sherrysbookshelf

Read a Book Go to The Museum

sherrykramer — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:24:10 +0000

Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford was both bitter and sweet and hard to believe it happened in this counry. The story is told by a 56 year old Chinese man, of his childhood while living in his Seattle neighborhood. Without giving away too much of the story, he was friendly with a Japanese girl who was taken away to live in a Japanese Internment Camp with her family and her entire nighborhood. The story goes back and forth between the 1940′s and 1986. It was gripping to see the story from the same characters’ eyes as a child and then as a man. I read this book with a group of friends and then we found out that the Illinois Holocaust Museum was having an exhibit, The Art of Gaman: Arts & Crafts from the Japanese American Internment. Everything in the exhibit was made by Japanese Americans in US Internment Camps during World War II. More than 2/3 of people in the camps were US citizens. The pieces of art were all made from found objects in the camps as they had no supplies and nothing but bare essentials for living was brought to them. Gaman means to bear dignity and patience. The Holocaust Museum teaches among other things to acknowledge the differences in people. I think this exhibit is in a perfect place. I hope soome of you have time to see it. It is in Illinois until January 15. Then it travels somewhere else.

12th century meets 21st century

sherrykramer — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 19:28:15 +0000

This summer I read the epic novel The Pillars of The Earth, and by epic I mean it was around 900 pages. I found it fascinating, engrossing, and very visual. The inner workings and co-involvement of the noblemen, people of the church, and everyone else was, well, kind of like listening to our government leaders without the horses and knights. But really just the thought that it took generations to build cathedrals without the tools we have and yet they persevered. What was really interesting was the Pilgrimage a young man, Tom the builder, made from England to Spain on foot which took years. He went to a place called Santiago de Compostela. The book took place in the 12 century. A few weeks ago I was reading the New York Times travel section and there was a full page article titled “Culture Pilgrims in Santiago de Compostela”. Imagine my surprise. What is old is new again. In the middle ages the city was known as a religious destination, now the city is known as a city of culture. It has museums, festivals, a new library with archives of old documents, performing arts center, and hotels. And the pilgrims keep coming. I think Tom the builder from the book would be shocked to see the town now. (any town probably)

Here’s what you”ve been reading:

Sunset Park by Paul Austen

The Given Day by Dennis Lehane

The Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett

Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

The Alchemist by Paulo Colho

Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

On my nightstand is The Paris Wife by Paula McLain, the story of Hemmiingway’s first wife.

Remember after you read this just go below it and click on “comment” to put in books that you’ve read.

Take care

Sherry

End Of Summer Thoughts

sherrykramer — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:37:39 +0000

It’s taken me a while to write because I have many thoughts going around my head. Not all about books. My daughter and I went to see the movie The Help. And yes I know it wasn’t exactly like the book, but let’s forget that there was a book. I thought the movie was great. It was very moving. It told a story of very selfish women and very selfless women. There was a selfless woman that touched my life and she has been in my thoughts ever since I saw this movie. Her name is Una Duncan. She was the live in maid in my Aunt Helen’s house. She had her own bedroom on the same floor as the rest of the family. She loved my cousin Jane (who was a brat) she loved me, she played with us, took care of us, comforted us, she taught me to sew, I baked with her and she let ME lick the spoon (did I mention my cousin was a brat) and when my parents moved to Florida when my daughter Miranda was a baby, she became another grandmother to Miranda and Zak that I could turn to, to babysit and help out. It was simple to me I loved her and she loved me. She was at my wedding and there is a photo of her with my father below. Before I saw The Help I was watching the Lawrence O’Donnell show on MSNBC and a guest he has on often is Melissa Harris Perry, a political science professor at Tulane. She is very upset with this movie because it doesn’t show more of what was going on in the life of black people at that time. She cited random hangings of men, and beatings. She says that we have to remember that this book and movie is not from the perspective of black women. Well, I think it puts black women in a very good light. I’m not sure what her problem is. These women were working to support there families, they loved the children they took care of, and for the most part it would be hard to even like the white women they worked for. And, oh yeah….it’s a movie. I laughed I cried…I ate popcorn.

The Saturday Chicago Tribune has a section called Printer Row. If you have a book club you can send in a photo and info about your club and if you are an interesting group they publish it. I always read it to see what the clubs are reading and usually my two clubs have already read the books, but a couple of weeks ago there was an interesting club. It was a Family Conference Call Book Club. Three generations of a family that live from one coast to another and in between call and discuss a book once a month. What a great way to stay in touch. Another interesting Club goes on field trip outings that relate to the books they read.

Hope you’ve read some interesting books this month. Just click “comment” below and let us all know what we should read.

Talk to you soon.

Sherry

A Few Good Books

sherrykramer — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 21:17:40 +0000

Thank you for the book reviews in your comments. I hope this gives everyone good ideas for new reads.It’s very interesting that we all read such different books. John Irving’s Until I Find You is long and not finished so we are waiting for a recommendation on it. The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis by Lydia Davis are very interesting and very short and come highly recommended. Hunger Games trilogy is young adult fiction which is futuristic and compelling and a good read. The Piano Teacher- only fair. Review pending on The Oriental Wife about 3 Jewish childhood friends during and after the holocaust. The House on Riverton by Kate Morton is a mystery told by a 99 year old woman in a nursing home who was a servant at Riverton during 1910-20′s, was given a great review. Parenting books Free Range Kids by Lenore Skanay and The Blessings of a Skinned Knee by Wendy Mogel are highly recommended. The book Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard is a repeat read because it’s ” like an old friend”. Five or six more comments and I’ll write a new post to see what we’ve read

So let’s hear about more books…We all need something to read.

Sherry

Double Dutch

sherrykramer — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:41:15 +0000

Hello again. Thanks for the great response to my first venture into the blog world. Some of you had some questions so I will answer them in no particular order. There is no cost to participate, except maybe some of your time. To sign up and receive my blog, just go below this post and click “comment” and a new screen will come up. Fill in your name, email address and make a comment about the last book you read, check off the two “notify” boxes and you are done. After there are a bunch of comments with books to recommend, I will write a new post. If no one tells me about books, I will have nothing to say….not likely. The book I just finished is the 19th Wife by David Ebershoff. Ann Eliza Young was the 19th wife of Brigham Young in the late 1800’s. This book weaves a fictionalized version of her story with a present day plural wife, her son and a murder mystery. Not knowing a lot about the origins of the Mormon Church, and the way the book was written going back and forth in time, I couldn’t put the book down. Besides, I really miss Big Love!! As an aside, a while ago I know some of us read a couple of books based on the Dutch painter from the 1600’s, Vermeer. Girl With The Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier was also made into a movie. Girl In Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland was a wonderful book tracing a Vermeer painting from America in the 1940‘s back thru the owners 300 years to Vermeer. So where am I gong with this? Well while walking thru the grocery store, Sunset for all the locals, I stopped in the cheese section and there he was…. Vermeer staring at me. Somehow I don’t think that was how he wanted to be immortalized. Can’t wait to hear from you.

Sherry

sherrykramer — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 21:02:01 +0000

So…after I read something I can never remember the name of the book I read and I’m pretty sure it’s the same for a lot of you. I want to tell someone about a great book but just can’t remember the title of the book. I thought if I start this blog and you all have a book you want to share, just send me the name, author and a couple of lines about it and I’ll share it here and we can pass it along by everyone having access to it. We all have friends in other book clubs, so email this along to all your friends and lets see where it goes across the country. We’ll add new books every time someone adds a comment and tells us a new book.

The book I’m reading now is on my IPad. It’s a book I borrowed from My Media Mall the electronic Lake County Illinois library. I was able to borrow it for 3 weeks. The book is The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips. The story of adysfunctional family, a missing Shakespearean play, and the bond between twins.

That’s what I’ve been reading….how about you?