Escapes to Alternate Realities

About a week ago, one of my best friends said that he was no longer interested in reading fiction, feeling that those authors merely fed our "fantasies and delusions".  I told him that I guess I could live with that.  My mind hasn't let that statement go, however, working the arguments over and over.  Fantasies and delusions.  What awakens us from our delusions?  A dose of a different reality?  Can't books do that? Wake us up to a new idea or thought process? And as for fantasies, what's wrong with those, as long as we are able to live day to day with the reality of now?  Fantasies are our brains way of escaping into the world of "what if".  Granted, if one refuses to leave that world, or refuses to accept what really is, escape can be an unhealthy thing.  TV and movies are distractions from the reality of our lives. (Ones I admit to enjoying from time to time.) Drugs and alcohol can do this as well, though I can't advocate them. Too much pain and sadness can come from these, not only in the lives of the user, but in the lives of those who love them. Filling up one's own life with the drama of others is yet another avenue away from focusing on our own challenges and blessings.  Reliving the past over and over is boulder worthy of Sisyphus, a cycle hard to escape.  Choosing to read instead of doing chores and writing bills can have unpleasant consequences.  Being a grown-up means choosing the right time and place for the things we have control over.  The rest comes as it will.

Books have long been my escape.  A sickly child, the smog often kept me indoors.  Diagnosed with asthma at age two, I spent countless hours in the car going to doctor's visits, allergy shots, and to the emergency room.  The library and I became good friends very early.  If I didn't have the books, I'd be a totally different person.  Books can put you in a different place, a different time, sometimes in a different universe!  If anything, I have become more empathetic towards the experiences and feelings of others, because I have been inside the heads of thousands of different people, going through countless experiences that I will probably never encounter in my own reality. As I have matured, non-fiction books have interested me more, but when I want to read for pure enjoyment, there's nothing like a story to transport me. 

When I was young, I threw myself wholeheartedly into the adventures of Laura Ingles Wilder and her life on the prairie.  I know these books are based on her true experiences, but they are still categorized as historical fiction.  Homesteading was a grueling and often heartbreaking way of life, and one that has always fascinated this Southern California girl.  Imagine killing a hog and using every piece of it, including the bladder as a little ball to play with (as described in Little House on the Prairie.)  My last public library audio acquisition was Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson.  Again, I picked the title because we had the book in my middle school library and I feel it is my sworn duty to know as much as I can about my collection.  (Good excuse, right?!?)

 Hattie is 16, an orphan who has been bounced from house to house, taken in by (sometimes) well-meaning relatives.  It is 1918 and her friends are enlisting to serve in WW1 to "fight the Kaiser". Hattie's overbearing Aunt has just volunteered her services as a chambermaid when Hattie receives news that an Uncle Chester she has never met has died and left his Montana claim to her. Hattie jumps at the chance to have her own place and get out from under the thumb of her ever-disapproving Aunt.   The book is written in the first person narrative and is generously sprinkled with letters Hattie writes to her friend (and secret crush) Charlie, her Uncle Holt, and to her hometown newspaper, as she recalls the trials and tribulations she encounters as a homesteader.  She has less than a year to "settle the claim" which includes fencing and planting and harvesting 40 of the 320 acres she has been given.

The book alternately made me smile and cry.  The antics of her persnickety cow and the neighboring children were interspersed with incidences of German-American citizens being unjustly accused of being enemies of the country and death by influenza.  She encounters bullies as well as the most loving people you could hope to have as neighbors.  There was more than once that I was glad that my waterproof mascara didn't let me down as I drove into work. 

So again, I will keep reading what I want to read and let others read what they want to read.  That's what makes the literary world go round, right?  As I was proofreading this piece and getting ready to post it, I turned over my "Simple Abundance" daily calendar.  Here is what it said:

 "Accepting our circumstances is a powerful tool for transformation.  Acceptance is surrendering to what is:  our feelings, our problems, the delay of our dreams.  Acceptance allows the steam of struggle to escape from life's pressure cooker." 

I love living in my reality where there are no coincidences.  Thanks for listening.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

When I was 10 years old, I was having a really hard time with asthma and it was decided that I would live in a group home for asthmatics for a few months.  I saw it as a grand adventure and did indeed have a pretty interesting time there.  I learned some independence and life skills that shaped who I am today.  The first night, however, as I got ready to climb into my little bed in the dorm, I felt very strange.  I was in an unfamiliar bed, in a huge room with lots of other girls, getting ready to go to a new school and I didn't know a soul.  I put my hands under my pillow and found my mom had left me a surprise.  A book.  The Witch of Blackbird Pond.  She had written me a sweet message inside and I still have the book.  It filled me with a sense of being hugged by my mom who was about an hour away at that point. 

The book itself was wonderful.  I have reread it many, many times.  Kit Tyler grew up on a plantation in Barbados but when her wealthy grandfather dies, she is sent to live with her Aunt and Uncle in Puritan Massachusetts.  What a culture shock for this free spirit who loved to swim.  When she jumps into the harbor to rescue a doll, she raises the suspicion of the locals.  Only witches swim.  Her colorful clothing is deemed inappropriate.  Bright colors are for devil worshippers.  She befriends Hannah, the local outcast.  Hannah is a Quaker who does not attend the local meetings.  She lives alone, except for a black cat.  When troubles befall the town, sickness and crop failure, all eyes and fingers point to the suspected witches.  It is a beautiful, heartbreaking book.  I am happy to say the ending is a good one. 

When I am working in my middle school library, I like to read the books around me, so I can keep my finger on the pulse and better recommend books to my students.  I also must confess that the easy reading and surprising plots make the books a pleasure.  The Bronze Bow caught my eye a few weeks ago.  Normally it isn't one I'd pick up, but when I saw it was by Elizabeth George Speare, the author who had penned The Witch of Blackbird Pond, my interest level rose.  The book was just as easy to fall into as the first one.  Winner of the 1962 Newbery Award, The Bronze Bow is the story of Daniel, a Jewish boy living in Nazareth during the time when the Romans had taken over the town.  His parents were killed by the Romans and Daniel flees to the hills to live with the rebels who are preparing to overthrow their enemies.  He leaves behind his elderly grandmother and his sister, who has been so traumatized by the event that she never leaves the house.  After a few years as a fugitive in the hills, Daniel's adventures bring him back into the town.  Jesus has made his appearance and all are wondering if this is the man who will lead the uprising against the Romans.  Not overly pushy about religion, the book describes the hope and change of attitude Jesus causes in the local people.  The book was great.  I broke one of my own rules and brought the book home to finish it.  I generally keep my reading separate, but I couldn't let the weekend go without knowing what was to transpire.

After the story was a biography on Speare, who lived from 1908-1994.  She didn't begin writing until her children were grown and wrote only four books, all geared toward the upper-elementary audience. All four books were honored with awards.  I can see why.  The plots and especially the characters grip you like few historical novels can.  I searched my library shelves and found The Sign of the Beaver which she had written in 1983.  Set in the untamed Maine wilderness, 12-year-old Matt has been left to look over their recently built homestead while his father goes to bring the rest of the family to join them.  Matt survives a bee attack and is loosely looked after by the local Indian chief and his grandson.  In exchange for teaching the grandson how to read the "White Man marks", the grandson Attain starts showing Matt better ways to survive.  I love books about the settlers and once again had to bring the book home to finish it, not wanting to wait until today to find out the ending.  Would Matt's family eventually return or would he leave the homestead to winter with the Indians?  Great books, all of them, and I will recommend them to my students and son.  Thanks for listening.

Bloody with a Touch of Angst

Since becoming a Middle/High School Library Media Technician three years ago, I have dived whole-heartedly into fiction geared toward these younger readers.  Beside an occasional Stephen King or Alice Hoffman novel, I find my fiction selections based entirely on what's right in front of me.  The Hunger Games Series, all 12 of the Cirque du Freak stories, The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, Skellig, to name just a few of the books I have enjoyed while chomping down my lunch, sitting at my desk, happy to eat and read in relative peace. 

When I hit the public library, I find myself in the Young Adult section, seeing what they've got and occasionally grabbing from there as well, especially the audio books.  Blessed audio books.  Nothing makes a commute more enjoyable than a good story. 

True, sometimes the younger fiction can bog down in emotions or simplicity.  I have to admit the same can be true for a lot of adult books as well.  What I am continually encountering is, however, Darkness.  Sadness.  Loneliness.  Alienation.  Being misunderstood by family and friends.  Love.  Passion.  Need and Want.  Having to choose between what the heart craves and what seems to be the more acceptable choice. 

At school right now, I am reading Crescendo, the sequel to Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick.  Book one had all the "good girl drawn to the hot bad boy" that was found in the Twilight novels, but the sexual tension was turned up a notch, if that's possible.  High schooler Nora Gray is still reeling from the murder of her father when she is partnered with Patch, (the aforementioned hot bad boy) in Science class.  By the end of the book, she is in love with this fallen angel.  Literally.  He has the scars on his back to prove it.  In Crescendo, the drama continues and Nora thinks she sees her dead father all over town.  I haven't finished it yet, so I can't ruin the plot for you.  It's pretty good stuff, though.  Tasty over a bowl of soup during period 5 which is my blessed prep period and I am only interrupted about 3 times on average from my book and meal.

In my car today I just finished The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan.  Seriously, how could I resist a title and cover like that?!?  I hadn't even heard of it before I found it on the library audio book shelf.  Mary lives in a small village surrounded by chain-link fence.  She has never been beyond its boundaries because they are surrounded by a forest which is filled by "the Unconsecrated", (read Zombies) and one bite will turn you into one of them.  Her father has disappeared and her mother gets bit in chapter one.  Mary has not been "spoken for" by a male and must go live with the Sisters (who rule the village with religion and rules).  While learning their ways, Mary uncovers some very ugly secrets.  A childhood friend, Harry, steps forward and asks for her.  Even though Mary is in love with Harry's brother, Travis, she makes the choice to become betrothed, despite her broken heart (on so many levels) and her craving to leave the village to find the fabled ocean her mother used to tell her stories about.  Eventually, Mary, Harry, Travis and some others must escape their village as it has been breached by the Unconsecrated.  This has to be one of the saddest books I have ever read.  There is about 4 % happiness and 99 % blood, horror, gore and gristle.  (I know that math doesn't add up, but it's true.) The end is a bit of a cliffhanger.  I am hoping for a part two from this first time author.  I will put it on my wishlist for the school.  The teens will eat it up.  I do have to say, however, that I hope they get a different narrator.  The girl who read it used the same voice inflection for commas as for periods and I was constantly re-speaking it in my head.  Very distracting. 

Today when I went to the library to return my latest story, I perused the children's section of audios.  I picked up some slightly more wholesome stories, both for me and my boy, who loves to listen to sleep at night.  I picked up Peter Pan (unabridged, thank you very much) in memory of the recently seen movie about it's author, J.M. Barrie.  "Finding Neverland" was a great movie;  one I will watch more than once.  Starring Johnny Depp (purrrrrr), it is heartbreakingly beautiful.  I also got The Wind in the Willows.  It's been on my son's bookshelf since he was an infant and we never really got into it.  I will start disk one tomorrow.  Maybe I'll let you know how it is.  Thanks for listening.