his mother and a WWI officer named Geoffrey Boothby. These are innocent and sweet letters between a couple who barely knew each other. When Boothby is first in France, he is brave and excited, but the horror of the conditions and the loss of so many brave friends changes him, as it did all of the men who fought. Although these letters were simply meant as a way for a young man and woman to court, they provide many facts about the danger and hopelessness of life in the trenches.

David Sears, who has written two superb books about World War II, has just published "Such Men as These", which is about a war I know far to little about: Korea. I would guess that most of my generation shares my embarrassment at our lack of concern about this war. Sears takes the story of Michener's "The Bridges at Toko-ri" (who doesn't remember the wonderful movie with William Holden and Grace Kelly?) and helps us understand the truth behind it. He locates the incredible pilots who had to fight in this far away place, risking their lives for a cause many Americans didn't even understand. While Sears' knowledge of the Navy, the ships, and the planes all help the reader understand a forgotten war, the book would not succeed but for his ability to humanize the courageous men in battle. We feel their loneliness and isolation. We understand their fears and feel their pride in their flying accomplishments. At the end of the movie about Toko-ri, a question is posed: "where do we get such men?" David Sears gives us the answer in "Such Men as These".

Most of my generation can tell you where they were when the numbers were called during the draft lotteries to determine who would have to fight in Vietnam. I remember hearing the numbers called in the TV lounge at Ithaca College. Back in those strange college days of the seventies, I never thought of myself as growing older. Perhaps that was just what we baby boomers were like. I certainly never imagined myself becoming a homeowner...and the "mother" of two dogs. Now that I am, I cannot imagine myself without my beloved animal friends. I had no idea that dogs were used by our troops in Vietnam until I read Toni Gardner's book, "Walking Where the Dog Walks". Gardner takes us through the beginning of the partnerships between man and dog, their training, and the incredible bond that develops as these amazing animals learn to save the lives of soldiers in peril. However, the cost to both men and dogs is great. When one soldier loses his dog Gardner writes:

"...Jim could feel the thread they'd formed between them, man and dog. It was as fragile as air, but as strong as a force of nature. It would entwine them forever, and it was now a pain so heavy he wished he'd never known the dog at all. At that moment he swore he would never allow himself to care that much for another living thing...."

For all of us who love their pets far too much, Gardner's words about these brave men and animals touch our hearts.

Men in filthy trenches in Belgium, men flying over the frigid seas in Korea, men and dogs in the jungles of Asia...all three of these books are really about the battle to conquer fear and the hope that this war will be the last.

Shelf Life

Did you ever notice that some authors write a whole lot of books? In the library or bookstore their offerings take up shelf after shelf. When I see that many titles, I tend to ignore them. How can these authors really produce work that is deep, meaningful, and fills the heart and mind? I have, of course, read a book or two by these "best selling" authors. I cannot recommend any of them. I discovered one author because she wrote a book with a snappy, fun title "The Hot Flash Club". The author is Nancy Thayer and her "hot flash" books are now a series. The first one wasn't bad, but the sequels are just terrible. Yet, I went to the library shelves and read all of Thayer's older novels and they are just wonderful, especially her earliest ones. I am glad Thayer is a "best-selling author" now, and I hope somebody makes a "hot flash" movie, but I would much rather see a film of "An Act of Love" or "Morning", two of her books I loved.

There are other authors whose books do not take up a lot of room at the library or bookstore. The three I mention next have only written, between them, eleven novels. However, all eleven books are beautifully written and will stay with you for years. Like me, you will wait and hope for the next offering by these three gifted people.

I don't know which book by the amazing Jane Hamilton I discovered first. I have never been disappointed by any of her novels. "A Map of the World" is one of those heartbreaking stories that starts out with a tragedy and just gets worse for Alice, a school nurse trying to care for her family. A child drowns while in her care, and as she tries to comprehend that loss, her community turns on her. This story of an everywoman who has to deal with unspeakable events resonates because of Hamilton's considerable skill. Hamilton has written only five novels, and each is worth reading more than once.

If you have not read Ken Haruf's books, you have missed some of the best American writing of this century, in my humble opinion. Of course, judging by the many awards he has already won, I am not alone in my opinion. Haruf has written only four novels, but I think he is about due to publish another. I keep searching the library "new book" shelf and hoping. His first was "The Tie That Binds", written in 1984. The life story of Edith Goodnough begins at the end of her life as she is lying in a hospital bed. She has endured loneliness and poverty and has lived her life stoically and with deep strength. All of Haruf's novels paint vivid portraits of people you think you might know. You want to stay in his world long after you finish the last word.

Finally, I urge you not to miss "Fall On Your Knees", by Canadian Ann-Marie MacDonald. This is the story of four amazing women, one of those multi-generational sagas that twists and turns and keeps us breathless. MacDonald has written only one other novel, "As the Crow Flies", which I also could not put down.

So, the next time you need a book, look for the authors who work for years, not months, on each novel. I guarantee you will be rewarded.

Mamma Mia!

When you think about great mothers in literature, who comes to mind? Marmee in "Little Women"? Ma in "Little House on the Prairie"? That mom bunny who always wants her baby bunny to come back to her in "The Runaway Bunny"?

I wish! But the moms I seem to relish are those who are not so nice. Every year or so I re-read the classics..."Peyton Place", "Moll Flanders", and, of course, "Valley of the Dolls". What a story! Suicide, mental illness, bust-enhancing exercises, virgins, a wig flushed down the toilet, Broadway, Hollywood, this book has it all.

It is the story of three young women who come to New York to find their fortunes. Anne is a classic beauty from New England. After graduating from Radcliffe, she naturally becomes a secretary. Luckily Anne finds work for a show biz attorney...and the moment she meets his partner, Lyon Burke (LYON BURKE!!!) she falls madly, wildly, completely, in love. She must have Lyon, she must lose her virginity to Lyon, she must marry Lyon...but he is not the marrying kind!

In her rooming house, Anne meets seventeen year old Neely. Neely is brash and bold, a minx with an amazing voice...her talent knows no bounds. She is in love with press agent Mel, but once Neely gets her Hollywood contract, Mel is nowhere-ville and she falls for Ted Casablanca, a costume designer.

And finally, Jennifer, the goddess. Her body, face, hair are all perfection. She knows she has no talent, but all she wants is to be safely in love...with a man who can provide her with all the fur coats she wants. She falls hard for singer Tony Polar, but what's with his overly protective sister, Miriam?

Who are these girls' mothers? Why don't they ever have to go home for the holidays? Why don't their mothers ever come to visit to tell them their apartments are a mess?

Well, Jackie Susann does give us some information on the barely seen moms of our heroines. Anne's mother is a stern, cold woman who tells twelve year old Anne not to cry in front of people and later that "...unfortunately kissing isn't all a man expects after marriage..."

"There is no such thing as love, the way you talk about it," Anne's mother warns her before she leaves for New York City. After Anne's mother dies, Jennifer says, "I take it you didn't love your mother." Anne agrees.

Neely doesn't even seem to even have a mother. She is in a singing/dancing act with her brothers as a teenager.

Jennifer's mother is financially dependent on her beautiful daughter. "Damn all mothers," Jennifer says, realizing that she has forgotten to send her mother the weekly check. Jennifer's mother is never appreciative of her daughter's efforts, however. She simply demands more and more.



Miriam, who is much older than Tony and has raised him, is at least protective of her brother. She alone knows that Tony has the intellect of a ten year old child, but pushes him and protects him so that he will be happy and financially secure. Miriam and Tony's real mother is described as a drifter who slept with any man, and placed little Miriam in a foster home.

When Jennifer outwits Miriam, marries Tony and becomes pregnant, Miriam finally tells her the whole story...that Tony has a genetic disease that will be passed on to their child...that Tony will probably be insane by age fifty. So, Jennifer, who is loving and kind, loses her chance to become a mother.

Neely has twins, but her life as a Hollywood star is all-consuming. When the studio orders her to take off weight, her battle with pills ("dolls" in Susann-lingo) begins. The twins are never mothered by Neely; she is just an overgrown child herself. After a pill and booze binge, Neely realizes she has missed Bud's and Jud's first birthdays. Neely explains motherhood to Anne by saying, "...a good nurse can handle a new baby better than you..."

Anne finally gives birth to Lyon's baby, but by this time, Lyon is having affairs and Anne, like her friends, has turned to the "dolls" for company.

So, in addition to the pills and booze, these three women get no love from their mothers and don't seem to love their own children. What kind of a woman would write such a book?

Jacqueline Susann.

Susann was born in 1918 and died of breast cancer at the age of 56. In her short life, she was an actress, singer, model, and finally an author. She married press agent Irving Mansfield, though she wasn't any more faithful, according to reports, than characters in "Valley of the Dolls". When Susann was 28, she gave birth to her only child, Guy. He was diagnosed as autistic at the age of 3. Susann placed him in an institution, and never told anyone his true condition or diagnosis. If alive today, he would be 64.

Susann was not a gifted writer, but she was a boffo storyteller who keeps the reader glued to the page. I carry around an old battered paperback copy of "Valley" and have often loaned it to younger women who have never heard of the book (which has sold over 30 million copies).

Today, we are all used to family and friends who have autistic children. We see these kids going to school, in restaurants, playing in parks, and in the malls. We watch parents re-direct the difficult behavior of their autistic children. They are simply part of our communities.

But in 1946, what did anyone really know about autism? Was Susann given any options to institutionalizing her only child? Did she feel guilt over leaving him? Did she miss him?

I think Susann makes her pain about motherhood very clear in "Valley". Her guilt at abandoning her own child is poured into the bad mother characters she creates. There is no motherly love for Anne, Neely or Jennifer. Jennifer aborts the baby who she is told will suffer from a genetic disorder. Anne, despite her desire for a baby, turns to pills. Neely can't be bothered with her twins at all. Tony's mother was a tramp.

But Miriam...plain, fat-fingered Miriam who only owns three dresses and goes to Hollywood parties in white orthopedic shoes...she is the only "mother" who shows her
"child" any warmth or real love. She fights for him, she protects him fiercely, she makes him believe he is smart and important.

To me, Miriam is the mother to Tony that Jacqueline Susann wishes she could have been to Guy.

Something borrowed, something new!

For avid readers, there is no greater moment than finding out that one of our favorite authors has written a new book. In my wonderful library, there is a section that looks like a bookstore where all the new "best sellers" are displayed, shiny and ready to borrow. They can be taken out for a week only, which is more than most of us need to read a book we love. You will not find me borrowing crime novels or romance, which seem to be the REAL best sellers. When our library held its book sale this weekend, certain authors like John Grisham and Danielle Steele even had their own sections! But I was content to browse the crowded fiction tables and hope I had missed some older novel by one of my favorite authors. I hadn't, of course. Still, a few of them have been hard at work, and here are some wonderful new books to enjoy.

"Every Last One", by Anna Quindlan. You may remember the touching film made of her novel "One True Thing", with Meryl Streep as the mom and Renee Zellweger as the daughter. This new novel has the same layers of depth. I found myself racing to finish it while being sorry I was racing. I strongly urge you not to read the description on the dust jacket, or any reviews. This is the kind of story about which a reader should have no expectations. I think Diane Lane would be wonderful as the mom, when they make the film.

"The Lake Shore Limited", by Sue Miller. Miller never seems to strike a wrong note, and in this, her latest, she gives us complex characters and weaves in the horror of 9/11. I love Miller's descriptions of homes, rooms, restaurants, even bouquets of flowers. She gives us flawed people, but people we want to know.

"The Last Time I Saw You", by Elizabeth Berg. I had told some of my friends about this one, because it concerns a group of people attending their 40th high school reunion, which many of us will be doing in October. I think of Berg as a very accessible author, warm, friendly, and fun to read.

"A Change in Altitude", by Anita Shreve. Do you remember the first book you read by Anita Shreve? Do you remember how late you stayed up because you absolutely had to finish it THAT NIGHT; your eyes all red and scratchy the next day? I have not found her last few books as compelling as many of her earlier ones, but in this one, she gives us rich characters, an absolutely amazing setting, and a frightening challenge. I found it as wonderful as her earliest books and I am glad she has given her readers a new location.

"Remarkable Creatures", by Tracy Chevalier. Chevalier has brought history to life in
"Girl With a Pearl Earring", which was a beautiful film as well. (Although I have yet to see Colin Firth in anything I didn't love. I hope you didn't miss "Easy Virtue". If you did, get the DVD). This time, Chevalier tackles fossils. Her heroines are both fossil hunters, separated by class, but united in their passion for discovery.

"Secrets of Eden", by Chris Bohjalian. I am so happy to see Bohjalian return to New England and this century. I appreciate that many people enjoyed "Skeletons at the Feast", but I thought it lacked the drama and difficult questions his other books address so beautifully. His latest is about religion, domestic violence, and some very unlikely angels.

So, there are a half dozen wonderful new reads. If you haven't been to the library lately, walk, bike or drive to the closest one and ask for one of these books. Librarians aim to please.

We are family....

Literature seems filled with bad parents. So many first novels, the ones we read and forget about quickly, are stories of the trials and tribulations of a person trying to overcome his or her difficult childhood. Spare me.

If you want to read a story about a family, and problems, and how love can soothe almost anything, try "The Risk Pool" by Richard Russo. Russo is now a Pulitzer prize winning author, but this was only his second published work. I still love it more than anything he has written. It has heart, humor, and a coating of love like the perfect frosting on a cake. It is the story of Ned, whose parents were never meant to be together. Neither of Ned's parents is even close to being perfect, but he loves both his mom and dad with all his heart. I have read this book over and over, and I always find a new line to tug at my heart. However, part of the reason I love it so is because it is set in Gloversville, the home town of Richard Russo.

Gloversville is old-fashioned. In Gloversville, extended families still have Sunday dinner together. A Mary Kay party is a huge event, with lots and lots of women, lus their daughters, grandchildren, laughter, and so much food you could skip the next three meals. When you have good friends from Gloversville, as I do, you will get a card for each holiday. If you say "no presents" to a friend from Gloversville, you can count on her bringing you a plate of homemade cookies or candy, telling you food doesn't "count" as a present. A Gloversville person will open her home to you, no questions asked. She will cook you a turkey dinner just because you said you felt like having one. In Gloversville, at the holidays, homes are decorated with themes, and presents are wrapped to match the decor. Coffee is not sipped without a piece of cake on the side. Neighbors say hello just because they live near each other.

When Gloversville people go to the malls in Albany, about an hour away, they call it going "down the line", like their grandparents did. There is plenty of poverty, alcoholism, crime, and sadness, just like everywhere else in America. But, in Gloversville,when a new store opens, people support it. When the high school has a football game, people of all ages go to cheer. When people grow old, their families care for them. I was lucky to have known two great women from Gloversville ...Margaret and Martha. Between them, they raised ten amazing children. They were never famous. They didn't write or paint or get elected to the City Council. They didn't need to. They were happy and strong women. Old-fashioned women.

When you begin to read "The Risk Pool", I hope you will see the world of Gloversville as clearly as I do. I hope you will find a character exactly like someone you once knew. And I hope, for just a few hours, you will let yourself live in this old-fashioned world. It surely wasn't perfect, and Russo acknowledges that. But he gives the reader a sense of belonging to a place you just might want to linger in. At least until the next Mary Kay party.