Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

"'What d'ya mean, where the crawdads sing? Ma used to say that.' Kya remembered Ma always encouraging her to explore the marsh: 'Go as far as you can---way out where the crawdads sing.'"
                    -Kya, from the novel

This book was recommended to me weeks before it hit the top of the Best-Seller list and stayed there a long time. It was SO popular several of our Page Turners found themselves impatiently awaiting their turn to receive a library copy or a loan from a friend. My expectations were high!

I know there are several in our group who loved this book and I expect it to be one of our highest-rated in some time. I have struggled with my rating and it will be a 4. The writing is beautiful, giving lovely tribute to the natural world. It is not surprising that the author's background is biological science, particularly wildlife. It is likely she has projected her passion for nature onto her protagonist, Kya,

In this novel, Kya Clark is abandoned by one after another of her very large family until she is completely on her own at age 7. People in the nearby small town in North Carolina call her the "Marsh Girl" because of where she lives and, with few exceptions, they shun her. The novel tells of her survival alone in the woods which I found somewhat difficult to believe. And I found it strange that social services did not seem to care that this very young child was fending for herself.

The setting moves back and forth from the early 1950's to 1969, when Chase Andrews, a former Barkley Cove football hero. is found dead and authorities are suspicious of foul play. The plot becomes more engaging as an investigation is begun. When Kya meets a boy named Tate Walker, romance blossoms.

So take a survival story, add coming-of-age angst and society prejudice. Mix in a murder mystery and there you have Where the Crawdads Sing.

More after our meeting.....
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We met outdoors today, an appropriate setting for discussion about a book that celebrates so much of the natural world. A near-record number of attendees---18---could it have been the popularity of the book or the promise of a delicious brunch?

Our average rating was 4.4, the highest-rated book so far this year. Everyone appreciated the author's writing style. A few agreed with me that the survival of a child alone at Kya's age was a bit implausible but some argued that in other cultures it is likely common and one of our members shared personal experience to convince us of the real possibility.

Some of our folks made accurate predications about  how Chase met his unfortunate end and others of us were taken by surprise but you will get no spoilers from me! Needless to say, we enjoyed a stimulating discussion of this novel. Most of us would recommend it!

Say Nothing A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

"The famous

Northern reticence, the tight gag of place
And times: yes, yes. Of the 'wee six' I sing
Where to be saved you only must save face
And whatever you say, you say nothing."

              -Seamus Heaney, from "Whatever You Say, Say Nothing"  1975

I am not sure when I became a Hibernophile, a person with fondness for all things Irish. It could have been when I read Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt about a year ago or it might have been visiting 4 ports in Ireland on a recent cruise. When I saw a review of Say Nothing in a magazine a few months ago, it captured my interest and I added it to my must-read list.

When John and I visited Ireland last year, a tour guide in Belfast mentioned the option of a Troubles Tour of sites involved in that conflict.  Although I had heard of turmoil in Ireland between Protestants and Catholics years ago, I knew precious little of the history. I saw plenty of hints of animosity between the two religious groups and anti-British feelings in Angela's Ashes. It was rather funny to me that McCourt's father would come home drunk late at night and wake his sons to make them promise to "die for Ireland." In watching the Masterpiece Theatre series "Victoria" it became clear that the discord goes back much farther than the late 60's forward which is the focus of this book. 

After reading this thoroughly researched narrative nonfiction about The Troubles by award-winning journalist Keefe, I wish I could go back and do that tour in Belfast.

The most challenging thing for me in reading this book was keeping the names of so many organizations straight! Googling the Troubles in Ireland helped to line up the Irish Republic paramilitaries, (mostly Catholic) and their splinter groups and the Ulster Loyalist paramilitaries, (mostly Protestant) and others on their side, including, it would seem, the British. The violence was disturbing but not so different from sectarian brutality in other parts of the world, even our own country. Apparently over 3500 people died during the Troubles.

In his final chapter, Keefe gets personal, sharing his own ethnic background and motivation and inspiration for writing Say Nothing. This passage, I believe gives a good overview of book's theme and historic figures: "In the intertwining lives of Jean McConville, Dolours Price, Brendan Hughes, and Gerry Adams, I saw an opportunity to tell a story about how people become radicalized in their uncompromising devotion to a cause, and about how individuals---a whole society---make sense of political violence once they have passed through the crucible and finally have time to reflect."

Say Nothing was close to being a page-turner for me; it gets a rating of 4+. The story was mesmerizing, if not exactly enjoyable. Every Hibernophile should read it!

Miss Julia Takes the Wheel by Ann B. Ross

"Assuring both him and myself that I was always careful, especially when there was a possibility that someone's feelings could be hurt, I went to bed feeling energized. I'd told Lilian that I had a great urge to fix something, and what better project could I take on than a young woman who badly needed fixing?"                                       -Miss Julia, from the novel


After reading a few challenging books lately, I breezed through this one---such an easy and entertaining read! I believe I have read all 20 of the novels in the Miss Julia series and this one is number 21. I have loved them all.

Miss Julia is a delightful lady likely close to my age with whom I have a number of things in common. She lives in a small town in North Carolina and pretty much knows everyone and everything that's going on or if she doesn't she makes it her business to find out. Many of the characters are so familiar, they feel like friends and family to me!

The quote I began with hints at the plot of the novel. When an unknown doctor comes to town to stand in for the beloved Dr. Hargrove while he is on a long-awaited vacation, Julia invites him and his wife for dinner, only to begin wondering how she can help (or fix?) the doctor's enigmatic wife, Lauren Crawford. Mix in grandson Lloyd's driving lessons, a real estate project, and a dear friend's husband's heart attack and you have more than enough for a lively plot. And then suspicions start to build around both Crawfords.

Ms. Ross's humor is my favorite thing about her books. For example, in trying to understand her grandson Lloyd, Julia says, "Teenagers, after all, tend to see things in black and white: This is right; that is wrong. Yet as we age, hair is not the only thing that begins to fade into gray areas, and we find reasons and excuses for activities that we would have once condemned. 'Thou shalt not' turns into 'Under certain circumstances, maybe thou canst.'"
And in describing a certain woman she says, "My stars, her clothes and her makeup! Not enough of one and too much of the other."
Julia compares new roofs on run-down houses to "fancy hats on bag ladies."
Many, many smiles and laughs in reading Miss Julia adventures. This one gets a 5 rating for sheer enjoyment!

Standing Alone in Mecca by Asra Nomani

"This book is testimony to the potential for all of us to become empowered, spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally, if we allow it. When I started the book, my goal was to describe my experience doing the hajj. But along the way I found my voice, and the book helped me to clarify my identity as a Muslim woman."
             -Asra Nomani, from the Epilogue

I am not sure I would ever have read this book if someone else had not chosen it but I am so glad I did. A member of our Page Turner group had volunteered to lead the group meeting in May while I was away on a 3-week trip. I suggested she select the book and her choice was Standing Alone in Mecca. I admit my first reaction was lukewarm. As it turned out my trip was cancelled and after realizing I would be attending the May meeting after all, I felt I had to read it. It didn't take long to realize how extraordinary it was!  While I wouldn't say the book was entertaining, I was grateful for all it taught me about Islam, earning a solid 4 rating from me.

Journalist Asra Nomani was brought up a Muslim by immigrant parents from India. In an effort to learn more about her faith and her place within it, she decides to embark on a hajj, or religious pilgrimage to the most sacred sites of the faith. Accompanying her are her parents, niece and nephew and her infant son, whose birth out of wedlock has caused her much guilt due to the rigidity of conservative Islamic beliefs about sex. Though I felt the quote I chose to begin my post was a good overview of the book, there were SO many worthwhile and profound opinions of the author and quotes from other religious scholars that she included, it was a difficult choice.

Although I knew of male domination in Islamic communities of the Middle East, I was not aware of its extent in the U.S. Validated and inspired by her hajj experience, Nomani becomes a very strong vocal advocate for Muslim women's rights. I was very impressed by her passion and determination. And it seems she IS making a difference! The author includes letters and emails of affirmation and appreciation from some of her readers, along with some ugly, threatening messages. With that being said, let's add brave to her list of attributes!

Standing Alone in Mecca reminded me in some ways of My Father's Paradise by Ariel Sabar. There are interesting contrasts also. Both books are written by journalists, 2nd generation Americans, one a Muslim woman and the other a Jewish man. Both books were somewhat inspired by the birth of a first child and a desire for self-examination. Each book involves travel in the Middle East and includes a good bit of history.

Kaaba, Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Al-Masjd an-Nabawi, "The Prophet's Mosque," Medina, Saudi Arabia

                                                                                                           
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Our Page Turners discussion was very thought-provoking with most readers feeling they learned so much about Islam. Even one member who is a retired pastor and admitted she had taken world religions said she discovered things she didn't know. Our leader who selected the book said she felt it was very personal and honest and made her feel she actually KNEW Asra Nomani. Some of our discussion centered on how other religions have been or still are corrupted by the desire for power and control just as radical Islam has been. The group's average rating was 3.5.

The Secret Orphan by Glynis Peters

"It [the battered suitcase] still housed paper memories of lives well lived. It also housed a letter which held the truth about Rose's past life, and why Elenor had chosen to leave Britain and move to Canada. A secret Elenor had kept for so many years. A secret that had saved Rose's life."
                         -from the novel

This novel was a First Reads free selection, an historical fiction that sounded intriguing. I did enjoy it but there were parts that seemed to drag a bit. I will rate it a 3.

The story begins with an elderly Rose Sherbourne celebrating her birthday with her family. When they coax her to tell them of her past, a flashback relates her history for the remainder of the book.

The setting of the novel is WWII England, where Elenor Cardew has escaped an unpleasant family situation in Cornwall to become a caretaker for her aunt in Coventry. In that position she becomes involved with fellow employees and their young daughter, Rose Sherbourne. She also meets Jackson St. John, a Canadian pilot, and is rather smitten by him. When Elenor's two brothers are killed in the war, she feels compelled to return to Cornwall to save the family farm. I thought some of the description of her rural life was tedious. Elenor becomes the guardian of young Rose through some unfortunate (or maybe not) circumstances. When Elenor discovers a dangerous secret about Rose's past and romance enters the picture, the novel became more of a page-turner for me.

I liked the book but I have read many historical novels of the era that were much more compelling.

My Father's Paradise by Ariel Sabar

"The thing about our idea of paradise is that some are not all that they seem. That was certainly true for my grandparents and great-grandparents in Israel, where Kurds and other Sephardic Jews struggled against poverty and bigotry and suffered great disappointments. At the same time, some paradises are of our own making."
                        -Ariel Sabar, from the interview with the author

I doubt I would have ever read this book if it had not been the selection for an intergenerational book study for which I volunteered. I found it informative and at times, compelling. There was a great deal about linguistics that I didn't necessarily need or want but I appreciated learning about the history of some parts of the Middle East. I am rating the book a 3.

The book is probably more memoir or personal narrative than anything, not surprisingly written by a journalist. Ariel Sabar grew up American while his father, now a professor of Aramaic language at UCLA,  was an immigrant from Kurdistan by way of Israel. There was generational, as well as religious/cultural, conflict between them. The two had not been close and Ariel had thought little of his heritage until he had a son. Suddenly he was motivated to reconcile his present with the past. One might say he started a quest to discover what he might pass on to his child..

The quest takes him and, eventually, he and his father back to Zakho in the mountains of Northern Iraq, at some risk. There the author interviews people who knew his family and even begins a search for a long-missing aunt. He meets some very interesting people along the way.

My Father's Paradise gives some valuable insight into obstacles faced by immigrants and especially family relationships where 1st, 2nd and even 3rd generation Americans live together. One undergraduate college student in our group is 2nd generation Mexican-American and she freely shared some differences faced by her and her mother. Very comparable to Ariel's story.

The group read and discussed the book in thirds over a couple of months and I believe I would have enjoyed it more, had we read it in one month and discussed it at the end. The facilitator, a college professor, is trying to get the author to come and speak to the group. I would really look forward to that!

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

"Alice watched and listened to the relentless, breaking waves pounding the shore. If it weren't for the colossal seawall constructed at the edges of the properties of the million-dollar homes along Shore Road, the ocean would have taken each house in, devouring them all without sympathy or apology. She imagined her Alzheimer's like this ocean at Lighthouse Beach---unstoppable, ferocious, destructive. Only there were no seawalls in her brain to protect her memories and thoughts from the onslaught."
                -from the novel

Still Alice was a compelling story about a 50-year-old Harvard psychology professor who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. After Alice Howland experiences unusual forgetfulness and disorientation, she seeks a medical evaluation and the results are devastating. She dreads sharing the diagnosis with her husband, children and the administration at Harvard. She has grave concerns about who she will be when her memory is gone---will she be "still Alice"? Will her life be of any value?

The novel begins with September, 2003 and takes the reader through 2 years, month by month. Alice has made a plan that involves answering 5 simple (?) questions which she forces herself to answer each month. At first the answers are easy but each month they become more difficult.

It seemed to me the  novel was well-researched, exposing causes of Alzheimers, drugs used to treat it and clinical trials being introduced. The book must have been well-written since I finished it in about 3 days---truly a page-turner, even though I could see the disease progressing and it made me sad for Alice. The story seemed very real since I remembered my mother-in-law first showing signs of memory loss by repeating herself and asking the same question again and again.  In fact, it was so realistic that I worry whenever I forget important things I will be self-diagnosing.  So it was both enlightening and frightening! Still Alice gets a 5 rating from me. One of these days I hope to see the film adaptation.