The Vagrants by Yiyun Li

I saw this book on a display table at Barnes & Noble.  The cover caught my eye--the front of a Chinese jacket/overcoat.  I am very attracted to Asian art--very refined, delicate and it always tells a story.  When I read the inside cover, I wasn't all that impressed, but I thought "I'm still going to buy it.  It might surprise me."  Always work on your instincts when it comes to a book.  This one surprised me.

Although very sad and poignant, it is also quite ordinary in terms of the movements and actions of the people.  This story takes place in 1979, Communist China.  The town was specifically built by the regime and specifically "planted" with people to promote the socialistic cause.  There are also some people who wandered into this village.  It is, on one hand, small and on the other, quite large.  There are distinct disparities amongst the social and economic classes.  There are boundaries that are prescribed and unspoken.  We meet people of the lowest beggar and of the highest government within the town.

The story is about the actions and reactions of a community when faced with, are part of and after the excution of a counterrevolutionary woman.  Some of the stories are excruciatingly ugly.  Some of them, such as her parents, are excruciatingly sad.  Some never had to occur.  Some should have happened and you wonder what if?  In the end, you know that this could have really happened.  All these storylines happened because of the excution of that woman.  She had no knowledge they would happen and couldn't have controlled many of them if she had known.

In 1979 I was 10 years old and I was entering the 4th grade.  I knew about free elections.  I knew I liked to read a lot.  I knew I could go home and have a good dinner and be loved.  I had siblings who laughed and loved.  I had parents who cared and protected.  I live  in the United States, where freedoms are protected--freedom of speech and of press.  Freedom of religion and thought.  Education is valued for the ideas it creates.  I cannot imagine living in China in 1979.

The author is originally from China and lived in this regime.  She now lives in the United States.  The Vagrants by Yiyun Li.

BANNED BOOKS WEEK Sept. 25-Oct.2, 2010

Celebrate the freedom to read!  Read a banned book.  Check out the American Libaray Association's website for some awesome reading and let the world know YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO READ!!

More Mysteries

I have to start with a new warning.  I have added a warning that there might be adult content on this blog because even though I add a great deal about students and young readers, many of my posts also include adult reading.  Some adults do not like their children reading about this stuff.  I don't use "bad words" or "offensive language".  I keep it as real as possible and draw from the language of the authors I write about.  Take what I say in context and no one should be offended.

That said--thanks, Mom for another great author!  Louise Penny writes mysteries, set in Canada.  According to Sarah Weinman (have to look up her credentials), Penny writes in the same style as Agatha Christie.  AC is one of my very favorite authors, so it's not unusual I've gotten to really like the Chief Inspector Gamache series.

Amazingly enough, a great many murders seem to take place in a very small and sleepy township in the middle of nowhere, Canada.  The town of Three Pines isn't even on maps!  You instantly form a relationship with many of the characters of the town--the Morrows, Olivier & Gabri, Ruth, Kay, and Myrna.  Of course, those from Montreal's Surete are just as memorable--Gamache, Beauvior, Lacoste, Nichol, Lemieux.  You never know what is going to happen either.  There are secrets not only in the town's past, but also in the past of Gamache.  CI Gamache is constantly in conflict with the higher powers of the Surete because of a decision he made in a previous case.  Penny refers to bits and pieces, but doesn't fully reveal what happened.  Even in the second book, A Fatal Grace, we only hear the end result of the case and why potentially Gamache could be on the chopping block.  In the meantime, we read about the current mysteries.

Penny has a way of leading you to different potential suspects with iron clad motives.  Only in the end, true to a Poirot-like reveal, Penny pulls away the wool to reveal the real clues and the real suspects.  In true modern fashion, she also creates a great deal of suspense and the possible, and sometimes actual, loss of innocents.  A good reader can follow the clues and help to solve the mysteries.  Just like Poirot, Gamache likes to exercise "the little grey cells".

Jamie Larue, master Librarian

Jamie Larue is a library director in Douglas County, CO. He has written many, many articles and several books about librarianship. One of his many strengths is writing responses to material challenges.

Check out his blog by clicking on the title above. Specifically, check out the articles he references on Oct. 7th. As many know, libraries are once again under attack by the budget monsters. I have colleagues and classmates whose libraries have either frozen salaries or $.00 budgets in schools in MN.

Here is something to think about: are the budget monsters' hearts made like the Grinch's? After reading about an attorney castigating an 11 year library patron and knocking highly educated professionals in the librarian arena, I have to wonder just why another educated person would make such accusations and bold, yet false, statements. Perhaps Shakespeare was right; first kill all the lawyers.

I aspire to be as thoughtful as the librarians I have met. I hope to be as intelligent, well rounded and needed as the ones described in the articles. I hope I'm indispensable to the budget monsters when my time comes around. It's too bad that librarians need to not only do their job, but the jobs of the lawyers--advocacy.

CatRemix2

CatRemix2 by Monica Steffer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.flickr.com.

Reading Lolita In Tehran by Azir Nafisi

This is an autobiographical account of a native Iranian woman who returns to Iran at the start of the 1980's. She remains in Tehran, teaching at local universities until the mid 90's when she is allowed to leave for further scholarship. Her account of the political and religious fighting is eye opening to Westerners. Through a select group of women, hand chosen for the book discussion group by Nafisi, she explores how Iranian women and the whole of Iran see Western culture. It's especially interesting because she focuses on Western literature in the book group.

Having read many of the books she writes about, I find it interesting the similarities and differences in interpretation. For instance they read The Great Gatsby. I read that in high school. Even as "Westerners" we were able to pick out the decadence of the lifestyles and how Fitzgerald focused the story around the effect of that decadence. However, Nafisi's students went a step further and used the story to illustrate how "Western culture", overly decadent would sweep our culture away and morals would be lost. Obviously some of the insights were based on religious beliefs along with cultural beliefs.

It was a very interesting read. I learned a great deal about the politics and religious clashes that I did not hear about in school or on the news. It's easy to follow, all the while illustrating the take over by the Ayathollah Khomeini. (I know I just massacred the spelling)