Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Most of us do not give much thought to the Japanese internment that happened in the U.S. during World War II, but this novel brings it alive by showing how painful and disruptive it was. The novel has a dual time frame: in 1942 a Chinese-American boy, aged 12, befriends a Japanese-American girl in Seattle; in 1986 the boy, now an old man, finally moves to find out what happened to the girl he had once wanted to marry. I enjoy reading about how the personal and political intersect in the lives of common people. Usually such stories take place in China or among European Jews during World War II, so it is humbling to see the same kinds of things happening in your own country. Many of the Japanese-Americans interned during the war had never been to Japan and did not even speak Japanese. Jamie Ford tells an intricate tale that makes for a really good read.

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

Henry wanted to call his new Mississippi farm "Fair Fields," but his wife said "Mudbound is more like it." Their three young daughters made sure it was the "Mudbound" name that stuck. This is the story of how a respectable 30-ish young woman married an engineer with a secret yearning to farm and wound up living in primitive conditions as a farmwife. Because it takes place in the 1940's in the South, there is much reference to the bias against Negroes. In fact, the struggle of the blacks moves into the forefront and the author vividly paints the social attitudes and situations that make life difficult for them. This novel is a real page turner and I loved reading it.

The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson

Finkler is a Jewish character in this novel, but his name is used also to stand for Jews in general; so you can read the title as "The Jewish Question." The story takes place in London and centers around Julian Treslove who is NOT Jewish but who would like to be and starts to live as if he were. As a twice divorced middle aged man, Julian spends his leisure time hanging around with his college friend Sam Finkler and their former professor Libor Sevcik and listens as they debate Zionism. The Finkler Question won the 2010 Man Booker prize; it is highly nuanced about the nature of Jewishness and also amuses with low key, tongue-in-cheek humor. It is an excellent piece of literature, but I found it a little slow going because there is really not much of a plot.

Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold

Inspired by the story of Charles Dickens' life, this novel describes a charismatic but difficult man who abandoned his wife and kept her from their eight children. It is told from the wife's point of view and the reader becomes engaged in figuring out the nature of the husband's character as described through the love-smogged view of his wife's eyes. It is a brilliant character story told in sensitive and lucid terms and makes you want to read a standard biography of Dickens.

The More Than Complete Action Philosophers by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey

Comic books are now called "graphic novels," but this one is not a novel; it is a survey of philosophy that takes the reader lightly through the major Western philosophers from the pre-Socratics to the present. The presentation and illustrations are amusing, but you can still get lost in the technicalities of philosophic thought. I have a particularly hard time with Kant and Wittgenstein, but for reviewing many other philosophers this book is excellent.

Lessons in Truth by H. Emilie Cady

Our metaphysics class found plenty to talk about in this Unity classic written in 1894-5. Cady's theology is very much the same as that of Unity churches today, starting with God as one with all creation. Her language, however, is dated, particularly in using "Father" as reference to the divine. Sometimes she tosses in "Father/Mother," but either way she seems to be talking about God as a separate entity; and this gave me stong urges to edit what is really a well written book. I doubt I would have read this book had I not had a group with which to discuss it. The discussion draws out the aspects that can change your thinking and living.

Somebody Else's Daughter by Elizabeth Brundage

Set in a private school in the Berkshires, Somebody Else's Daughter is a fun read for those of us familiar with Western Massachusetts. The story turns around a father who had given his daughter up for adoption as an infant when her mother was dying; the adopted girl has reached the age of seventeen by the time her biological father moves to her town and becomes her teacher. Lots of teenage problems and some sleazy adults churn up events in the story, reminding me a little of a soap opera. I had a little trouble keeping track of the characters, but otherwise enjoyed this light novel.

The Sea by John Banville

An elderly widower returns to the seaside place where his family had vacationed for years. He tells the story of his relationship to a wealthy family who also vacationed in the area when he was a boy, reliving the past while trying to make sense of life without his wife. It is hard to sympathize with the narrator because at times he comes across as a nasty old man. Even though The Sea won England's prestigious Man Booker prize, I am not very impressed with it. The writing (described on the back cover as "elegiac") was a little too artsy for me and the story a little too meandering.

Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren F. Winner

Ms. Winner grew up Jewish but later converted to the Episcopal Church. This little book (published by Paraclete Press in Brewster, MA) embraces both traditions. While fully committed to her new religion, the author reveres her Jewish background and points out how Orthodox Judaism brings awareness of God to daily life much more than Christianity does. Ms. Winner has been an excellent speaker at Episcopal churches explaining the potental of Jewish practices to enhance Christian life.

If Today Be Sweet by Thrity Umrigar

A sixty-year-old mother and grandmother whose husband has died is spending six months with her son and daughter-in-law in Ohio. Tehmina faces the choice between staying in the U.S. with her only remaining family or returning to what had been a comfortable life in Bombay. Seen through Tehmina's eyes, the difference between life in busy Bombay and life in the isolation of an Ohio suburb comes alive and addresses the question of what things are important in how we create a life for ourselves. Umrigar, also the author of The Space Between Us, writes wonderfully readable novels.

Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky

While an undergraduate at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, Aaron Lansky took a course about the Holocaust and became interested in the sociological study of Jews. He found a professor at UMass who taught him Yiddish and this resulted in his first hand experience of how difficult it is to find Yiddish books to read. Thus began a career of scooping up Yiddish books from all over the world and storing them at the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. Outwitting History is Lansky's memoir of starting that now-flourishing institution. It is told straight-forwardly with lots of amusing anecdotes. Lansky's descriptions of the elderly Jews he meets in book collecting brings alive Yiddish life and culture which is disappearing in today's world. His enthusiasm for the subject is contagious, and this makes Outwitting History a wonderful book to read.

Under the Eye of the Clock by Christopher Nolan

A bright but severely handicapped young man writes his memoir (in the third person), giving the reader some sense of what it is to be trapped in a wheelchair and unable to speak. He learns to type by poking at a keyboard with a stick held in his mouth and he writes poetry which garners him recognition and a bit of fame. Unfortunately, his prose is extremely overwritten in a way that suggests poetry is really his forte. I had to ignore things I didn't understand and read lightly for plot. Here is an example of what I feel is overwriting: "Basted now by grace, his gabbled verse fused appeals for bygones of hurt feelings; answering from distance and direction, voiced fasts now breathed blessed, thistled relics of relief."

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen

A devasting marital breakup sends the author of this memoir back to her Mennonite roots for reflection and recovery. She provides interesting insight into the Mennonite life and its history and even includes recipes at the end. A light, easy read, Janzen's book put me in mind of Bridget Jones' Diary.

The Glass Room by Simon Mawer

Central to Mawer's novel is a large modern house in Czechoslovakia built by a young Jewish bridegroom for his Catholic bride. However, it is the family story more than the architecture that holds interest. It is the 1930s, and the reader knows that Naziism hovers threateningly over Europe. How the family deals with the political threat makes for suspenseful reading while the use to which the house is put during World War II reflects the history of the era. Excellent novel, well written.

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

In 1974 Philippe Petit strung a tightrope between the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center and performed on it for the astonished pleasure of New Yorkers on their way to work. The incident forms an historical centerpiece of this novel about city denizens whose lives become subtly interwoven as the story progresses. Starting with an Irish monk who works among prostitutes in the Bronx, the story takes you to a Park Avenue penthouse where mothers who have lost their sons in the Vietnam War gather for mutual support. Let the Great World Spin is a good read, but it is sometimes to difficult to keep track of the characters because they are featured in separate chapters and only gradually come together.

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer

A gut-wrenching story of Hungarian people during WWII, Julie Orringer's novel is thick with detail about how the oncoming and ongoing war affected the lives of young Hungarians trying to pursue professions in a very uncertain environment. Mostly it is told from the point of view of Andras Levi who at age 18 leaves Hungary to study architecture in Paris. His family is Jewish; and, with the hindsight of history, the reader feels the threat of changing laws and attitudes and the impending Nazi doom. Much of the story centers around Budapest as Hungarian Jews in foreign countries are forced by arbitrary visa expirations to return to their native countries. What Andras experiences during the war and how much of his family is able to survive keeps the reader glued to the story. Good book set in an interesting place and time.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

In 1799 a Dutchman named Jacob de Zoet sailed to Japan as a clerk for the Dutch East Indies Company. His job was to straighten out the messy accounts left by predecessors and in the course of this work he uncovers corruption and fraud; he also makes and loses money, and he falls in love with a medical student who gets whisked off to be held prisoner in a nunnery. Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas, is an excellent writer who packs lots of meaning into few words. Sometimes his style feels cryptic; other times he runs two conversations at once so you have to look at every other sentence to make sense of each. Good novel, but not easy reading.

The Barn Dance by James F. Twyman

There are people who consider James Twyman a huckster and New Age cultist, but whatever you think of the man, he has written a thought-provoking book. The Barn Dance posits that there are a few places in the world where the veil between heaven and earth is lifted and the living can make contact with the dead. In his introduction, Twyman writes that he is publishing his story as a novel, but to him it is absolutely a true story. He meets his dead wife at a barn dance and proceeds to learn lessons about his life that his soul has not yet absorbed. I have lots of quibbles with his theology but enjoyed his book, anyway. It is a fast easy read.

Godric by Frederick Buechner

If you like medieval language and religiosity, you'll love this novel about St. Godric. The rhythm of Beuchner's sentences, the use of archaic English, the subtle rhyming and assonances combine to evoke the feeling of a medieval ballad. The story is true to its historical roots, tracking what is known about St. Godric (c.1065-1170). Overall there is more of the earthly than of religion, but Godric's desire for absolution and redemption colors everything. His religion is standard medieval Christianity, and although he is a hermit, he doesn't seem at all a mystic; his is an intense but conventional approach to religion.

The Golden Frog by Michael Mamas

I was very excited about this novel at first, seeing it as the thinking man's "Shack." But towards the end it falls into that boring ploy of lecturing by having one character give lessons to another -- in this case, on connecting to God, the Universe, Oneness, the Force, the unified field, etc. It is an attempt to explain in fiction what it is to have a mystical experience and how to do it. While I'm skeptical about the possible success of this kind of attempt, I did learn a few things of interest. For instance, the Surya method: "The key to proper meditation is that it's natural and effortless. Many meditation techniques try to force the mind to be still. That's all wrong. Proper meditation allows the mind and body to unravel naturally." You are supposed to relax into your true nature, an approach I believe is much better than disciplining yourself into quietness.

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

In Addis Ababa twin boys are born. Their imagined lives form the basis for Verghese's 658 page novel in which he weaves plots and subplots around the twins' life in the mission hospital where they grow up. One twin is smart, studious, and conventional; the other is smart, a tinkerer, and unconventional. In spite of their differences and the painful conflicts they experience, the twins are bound in love throughout their lives. Verghese is a doctor, and medicine is a central focal point in his novel; there are many operating room scenes and interesting descriptions of diseases and treatments. Cutting for Stone is well written and interesting enough to pull the reader through all of its many, many pages.

The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty

A fat guy sets off to bicycle across the country letting the trip help him come to terms with the impact his mentally ill sister has had on his life while also keeping him rooted in a relationship to the girl next door. McLarty gives us interesting characters in an interesting story, but there is something profoundly annoying about this book. Perhaps the author is bilking the reader for too much sympathy; perhaps it's the scrambled time sequence. I don't recommend it.

When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson

Violent events (a triple murder, a drowning, a car accident, a train wreck, a kidnapping, as well as beatings and break-ins) set the background against which two heroines struggle to come to terms with their tragedies and establish stable lives. The setting is Edinburgh where 16-year-old Reggie works as a nanny for Joanna Hunter, a young mother and physician. A thirty year old tragedy in Dr. Hunter's life resurfaces and intertwines with current difficulties her husband is experiencing. Reggie and her police woman friend are pulled into solving a mystery and coming to the aid of the good doctor. When Will There Be Good News? is a good read. The only things I found unsettling were the many divorces and total absence of a good marriage.

Celebrate Yourself! by Eric Butterworth

This book of short essays led to hours of lively discussion in our metaphysics group at Unity Church. Butterworth was a prominent Unity minister who had a knack for explaining Unity principles from the practical ("You don't have to make a nuisance of yourself by criticizing negative people." p. 28) to the transcendent ("...it is wisdom to turn from appearances and know the Truth, to see through all limitation to the cosmic vision of wholeness." p. 185). Part of the fun of discussing Butterworth was that we sometimes disagreed with him, e.g. when he describes God as a Mother-Father figure with the mother part being the heart and the father part being wisdom. Apart from what we regard as sexism, this approach is entirely too anthropomorphic for our group.

Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama

New England had its textile factories where young women came to work while living in communal quarters and China had a comparable situation brought alive in Tsukiyama's novel. Its heroine, Pei, was placed at age eight in a home for girls who worked in a silk factory. Feeling cruelly abandoned by her parents, Pei made the adjustment to her new home and long hours in the factory. Her kindness brought her friends and her competence led to promotion. However, the time is 1919-1938; communism is rising and the Japanese are invading the country and eventually the political and military turmoil have an impact on the lives of the factory girls.

New Grub Street by George Gissing

In the early 1800s Grub Street in London was an impoverished area where many hack writers lived and worked. Gissing brings the struggles of writers and publishers to life in a novel that takes place at the end of that century. In many ways the story is like a soap opera with lots of class consciousness, romance, and the gaining and losing of fortunes. But underlying all that is a debate over whether writers should write for the market or strive for serious literary art. At over 500 pages, the book is somewhat repetitive in making its points, but it is still a fun read.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

By the time you hit the third in Stieg Larsson's trilogy, you are very familiar with his voice and his fascination with sexual violence against women. Nevertheless, "The Hornet's Nest" still sucks you into its convoluted and many-peopled plot. It's a good read, but I think the author has (i.e., had -- he died in 2004) a problem about women.

Enemies of the People by Kati Marton

The daughters of journalists for AP and UPI, Julia and Kati Marton spent their childhood in Budapest during the communist occupation. Kati's book about that life is not so much a memoir as it is a study of the lives of her parents during that era. They were constantly spied upon by the secret police who kept voluminous records of their daily lives. Those records eventually became available to the author providing insight into her parents' political problems and forming the basis of this book. For a long time the Martons were allowed to operate freely as journalists in Budapest, but eventually both were jailed for being too friendly with westerners, particularly people at the American legation. Enemies of the People conveys what it is like to live with political oppression we've never known in this country.

The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk

The reverberations of this strange 728 page novel are amazing. While the story is simple, the telling of it has the reader wondering what is love, what is happiness, where does sanity lie, how do things (i.e. physical objects) relate to our emotions. The first person narrator is establishing a museum to honor the love of his life, and much of the book is about his deep love for her and the excruciating pain he felt when she refused to see him. After she has married another man, our hero worms his way back into her life and spends years observing her and loving her from within the role of family friend. The story takes place in Istanbul starting in 1975, and while the country is modernizing, there is still an attitude of protectiveness towards women that restrains them.

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

The second of the Larsson trilogy is just as much a page-turner as the first. This time the focus is on "the girl" as a victim of a murder investigation. While I have enjoyed Larsson's books, I have two complaints: 1. The girl's skills seem a little too good to be true; and 2. Larsson seems to really enjoy thinking about the torture of women. Of course he excoriates it, but it is a very dominant theme in his work. It's possible to read The Girl Who Played with Fire without having read the first in the series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but I wouldn't.

Nothing to Be Frightened Of by Julian Barnes

The title is printed over a gawping empty grave on the cover of this memoir by the accomplished British author Julian Barnes. I therefore assumed it would be a reassuring book about death, but I found it to be sad and a little frightening. Barnes' memoir includes non-judgmental discussions of atheists and believers, as well as stories of how different people (some famous, some not) have exited this life. None of it leads to any kind of conclusion, but is simply the author making himself comfortable with mortality. But in spite of my disappointment in not finding a particular "answer," I enjoyed the writing and literary nuances. Barnes is a brilliant writer.

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

An elderly Jewish gentleman and a fourteen year old girl, living their separate lives in New York, are both on track to uncover the history of a broken love affair. The gentleman's motivation is to search for a son he has never connected with; the girl's is to find a new love interest for her lonely mother. This is a convoluted story beautifully written. However, time sequences are not always clear and the voice of the narrator changes from character to character. A beautiful book, but it needs close attention.

Under the Frog by Tibor Fischer

The frog in Fischer's cleverly written novel is communism in Hungary. Hero Gyuri Fischer is only in his late teens and early twenties in the period from 1947 to 1956 when the country was struggling under the rule of the highly ideological but grossly incompetent Russian communists. Gyuri plays basketball, works, and studies as he tries to figure out a future for himself. Ultimately, he participates with his girlfriend in the uprising of 1956 which is described with detail and historical accuracy. Under the Frog was a Booker Prize finalist.

Utz by Bruce Chatwin

Kasper Utz is a fictional collector of porcelain in Prague. During World War II and the subsequent political upheavals in Czechoslovakia, he nurtured his collection saving it from confiscation from the Nazis and the communists. Mostly a character study, the novel does not have much in the way of a plot. However, the writing is brilliant and colorful. Chatwin is a well-traveled author who had worked for Sotheby's and was familiar with the art world, so Utz is loaded with details of European travel and art set against lightly portrayed political situations.

That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo

Tired of reading heavy-duty non-fiction, I wanted a break with some fun fiction, and Richard Russo never disappoints. In That Old Cape Magic the hero is struggling with the deaths of his parents and his marriage. The two intertwine on Cape Cod where he spent a meaningful childhood vacation and also his honeymoon. Now he has returned to dispose of the ashes of his cremated parents and clean his emotional slate before deciding whether his life will continue in Los Angeles or Connecticut. Good read.

Sundays in America by Suzanne Strempek Shea

Suzanne Strempek Shea is one of my book club's favorite authors. Based in Western Massachusetts, she teaches at Baypath College and happily makes appearances at local book clubs, including ours. For this latest work of non-fiction Suzanne traveled the country and spent each Sunday attending a different Protestant worship service. Her Catholic upbringing had prevented her from even entering non-Catholic churches; but as her own religion waned, her curiosity took hold and she bravely stepped out to experience other churches. The summaries of her visits are pulled together in Sundays in America combining their descriptions with a little autobiographical material. One gets a view of the wide variety of American religious experience, but in the end I wished that Suzanne had gone one more step to describe how the experience affected her own spirituality. Perhaps that is a work yet to come.

Growing Up bin Laden by Najwa and Omar bin Laden

The wife and son of Osama bin Laden collaborate with American author Jean Sasson to reveal the workings of his household, first in Saudi Arabia, then in Sudan, and finally in Afghanistan where things started to fall apart for the family. Osama was a loving but harsh father. His children were denied toys, and the eight boys by his first wife were forced into long desert marches to toughen them up. His wives (he had four) had to spend a night sleeping in holes in the ground to prepare them for possible wartime conditions. Osama's religious views also made him shun modern conveniences like air conditioning. Even stoves and refrigerators were considered signs of an unhealthy dependence on modernity. While this fascinating book focuses on family rather than the man himself, the reader does get a glimpse of Osama's growing anger and fanaticism.

The Five Principles by Ellen Debenport

Ellen Debenport, a Unity minister in Texas elucidates the basic principles upon which Unity Church is founded. The adult version of them is a little wordy, but at the end of the book she presents a version for children and teens which clarifies them:

1. God is all good and active in everything, everywhere.
2. I am naturally good because God's divinity is in me and in everyone.
3. I create my experiences by what I choose to think and and what I feel and believe.
4. Through affirmative prayer and meditation, I connect with God and bring out the good in my life.
5. I do and give my best by living the Truth I know. I make a difference!

The Women by T.C. Boyle

Another work of biographical fiction from T.C. Boyle. This one centers on Frank Lloyd Wright and his unconventional relationships with women. He had a wife, a mistress, another wife, and another mistress and endured scandal and the hounding of a prurient press. Unfortunately, the book deals with the women in reverse order so the picture of his life is scrambled and lacking in suspense.

The Third Jesus by Deepak Chopra

The first Jesus, according to Deepak Chopra, is the historical person about whom we know next to nothing. The second one is the Jesus presented in the Bible and by most Christian churches: the son of God coming to save humankind from sinfulness. The third Jesus, according to Chopra, is a mystic trying to shift the world's perception of God to one that is less rigid and judgmental. Jesus' God is a God of grace and "A God capable of being pleased and displeased isn't a God of grace, since the essence of grace is unconditional love." Chopra goes on to interpret the life and alleged words of Jesus in terms of mysticism as it has been experienced in all religions. He also gives instruction on how to enhance your spiritual development. An excellent book for discussion.

Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef

Mosab Hassan Yousef is the oldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a devote Muslim who helped found the organization called Hamas. That group has supported Muslims with good community services, but has also waged war against Israel and against fellow Muslims of its competing organization, Yasser Arafat's Fatah. Mosab's memoir shows how he grew from being a Palestinian boy who threw rocks at Israeli soldiers to being, first, a trusted member of Hamas, then a spy for the Israelis, and finally a convert to Christianity. It is truly an incredible journey in which a young man casts around for his own values and priorities while playing deceptive games with dangerous characters bent on destroying each other. Son of Hamas provides good insight into what it is to be caught in the Middle East conflict.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Great chick lit! Snow Flower and the Secret Fan tells the story of two girls who grow to womanhood in remote villages of 19th century China. The reader is taken deep into Chinese culture with descriptions of footbinding, domestic skills, marriage and family relationships, and socio-economic status. But the key is the relationship between the two girls, Lily and Snow Flower, who are born on the same day and are allowed to become laotongs; that is, they sign a contract at age 11 to become life-long friends. Lily is the book's narrator, but she has limited knowledge of Snow Flower's life. As the relationship plays out over their lifetimes, Lily learns more of who Snow Flower is; and in doing so, reveals her own limitations.

Going Rogue by Sarah Palin

I've kept this book carefully hidden in my bedroom because there are too many people who would sneer at me for reading it. Nevertheless, with 1.6 million copies (hard cover) in print, it aroused my curiosity. There are no real surprises. Except for the political activity, the Palins do seem to be a typical American family. I was a little disappointed that Sarah did not talk more about how she handled being a mother and active politician at the same time after Trig was born, but I realized that the book presents her in a way that would support a further political career. She knew full well that quitting the governorship might end her career, but she and Alaska's legal team were inundated with FOI requests and complaints of ethics violations and they weren't getting much else done. It was death by a thousand cuts and she simply decided to shake it off and move on. Sarah is a very tough and interesting person and it will be fun to see what she does next.

Trail of Crumbs by Kim Sunée

An abandoned girl is adopted in Korea at age three and is then raised in New Orleans. But the focus of her memoir, Trail of Crumbs, is on the years of her twenties when she lives in Sweden and France. She becomes involved with a very wealthy married man who gives her a beautiful life in Provence and Paris; yet Kim still feels rootless and restless. All the while, Kim is cooking, eating, and emerging herself in the world of food. Her memoir is full of recipes and has a recipe index at the end. Even though this is a fascinating life story and is well written, it is easy for the reader to feel that Kim is whiney and unappreciative. Since the book has been published, her adoptive mother has stopped talking to her.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

In 1939 a nine-year-old girl named Liesel is deposited by her mother with a foster family in a small town in Germany. No one seems to know why or how this came about, but the girl adjusts to her new home and grows into adolescence against the backdrop of rising Nazi aggression. Her childhood made interesting by adventures she and her friend Rudy get into and by her family's harboring of a Jewish man. Eventually to war gets to their small town near Munich and the fates of Liesel, her parents, Ruby, and the hidden Jew are played out amidst the chaos of Germany's defeat. The Book Thief is a well written and compelling story.

China's Son by Da Chen

Coming of age in China during the reign of Mao was not easy for the grandson of a landlord. His whole family was discriminated against because of its bourgeois history. Chen dropped out of school after having been tormented by class members indoctrinated He hung out with thugs who set up gambling scams. Then Mao died and China began to change. Chen could see that there might be opportunity for those who pursued education, so he buckled down and hit the books in preparation for nationwide tests. His family worked long hours and often went hungry in order to support his efforts. His struggles, set within a changing political situation, are fascinating.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

A book about a book, The Help is set against the background of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. It describes the lives of the black housemaids of Jackson, Mississippi and their relationships with the white families they serve. A young white woman organizes and leads the maids in the effort to put together a book that tells of their experiences as maids and the circumstances, both loving and hateful, found with their employers. Thick with colorful plot (almost soap-opera-ish at times) The Help is a real page-turner.

The Red Thread of Passion; Spirituality and the Paradox of Sex by David Guy

"It is one of those rules that must be broken to be maintained," says David Guy in his description of the lax attitude of Zen monks towards novices who sneak out to visit brothels. I picked this book up because of my interest in paradox and because there really does seem to be a communality between sexual and spiritual passion -- a transcendence of the day-to-day babble of our human minds. With, perhaps, more emphasis on sex than on spirituality Guy examines the lives of Walt Whitman, D.H. Lawrence, philosopher Alan Watts and pornographer Marco Vassi. Then he delves into the beliefs and practices of lesser known contemporaries who have become sex therapists. Along the way there is much support for Buddhist approaches to life. "In the West," he writes, "God is the architect of the universe and has a plan, but in the East the universe is a spontaneous process of growth." In the end, the author seems to meld spirit and sex as simply forms of universal energy. He quotes William Blake as saying "Energy is eternal delight."

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

A good immigrant story provides description of assimilation, insight into a foreign culture, and a new perspective on one's own culture. Shanghai Girls does not disappoint in these respects, but goes further with the portrayal of a complex relationship between two sisters who are both very close and very different from each other. Pearl and May Chin work as models in Shanghai until their father hastily marries them off to a Chinese-American family. Their trip to America is hampered by the fact that China in 1937 was being invaded by the Japanese. Their life in Los Angeles is burdened with economic and immigration problems. Their story is a real page-turner with lots of food for thought.

The Strangest Man; the Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom by Graham Farmelo

For those of us interested in how quantum mechanics came into being and flourished during the 1920s and 1930s, Farmelo's biography of Paul Dirac is a wonderful review of the period. Dirac was among the giants of the field along with Albert Einstein, Neils Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, Peter Kapitza, Wolfgang Pauli, and Robert Oppenheimer. But he was also very human with a complex and painful family situation.

When he came to eminence in his 20s, Dirac was extremely reticent and seemed almost devoid of normal human emotions. Lots of Dirac stories developed among his colleagues based on the fact that it was difficult to get him to say anything at all. Here is an example of his conversational style. This is late in his life when he was a little more open and was talking to the artist who was painting his portrait:

Artist: Can you put into layman's terms what you're working on, Professor?
Dirac: Yes. Creation.
Artist: Wow! Tell me more.
Dirac: Creation was one vast bang. Talk of a steady state is nonsense.
Artist: But if nothing existed beforehand, what was there to bang?
Dirac: That is not a meaningful question.

Gradually, fellow physicists lured the young Dirac into more connection with the outside world with hiking and mountain climbing and family visits. His social life became full and warm, a minor miracle given his early reclusiveness.

The portrayal of Dirac's social and emotional characteristics is deeply thoughtful and deftly placed in the scene of changing political realities during the years before and after WWII. Many people at Cambridge University were hopeful that Russia's experiment with communism would lead to greater prosperity and a more civilized society. The Stalin era dampened that hope, but Dirac remained friends with his Russian colleagues through it all, and he often visited the USSR. He traveled alot, doing sabbatical years at Princeton and being dragged around the world when his wife wanted him out of Cambridge because a lady friend seemed to have her eye on him.

Farmelo has given us a warm and enriching life story in a very readable way in spite of the need to include explanations of very complex intellectual abstractions.