I love stories with a magical element that takes place in the “real” world. Perhaps that’s why “magical realism” appeals to me so much – writers like Salman Rushdie and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. So when I told our local librarian this, and she pulled The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue off the shelf, I was pretty excited to find new writers in this style (can it be called a style?).

The book tells the story of Henry Day, a seven-year-old boy who is stolen by the changelings (faeries, hobgoblins – pick your name of choice) and replaced with one of their own who has made himself look just like them. The book is structured with alternating chapters, one from the perspective of the changeling made boy living in Henry Day’s life and one from the perspective of Aniday, the boy who becomes changeling. The intertwined perspective allows the reader to develop sympathy with both boys while still scorning each “world’s” view and interaction with the other.

I really enjoyed Donohue’s use of the changeling myth to explore the ways we all – at least I think we all – feel unlike everyone else around us. I can distinctly remember thinking that the reason I felt so alone, even in the midst of my family and friends, as a child was because right now I was just watching my life on a big projection screen, God at my side, while everyone was else actually living theirs. Soon, I would get to come to earth and then I could change what I wanted and really be connected with everyone. I never did really think through whether or not those other people would then just be watching a movie of their own lives then. All I knew was that this idea seemed to help me feel less alone.

The story of these two boys also does a wonderful job of blending together myth and reality while giving us believable, culpable characters who we love even when they are distant. Henry Day’s father, for example, is complex and deep, even though we never learn his name.

The other element of this novel that strikes me as well-developed and articulated is the way that these two characters’ stories start out very intertwined and then spread apart before finally resolving again into an intimate connection between the two boys who are neither who they are or who they were (again, here, magic recreates reality.)

I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and hope to read more by Keith Donohue. His latest novel, Angels of Destruction, is a Washington Post Best Book of 2009. Guess I”ll be hunting that one down next.

– The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue.

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Don’t forget to enter the Best Books I Read in 2009 competition. Tomorrow is your last day to comment and win five Bookmooch points.

Filed by Andi at 7:52 am under Uncategorized
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I’m sitting here at a giant dining room table with Dave’s family. We came down to St. Augustine, FL for Dave’s Dad’s 70th birthday. It’s been a blast.

I must admit that it’s an experience for me to be with a big family – Dave has six siblings – who are used to multiple conversations and lots of activity. I’m just not used to this much noise. But it’s really, really fun to be around people who are caring and fun, and who don’t expect me to make any decisions at all. A lovely Christmas.

Today, we’re going to Castille de San Marcos, an old Spanish fort here, and as I write I can see the Atlantic ocean from the window. In the gloaming last night, I walked along the shore and everyone was giddy with a beachy-Christmas. I met a dog named Molly and petted a beagle who was revelling in the surf. Dave and his brothers threw a football, and Dave’s five-year-old nephew wrote words – HHICD is a favorite – in the sand for me to read. Not a bad way to spend the holiday.

In moments, I read The Changeling by Keith Donahue. In others, I just sit and listen to the fun. The conversations of family are constantly fascinating. The long-standing jokes and nuances of inflection are slowly becoming more clear, like I’m learning a new language by immersion.

At the moment, we are discussing who left out the cream cheese and watching how even the young know to save the top of the muffin for later. It’s a nice way to be reminded of the key elements of Christmas – family, stillness, the beauty of nature. All in their own ways miracles.

Filed by Andi at 8:13 am under Book Recommendations, Uncategorized
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Today I woke with a cold. I always get some illness at the end of the semester. It’s like my body’s immune system says, “Finally, we can stop fighting off illness so hard. Now that you have some time to enjoy yourself, we’re going to take a little break and let you get sick. Merry Christmas.”

But I admit that I still woke up thankful. It’s just a cold – tiredness and stuffiness I can handle. Plus, Kathy made french toast, and I have coffee. A good morning indeed.

This afternoon, I head back up to my old full-time gig to grab a drink – probably hot tea since beers and colds and still icy roads don’t mix – and relax at the end of yet another hard semester (is any semester not hard, I wonder?).

It’s a good morning, and I’m going to continue enjoying it by watching Ghost Adventures, sewing while I drink more coffee, and reading more of Dan Brown’s decadent Lost Symbol. Working so hard for four months makes a person really appreciate those breaks. Yeah.

Filed by Andi at 8:19 am under Book Recommendations, Teaching Triumphs and Travails
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I’ve been thinking a lot about reading lately because, to be honest, I don’t see people doing much of it lately. My students don’t really read – even the stuff they’re assigned – and I don’t see other people reading much either. The other day, Dave and I were on the Metro, and I honestly did not see a single person reading anything.

My roommate reads, and Dave listens to lots of books on CD. My colleagues read (but then not reading when you’re an English teacher is probably cause for banishment), and one of Dave’s brothers reads. My parents read voraciously (sometimes my mom finishes a book in a day). Yet, I fear the death of the book might be coming. I don’t blame Kindle or those other digital reading tools; I blame our lack of desire for knowledge and education. It seems we really prefer to be entertained. But then, maybe given the state of life on the planet at the moment, we need entertainment a great deal. I’m trying to be gracious about that.

However, I look forward to every break from school because it means I can read more. As I told my students a couple of weeks ago, I can get through about 30 books in a few weeks if I put my mind to it, and this year, I intend to put my mind (and body) to it intently.

So here are a few books I plan to read in the next few weeks:
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown – a perfect, light transition from teaching.
Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder – the newest book by one of my favorite writers
Waiter Rant by Steve Dublanica – a nonfiction book that Kathy recommends.

I also have some ARCs to read including Thursday Night Widows by Claudia Peneiro. Plus, I hope to get into Home by Marilynne Robinson and also into a couple of A.S. Byatt’s books.

Mostly, I just want to read a lot of books over break. If you have recommendations, please let me know. And let me know what you’re reading for the next few weeks.

Remember, there are still a few weeks to tell me about the Best Book You Read in 2009. The winner will receive five Bookmooch points so that s/he can get more great books to read.

Filed by Andi at 8:44 am under Book Recommendations, Teaching Triumphs and Travails
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In so many ways this book is about Henry, the time traveler; he’s exciting and calming and loyal and beautiful and all the things a romantic hero should be. But as the title suggests and the book bears out, the story is really about Clare, the woman who must wait. (I almost wrote “weight,” a word that somehow seems appropriate as well.).

My student Mike recommended I read this book, and to be honest, I expected it to fall into the stereotype of “guy” books – you know with fast-paced plots and lots of suspense – but knowing Mike – and most of the men who take creative writing, I should have known better. There is suspense, but it’s not the kind of action that will be resolved easily. There is great pacing, but it’s slow and methodic – like life. But it’s the characters and the relationship between them that make this book really remarkable. I find myself nodding or silently crying in some scenes because I know this moment – or I think I can know it – those moments when the person you are with is so painfully beautiful that you are sure, given the nature of the world, that something must go horribly wrong. Niffenegger writes those moments beautifully.

For those of you who don’t know the gist of this book (once again, I am coming to the party late on this one), Henry is a man who travels through time without any will to do so and without any real control over where he goes. As an adult, he meets Clare, a young girl who will – he knows – eventually become his wife. The novel is the story of their relationship as it weaves through the farce known as time. I won’t say more because if you haven’t read this book, you really should. Every moment is worth it.

Here are the things I love most about the book:
Clare’s sense of herself as an artist – she knows when she must walk away and when she must create.
Alba – a little girl who appears later in the novel with glorious precociousness.
Henry – his angst over his traveling calls to mind all the ways people feel or are trapped in choices they didn’t make.
The friends that surround them – I love that they know what happens and accept it, no mystery, not too much awe, just the reality of life with people they love.
The way that Niffenegger handles time travel – I can only imagine how complex the structure must have been to create and how it must have been tempting to let that aspect of the book take over all else. To keep such a fantastical element under control and use it merely as a tool to convey relationships, that’s the talent of a skilled writer.

But most of all, I love the way this book tugs out the theme of waiting. As the final poem in the book notes, this is the story of Penelope waiting, the story of women (and men) waiting for their husbands (and wives) to return from war, the story of every person who has sat on a couch waiting for their partner to return home to them, the tale of every young adult who longs to know what they will be “when they grow up.” It is the story of life whether we like it or not – we are often waiting. And if we’re lucky, we forget we are waiting for moments where love and hope overwhelm us.

– The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Filed by Andi at 8:29 am under Uncategorized
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