Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation

Possibly by now you've heard that Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation has been banned in many places. A substitute teacher was fired when she presented part of the book to her class. After that, I figured I had to read this book to figure out what is so controversial about Anne Frank's Diary adapted into a cartoon form which is more accessible to many young people.

I just don't get it. The author, Ari Folman, had to figure out how he was going to adapt and basically abridge Anne Frank's diary without losing the most important parts of Anne's story. Lots of the tougher parts are the diary are told in just a few pages. One of the objections to the book is that it minimizes the gravity of the Holocaust. I don't think so! Yes, the author conveys that Anne, at the time the family went into hiding, was a normally young teen girl. She felt like she was walking in the shadow of her older "perfect" sister, Margot. She was a little boy crazy. And she was curious about her changing body. It seems like the bits of the book focused on these normal teen things and not the gravity of the Holocaust are what these crazy banners object to. What? When Anne walks through a park or museum with nude statues, they consider that pornography. Huh? When she wonders about what it would feel like to kiss a classmate, that's considered sexually explicit.

For the first years after the books publication, there were no objections. Now they seem to come one right after the other. It's ridiculous. If our children don't know our history, how are they going to be able to make any sense of the world? How will they go on to be productive citizens? My heart aches thinking of this graphic adaptation being banned. If parents are concerned about a book, then make it clear that they don't want their own child to read it. Don't prevent hundreds or thousands of other children from reading it.

I struggle to read books in graphic form but I'm glad that I took the time to read this. I needed to see what the fuss was. And I still don't understand it.

 

Thirteen Reasons Why

If it's September,  Books and Beer Club is reading a banned book. This year's selection was Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, a book I read for the first time in early 2010. It is a very banned book.

Hannah, a girl in Clay's class, has committed suicide. Weeks later, a box of 6 7 cassette tapes arrives at Clay's house. He's curious enough to find a cassette player, not an easy task, because who was listening to audiotapes back then. He's shocked when he hears Hannah's voice. 

He's compelled to keep listening. He wants to hear Hannah's reasons for why she took her own life. And he believes that he might be responsible in part. I'm not going to go into too many details of the story. It's told in an interesting manner. We hear a little Hannah on the audiotapes interspersed with Clay's reactions and thoughts about what he's just heard.

Let's go back to my first reading. Each year while I was teaching, I had each student select a book that we'd read at the same time and discuss, one-on-one. I got lots of the popular fifth grade books, sometimes I'd even get duplicates so I had less reading to do and more time for discussing. I hadn't heard of this young adult novel in 2009 when a fifth grade student of mine suggested that we read Thirteen Reasons Why. I looked it up and immediately contacted the student's mom to make sure that she was okay with us reading this novel that had pretty mature content. After all, it had been banned all over the place. The mom was fine with us reading the book and was glad that her daughter would have the opportunity to discuss this mature content with me, an adult. I barely remember the girl's name, but I do remember some of the really deep conversations that we were able to have. Even thinking about it now, wow. Just wow.

It also gave me an interesting context in which to approach my Books and Beer Club discussion. I really loved this month's meeting. Maybe because everything around this very difficult book brought back good memories of one of the favorite things I did with students while teaching.
 

Kissing Kosher

 

When I saw that Jean Meltzer, author of The Matzah Ball and Mr. Perfect on Paper wrote a new novel, Kissing Kosher, I immediately put it on request at the library. I requested the audiobook which meant that I didn't read the acknowledgement of Renee's Reading Club, the group on Facebook. I still might try to get a print or ebook copy to check that out.

Like her first two novels, this one would make a great Hallmark movie. By now you should know how much I love me a Hallmark movie! It's also a bit of a Romeo and Juliet story.

Avital and Ethan are the grandchildren of men in a longstanding feud regarding a recipe for babka. Yes, babka. Pumpkin spice babka at that. Really? People eat pumpkin spice babka all year? And these men developed a pumpkin spice recipe for babka years ago? I i had to suspend belief in order to get past that little detail. But besides that...

The grandparents developed a delicious babka years ago. After a fight, Avital's grandparents went on to build up their small local Brooklyn bakery, Best Babka, which was famous for its pumpkin spice babka. Ethan's grandparents went into commercial production of kosher baked goods. Their most popular item was a pumpkin spice donut. Ethan's grandfather has had enough. He wants the babka recipe. He forces Ethan to commit corporate espionage by getting hired at Best Babka to steal the recipe. His grandfather has been forcing him into doing things most of his life so this is no different. He doesn't have much control over his own life.

Avital had gone to art school and left Brooklyn to become a professional photographer in California when she gets diagnosed with a chronic illness and is forced to come home where she has family that can help her manage her life. She feels like she doesn't have much control over her life either.

The novel delves into the family feud, Avital's chronic illness, and how Ethan helps her come to terms with living with a chronic illness. It also takes place in Brooklyn. It's got some yiddish words thrown in. I can see myself in some of the Jewish parts of the story. And who doesn't love babka?

Kissing Kosher was a sweet, pleasant, tasty, romantic read.

Beyond That, The Sea

Beyond That, The Sea by Laura Spence-Ash was a different take on the World War II experience. It's based on something that I wasn't at all aware of. I knew all about the kindertransport where Jewish families sent their children out of Eastern Europe to safety in England. In this novel, a working class family sends their daughter, Beatrix, from London to the United States to keep her safe. Who knew?

Beatrix was sent to a family in Maine where she "grew up" with the two very different brothers of the host family, The Gregorys. At first, she is scared, missing home and overwhelmed by being part of this lively family. Eventually, though, she adapts to life on this side of the Atlantic and to live in an American family. Life in London and with her quiet parents fade away. So it comes as a shock when at the conclusion of the war, Beatrix is brought home to London. How does she come to terms with the two very different aspects of her life? And what's next?

This is a lovely novel about what it means to be part of a family, to love and be loved, and what war time was like in New England during World War II.

This is another one that I highly recommend.

 

The Perfumist of Paris

I needed an audiobook and I didn't want to wait. The Perfumist of Paris, the third novel in The Jaipur Trilogy by Alka Joshi was available so I grabbed it. What's ironic, though, is that I ended up only getting halfway thru the audiobook when an audiobook with a lot of library patrons waiting came available so it was quicker to finish up by reading the ebook. 

The first in the series is The Henna Artist. The second installment was The Secret Keeper of Jaipur. Of the three, The Perfumist was my least favorite. Don't get me wrong. I still enjoyed it. A lot. I guess that says more about how much I enjoyed the first two books.

In this one, we meet up again with Radha, younger sister of Lakshmi, who had followed a young man that she thought as her future to Paris. Like many other books that I have read lately, it was about women's roles and women figuring out their places in the world. 

In Radha's early Paris days, a relative of a classmate from India hires her to work in his perfume shop. She realizes that she's grown up with scents and that this is something she could be really good at. It's something she can make a career of. Radha's husband, though, Pierre, considers it a job that keeps her busy. Radha and Pierre struggle over how to balance Radha's work with the care and upbringing of their two daughters. 

Because I'm not going to include any spoilers here, the secret of the previous two books comes into focus in this novel as well.

I highly recommend the series.

 

The Food of Love Cookery School

I guess I lied the other day. Here is another book I purchased as a result of a Facebook ad, but not until I'd communicated with the author and read an excerpt.

The Food of Love Cookery School by Nicky Pellegrino takes place in Sicily, one of the destinations for my upcoming trip. And it's all about food. Well, not all about food. It's sort of a romance, sort of a story of women rediscovering a part of themselves that had been missing.

Luca Amore (what a name!) grew up in a small baroque town in Sicily (modeled after Modica), left to live and work in London for a little while, and returned to Sicily where he opened a small cooking school using his nonna's recipes. (Pellegrino based his cooking school on a cooking school she attended. Sounds like so much fun!) The four participants live in Luca's nonna's house and go on all sorts of excursions in addition to the one cooking class they have per day.

There's romance, food, self-discovery, friendship, and did I mention food? The descriptions are drool worthy! In fact, as I was reading, I realized that I really need a pair of pants with an elastic waist for my trip. What if I eat all this delicious sounding food and then can't fit into the pants I was planning on packing? I stopped reading with about an hour left to order myself a stretchy pair of pants. 

I could make connections to two of the characters - Valerie, the 65-year old New Yorker and Moll, the British divorcee. One of my favorite highlights was from Moll's story. On weekends I'm always off on little adventures. I love finding spice shops or Italian delis and just breathing in the air. I lust after new recipes and the flavors I might find in them. That was me prior to moving to Florida.

In the author's notes, Pellegrino wrote: Some places I mention are real - the Caffe Sicilia in Noto is famed for its extraordinary ice cream, the Dolceria Bonajuto in Modica (which became Vincenzo Mazzara's dolceria) for its chocolate. I already had Caffè Sicilia on my list of places to try to get to. Now I'll need to add Dolceria Bonajuto.

Because The Food of Love Cookery School didn't come as a stand alone kindle book, I had to buy it as part of a 3-novel edition. So I have 2 more of Nicky Pellegrino's novels to read once I reach a lull in my book club and library reading. They might be good to save for a long plane ride I've got in my future.

Don't Forget to Write

 Don't Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino was a recent Amazon Prime First Read free selection. I'd gotten her novel She's Up to No Good  last summer, really enjoyed it so figured I'd give this one a try, too. 

It's rare to find books with truly Jewish characters when the plot isn't focused on the religion so I'm always delighted when I find such a book. This one takes place in 1960. Twenty-year-old Marilyn is caught kissing the rabbi's son in front of the entire congregation in a most embarrassing way. All four parents think the only way to make this right is for the young couple to get married. Marilyn with have nothing to do with that. So Plan B is to ship her off to her great-aunt Ada's for the summer. Ada is a matchmaker in Philadelphia but she moves her life - and her business - to the Jersey shore for the summer.

Ada is nothing like what Marilyn expects. She's quite a character. For one, she's always been single at a time when very few women remain single, have their own businesses, own their own property. In Ada, Marilyn has met her match.

Marilyn has some choices to make over the summer as well as at the end of the summer. You never know what she'll decide. Another novel about women's roles and the choices they have to make.

Honestly, I liked the book as I read it. It's simply an enjoyable read. But the last few chapters, wow! I loved them and turned the last page thinking just that. Wow!

The Rome Apartment

I don't know if I'd ever bought a book from a sponsored post on Facebook before. But since I'm really in a "books about Italy" mood, The Rome Apartment by Kerry Fisher really caught my attention. Surprisingly or not, I really enjoyed it!

Beth is a brand new empty nester when her husband informs her that he's bored with her and that since he's got a job assignment to Paris, maybe it's time for them to take a break. Beth's friend/co-worker spots an ad in a women's magazine for a really inexpensive rental in Rome that is available to only certain women who meet certain conditions - by application only - and who will be required to do some challenges to add a little more "life" to their lives. Beth applies, is accepted, and heads off to Rome. As soon as she gets there, she has second thoughts.

Veronica (Ronnie) is the owner of the apartment. She and her friend, Marina, come up with all sorts of challenges for Beth. They are in their 70s to Beth's 50. Marina is a really tough nut! Beth puts up a fight. She's not sure she's really ready for something like this. She's ready to go home after the first few days.

But she sticks it out and changes take place to her whole outlook on life as she finds her way around Rome, looking for the beauty in the small things. I loved the descriptions of Rome. Some is the Rome all the tourists see. Some would be more considered "hidden Rome." Counting down the weeks until I'm there and can look for the beauty in small things. (And really pray that I don't get pickpocketed and lose my iPhone in some crowded tourist spot.)

This is a novel about a woman rediscovering herself apart from her roles of wife and mother.