The Silver Star

The Silver Star is the new novel from Jeannette Walls, the acclaimed author of the memoir The Glass Castle.

It’s 1970, and 12-year old Jean “Bean” Holliday and her 15-year old sister Liz are on their own since their mom, Charlotte, an aspiring singer, songwriter and actress with grand dreams of making it big has once again left them alone to pursue her career, this time traveling to Los Angeles for an audition as a backup singer. Bean and Liz are used to her frequent one to two night absences, but this time Charlotte’s been gone for four days and since the phone company turned off service, she has no way of getting through to the girls. Nonetheless, the girls are making do with a daily diet of Bean’s favorite meal, chicken pot pies, when they receive a letter from Charlotte with $200 to keep them in pies until her return.

When Mr. Spinelli, the local grocer, starts asking questions, the girls start to panic sure that the “bandersnatches” (Liz’s word from her favorite book) or “the do-gooding government busybodies who snooped around making sure that kids had the sort of families that busybodies thought they should have” would come split them and up and ship them off to parts unknown; and when Bean spots a police officer snooping through their front window, they quickly take action and decide to follow Liz’s plan. Despite the distance and scarcity of funds, the girls decide to travel to Mayfield, Charlotte’s family home located in Byler, VA and visit their Uncle Tinsley and Aunt Martha. With grand dreams of their own for family and a stable home, since Charlotte has found something wrong with every place they’d ever lived, they packed their clothes and Fido, Bean’s pet turtle, and embark on a cross-country journey that unbeknownst to them will bring them fun, excitement and self-discovery.

This was a lovely and charming book. As the narrator, Bean is funny, precocious and full of sass; while Liz, wise beyond her years, is the pseudo-parent for their little family, keeping Bean not only physically, but emotionally safe from their mom’s lack of care. In every sense, Liz is Bean’s constant and safe harbor in the storm; from saving her life as an infant, to sharing her bed with Bean so she wouldn’t cry, to protecting Bean from the sad realization that Charlotte is a fibber, like her grandiose tales of foxhunting with Jackie Kennedy when she was a child. Charlotte is a woman with illusions of grandeur carried from the days when her daddy owned the town’s cotton mill; who is too busy dwelling on the exploits of her past, like being homecoming queen, and grand dreams of fame in her future to do something as mundane as being a parent to her two wonderful girls.

I loved Bean and Liz’s courage in the face of so much diversity and the fact that they never let themselves become victims to their circumstances or the adults around them; instead they are emboldened by the knowledge that together they can do and face anything. I was so glad that despite his own fears and struggles, Uncle Tinsley stepped up and became someone the girls could love and trust; in truth, not only Uncle Tinsley but the whole Wyatt clan (Aunt Al, Ruth, and Joe) epitomized the best in what it means to be a family. Ultimately, Bean and Liz find what they most needed, family, that safety net which catches us all during times of trial.

The Silver Star is a wonderful book guaranteed to deliver more than a few laughs, as well as a new appreciation for family and the redemptive power of love.

Giving

Prayer of Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, the truth;
Where there is doubt, the faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

F(read)om

Since 1982, the American Library Association (ALA) has promoted Banned Books Week. Banned or challenged books are books that have either been removed or restricted in institutions on the basis of their content.

Did you know that Harry Potter is #1 on the list of banned/challenged books from 2000-2009? Or that 5,099 challenges were reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom from 2000-2009, and include such classics as The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men, among others? In fact, in 2012, the number one challenged booked was Captain Underpants.

Below are some of the terms used to describe some of these banned books; click on each link to discover its true identity, you just may be surprised.

"Perverse"
“No redeeming qualities”
"Vulgar and x-rated"
“A filthy, trashy novel”
“A filthy, filthy book”
“Makes promiscuous sex look like fun”

Celebrate your freedom to read and enjoy one of these “trashy” books.

Unholy Night

In Seth Grahame-Smith’s Unholy Night, the New York Times best-selling author of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, brings us a twisted retelling of the classic story of the three wise men as only he can tell it.

The thieving Balthazar, a Syrian by birth who is known as the infamous Antioch Ghost, is fleeing Tel Arad on camel, burdened with the spoils of his latest daring heist from Decimus’, the new Rome-dispatched governor, walled compound. Captured and brought before Herod to be executed, the “scourge of Rome” instead pulls off the unlikeliest of escapes (straight out of Mission Impossible) with two other thieves imprisoned in the same cell in Herod’s palace; Melchyor, a Greek and self-described finest swordsman in the empire, and Gaspar, an African who claims his only talent as “being smart enough to partner with the best swordsman in the empire.” After the three thieves sneak away right under the guards noses, Herod rages at Balthazar’s humiliation of him, but that is quickly forgotten for as he looks to the Eastern sky there is a star brighter than any he has ever seen, and now he knows that the muttered prophecies of a Messiah born of a virgin in the Town of Bethlehem, who will topple all the kingdoms of the world including Herod’s has come to pass.

As the three “wise men” arrive in Bethlehem and decide to hide from Herod’s troops in the stable, they come across a young family. As the men startle the young new mother, her husband, Joseph, comes to her protection, only to end up with a black eye from Balthazar and threats of more dire consequences if he doesn’t put down the pitchfork he's holding. Joseph quickly explains his fears that they were Herod’s men, and openly confesses to the reasons for their own planned escape, as well as all the events which lead up to their current situation including Gabriel visiting Mary, Mary becoming pregnant, and his own vision in which Gabriel warned of Herod slaying all newborn males in Bethlehem. The three criminals listen and instead of offering assistance, insult Mary’s honor, hold the young family hostage, and mock Joseph and Mary’s beliefs as a joke.

It is as Balthazar and his companions are leaving Bethlehem, almost home free from Herod’s grasp, that they hear the first screams. A woman’s scream and then another. Dare they believe the carpenter’s crazy ramblings? Would Herod be insane enough to murder innocent infants? It is at that moment that Balthazar’s life is changed, for faced with escape, he decides to go back and help, and the horror he witnesses urges him to fight, to kill them all. The fates are decided by his stroke of conscience, and hence starts a long arduous journey towards safety for the three wise men who become the reluctant guides and protectors of Joseph, Mary and child.

This was a truly fun read. The book was quirky, funny, outrageous and brilliant. Now if the mere thought of altering a Bible story is sacrilegious to you, then please don’t even open this book, because there is plenty to be outraged by. If on the other hand, you can take it for what it is, a very original work of fiction, then go for it because the book truly has something for everyone one; action, humor, and even a little romance.

As I said, the action is plentiful, including some great battle scenes with plenty of swordplay, worthy of a Bond-movie. By far the best aspect of the book though is the character development of Balthazar. The author wonderfully fleshes out Balthazar’s character, and gives him enough muscle, sinew and heart through his wit, humor and backstory to humanize him and avoid painting him as black or white, or an all good or all evil caricature. The backstory involving his baby brother is especially effective in helping build Balthazar’s slow progression from criminal into a sympathetic character. In fact, over the span of the book the reader can slowly see his moral awakening leading to his ultimate role of hero by the end of the book.

Grahame-Smith once again manages to bend history seamlessly to his will in order to fashion an epic tale; every page of which is enthralling and exciting.

The Returned

Jason Mott’s debut novel The Returned poses a serious moral dilemma, what would you do if your dead loved one came back? Embrace them with open arms, no questions asked? In The Returned, Lucille and Harold Hargrave from Arcadia, North Carolina face such a dilemma. Lucille and Harold are a married couple in their 70s whose life is torn asunder when their eight-year old son Jacob, whom they’d lost back in 1966 when he drowned during his birthday party is returned to them, still the same beautiful and precocious boy of eight. Jacob is not alone, he is one of many. The news is inundated with daily accounts of new Returned, the moniker given to the dead showing up alive in all corners of the globe. They appear at random; the same age as when they passed, but not necessarily where they died, left to search for the loved ones and lives they’d left behind.

When Jacob is returned to Lucille and Harold by bureau agent Martin Bellamy, he gives them an out. It is up to them whether they want to keep Jacob or not. While life had moved on for Lucille and Harold, they had never stopped grieving the loss of their son, so Lucille welcomes the opportunity to, despite her creaking bones and aches of a woman in her 70s, greedily grab with both hands the role of mother which she had treasured and had to give up tragically too early a lifetime ago.

As more and more Returned are found though, panic and fear begins to grow among the population, for what are they to make of these beings? Are they a miracle from God, a poor imitation, a sign of the end of times or something even more sinister? In an effort to control the situation, the government begins collecting and housing the Returned and Arcadia becomes ground zero for the struggle between right and wrong, and the living and Returned.

While I enjoyed this book, I felt there was so much left unexplored and unexplained. Given the book’s premise, there were countless avenues which could’ve been taken to explain the other worldly events taking place. If you go the sci-fi route, it could’ve been aliens; if you go the religious route, it could’ve been a miracle from God. While none of those things are disputed, they are not posited as possible explanations either. Mott follows neither avenue of thought and never explains the what, where, and why of the Returned. We are merely expected to accept at face value that they are here.

Nonetheless, the characters are well defined with enough substance and heart to make you care. Lucille’s love for her child is palpable, as is Harold’s heartfelt and focused determination to believe and erase any doubts in his own mind that would prevent him from loving this child as his own. In addition to the main characters, there are also equally intriguing secondary characters and plotlines, such as the local preacher still pining for his first true love, or the young Returned family which had once been murdered in the once-thought of idyllic town of Arcadia.

Despite the vague plot points, the story is still a compelling read thanks to its focus on the familial storyline. It is the love between mother, father and child and the bonds that bind them together even after death which is the heart of this tale, and what make it a book worth reading.

Amazing!

Call me crazy, but I'm willing to go out on a limb and call this race over right now. Holly Henry will be the next Voice. Yup. The unassuming 19-year old was that good. I knew it as soon as she started singing, which is just about as how fast Blake buzzed in to get her on his team. After getting a four chair turn, the only question left for debate was which team she would choose. I had my fingers and toes crossed, chanting Blake, Blake, Blake in mind, and sure enough, wise beyond her years, Holly chose my favorite cowboy as her coach. Yay! Granted the auditions aren't even over, but I just loved, loved, loved her voice. You can view her audition here.