Little Bee and a bit about P&P&Z

Little Bee - Synopsis from the front flap... by Chris Cleave

"We don't want to tell you WHAT HAPPENS in this book. It is a truly SPECIAL STORY and we don't want to spoil it. NEVERTHELSS, you need to know enough to buy it, so we will just say: "THIS IS THE STORY OF TWO WOMEN. Their lives collide on fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have to face. Two years later, they meet again - the story starts there...

"Once you have read it, you'll want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens. The magic is in how the story unfolds."

Little Bee - My take on the story... My sister gave me this book and told me that I had to read it. As it is well written, the story grabs you and not having all the information, sort of pulls you along. You are anxious to know why the characters are where they are and why they made the decisions they made. As the information is revealed you begin to ask yourself...What would I have done? How would I have handled the situation?

There is a statement that Sarah, one of the two women, makes. She says, "Little Bee had changed me, Lawrence. I can't look at her without thinking how shallow my life is." Interestingly they both took life changing steps and Little Bee felt just as insignificant. Upon self reflection, I have often thought that my struggles seemed so insignificant in my little life compared to some. I know that in reality, we all matter, but do you wonder sometimes if someone matters more than you? That your prayers aren't as important as others and that could be why you never seem to have those answers? Just a passing thought!!! Probably not one to dwell on, but rather, one to build from. We can then think, what can I do to make this world a better place? How can one little person help? I think, just day by day, doing one more thing better than we did yesterday, choosing differently, less selfishly and with real intent. Hopefully we won't have to make the decisions these people had to make.

I really liked this book but I don't want to give anything away. If you have a chance to read it, I would love to discuss more. Until then, a recommended read!


Now for those of you that are interested...I also read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and some other bloke. The book was P&P but made even more intense by the introduction of zombies. Apparently, this is the way the book was to originally have been published, but the original editors felt that there was too much violence and "reality." In fact, there was more risque verbage and high use of double entendre throughout. A funny and fascinating twist. Up next...Sense and Sensiblitiy and Seamonsters. I can hardly wait!!!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I’ll admit it; I bought the book almost for the title alone – the Potato Peel Pie Society? Sounded fascinating. And it didn’t disappoint.

The entire book is written as a collection of letters between the main character, author Juliet Ashton, and several other characters including: her publisher, her best friend and several different citizens of Guernsey. Guernsey is an island in the English Channel that was occupied by the Germans during World War II. I never knew that the Germans occupied territory so close to England.

I wasn’t quite sure how I would enjoy reading a book that was written solely as a series of letters, but as it turned out I really enjoyed it. It was a great way to write the book in first person for several different characters. At first it was difficult keeping the characters straight with the different letters going back and forth, but that can happen in any book, right? I felt like I got to know several characters on a quite close basis – and I really liked the characters – I became invested in their lives. I was sad to leave them at the end. There was also a lot of history embedded in these letters, and I found that fascinating.

I can’t remember how the people in Guernsey first made contact with Julia – I think a member of the Potato Peel Pie Society found her address in a used book and contacted her asking for more information about… a book, I think? But after that initial contact, it was amazing to watch the friendships blossom through simple letters.

Although the book was set in immediate post-war England, and several of the characters had their own “damaged” stories to share, I found the book to be warm and comforting (and educational), like sitting by a fire wrapped in a blanket… cozy. I read the book rather quickly, but loved every minute of it. I highly recommend it to all.

Take two: 'The Shack' and 'Columbine'

I read two very different books in the past weeks, and both are excellent in their own way. I'll start with The Shack since it's freshest in my mind.
Author Wm. Paul Young tells the story of a man hurting from the loss of his youngest daughter from a violent murder. One day, God writes the man — Mack — a note inviting him to a shack in the Oregon wilderness. There, Mack enters in conversations with "human" representations of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
That being said, this is not a book I would have chosen to read. My friend Patti recommended it to me (rather, she matter-of-factly placed it in my hands) one day this week after I spent part of the afternoon crying in her living room. I was grieving the loss of a relationship and the love it offered; this loss swiftly opened the floodgates to reveal the pain I'd hidden from the lack of love in my childhood, the lack of self love, the fear I have of sharing my true self with others. I've cried a lot in these last two weeks.
What makes The Shack excellent has nothing to do with what I normally admire in books. Is the story well-written? It's so-so. Are the characters real to me? They're pretty cookie-cutter. Is the dialogue peppy? Not really. Is it laced with evangelical themes? You betcha. Nevertheless, I've got about a dozen blue Post-It notes to mark the places that address what I've been facing on a deep, emotional level recently: feeling lost, unloved, confused.
First off, author Young portrays the Trinity in an accessible, lovable way. In this book, God is "played" by a large black woman named Papa. Jesus wears jeans and work boots, and he jokes about his looks being influenced by his Jewish heritage. Apart from their looks, it's what they have to say that makes this book worthwhile to me. The conversations touch on self worth, relationships (a lot about relationships), forgiveness, guilt and shame, religion and emotion.
Early on, Mack admits to Jesus that he feels "so lost."
Jesus replied: "I know, Mack. But it's not true. I am with you and I'm not lost. I'm sorry it feels that way, but hear me clearly; you are not lost." For me, reading those words gave me relief.
At another point, Mack expresses his fear about what might happen: "Well, I am afraid of looking like an idiot. I am afraid that you are making fun of me ... I imagine that ..."
"Exactly," Jesus interrupted. "You imagine. Such a powerful ability, the imagination! That power alone makes you to like us. But without wisdom, imagination is a cruel taskmaster." Jesus goes on to talk about living in the present, and how God does not accompany us into our fears about the future. How often have I worried about what might happen? All too often.
"Papa" on guilt: "...it's not about feeling guilty. Guilt'll never help you find freedom in me. The best it can do is make you try harder to conform to some ethic on the outside. I'm about the inside." This speaks to me about choosing actions based on what you believe to be right for you, not on what others think.
Finally, a conversation about emotions provides this: "[Emotions] are neither bad nor good; they just exist. Here is something that will help you sort this out in your mind, Mackenzie. Paradigms power perception and perceptions power emotions. Most emotions are responses to perceptions — what you think is true about a given situation. If your perception is false, then your emotional response to it will be false too. So check your paradigms, and beyond that check the truthfulness of your paradigms — what you believe.... The more you live in the truth, the more your emotions will help you see clearly."
This last one was especially important to me. I've recently come to realize one of my beliefs — one of my paradigms — is "I am not good enough." This distorts my perception of reality, and hence my emotional response. It probably has been playing a part in why my recent breakup has been so painful. The good news is I have been working to change that paradigm to "I am priceless, and I am loved." This book — along with some close friends — gives me faith that this is the case. I trust that I, too, will begin to see more clearly when this new belief becomes more of a reality than the old one.
So, should you run out and read The Shack? Not without a box of Kleenex.

I didn't mean to go on so much about The Shack but I do want to mention Dave Cullen's Columbine. A reporter who covered the story of the high school massacre, Cullen has spent years collecting information, police and FBI reports, interviews, and — most fascinating of all — the killers' own journals and recordings of their plans. I had a hard time putting this book down. Cullen clearly and concisely explains the massive amounts of information, so you don't get bogged down. The first part of the book walks the reader through that April afternoon in Colorado. The remaining pages attempt to answer Why. To learn more about Columbine, click here.