I have decided I am going to really buckle down and read as much as I can this summer. It is good for the kids, it is good for the soul. We ban tv, internet, etc...all summer around here, so our library trips are very frequent and sort of a highlight each week. I myself picked up FIVE! books in anticipation for a long leisurely weekend up at the cabin and while it was a little ridiculous to think I might be able to get to them all (I must sleep, you know), I did manage to down 1 and a half. The Writing on My Forehead by Nafisa Haji was on the shelf at the library that had a sign over it exclaiming GOOD READS! and I thought I would give it a shot. My husband asked me how I seem to stumble upon so many book about Pakistani/Indian/Afghani culture (not that they are all the same, it is just that my reading recently has been centered a bit in that part of the world), and the answer is...I don't know. Experiencing a completely foreign culture through a story is the most thought provoking kind of reading. I am so isolated in my little bubble and the beauty and complexity of an unknown world is powerful. What I read in this book will stay with me, and with it a new appreciation for the ties of community which the author so emphasized as being elemental to the family of the main character and also to the Ind0-Pakistani world. This story is about a self-described Indo-Pakistani family and their ties to both one another and the larger world. The main character, Saira, is caught between her obligation to family tradition and her desire to be free to choose the kind of life she wants to live. In the midst of the developing story, it is also the story of this family's scandal and what it means to remain loyal to tradition for tradition sake. One thing that struck me and that was emphasized was the interconnectedness of their community despite the distance between them (both figuratively and literally).
A snapping turtle laying eggs at the cabin...entertainment at its best! Especially when the dog learned what a snapping turtle is, his poor tail hung at an odd angle all weekend.
I really enjoyed the book although the beginning was a little stilted and a bit awkward in getting the story itself going, but overall, such a interesting contemplation of not only the culture (in the backdrop of Karachi, Pakastan; London, England; and Los Angeles, CA) of this community but how the same world events I experienced in my own culturally conformed way were interpreted by these other inhabitants of the planet we live on. Also, to really contemplate what it means to be a part of something bigger than yourself, and why at times self-sacrifice (for example, giving up choice in who one's marital partner would be) ultimately is about advancing the whole community. We are such rugged individualists here in the good ol' USA that the ideas seem so diametrically opposed to good reasonable thinking, however, Haji (the author) does a wonderful job of painting an evenhanded picture of the clashes of culture that occur in the book.
Now, I am reading another Pearl S. Buck book, Imperial Woman, which is about the last Empress of China...it promises to be great. What a good way to start the summer. Book in hand, not a plan.
The dog's education continues! This time, no harm done (only one hook in his collar). Pretty good, I'd say.
BOOKS FALL OPEN
by David McCord
Books fall open
you fall in,
delighted where
you've never been;
hear voices not once
heard before,
reach world on world
through door on door;
find unexpected
keys to things
locked up beyond
imaginings.
What might you be,
perhaps become,
because one book
is somewhere? Some
wise delver into
wisdom, wit, and wherewithal
has written it.
True books will venture,
dare you out,
whisper secrets,
maybe shout
across the gloom
to you in need,
who hanker for
a book to read.
