Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea

by Gary Kinder

Can you possibly pass up a book with a name like that?!  I love it!  The English language is a beauty to behold, even at its simplest. 

This is a non-fiction work that is immensely interesting, intense and fascinating.  It tells two stories.  The first one is of the Central America, a ship that is sunk by a storm on its way to New York during the California Gold Rush, with 21 tons of gold on board.  It goes down 200 miles off shore and 2 miles below the surface. 

The second story is about Tommy Thompson, a visionary man who many think is crazy.  He is an adventurer, an inventor, and he is on a quest to find the ship and the gold, despite everyone telling him it is impossible.  When others say that a deep sea recovery of this nature is virtually unattainable, he spends a decade inventing ways to get there, and in the process changes the very nature of deep sea diving and what the world believes is possible in the depths of the ocean.  Towards the end, Thompson's adventure takes on quite an urgency as others begin to get close to what he has been working on for years.  I was on the edge of my seat and biting my nails, wondering if he would indeed win the race.

Yet amidst this all, the story of the people aboard the Central America and their ordeal on the ocean is time and again brought back to the forefront, so that the reader never forgets the harrowing journey that these people made and the great losses they suffered.  Both Thompson and Kinder do a wonderful job of honoring the ship, its crew, and its passengers for what they went through, helping the reader understand at what cost this gold was bought.

As Captain Jack Sparrow says, "Not all treasure is silver and gold, Mate."  This is one book that is a treasure in and of itself, so go on the greatest hunt ever and read it today.

Airborn

by Kenneth Oppel

Occasionally, in the midst of the heavy reading I usually gravitate towards, its refreshing to simply read a good adventure story.  Airborn is just such a book, about a young man who works on an airship and aspires to someday fly his own.  He meet a young lady on board and they have quite an adventure with pirates, a mysterious island, and an even more mysterious animal.  It is well-written, especially as it describes with inner workings of the airship and the crew on board.  I especially loved referring to the diagram of the airship to see where all the different areas are located.  It reminds me of an old book that my grandmother gave me about a little kid taking his first ride on a clipper ship.  I'll have to review that one soon! 

It is considered a Young Adult fiction, but is appropriate for all ages.  I thoroughly enjoyed the short escape from my much more boring (but no less important) reality.  The book won the Canada's Governor General's Award and is followed by a sequel called Skybreaker, which I will be picking up at the library soon.

Cutting for Stone

by Abraham Verghese

This book is not for the faint of heart.  But it is full of heart, blood, bone and sinew.  I haven't even finished it yet, but I know its a good one.

You see, I started to read it a few weeks ago and was so excited to find out that my mother had never heard of it.  I knew she'd like it because its all about doctors and the medical profession, which is what she loves and does so well.  Shortly after I gave her the recommendation, we went on a trip to visit my sisters.  She hadn't found time to get a new book from the library, so I said she could start reading my copy.  We passed it back and forth all week, careful to mark each others spots, and then she graciously left me the copy to finish.  A few days later, I took her to lunch for her birthday and asked what she planned to do, or what she wanted.  She said it had been a stressful week and all she wanted to do was go home, lay on the couch and read all afternoon. So, I gave her the book back as a present.  She not only finished it in a few days, she is also now reading it aloud to my father, one of our long held family traditions. I wish I could be there and listen.  She said it was the best present she's gotten in a long time.

But, back to the book.  The story is about two boys who grow up in Ethiopia, born in mysterious and horrific circumstances to a nun who serves as a nurse at a small hospital outside of Addis Abba.  The presumed father, Dr. Thomas Stone, flees after their birth.  Political and family challenges separate many of the characters and then bring them back together.  It is a narrative about things broken, and things mended - body, soul and family.   

As I said, a book not for the faint of heart.  The political turmoil which the book is set within is full of violence.  The medical descriptions and procedures are outlined in graphic detail.  As my mother confirmed, medical personnel often are the most vulgar when referring to the human body and its processes, and this is not glossed over in the book.  But my mother said that it is one of the most profound books she has read recently and also one of the most honest in presenting what medical school, doctors, and jobs are really like.  She said it reminded her of early internships and her first jobs at the state mental hospital and some of the large hospitals.  So none of it bothered her.  The reason these things don't both me in this sort of book is because they fit the topic, they are necessary and even crucial to the story.  You know they are not just thrown in to shock or disturb the reader, just for the sake of shock value itself.

I am champing at the bit to get my book back because after only reading the first quarter of the book, I find myself often thinking of the characters and what will happen next.  If that's not a good indicator of an excellent read, then I don't know what is.

The Hero and the Crown

by Robin McKinley

My sister called today wanting to know if I remembered a book we read when we were younger, specifically with a girl and a dragon.  That rather broad topic could have covered a lot, but as soon as she said the author's name might have been Robin I knew she was talking about The Hero and the Crown, a Newbery Medal Award winner.

Robin McKinley is a favorite author of mine because she tells stories (I believe they are considered young adult genre) that are full of fantasy and fun, but yet have a very firm grounding on reality.  The romances she portrays aren't story book romances where the perfect man and perfect woman fall madly in love and live happily ever after.  Her stories don't always have easily wrapped-up happy endings.  So they feel real and let me (especially as a young girl) dream of something beyond where I was at the time.

This specific book is about a girl named Aerin who is royalty, but doesn't fit in.  She is loved by her father and by her friend Tor, but other hate her.  She becomes a dragon slayer which is not considered proper work for a princess.  She eventually saves a village from the dragon Maur but at much cost to her own well-being, and is saved by a mysterious man who is not quite mortal, named Luthe.  He gives her further information about the real problem behind the evil happening in her land, and she then goes off to again save the kingdom.  You'll enjoy this book at any age, but teenage girls who like a little fantasy will especially appreciate this one.

Christmas Gifts

As this is a blog about books, I felt it was appropriate to break quickly from book reviews and tell the story of my Christmas gifts.  First, a little background.  My husband is an accountant.  I have come to learn that many accountants actually have a sense of humor.  My husband loves joking around, and is best at quick off-the-cuff quips.  Sometimes his more "planned" jokes don't always come out as funny as he expects, but at least he tries.  He rarely gives me a gift without a joke involved.  In the past this usually involves a lot of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups which I don't care for, but which he loves.  Once he even emptied a big package of them, and put a KitKat inside instead, thus camoflaging it, and I almost gave it away!  So, I expected much of the same this Christmas.  Little did I know that he had switched things up...

My first present I go to open does not look like the shape of a book, but he has disguised it and I pull out a book titled, "Housekeeping".  Everyone laughs hysterically because this is obviously a comment about how he loves a clean house and I don't care quite as much.  What's funny about this is that I tell him later that 1) the book has really nothing whatsoever to do about housekeeping, and 2) I already own the book and have read it.  He was rather disappointed by this revelation but I told him it was still funny the way it came across.

I get my 2nd present from him, which is obviously a book.  I'm thinking that this is my real present.  But no, it definitely is not.  It is a hardbound library book that looks like it was written in the 70s, and titled "Women Chosen for Public Office (Profiles)".  I wish I had taken a picture of it, but a description will have to suffice.  There are black and white photos of women who must have lived in the 1900s, formidable looking women like most of those early "feminists" must have been.  All of them with high neck collars, big black hats, and corsets.  Not that I wouldn't want to learn about these tough women, but this book was scary looking!   Apparently he got this one at Goodwill for a dollar.

So now I am wondering in my head how many of these joke books I'm going to have to open before I get a book I want!  Apparently my husband said I looked mad (I was not) so he finally got my last present out and had me open it.  It was most definitely not a book, but it was a lovely purple necklace with the receipt for an Amazon order attached.  My REAL present arrived 2 days later. 

I'm glad my husband knows what I really want, and can still have fun himself at the same time.  Here's hoping all you received some good books for the holidays.  I'm always looking for recommendations.

Stones into Schools

by Greg Mortenson

Back in September I raved about Mortenson's first book, Three Cups of Tea, which to this day is one of the most memorable and inspiring nonfiction books I have read.  This second book, which picks up where Three Cups left off is just as mesmerizing.

Three Cups of Tea tells of how Mortenson fails to climb K2 and ends up in a small village in Pakistan where they save his life and care for him.  It is there he discovers a group of children going to "school" out in the open, with no supplies.  He goes on to promise the leader of the small village that somehow he will build them a school.  From there the book details how he does his by starting the Central Asia Institute (CAI) and fulfills the promise and makes many more to many small villages in Pakistan.

Stones into Schools details the further adventures of this organization and man as they both grow, and as they move into working in the harsh conditions of remote Afghanistan.  The harrowing efforts so many people make, most of them local people who simply want education for their daughters, is truly amazing.  And I was equally appreciative that Mortenson covers his expanding relationship with members of the military, who are in support of his good work.  Even he admits it surprised him somewhat, but it gives a lot of hope to me that there are many good men and women who serve their country (my brother and brother-in-law included) and also want to help the people where they serve. 

If you've read Three Cups of Tea, this sequel is just as good if not better.  If you haven't read either of them, go do it now because it will change your view of the world for better.

The Man in the High Castle

by Philip K. Dick

I recently got the urge to read some good sci-fi, so went online and looked up a list of the top 100 books in the genre.  This book ranked high on a number of lists so I thought I'd give it a try.  My review is mixed.  While I was fascinated by the premise of the plot, as well as intrigued by the style of writing, overall it didn't always hold my attention, and the ending was a little too "post-modern" for my taste.  It just kind of ended, without really ending.  I've taken classes on Post-modern literature but I just prefer tradition story-lines.

The main idea of the book focuses on the United States in an alternate reality where Japan and Germany have won World War II.  The western half of the country is controlled by the Japanese, who are the conquerers but somewhat decent.  The eastern half is run by the Nazis, who have taken their "final solution" to greater lengths and have proceeded to wipe out most of Africa.  The Nazis are the real ones in control, with the Japanese under them, and the Americans on the bottom rung.  The way Dick simply and quietly introduces the reader to this society and fills it with believeable characters and characteristics is fascinating and quite impressive.  His attention to detail is exquisite and makes the reading of the book quite fascinating.

I also was intrigued by the language and word style of the book.  I'm not sure I can explain it very well, but it is as if Dick writes it like he is one of the conquered Americans who has been influenced heavily by an oriental way of thinking and writing.  The way the characters speak and think are in sentences that often don't have connecting words, so they feel somewhat like a foreigner speaking.  Let me give you a small example.  Instead of writing the sentence "It was essential to avoid politics."  he simply writes "Essential to avoid politics."  It seems simple enough, but when all these sentences are added up into a whole book, it gives a strong feeling of a foreign kind of presence upon these otherwise "normal" Americans.  It makes the reader wonder how we, as "conquerers" influence and change those that are the "conquered." 

It also makes you think about how fluid history is, and how changeable it is with even just one simple alteration.  And how history can be very different from various viewpoints. 

I can't really explain the ending, but suffice it to say I got to it and kept reading into the next book (I'm reading it from a compilation of his works) thinking that there was more to the story.  It just kind of leaves you hanging.  In fact, after doing some research, I found out that Dick had intended to write a sequel but could never get to it, partly because he was loathe to go back into the draining experience of having to research history about the Nazis.  So, maybe there's a reason for the strange ending but it was still disappointing.  An interesting literary read that I'm glad I picked up, but I can't say I really "enjoyed" it.