MacArthur by Mitchell Yockelson

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://booksneeze®.com/> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

MacArthur by Mitchell Yockelson is a biography of America's general, Douglas MacArthur, who is famous for the word's "I shall return," a promise to the Filipinos. MacArthur was a man who kept his promises, and strove to live the life of a gentleman, to live honorably, like his forefathers. This novel was his story from childhood to training at West Point to the Philippines to marriage and fatherhood. His life is a tale of dutiful loyalty to the people he loved in the two countries he served, the United States of America and the Philippines. The whole world was honored to have such a man as America's general.

MacArthur was my first biography this year, and I didn't know what to expect. In my history class, we had learned some of the basics about MacArthur, but I'm glad I got to go more in depth into his life. I really, truly, enjoyed this book. It allowed me to appreciate the struggles of the men who fought and died in war.

This was my first book by Yockelson. The beginning was rocky, but he held my attention and presented the MacArthur's life as a true biography, as it should be presented. I am glad it was presented as it was, not as fiction, which I feel would diminish the point of the book. I am not a great fan of biographies, but Yockelson put out a good one.

The novel portrays the protagonist and his family as following God. It describes MacArthur as a faithful man. He was loyal to his country, and to God. His faith was not uncommon during his time, because many men find God in the midst of war.

I would recommend MacArthur to people interested in history, or those who just want to get a look at this man's life story.

Texas Rain

I took the ACT this Saturday; I'll be getting the results in a few weeks. So I can blog today, but I'll be busy this week, and for a while, so I don't know when my next post will be. Other than studying, I've just been reading (obviously) a lot, and watching some TV.

Anyways, I read Texas Rain, a western romance, by Jodi Thomas. It's the story of Rainey Adams, runaway schoolteacher from the east coast, who chose freedom over marriage, and ran away from her controlling, overbearing father. Travis McMurray, is half-Irish, half-Apache, and is a Texas Ranger, for whom the law is his heart. Until he meets Rainey at a country dance, where she steals a kiss from him...and then, his horse. The second time they meet, she steals another horse, and his heart, because Travis has been injured.

In the shadows and at the peak of Whispering Mountain, Travis dreams of Rainey, his fairy, and his future, which is uncertain in his hands. Rainey rides to Austin where she makes some friends, and starts a pie business. But Travis' heart lingers in her hands. Travis finds his calling in studying law, since it's the closest thing to a Ranger (a Ranger on the plains: a lawyer in the courthouse).

The novel shifts from Whispering Mountain ranch to Austin, where Rainey has escaped to. Travis finds her, taking along his sister, Sage (cool character), and Duck, a silent 3-year old who clings to Travis like a son. Will Rainey hold onto her freedom? Will Travis take her heart? Will they find safety? Will Travis choose being a lawyer over a Ranger?

 I, of course, know the answers, but you, my dear readers, do not (unless you've read the book), and I don't want to ruin it. I must say that I liked the allusion of Rainey as a fairy and I liked the characters, but it was exhausting reading about them kissing and being romantic, pulling away, chasing each other, so on and so on.

There was one part I loved: She smiled as she pressed her palm over the beating. "I feel the center of you. I feel your heart."
"No," he whispered as he kissed her ear. "You are my heart." And I loved the part after it, where he is writing I love you, in dust, until Rainey believes it, he says.

The Queen of Water and Linger

 


My latest read is Linger by Maggie Stiefvater, a novel in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series. I loved Shiver, and Linger was good too, but not as good. I loved the wolves, especially the part where they are laying in a circle around Grace, waiting for her to shift. I liked how Grace was waiting to become a wolf, and Sam had waited and struggled to become human. I thought it was sad that a couple wolves died, and I thought Cole was a jerk, and had good reason for wanting to be a wolf; it was cruel he couldn't shift easily. I wished there was more of Sam's music, like there was in Shiver, and I hungered for more imagery. I LOVED the cover/jacket. The title comes from the quote: "We are not allowed to linger, even with what is most intimate." I liked this phrase: I was a paper boat drifting in a massive night ocean. I missed Olivia and Shelby in this novel. I think Cole and Isabel would have gotten along with Shelby. Shelby intrigued me in the last novel (so did Olivia). I liked how Sam made a thousand paper cranes to get his wish, to wish for Grace. I hope it comes true.

I also read The Queen of Water by Laura Resau. It's set in Ecuador, and is the story of Virginia, who becomes a servant at age of eight to Nino Carlos and Doctorita. They promise her school, a certificate, and a house. None of them ever come. Neither does pay. Or visits home once a month, like she wants. Because they tell her that if she goes home then her parents will sell her to another family. Honestly, this novel is beautiful and pure. Virginia is trapped in her role as a servant for years. She is kept from her love, Antonio, and from her fragile dreams, that threaten to break at any moment. They stole her childhood. But she triumphs, goes to school, works at a hotel. Her native language, dress, and family is foreign to her; she can speak only Spanish, dresses in regular clothes, not in an anaco, and doesn't belong in her village. She has been gone for too long, but still attempts to make a new life for herself. An inspiring read. Definitely recommended.

Jane Austen, Eyes, Quotes from Bees

I've been doing a lot of reading since school is out for me. And so it's SUMMER!!!

Since I love Jane Austen, I do one "sequel" a month here on my blog. This month's "sequel" was called I was Jane Austen's Best Friend by Cora Harrison (Cora is an interesting name). It's a journal written by Jenny Cooper, Jane's cousin. I found it really amusing and I was glad it had a happy ending. I found the characters to be really fun and Jenny seemed like a normal 16-year-old-girl in England at the time--obsessed with the balls and gowns and needing to get married, like so many of Austen's own characters. A satisfying and quirky read.

The last book I read in English class was Their Eyes were watching God (see below for notes). I've decided to write some more on the novel. First off, it is by Zora Neale Hurston, a Harlem Renaissance writer. The novel is a buildingsroman and modernist work of the life of Janie, set in Florida. She marries as she matures. Her first marriage to Logan, an old farmer who does not treat her very well, is when she is 16 years old. She marries him due to her grandmother's wishes for her to have a secure marriage. But Janie is unsatisfied with it and wants to be in love, which is what this novel is ultimately about--her search for love. Janie runs off and marries Jody and they go to a town of all African Americans (There is little interaction of races). Jody keeps Janie from her true self, by making her cover her hair and working in the store doing events. Their relationship is best symbolized by the mule; the mule represents Janie--to Jody she is a symbol of his wealth and power. The store is ultimately Janie's prison.

When Jody dies, ten-something years later, Janie is set free. Her third marriage is her true one, where she has achieved love. The pear tree represents Janie's sexual awakening, where as the honey bee and honeysuckle represent her marriage to Tea Cake. Tea Cake is a younger commoner whom Janie falls in love with, even though he has no money. They go to the Muck--the Everglades--where Janie and Tea Cake work picking beans. The Muck represents the ideal life Janie has with Tea Cake. Then there's the hurricane. They are warned to get out by those going east, but they remain, with others who don't want to leave. Ultimately, all of Janie's marriages end (by death) and at the end Janie returns to the town and to the house she lived with Jody. Janie is telling this tale to her best friend Phoebe, the bearer of the tale. This is a modernist novel, if you look closely. At the end of it, Janie has found peace despite the storm and difficulties, love for herself despite society's judgments, and her voice to tell her story. Fabulously recommended.

I also read the Secret Life of Bees (see below) and I've also decided to post some quotes: 
Putting black cloths on the hives is for us. I do it to remind us that life gives way into death, and then death turns around and gives way into life.” -August, p.206
Most people don’t have any idea about all the complicated life going on inside a hive. Bees have a secret life we don’t know anything about” -August, p.148
"Some things don't matter much. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of life? But lifting a person's heart--now, that matters. The whole problem with people is...they know what matters, but they don't choose it...The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters."   (This one stuck with me)
And you can read more of her quotes here: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/4711.Sue_Monk_Kidd
There are a lot of great ones, this is just a sample.  I'm so glad I read this book...I wish I owned it now!

Summer and Bees

HAPPY SUMMER!!!!!!!!!

I'm really glad that it's summer. Glad to be done with school, until next year. My latest read was the Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.

It's the story of Lily Owens, a fourteen-year-old girl who lives with her father, T.Ray, and sells peaches by the road. Lily's mother is dead, and Lily wants to know the secrets, needs to figure out the mystery of the things her mother left behind. And there is Rosaleen, the Negro stand-in mother for Lily. When Rosaleen insults three racists, Lily knows they both have to get out of there.

Tiburon, South Carolina, two hours away for where they live, has three Negro women--August, the leader, June the hard-hearted one, and May, the burdened spring-sister. Rosaleen and Lily spend the summer there with the three beekeepers. Lily keeps her own secrets until she is ready to tell August, who loves her. Lily learns that skin color doesn't matter--it's the heart that does. And with help, she learns how to fix her own heart.

I loved Bees; this was one of my favorite reads of the year--and a great way to begin the summer. Bees is ultimately about mothers and daughters and sisters and friends, and just relationships in general. How we are, how we act, and what matters in life. Lots of lessons in this book. It's about faith and carrying faith and hope inside and how real it is. It's about the secrets and pain and hurt that humans carried. That we all carry. Burdens. Lily learns about womanhood and standing up for herself and not being afraid.

Some summers stay with us forever. Floating in the air, like a breath. Memories that surround our lives and make us real, make us who we are. Or change us. Let us forget that we are mere humans. Nature consumes, loves, gives, takes away. Nature is a part of summer. Nature. Bees. And the summer is the time to learn the secrets, secrets of the heart, and the secrets of Nature--the secrets of bees.

Buildingsroman and Their Eyes were watching God

Buildingsroman: a coming of age novel
psychological, moral, and social maturity
protagonist grows from child to adult (maturity)
innocent to knowledgeable in ways of the world
told in connection to a journey
journey to maturity-impetos (reason)
example: loss, discontent, struggle
process is long, arduous (hard), repeated classes with society/societal expectations
protagonist moves away from conformity and ultimately accepts their role as an outsider within the society
lives in society, but remain individuals

Their Eyes were watching God
Themes:
resilience, especially in the face of loss and disaster
equality-little interaction between whites and blacks, race and gender
acceptance and value of self, despite being judged by society
experiencing life-not being a bystander
spirituality and its value, connection to the universe and earth, respect, (not religion)
Language:
dialect, followed by figurative language
Symbols:
Janie's hair-identity as a woman, individuality
clothing-overalls
the horizon-faith
the muck-love, Tea Cake
the pear tree-sexual awakening
Figurative language:
metaphor and imagery

Keeping Corner, Survival in the Storm, Out of the Dust

I feel a bit behind on blog posts. After this post, I need to do one on Farewell to Arms and The Great Gatsby, which we are reading or have read in English class.



My application at Booksneeze was accepted and I am awaiting the arrival of MacArthur America's General by Mitchel Yockelson and Stephen Mansfield. For my creative writing class, I am reading Angela's Ashes, the first fifty pages for Monday's discussion. I've been busy with ACT studying, hanging out at the park, and of course, reading.

Anyways, A few weeks ago I read Keeping Corner by Rashmira Sheth. It's the story of Leela, a widow, who has to shave her head and give up her bangles according to Indian custom. She must stay in her house for one year and mourn. She is encouraged to learn all she can and is taught by Saviben. She is also helped by her brother and cousin, Jaya, and Shani. Leela struggles to break free from her life as a widow forever, but accepts it for the year. It is a year where she learns much about herself and what she  wants for life, now that her life has changed. This novel is set during the Ghandi-era of India, and I found it quite interesting. The idea of satyagraha and how the outside world affects Leela, even though she cannot go out. But when she is is done, will she be able to, with the blessings of her family? I don't want to spoil this, but I encourage all of you to read it. Lots of good quotes like this one:
"Your inner self is an onion: you keep peeling it, and a new layer is always there."

I had to write a paper on the Dust Bowl for my history class, so I read Survival in the Storm: The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards. I liked it, and it seemed really realistic of that time period. It's a little bit sad, since friends come and go, but ultimately Grace and her family survive the storm. (which refers to the Black Sunday duster).

I also read Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse for the paper. Here the book jacket summary:
At fourteen, Billie Jo has a great deal to forgive. Her father, for causing the accident that killed her mother. Her mother, for leaving when Billie Jo needed her mots. And she must forgive herself, for being the cause of her own sorrow. Daddy's too wrung out to help Billie Jo much, and there's no one else to care. So Billie Jo must heal herself--even if it means tearing up her roots, and leaving behind everything she's ever known. Set in the Oklahoma dust bowl during the Great Depression, Karen Hesse's spare and moving novel explores both the ecology of the land and the topography of the heart.
Written in poems by Billie Jo, this novel is raw and reveals the horrors of the dust, and the brokenness it caused in people and families.. And ultimately, how the land keeps us in one place, and the struggle to play the piano with burned hands--to overcome the dust. She learns that she cannot leave the land, but can escape the dust.

I also watched the Royal Wedding, or at least part of it. I'm really happy for William and Catherine. Best of Luck to them!