Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac

Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac is a YA novel about a Navajo code talker in #WWII but it begins with the main character's childhood. Sent away to boarding school, Ned Begay was met with harsh authorities who would punish the children severely if they spoke Navajo instead of English.

Nevertheless, the students found ways to keep their language alive and it became a useful skill, speaking Navajo, when the Marines needed Navajo speakers to create and use a code as they invaded islands in the Pacific. 

The book goes beyond the war years as Ned is narrating his story to his grandchildren. So, you also find out that Navajos who served were cut out of the GI Bill (unless, apparently, they bought homes that were not on Native land) and were not given military honors for their bravery. It also gives you a little insight on Navajo beliefs and traditions. 

Highly recommended - Excellent writing, packed with carefully researched facts about military movements and some real-life characters who were important to the story. I liked the fact that not everything was fictionalized and the book went beyond the war years both past and present, so that you got a good feeling for what it was like to be a Navajo, having your traditions and language suppressed, and then serving with honor (some of the code talkers sacrificing their lives) only to return to the a hostile environment in which one was considered lesser at home. 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Mini reviews - Mosquitoland by David Arnold, Reader's Digest War Stories, and Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro

Mini review time! All of these books are from my personal library. 

Mosquitoland by David Arnold is a YA book about a teenage girl named Mim Malone. Mim's parents recently divorced and she has moved to Mississippi (the "Mosquitoland" of the title — accurate, by the way) with her father and stepmother. When she finds out her mother is sick, she decides to take a road trip to Ohio. Nobody is saying anything about her mother so she doesn't know how bad her mom's illness might be. 

Along the way, Mim meets some quirky people, has a lot of unexpected experiences, and discovers a few things about herself. 

Recommended but not a favorite - I had mixed feelings about Mosquitoland but liked it enough to recommend it. It's well plotted (a lot happens) but there were two things that kept it from being a favorite. One is that one of the things Mim sets out to do is resolved but you don't know the full details. That felt like a cop-out to me. The other is that the voice was a little weird and I am frankly tired of super smart young fictional characters. Much of what Mim had to say seemed like it was well beyond her years. She's clearly above average and that just annoyed me. So, that was just a personal issue. 

What I particularly loved was the makeshift family trope. On her journey, Mim picks up a friend here, a friend there and they all bond. I did have a little trouble with the Mississippi portion as it sure seemed like the author knew nothing at all about Mississippi beyond the fact that it's hot, humid, and buggy. But, Mississippi itself was somewhat unimportant to the storyline; I liked the fact that I never, ever knew what was going to happen next; and, I warmed up to the strangeness and humor, the farther I got into Mosquitoland. 

Reader's Digest War Stories is a collection of stories from the Reader's Digest magazine. When I bought the book, I was actually looking for a collection of "Drama in Real Life" stories because it was a "Drama in Real Life" set in London during the Blitz (which I read when I was around 10 years old) that began my interest in WWII. I couldn't find anything like that so I bought the war stories, instead. 

Beginning with stories published in 1956, the book contains personal accounts of war experiences, some historical accounts told by writers, "Humor in Uniform" funnies, and a very nice article about the Churchill War Rooms. I had three particular favorites. One was about a man who fell 18,000 feet from an airplane without a parachute, survived, and had to convince his German captors that he was telling the truth about having fallen from a plane. Another was about a woman who worked for the French Resistance in both world wars. And, the third was "This Secret Place," about the War Rooms. We've visited the Churchill War Rooms but there were two general items of interest to me in this particular article. One is that the war rooms could only be visited by appointment at the time, as there was not yet a museum. The other was the fact that you can only learn so much during a museum visit. I found the article filled out a few cracks in my knowledge and, having been there, it was easy to visualize the rooms mentioned as I'd seen them. 

Highly recommended - The paper Reader's Digest War Stories is printed on is cheap and my copy has already yellowed, even though it was just published in 2012. And, unfortunately, I didn't realize one of the pages in my secondhand copy had a big chunk missing. Wish I'd known that when I bought it so I could have complained to the seller for not being totally honest about its condition. But, I found the war stories captivating, often terrifying, and I'm very glad I came across it. 

Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro is the third book I've read by Ishiguro. A set of five interconnected stories with music as one of their connecting themes, I read it as part of my challenge to read anthologies and collections of short stories in 2021. 

I don't have much to say about Nocturnes, to be honest. The first two stories were very, very odd and I thought I was going to absolutely hate the book, initially. But, I did like the last three. They just weren't brilliant or moving or wise in the way you hope a short story will be. Still, I liked the clarity of Ishiguro's writing style enough to keep going. 

Meh - I gave this one an average rating. The stories are strange and generally disappointing but I don't regret reading Nocturnes. However, it fits the pattern. The only book I've loved by Ishiguro is The Remains of the Day. There are two that I've tried to get into several times but found boring. A Pale View of Hills was confusing (I didn't get the imagery) and then upsetting because it contained a senseless killing of kittens. I will never, ever love a book that contains animal abuse of any kind. But, I love The Remains of the Day so much that I will undoubtedly keep trying to find another Ishiguro that I love. This one was just average. 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

I feel like I'm constantly trying to catch up with the world on my classic reading, modern and otherwise, and The Outsiders is one of those books I honestly should have read eons ago. 

The Outsiders is the story of two gangs: the Greasers and the Socs (pronounced "soshes" with a long o). The Greasers are lower income. They wear their hair a little long and slicked back. The narrator is a Greaser named Ponyboy whose parents died less than a year ago. Since then, his oldest brother has taken over the parenting and the middle brother, who isn't college material but is the handsomest of the three, works as a mechanic. The Socs are higher income, wear Madras and drive nice cars. They beat up Ponyboy's best friend, who already was regularly beaten at home, and now he's become super skittish. 

As the story opens, Ponyboy is coming out of the movie theater when a group of Socs pull up, chase him down, threaten to cut his hair and beat him up a little. The Socs are basically bored rich kids whose parents don't pay them any attention while the Greasers feel lucky if they have a roof over their heads. Their increasingly hostile encounters eventually lead to a big fight between the two gangs and death. But, the theme seems to be that everyone has trouble, regardless of income. 

Highly recommended - I'm so impressed that a high school girl had this level of writing maturity. The characters are 3-dimensional, their dialogue believable and definitely of its time, the story sad but meaningful. And, now I understand the meaning of the oft-quoted line, "Stay gold, Ponyboy." [sobs] Such a powerful read. I posted about the book on both Instagram and Facebook when I finished and clearly there's good reason The Outsiders is a modern classic. It is one of those books that people remember well, long after they've closed the book; both posts got an unusual response. I'm sure it will stick with me, as well. 

I haven't watched the movie, yet, but I bought an inexpensive copy on DVD and I'm hoping I'll get to it, soon. I gave the book 5 stars because I couldn't put it down and the theme is still relevant.                            

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Mini reviews - Whatever You Do, Don't Run by Peter Allison & Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston

More minis! But, first:

I'm going to skip reviewing Bellwether by Connie Willis, since I reviewed it in 2010. I suggested it for discussion when my book group was looking for something light that fit within a genre we don't normally talk about (we were considering sci-fi or mystery). I recommended it primarily because it's not out there, like some sci-fi. A few of our members were simply not interested in anything that took place in Outer Space. It is, rather, a book about scientists who are so obsessed with their work that they don't realize they're falling in love. Here's my original review:

Bellwether by Connie Willis 

Unfortunately, I missed the discussion because of rain. Bummer. So, I can't tell you what anyone thought, beyond the fact that our group leader told me everyone enjoyed it. I did notice the interplay of chaos theory and fads in a way I don't think stood out quite as distinctly during the first reading, but it's been 7 years since I read it so who knows what I was thinking back then. I enjoyed it every bit as much, the second time around.

Whatever You Do, Don't Run by Peter Allison was one of those spontaneous, unplanned purchases that are always getting me into trouble. I don't even remember what I was looking up when I happened across this unique memoir, but it sounded like loads of fun and it absolutely is. I'm so glad I bought it.

Author Peter Allison is an Australian who ended up working in South Africa and then Botswana as a safari guide. Whatever You Do, Don't Run is a collection of his stories that focuses on things people have done that they absolutely should not have while on safari. And, the author is humble enough to include plenty of his own mistakes.

The best way I think I can possibly describe this book without telling you any of the stories is to share the fact that the entire time I was reading it, I was repeating my favorites to my husband. And, he loved hearing them. They're that entertaining. I will tell you part of one (in my own words), just to give you an idea of the contents:

During a safari with a particularly annoying amateur photographer, the author got out of his jeep to track the lions from one of the local prides. He found an adult lion's tracks and followed them with one hand, then cub tracks, which he followed with his other. And, then he realized his mistake. He was pointing in opposite directions and standing in the middle. The last thing you want to do is get between a predatory mother and her young. He said, "No, no, no, no, no!" and just then, the screams behind him clued him in to the mother stalking him. It was a close call that involved a lot of waving and yelling on Allison's part and some uncertain movements on the part of the mother lion. When Peter Allison was finally safe, the annoying photographer said, "Could you do that again? I missed it."

Highly recommended - Wonderful storytelling, both amusing and sometimes terrifying enough that I had to put the book down and walk away for a bit before I could talk myself into finding out what happened. It might make you think twice about whether or not you ever want to go on a safari in a remote location.

Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E. K. Johnston is my feminist read for the month. Hermione Winters is excited about her final year of cheerleading, this time as captain of her team. At her final summer training camp, someone slips a drug into her drink and she suddenly becomes sleepy, but she's determined to throw away her empty cup. After following the boy who gave her the drink, everything goes black and she awakens in the hospital, where she's told that she was drugged, raped, and found in the water. The police have little to go on and Hermione must deal with the fact that she has been harmed but remembers nothing.

This review may contain spoilers, so I'm going to put a spoiler warning, here.

WARNING! Skip to the rating if you're concerned about potential spoilers!!!!

Exit, Pursued by a Bear (which the author describes as a cheerleading-Shakespeare mash-up) is unique in that the author chose to write it as a "model" for what rape victims should experience, rather than a story that describes the typical treatment of a rape victim. So, when Hermione wakes up, she's treated with kindness and respect by the police and they do everything possible to find the rapist, her friends and family are supportive and willing to give her space if she needs it or affection if she feels they're too distant. When the typical "She was asking for it" rumor starts up, people believe her when she tells them the truth about what happened and why appearances were deceiving. She is provided a counselor who drives to her house rather than making her go to him. And, as she slowly begins to recover her memories, she's well cared for when she experiences panic attacks or other physical reactions. The only things that aren't perfect: Hermione's boyfriend is angry and distant and, of course, there is a rumor to be dealt with.

I would say Exit, Pursued by a Bear is "feminist" in that it takes a topic that mostly applies to women and treats it as if women were valued equally. Otherwise, it's just a good read. But, it does require explanation and I found myself hungering to discuss the book, for that reason. Is a book that is written as a "What if?" rather than a truthful account of what happens in life problematic if it's not obvious what the author is doing? Or, does it matter that the author's notes are pretty much necessary to the understanding? Hmm, I don't know. I did need the author to explain what she intended, though. My entire perspective shifted when I read the author interview. Also, the title requires explanation if you're not knowledgeable about Shakespeare, and I am not. I was unaware that "Exit. Pursued by a bear." is stage direction from The Winter's Tale, which I've never read or seen performed. After reading about the meaning of the title, I understood the clever naming of Hermione Winters (there's a Hermione in the play) and the fact that she's wrestling with a metaphorical bear (how to regain her identity).

Highly recommended - Even if I had not been told (via an author interview) what the author was trying to accomplish, I would have considered Exit, Pursued by a Bear a well-written and thought-provoking book. Knowing her goal gave it a lot more meaning, though, so if you go into this book blind and there is no author interview available in the copy you read, I definitely recommend that you look for an interview with the author. Its meaning is entirely different from what it appears, once you understand her purpose. I did have one problem with the book. I always wondered why the police and Hermione presumed that one of her male teammates must be the rapist when there were clearly other males at the camp. But, that was the only flaw I observed.


©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Matched by Ally Condie

Matched by Ally Condie

I've had Matched on my wish list at Paperback Swap since its release but when I saw a copy at Sam's Wholesale Club for a reasonable price, I snatched it up. It seemed a likely candidate to help me break my reading slump and, as it turned out, Matched definitely helped me get back into my reading groove.

Cassia has always been very trusting and obedient. When the book opens, she's excited about her Matching banquet, where she'll see the name and face of the boy she'll eventually marry. She's particularly excited to find out she's matched to a good friend, Xander, but when she begins to read the data about him, another face briefly flashes onto her screen and then disappears. She knows that face, as well. Did the Society make a mistake when matching her? Why is the other boy, Ky, labelled in a way that makes it impossible for him to be matched?

When Cassia and Ky end up on a work team together and find that sparks are flying, Cassia becomes determined to find answers while fighting her urge to let go of her Xander, whom she knows to be an excellent match.

I was expecting a run-of-the-mill dystopian novel, to be honest, but I found smart, thought-provoking writing, likable characters and a dilemma easy to find yourself quickly invested in, along with a nicely fast-moving plot with moments of slow build.

In a Twitter chat, this week, author Jay Kristoff said, "I think the most important thing to remember when worldbuilding is that worlds are populated by PEOPLE. Character first. Always." That's where Ally Condie really shines. Her characters are believable and the world seems to be built around them not designed first and populated later. While there are times that you feel like, "Sigh, another dystopian. Same old struggle against the powers plotline," Matched is suitably unique and I'm quite anxious to read the next book in the series. There was a bit of a cliff-hanger ending but the book pretty much felt complete to me.

Recommended to lovers of Young Adult dystopian fiction. Light reading, quick-paced but with well-rounded characters and very good writing.

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.