And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

It seems like every review I write starts out with a wish for a half-star rating option... This one is no different. If I had the necessary technology, I would rate this one 3.5 stars. Even 3.75 while we're talking about wishes. Just short of 4 stars by a very narrow margin. This book is beautifully written. I hi-lighted, noted, copied, and underlined line after line. Hosseini's writing has a soothing cadence that carried me effortlessly into the world he created, offering the chance to get to know the characters intuitively, as he knows them. The characters are so incredibly human, as to be nearly tangible. It was sometimes difficult to remember if it was fact or fiction that transported me so completely into these other lives. I have read Hosseini's others: The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. I enjoyed them both, the former slightly more so than the latter, but I enjoyed neither of them as much as I did And The Mountains Echoed. 

Despite the incredible feat of craftsmanship this novel is, I was slightly disappointed to miss out on what happened to a number of the characters. This is where the narrow margin between 3.5 and 4 stars lies... Unfortunately some of the characters who had a significant impact on me are dropped off along the way, never to be mentioned again. I was enthralled with the section of the story hosted by cousins Tamur and Idris but am still wondering what happened to them. There are others whose absence I also mourned. I suppose this is the downside to creating such dynamic characters. Their inevitable exit from the tale is noticed and they are missed.

This was a book club choice that I am anxious to discuss with my reader friends. The richness of the numerous characters and all the ways they each influenced the events of the story in varying degrees provides infinite possibilities for discussion, interpretation, and contemplation. My loyalty to the work of Khaled Hosseini was increased by this latest masterpiece and I look forward to more of his eloquent style in future. 

You will find an official plot line description at: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16115612-and-the-mountains-echoed?from_search=true. 

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

4.5 stars for this one! Bravo, Sue Monk Kidd! A million thanks to Viking Publishing for the advanced copy. If you haven't already pre-ordered this one, DO IT RIGHT NOW! It goes on sale January 7, 2014 and you're not going to want to miss it. 

Sarah and Angelina Grimke are two of the first suffragists and female abolitionists in our country's history and through intense research and a labor of love, Kidd brings them to life for us to enjoy and admire. The Grimke sisters' tale, interwoven with the story of slave Handful and her mother Charlotte, is all encompassing. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about reading it. When I was reading it, I was enmeshed in it to the exclusion of all other things beyond breathing. 

At the close of this triumphant novel the author takes the time to explain what is truth, what is fiction, and what is gently repurposed truth for the sake of fiction. She's done a brilliant job telling a wonderful "you go girl" story and it's a great way to start the new year!

You will find an official plot line description at: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18079776-the-invention-of-wings.

Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor

This is one of those books that automatically comes with the byline, "If you loved Gone With the Wind..." The sales pitch is spot on. Forever Amber IS Gone With the Wind. Granted, it's in England in the 1800's but Scarlett and Rhett are both present and accounted for in characters Amber and Bruce. The likenesses in the characters' personalities are so close to those in Gone With the Wind I sometimes found myself anticipating plot elements from Gone With the Wind, confusing myself as to which story I was actually reading. I loved Gone With the Wind. I couldn't put it down the first time I read it over ten years ago. When I finished it, I was at a loss as to what to do with myself, so consumed by the book as I was. If I had read Forever Amber first I think I would have been engrossed in it to that same degree; however, since it seemed to mirror that old favorite of mine I couldn't love it with equal fervor. It is a good read and I'm glad to add it to my list but I wouldn't recommend reading the two classics back-to-back. Amber is an infuriating and frustrating heroine who you can't help but root for. She's selfish and shocking in the extreme except for those times she gives her all without reserve to someone else, effectively stealing the reader's heart and forcing you to forgive her all other trespasses. I had similar feelings about main man, Bruce Carlton. He's such a smart, handsome, charming, jerk you can't help but love and hate him, simultaneously. Much like Rhett and Scarlett... 

You will find an official plot line description at: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5368.Forever_Amber?from_search=true.

Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova

For me this was a three-star read but it will easily warrant a higher rating from someone with a more developed interest in the subject matter. I started with gusto but at about the halfway point my interest started to wane and the last half was a struggle. To the author's credit, I can't imagine any less talented writer would have been able to actively engage me that far and certainly not kept me involved enough to actually finish. The irony in my struggle to pay attention was that ultimately, this book was all about paying attention. Konnikova teaches readers to engage and focus on a singular task, eliminate distractions, and rule out snap, perception-based decisions. As if that weren't difficult enough, all that should be accomplished while staying mindfully aware of the present. She uses the adventures of Sherlock Holmes as a basis for her teachings showing how the super sleuth mastered his mind to solve crimes while his counterpart often made incorrect conclusions based on perceptions and opinions born of limited experience.

Meditation is an important part of my daily routine and a great deal of Konnikova's teachings mirrored the lessons I have received from various meditation teachers. Although meditation isn't mentioned until page 144, anyone with meditation experience will pick up on that underlying theme from the beginning. This book again confirmed for me the value and importance of my meditation practice. 

Konnikova summarizes the process of our ability to recall information by tying the learning process to mindful thinking about the subject. Interest and motivation in and toward a subject lead to engaged mindful thinking resulting in improved memory recall. She also notes that we are not actually meant to multitask and will learn and remember much more effectively by focusing on one thing at a time. She counsels several times throughout the book that choosing to do nothing is still a choice, a good reminder for me as I have a tendency to procrastinate action items. I have been focusing on cultivating a beginner's mind in all aspects of my life. Zen teacher, Shunryu Suzuki, put a point on this concept when he said, "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few." My interest in retaining a beginner's mind made Konnikova's following quote especially poignant for me: "...no matter how expert we think we are at something, we must remain mindful and motivated in everything we do." 

You will find an official book description at: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18079825-mastermind.

We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee

I still haven't seen the movie based on this book but having read it, I really look forward to watching it. The book was less focused on the family element than I thought it would be. The author spends most of his time introducing the readers to what it was like to buy a zoo and then learn how to run one. To me it's such an outlandish idea-buying a zoo-I found myself being baffled by the choice to do so but rooting for their success all the same. I loved the way Benjamin used his inexperience in being a zoo keeper as an advantage and an opportunity to approach problems in a new way. He didn't know the way things had always been done and so took the time to think things through and come up with creative solutions that were better for all parties involved, most especially the animals. Benjamin does touch on the difficult journey he travelled with his wife up to her death and then his own struggle with grief following her passing. It's touching and heartbreaking but it isn't as much a focus as you think it's going to be going in. He has a wonderful, dry, sarcastic, very British sense of humor that I couldn't get enough of. I cried a little, laughed a lot, and loved this story. I wish this adventurous family every success and happiness. 

You will find an official plot line description at: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18921907-we-bought-a-zoo.