The Hiding Place – Corrie Ten Boom

The Hiding Place – Corrie Ten Boom

I recently re-read this amazing story. I read it in my teens at least twice, so this would prehaps be my third or fourth reading. I wanted to revisit it after all this time, as I have never forgotten the impact it had on me. When I read it as a teenager, it was probably my first exposure to material dealing with the devastation of Nazism in Europe and the extent of horror that occurred in concentration camps in Germany.

This is the story of a Dutch woman who with her family helped to hide Jews in their home during WWII. They were eventually arrested and sent to prison. Her father died after only 9 days, but Corrie survived two federal prisons in occupied Holland and was eventually transported in train cattle compartments to the infamous Ravensbruk extermination camp in Germany. Her sister died there along with approximately 96000 other women during the war, but amazingly Corrie survived and lived to tell their story.

This is not just a survival story but one of faith and forgivenss. Corrie and Betsie’s love for God and their faith in Him sustained them through almost hell itself, and they found ways to share love and kindness with fellow prisoners in spite of the horrific conditions they lived in. After the war Corrie set up centres to rehabilitate victims and eventually opened a centre in a former camp in Germany for the help and healing of German officers and guards themselves.

I highly recommend this book to anyone. It’s detailed but not too explicit in it’s description of cruelty to preclude it from young readers. And old book, but a good one. Highly recommended.

Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

 

I have owned this book for about a year but only just got around to actually reading it. I’m so glad I did. I wanted to read it simply because it’s a classic, but was expecting it to be a little dull or slow, but found it kept me interested and the plot kept moving. I ended up quite liking the character of Jane and even though prehaps she is portrayed as being rather plain or dull, I think she was a lively, intelligent and stong woman, and when considering the time the book was published, this quality was probably even more impacting.

The story begins when she is living under the care of an Aunt (she is an orphan) and follows her very difficult childhood and adult life, until she eventually overcomes her troubles, and finds her way. It has a bit of mystery, romance and a couple of unexpected twists. It explores the dilemmas we all face choosing between what we want and what is right.

The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Schaeffer and Annie Barrows

I recently finished reading this book, after seeing it reviewed online quite a bit. I liked the idea of it being entirely based on letters, and that it was a book lovers book being about a Literary Society. I also liked the title.

The story begins in London after the war and is about an writer, Juliet Ashton who is trying to come up with an idea for her next project. She is short on ideas, but around the same time starts to correspond quite by accident with some residents of the English channel Island of Guernsey. Their correspondence forms the plot of the book, and through it we learn about the little known German occupation of these British territories for 5 years during WW2. We learn about the struggles and horrors of the occupation but also the friendships and endurance of the Islanders during those years.

Eventually Juliet Ashton goes to Guernsey to meet these Islanders whose stories she becomes fascinated with as they are revealed through their letters. Her visit to Guernsey changes her life.

A surprisingly light story given the subject, there is plenty of humour, quirky characters, and even love. I really enjoyed this book.

Meme (what does that mean anyway?)

Saw this meme over at Sharon’s blog today and thought I’d join in. I’m so tired lately that it’s been hard to write but this is an easy way to get something down.

What is your current obsession?

Raising funds to ship 473 boxes of donated medical supplies out of my garage and to the Howard Hospital in Zimbabwe.  Also poverty in general and raising people’s awareness of it.

What is your weirdest obsession?

I have no idea. If you think I have a weird obsession be sure to let me know. Thanks.

What are you wearing today?

Jeans, t-shirt, cardi.

What’s for dinner?

D made fried rice. Yum

What’s the last thing you bought?

A pair of knitting needles and a ball of wool because my 4 year old son wants me to make him a scarf to wear in the snow on Saturday. We are going on a (long) day trip to Mt Ruapehu.

What are you listening to right now?

Rain on the roof, crackling fireplace. Hum of computer.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?

To visit family in Australia

Which language do you want to learn?

Hindi

What do you love most about where you currently live?

We are safe and warm and we get to eat every single day.

What is your favourite colour?

Pink or green

What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?

A white cotton peasant blousey thingy.

What were you doing ten years ago?

Backpacking around India with my buddy Ali.

Describe your personal style?

Um…..style? Casual. Comfortable. Practical.

If you had £100 now, what would you spend it on?

Well, that’s about NZ$259 which would cover the shipping of about 16 of the 473 boxes mentioned above.

What are you going to do after this?

Sleep

What are your favourite films?

I always find it hard to answer this question because I forget movies. (Never forget a good book though!) Also I don’t tend to watch the same movie over and over so none become a firm favourite. But let’s try……I enjoyed Australia, and did enjoy Slumdog Millionaire,

What inspires you?

When people discover and make time to pursue their dreams or the thing they are best at. I really believe that every single person has a unique and valuable contribution to make to the world…a destiny or purpose if you like and there is nothing more wonderful and inspiring to me that seeing them doing it with all their heart.

Your favourite books?

How long have we got? Ha ha there are many. I just finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaleed Hossieni and loved it. Also loved Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. Oh and The City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre, and The Hiding Place by Corrie TenBoom.  I love learning about how other people live and books that inspire me to action about things that are unjust in the world – like poverty and war and political regimes.

But I also love the classics, like Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Jane Austens works. I also like classic childrens literature like Treasure Island – RL Stevenson and The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Do you collect anything?

Books and clutter.

What makes you follow a blog?

I like to read blogs of people I know as it’s a great way to get to know someone better. I also like to read blogs that inspire my creativity, or about ordinary people doing extraordinary things to make a difference in the world. Sometime I follow a blog out of habit because it’s been on my feed reader for such a long time and it would seem disloyal to suddenly delete it!

Name an unfulfilled dream or one thing you must do before you die?

To visit/travel in/ live in Africa. Feed a hungry child. (I mean literally….be there, not just send money)

What’s your biggest regret in life?

I don’t really have any regrets, but that’s not because I haven’t done anything stupid, but you can’t change the past so I tend not to think about them. I dunno. A minor regret prehaps …not celebrating my 30th birthday with a big fat party.

When you were a child/teenages what did you really want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a nurse and a mother. (So far so good!)

The rules:1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own.2. Tag eight other people.

I’m tagging anyone anywhere who wants to join in. Leave a comment here so I can come read yours too.

Long time gone

Been taking a bit of a blog break the last little while. The 4th day of Christmas and all the rest of them came and went and not a blog post in sight. We had a great Christmas though.

So begins 2009 and so far it’s been a good one. D has changed jobs and is now working 25 hours a week shift work. I’m also working  again and Love it! So nice to be nursing again. It’s a skill I don’t want to lose and if I left it much longer I’d have to study again, which isn’t likely to happen.

One other thing to happen while I was away from blog land was that R22 months nearly lost the end of his finger. There was blood (eeek I could see bone) and screaming and 111 calls and morphine and ED waits and surgery and bandages and pamol and antibiotics and no baths for days and now it’s all well that ends well. Poor little fella. He was so brave. Not an experience I ever want to revisit.   (I’d rather voluntarily place my finger in the door and have someone slam it than see that again on my little child)

Anyway, with the lack of blog writing and blog reading that has been going on, I have enjoyed quite a bit of reading…I’m adding a Library Thing widget with books from 2008, and my list for 2009. If you want to read my reviews they’ll all be over there unless there’s something particularly good I read that I want to share with you here.

So…maybe I’m back. Maybe not.  I’ll believe it if I see it!

Book Catch up

Notes on books I’ve read lately.

Jessica – Bryce Courtenay

Based on a true story of a young woman growing up in the harsh environment of the Australian outback in the 1940’s. It is an epic kind of story about her search for justice against seemingly impossible odds. Although a great story, which kept me engaged, I found it the least well written of the Courtenay books I’ve read. I found the perspective of the narration a bit clumsy at times, but still a rip roaring tale that will keep the pages turning.

The end of the book touches on the issues of the Stolen Generation, and ghastly piece of Australian history that in my opinion is too often overlooked. So, I appreciated that it was written about.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain

I so enjoyed reading this book….I think I may have read it years ago, but had forgotten. A fun read, cleverly written. This is one of those books everyone should read at least once in their life. It so well captures the adventures of childhood, but also deals with coming of age and issues of character.

Absolute Power – Ian Wishart

Hmmm…not sure what I was expecting but I didn’t enjoy this book. Full of digging the dirt on Helen Clark, and members of the Labour party, and while I was shocked at some of the things I read, I daresay there’s another side to the story. There always is. Didn’t sway me either way in terms of our recent vote. (No, not telling he he) I found it laborious to read. And I don’t think I like books about politics anyway. Don’t ask me why I read it.

Honey For a Child’s Heart – Gladys Hunt

A great little book full of age appropriate book lists to encourage a love of reading in young children and as a family. I found that the book list contained a lot of American titles which is fine, but a local equivalent or a more universal list would have been helpful.

Cry, The Beloved Country

Cry, The Beloved Country – Alan Paton

This was one of those books that when I’d finished, I wondered where it had been all my adult reading life. (Or prehaps where I’d been, or perhaps why hadn’t my High School English teacher set this as a required text?) I’d borrowed this book from a friend, but it one I definitely want on our shelves.

Published in 1948 about aparteid South Africa. This is a moving story about a black pastor Kumalo who leaves his village for Johannesburg to find his son who had gone away to work, but had stopped writing home. As he follows his son’s trail to find his whereabouts, the news is increasingly grim.

The novel also tells the story of a white farmer whose farm is near the same village. His son, an engineer in Johannesburg was murdered by a young black man who’d broken into his house. The murdered man Arthur Jarvis was an advocate for black people. 

I found it an intelligent and unbiased look at the injustices of the time. So very beautifully written in the Zulu oral tradition, the story and the characters engaged me and the issues were addressed with sensitivity and understanding. The central themes are the land, justice and fear.

A paragraph I’ll take away with me and have been giving a lot of thought to, comes from a document the murdered man had been working on at the time of his murder. It was found among his papers by his father. He is writing here about the problem of the breakdown of the family and the tribe because of mine workers being away from the villages and their wives and children…

What we did when we came to South Africa was permissible. ….

…

It was permissible when we discovered  gold to bring labour to the mines. It was permissible to build compounds and to keep women and children away from the towns. It was permissible as an experiment, in the light of what we knew. But in the light of what we know now, with certain exceptions, it is no longer permissible. It is not permissible for us to go on destroying family life when we know that we are destroying it. It is permissible to develop any resources if the labour is forthcoming. But it is not permissible to develop any resources if they can be developed only at the cost of the labour. It is not permissible to mine any land, if such mining and manufacture and cultivation depend for their success on a policy of keeping labour poor. It is not permissible to add to one’s possessions if these things can only be done at the cost of other men. Such development has only one true name, and that is exploitation. It might have been permissible…before we became aware of it’s cost…. But now that the cost is known, it is no longer permissible.

I can’t stop thinking about that sentence above which I’ve highlighted.

Loved, loved, loved this book.l loved how it told a great story that made me cry, examined real issues which despite being based around the events in SA in the 40’s are just as relevant today (in fact are universally relevant), and it made me think!

Booky Stuff

Firstly, I’ve still been reading quite a bit, and working my way through my book lists for the year. I am too lazy to write a review of each, and not really all that good at book reviews anyway, but I do want to keep a record of what I’ve read, so I’m just going to list them here and maybe make a comment or two.

Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carrol.

Didn’t love it, but E5 did. Maybe I found the nonsense slightly frustrating at times. Anyway… it still remains a must read at least once in childhood and maybe even as an adult, but I’m happy to borrow it, and for me it’s not a must own.

Morgan’s Run – Colleen McCullough

Loved this book. It’s the story of a man Richard Morgan who is falsely accused of a crime in and found himself transported to Botany Bay (Australia’s first penal colony) in 1788 on the First Fleet. It is a great tale which spans the years from 1775 until 1793 and depicts life for a convict in Botany Bay and later when  he is transported to Norfolk Island. I loved learning about this period of time. Richard Morgan’s name is in fact listed on the historical records as being a convict on the first fleet, and did live on Norfolk Island. I was fascinated by this because there was also a convict on the First Fleet whose surname is my maiden name. I’m not descended from him because it seems he died a couple of years after arriving and before becoming a free man. There are no records of offspring.

The Sea – John Banville

Hmmm…I liked this book, but didn’t really leave a lasting impression. Well written etc, but didn’t do anything for me.(Is that bad? It’s a prize winner and all.)

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres

I was so looking forward to reading this book, but I’m sorry to say I didn’t finish it. Just didn’t really get into it. I know I’ll revisit it someday though. I’ve read great reviews though! he he. Oh, and I own it, so I know I’ll try again someday.

The Willoughbys – Lois Lowry

Grabbed this off the shelf in the children’s section at the library the other day. I’d heard it was good. I read it myself to see if it’d be a good one for the kids. Almost all the way through I had my doubts that I’d read it to them, but when I got to the last few pages, I decided it’s probably a goer. It’s a book about four children who decide that since they have such ghastly parents, they should really be orphans. It’s full of great words like nefarious and irascible and odious, but has a glossary at the back for the youngsters. It’s a booky book in that it references other great old fashioned stories like Mary Poppins and The Secret Garden and Heidi. It’s was a bit Roald Dahl-ish in it’s slightly dark story, and was also very funny, and I loved the perfect ending.

I’m currently reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, and loving it. Also reading Absolute Power by Ian Wishart… not sure what I think of this one yet.

And speaking of books, I paid more fines at the library the other day…my husband jokes that they should roll out a red carpet for me when I come since I probably nearly own the place by now. I should get VIP service he reckons…. So, I so needed this! This is ELF! It’s a personal email reminder service that can track multiple library cards and send you customised emails when your books are nearly due or over due. (I still don’t know why the library can’t do this itself. In my case they only send an email when you already have a lot of fines owing and they’re getting to the point of charging you for the books.) But anyway….I hope it works for me!

The Perfect Storm – Sebastian Junger

The Perfect Storm – Sebastian Junger

(This is going to sound very lazy, but I’m too tired to write a proper review of this book. I’ve been out in the garage this afternoon moving boxes (67 so far and that’s just the beginning) and taking an inventory of their contents. The boxes are the medical supplies for the Zim project. And I’m tired. )

Anyway…I read this book because I’d seen the movie and if I enjoy a movie that was a book first (does that make sense!?) I like to read it.

I enjoyed this book. It was meticulously researched. The author presented factual information about the fishing industry, the construction of fishing vessels, how storms work, how waves (in particular freak or rogue waves) work. He discussed the wind and the ocean currents. All these things to build up the known information about the story.

The story that is about the Andrea Gail. A swordfishing boat that was lost in a massive storm. The entire crew of 6 were killed. The story also covers the rescue of various other vessels caught in the storm, and the resulting death of a rescue swimmer.

While the story does cover the human drama, it’s mostly a compilation of fact and an attempted reconstruction of events on the Andrea Gail. Once the crew lost radio contact early in the storm, there is obviously no way of knowing exactly what happened on board.

I’m glad I saw the movie first, because I’d otherwise have been bogged down in information that I’m not particularly interested in (meteorology etc. ) I did find in interesting, however I can’t say I’ve learned much…retention was low! A good book for people interested in meteorology, boating, fishing, or search and rescue. If you’re less technical and prefer the human aspect of the story get the DVD.

For the love of Books

She loves to read. She takes a stack of books to bed with her every night and sometimes reads for over an hour before I tell her it’s way past sleep time and she reluctantly puts them at the foot of her bed for tomorrow. (Or to crash down off her bunk in the middle of the night with a bang!)