Evidence of Things Unseen

Every once in a while I read a book that is so beautifully written it actually brings me to tears. Evidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins is such a book.

This is the story of Fos and Opal, who fall in love after WWI, under the stars of the Perseid meteor shower. Fos is a true believer in science, studying anything that lights up. Opal has her own kind of down home brilliance, and they couldn't be more in love.

Fos comes to question his belief in science when his work is used to help create the Atom bomb and the X-ray machine he is so proud of exposes Opal to harmful levels of radiation.

This poetic novel illuminates the world in a way we have never seen it before. It is tender, beautiful, heartbreaking, inspiring and wholly original. Highly recommended.

Letter to My Daughter

Letter to My Daughter is a little book of essays by Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou is one of my favorite writers, and if you don't know who she is, you should. Start with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and go from there.

This recent offering is written to all her daughters everywhere. It contains little nuggets of wisdom attained throughout her amazing life. The essays are direct, witty, sassy, strong and full of love. Nothing life changing here, but small things to savor from a wise and beloved elder.

The Flight of Gemma Hardy

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey  is an impressive retelling of Jane Eyre, set in 1960's Scotland.

Young Gemma Hardy is taken from her native Iceland when her parents die, and taken in by her kind Uncle in Scotland. When he dies, she finds herself living with her Aunt and cousins who don't want her there anymore. She is sent off to boarding school as a working girl even though she is only 10 years old, and from there things keep getting harder. Finally she leaves school and becomes an au pair and her real adventures begin.

It took a while for me to get into this book as it was so bleak in the beginning, but Gemma's indomitable spirit shines through so strongly, it impossible not to root for her. She does finally meet some kind people who begin to help her and even love her, as she continues her lifelong search (that eventually leads her back to Iceland) to finally find a place to call home.

Wonderful writing and character development, and a story to really sink into-whether or not you have read Jane Eyre. A good book to curl up with by the fire.

That being said, I enjoyed Livesey's earlier novel, Eva Moves the Furniture even more.

Come in and Cover Me

Come in and Cover Me by Gin Phillips is a novel about an archeologist named Ren who is 37 years old and has been living with the ghost of her brother since he died in a car accident when she was 12.

The novel takes Ren into the canyons of New Mexico where she unearths pottery sherds and begins to see even more ghosts of the women who lived in the canyon thousands of years earlier.

Ren falls in love with a fellow archeologist and realizes she is going to need to move out of the past to embrace her future. It is an interesting story, and I enjoyed the archeological aspects of it. However, I was never drawn in to Ren's character deeply enough to really care about her. Her boyfriend and her brother were more interesting, as was the landscape of the canyons.

The title comes from a Bruce Springsteen song, one of which her brother's ghost is always humming.

Encountering the Self

Encountering the Self is a little book by Swiss Waldorf teacher Hermann Koepke, that is based on the teachings of Rudolph Steiner, and addresses what he refers to as the nine year change. I have mentioned Steiner often in this blog and his teachings continue to inform my life.

This book deals with the change a child goes through in their 9th year, as they are experiencing themselves for the first time as truly separate individuals, different from everyone around them, and essentially alone. It can be a difficult time for the child emotionally, as they can feel quite fragile and not understand why.

For anyone with a child, grandchild, niece, nephew, or friend this age, this book is immensely helpful in understanding this unique time in the child's life and dealing with it in a supporting way.

The Garden of Happy Endings

The Garden of Happy Endings by Barbara O'Neal tells the story of Reverend Elsa Montgomery of the Unity Church. After a shocking tragedy shatters her community in Seattle, Elsa loses her faith and retreats to her hometown of Pueblo, Colorado where she tries to recover by working in a soup kitchen and starting a community garden. She is also reunited with her best friend and former fiancee, who is now a Catholic priest.

This book delves deeply into the issues of faith and religion and God. It is also a very real story about life and hardship and romance. The characters were well developed, but sometimes  I felt as if the author was trying too hard to make sure the story ended with happy endings for all, as the title suggests.

Eurythmy

Drawing on decades of experience as a teacher, performer and therapist, Cynthia Hoven brings the world of Eurythmy alive in her new book Eurythmy, Movements and Meditations-A Journey to the Heart of Language.

Eurythmy is a movement art created by Rudolph Steiner in the early 1900’s in which the sounds of language become visible through movement and gesture. Eurythmy is most often done as an accompaniment to music or poetry and has been known to have healing effects on millions of people worldwide, both young and old.

A deep understanding of what Eurythmy really is, and a dawning of its benefits unfolds while reading this book. We are taken on a journey through 24 major sounds of language. The description of each sound read like meditations, and indeed this is exactly what they are. There is also detailed instruction on how to move each sound, for beginners and those already familiar with Eurythmy. This is invaluable for those wanting to work with the sounds at home.

Through this highly accessible book, Hoven brings the world of Eurythmy out of the realm of Waldorf schools (previously the only place one would be exposed to Eurythmy,) and offers Eurythmy’s healing benefits to the world at large. She invites the reader to become acquainted with this fascinating, yet little known art, that is so relevant in these stressful times in which we live.

Zorro

Isabel Allende is one of my favorite authors. I was surprised to see that she had written a book about Zorro, but also curious. In her hands his story is reborn, as Allende imagines the early life of Diego de la Vega, before he becomes Zorro.

Allende is a master storyteller, and she takes us into the world of  late 18th/early 19th century California, populated by Indians and Spaniards.Young Diego is a product of this world with an Indian mother and a Spanish father. He is sent to Spain as a teen to be educated, and here he meets his fencing master who enlists him into a secret society that fights for justice for all.

I was caught up in the adventure, and thoroughly enjoyed this book. Bravo!