Tag: book review

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Book Review: The Time Quintet by Madeleine L’Engle…

This set of 5 books is a young adult classic, written in 1959 – 1960. i read the whole series over a year, because i’m the weirdo who doesn’t like to read the same author consecutively. i enjoyed every single book. i can not believe that these books were written almost 50 years ago. They feel very contemporary and are about themes which are close to my heart; themes such as love, loss, friendship, loneliness and the ever-classic triumph of good over evil.

The Murray family is at the center of all the books. Charles Wallace, Meg, Sandy and Denny are the children of 2 brilliant scientists, Alex and Kate Murray. Their adventures bring various facets of science, science fiction, faith and magic together. Reading these books have challenged me indeed; i have no head for anything beyond basic science. But i have learnt some interesting things through these stories.

In the first book, A Wrinkle in Time, we are introduced to the characters and we find out that their father is lost/missing. Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who and Mrs Which, who are sort of guardian angels, help Charles and Meg through a wrinkle in time to an evil planet to bring their father home.

In the second book, A Wind in the Door, Charles Wallace falls gravely ill and Meg, along with a cherubim-like dragon and her new friend Calvin, must save him. They travel deep into Charles Wallace’ body in an effort to defeat creatures of hate and restore harmony to the song of the universe.

In the third book, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, the world is threatened by Mad Dog Branzillo, the dictator of the fictional South American country, Vespugia. Charles Wallace has been charged by Meg’s husband, Calvin’s mother, Mrs O’Keefe with saving the world from nuclear war. With the help of a flying unicorn, Charles Wallace travels back in time to change the past to save the future.

In the fourth book, Many Waters, the twins, Sandy and Denny fiddled with their father’s computer and got sent back into Noah’s time, where they appear to be giants to the people there because humans are small in those times. They help Noah to reconcile to his father and help build the ark. They also get involve in the struggle between the seraphim and the nephilim, angel-magic-like creatures who can change between human and animal forms.

In the fifth book, An Acceptance Time, we move ahead to the next generation. Polly O’Keefe, daughter of Calvin and Meg O’Keefe and grand-daughter of Alex and Kate Murray, has moved in with her grandparents, for a time, to study with them. While walking near her grandparents’ home, she walks through a time gate and is transported 3000 years into the past. She is caught in a struggle between the People of the Wind and the People Across the Lake. Both peoples believe she is a goddess but one of them believes in human sacrifices to bring rain to their drought-stricken land. Polly needs to help reconcile these 2 groups and get back to her own time.

As you can see, these books have so much in them, i could go on but i will let you discover the rest for yourselves. i highly recommend these books to teens who are just coming into their own and have an interest in science and faith. As an adult reading them, i find there is many layers to the story and really love that aspect.

Have you read M. L’Engel’s the other books in this Murray-O’Keefe line? There are four more books which involve Calvin’s and Meg’s children. And another series called the Austin Family series. There are characters from both series which cross over, sort of linking all these stories together.

If you have read this series or her other books, do let me know what you think of them.

syc

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Book Review: Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert…

i LOVE this book!

i read it in record time – well, record time for me since i became a home manager and mum – i read it in less than 2 weeks! It really is a can-not-put-down book.

This is a wonderful and funny autobiography of one woman’s journey to mend her broken heart and find faith. i love the honesty with which she writes; she doesn’t skip the ugly parts which makes the beautiful parts even brighter.

She lived in three different countries, Italy, India and Indonesia, within the span of a year on this heart journey and goes through a period of plenty, restrain and then it all comes together in the third period.

‘ “To find the balance you want… … this is what you must become. You must keep your feet grounded so firmly on the earth that it’s like you have four legs, instead of two. That way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart, instead. That way, you will know God.” ‘

That was what the Indonesian medicine man told her, even before she knew she needed this journey and i feel the whole book is about her, making her heart whole again and using it to see the world around her, yet not floating away into the clouds.

There are so many things i really like about her writing – like how she makes her depression and loneliness into ruffians who corner her. i like reading all the Italian words she likes and learns. i enjoy her descriptions of amazing food she ate in Italian. i so identify with the way she speaks to the her brain. Reading her book is like listening to a good friend tell you her life story.

Here are some of my favourite quotes from the book:

‘ “Our whole business therefore in this life,” wrote Saint Augustine, rather Yogically, “is to restore to health the eye of the heart whereby God may be seen.” ‘

‘ There’s a reason they call God a presence – because God is right here, right now. In the present is the only place to find Him, and now is the only time. ‘

‘ He sits down across from me and drawls, “Man, they got mosquitoes ’round this place big enough to rape a chicken.” Ladies and Gentlemen, Richard from Texas has arrived. ‘

‘ Look for God, suggests my Guru. Look for God like a man with his head on fire looks for water. ‘

‘ To mediate, only you must smile. Smile with face, smile with mind, and good energy will come to you and clean away dirty energy. Even smile in your liver. ‘

In the end, she found her man, waiting for her in Bali, where she also found balance and was even able to help a divorced medicine woman and her little girls build a home.

Here is, in my opinion, the over-the-top romantic line of the book:

‘ “Darling, I’m southern Brazilian. I can keep a broken heart going for ten years over a woman I never even kissed.” ‘

And i just had to agree with this:

‘ To feel physically comfortable with someone else’s body is not a decision you can make. It has very little to do with how two people think or act or even look. The mysterious magnet is either there, buried somewhere behind the sternum, or it is not. ‘

At the end of this book, there is a chapter of her next book, Committed , the next part of her story. i read that short extract and can not wait to read the whole story.

Have you read other Elizabeth Gilbert’s books? If yes, which ones and do you recommend them?  And if you have not read her books before (like me), i suggest starting with this one.

syc

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Book Review: One Morning Like A Bird by Andrew Miller…

It has been more than 2 months since my last book review… life certainly took over and opening an online shop also took time.

Cover picture from Amazon.co.uk

And of course with all that happening, my reading time slipped away. But on a recently short beach holiday i managed to finally finish the book i began 2 months ago.

This is the first book i’ve read by Andrew Miller and i picked it up because it was about the Japanese culture and also ties in with the Second World War. i dislike wars but have always wanted to know how the people back in the various countries saw the wars their country fought in, especially this one, which i have studied in my history books, in which i have been told the realities of the war was pretty much kept from the people of Japan during those years and even in the years after. Of course, the Japanese culture has also always fascinated me.

It starts out pretty slow and for a while i wondered if this would be one of the few books i would abandon reading. But the writing is lovely and flows so nicely, it’s like listening to a sweet elderly aunty tell you about her childhood, which i happen to like doing, so i kept reading.

The main character is Yuji Tanako, who lived such a privileged lifestyle, some would consider it a sin. He spent his day any way he liked, he lived on an allowance from his father, visited bath-houses and bars and enjoyed the company of his friends, especially those from his French club, organised by Monsieur Feneon’s. His one accomplishment was having published a book of poetry which sold 37 copies in total.

You know trouble is ahead when his father cuts his allowance, then talk of being called up for the army becomes common and his French club is threatened as “foreigners” are no longer welcomed. He then somewhat unwillingly (he says in the book, “She tricked him of course, that much is obvious.”) gets involved with Alissa, Monsieur Feneon’s daughter.

As his circumstances change, you witness the sluggish but sure change in Yuji. A change i thought would not happen when i read the first 100 or so pages. He realises what needs to be done and he steps up to it, even if fearfully at first. It is a slow, but certain coming of age, against the dramatic backdrop of a world war and an internal struggle of tradition and love (if you can call what he felt for Alissa love).

The end is bittersweet in some ways as he decides, finally, for himself, by himself, what needs to be done, for his future and the future of his loved ones.

i realised after finishing the book, that Miller’s writing style is so well-suited to showing the character and spirit of the Japanese culture, even the title reflects that quiet reflection which happens throughout the book.

If you are looking for a leisurely read, without over-dramatic tones and is a telling of a life-story in beautiful prose with great detail to culture, time and place, this is the book.

syc