Snow Falling on Cedars

By David GutersonThis book is amazing! I have read it before but it was quite a while ago. I recently found it at the thrift store and decided it was time for a reread. The book is set on an island in the Puget Sound around the time of World War II. A man dies while fishing one night and a Japanese American man on the island is accused of murder. The book alternates between following the trial and present events and flashbacks that the characters have of their past. The community on the island have some bad history that influences the way that they view each other. Most of the Japanese were moved to internment camps during the War and some of white islanders still view them somewhat suspiciously. Snow Falling on Cedars deals with a lot of heavy issues about racism and prejudice, love, family, relationships, and development of character. But it does so with an intriguing plot that keeps the book moving.

I read somewhere that the author was inspired by To Kill a Mockingbird. I love that book and I can definitely see the correlation. Not close enough to be a knock off, but definitely in the same genre. I can't think of much that I don't like about this book. Everywhere I went with this book, I had at least 3 people say that they loved it. That's a good recommendation right there. I know there is a movie, but I haven't seen it. Is it any good?

Book Club Meeting #1

We had our book club meeting! Things went well, it was nothing very formal. We had tons of food, way too much. We talked about the book some and about other things quite a bit. It was good to have a reason to get a group of people together, and have something that we could all talk about if we wanted to.

In case you forgot, we read Water for Elephants. Here are a few general conclusions that we came too.

The end of the book was awesome. Only one person thought it was a little cheesy. They couldn't come up with a better ending either, the rest of us thought it was perfect.

We all loved the animals in the book, the author really made them into integral characters in the plot.

We all agreed there was a good mix of character development, action plot, and humor. Anything else we talked about would ruin reading the book for you!

I have had a couple of people ask about swearing and sex in the book.
On sex: There are two scenes. They are not overly long, but they are there. They would be easy to skip as you know when they are coming. And you won't miss anything but skipping that section. Other than the two scenes, the book does not have lots of sex talk.
On swearing: There is some, but it isn't the most vulgar swearing and it is not very frequent. The book is following circus life in the depression era, if anything I think the swearing is probably less than what you would really hear. Not that it makes the swearing any better, just know that the author didn't add more just for sensationalism.

Also we picked our next book....we are reading The Other Side of the Sky by Farah Ahmedi.

Water for Elephants

By Sara GruenI finished my book club book! I let Andrew read it first, so I was tortured by hearing everyone say how much they loved it while I waited for my turn. Now I can be part of the "I love Water for Elephants club" and I'm glad. The book is written from the perspective of a 90 something year old man, Jacob, remembering the time when he dropped out of college and joined the circus. The chapters alternate between his current life at the assisted living home where he know lives and his memories. Jacob's reminiscing is brought on by the arrival of a circus on his block that prompts him to recall a secret that he has kept for almost 70 years. The book follows Jacob's experiences with the circus as he learns about the many brutalities of circus life, falls in love, and tries to save his friends.

I like this book A LOT. And I think it would make a very entertaining movie. It has humor, adventure, love, suspense, all of it. And the ending is perfect. Everyone that I have talked too thought that the ending was perfect, I've never heard so many people agree. Because of that, I managed to refrain from reading the end of the book ahead of time (a big deal for me!). I am amazed that we managed to pick such a good book without any of us knowing much about it. I'm even thinking about reading it again before the book club, it was that good.

I highly recommend this book and that's all I'm going to tell you, I don't want to spoil any of it for you!

Dreams from My Father

By Barack Obama

This is an autobiography written by Barack Obama around 1995, after Obama was elected the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review but before his political career began. My little brother Josh read this for school and my mom then passed it on to me.

Dreams from My Father is Obama's first book and it follows his early life in Hawaii, Indonesia, Chicago, and a visit to Kenya. It was interesting to read about how he learned to deal with being African American. He writes about the confusion of looking African American but being raised with his Caucasian mother and her family. For a good portion of the book, Obama describes feeling guilty that he didn't experience the same hardships that many in the African American community do. He struggles with how he should best help his people and where his role is. At one point, Obama becomes a community organizer in Chicago and he writes about getting to know the people in the city and how he found acceptance and purpose there. The people there inspire him to be as successful as he can and he ends up going back to school at Harvard. Obama ends with an emotional trip to Kenya where he meets his father's side of the family and discovers the truth about their life. The book is well written and emotional, leaving you with the idea that is only important that you are authentically yourself, not that you fit into any race or cultural ideas.

I really liked reading this book. Like most autobiographies, it took me a little while to get into it. Once I got interested in his life and worried about him it went a little faster. I liked how personal the writing was, it is written just like someone would talk to you, not like a speech. I also really appreciated the honesty of the book. I know I can't really say if Obama was being honest when he wrote it, but I like that he included the doubts and questions that he had. It was interesting to read, knowing that he wrote it before he even thought about running for Senator. Kind of gives you some perspective on where he came from.

Josh says: "It was as good as it gets for a boring old senator." With the side note that he didn't read the last 50 pages. The 50 pages where things kind of get wrapped up.