"Essential" Reading

I’m often pleasantly surprised by what I find on the shelves at our little community library. Such was the case when I walked in last week. I was not intending to check out another book…if you could see the stacks of books all over my house waiting to be read, you’d understand why. But as a word-aholic, I can’t help looking over the newly arrived titles. Inevitably I find something that piques my interest.

The copper-colored spine is what first caught my eye. So shiny, I just had to pick it up. The title intrigued me: The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister (Putnam, 2009). I read the author bio on the jacket flap. Hmm…a first novel. That knowledge always fills me with dubious curiosity. I had a project on my desk needing to be finished, and I really didn’t have time for a pleasure read. But I took a chance and checked it out.

I was not disappointed. The book is actually nine stories, intricately woven into one body. Reading them was like reconnecting with old friends. While Lillian -- master chef and teacher of “The School of Essential Ingredients” -- is the main character and her story ties all the personalities together, none of the other stories is either more or less important in the overall scheme. An older couple who have weathered the storms of life together for so many years, they can’t imagine being apart, even in the face of some hard realities. A young mother whose identity has become so tied to her children and husband that she doesn’t know who she is anymore. An elderly woman whose increasing dementia terrifies her. A lonely widower. A drop-dead gorgeous foreigner. A shy bachelor. A mixed-up teenager trying to get her life back on track.

While each character has his or her own reason for attending “The School of Essential Ingredients,” by the last page their nine separate lives have become inseparable. It’s a recipe for family. And even though it’s not a “Christian” novel, it is a beautiful picture of the way Christ wants his church to function. I’ve seen my own church family bond together through small groups (or cell groups or community groups, whatever you want to call them). Lillian’s “School of Essential Ingredients” is at its core a small group, and it is a beautiful thing. Whether or not you have a passion for fine food, I recommend feasting on this book. It’s about so much more than cooking. Bon appétit!

Caring About Fictional Characters

It’s Monday afternoon, and we just got home from running a bunch of errands. (Okay, so I wrote this a week ago...it is now the next Monday a.m. and I'm still in my p.j.'s.) I’m in my recliner sipping a latte and trying to clear my head of the constant stream of words that has emanated from Ben’s mouth since 8 a.m.

Since I have a few minutes to myself, I thought I’d write a little something for my blog. I haven’t written much of anything since the death of my father six months ago. But I have done a lot of reading. And I do mean a lot. And not all of it for money.

While browsing a Traverse City bookstore last month, I came across a table of staff recommendations. Two of the titles grabbed my attention, so I promptly logged on to MELCat and put through a request for them. When they arrived a starting bell went off in my head, and I couldn’t put either book down until I knew how they ended.

The first title is Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum (Harcourt, 2004). The author worked for four years interviewing holocaust survivors with Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation. This, her first novel, chronicles the lengths one woman goes to in order to protect her young daughter during the German occupation of Austria. Before I go on, however, I need to give a disclaimer: this book is sexually graphic. The protagonist, Anna, becomes the mistress of a high-ranking SS officer in charge of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Blum leaves little to the imagination with regard to the man’s animal lusts and abusive treatment.

The story really centers around Anna’s daughter, Trudy, a history professor specializing in German studies. As part of a research project, she interviews German civilians who had been citizens of the Third Reich. Since her own mother refuses to talk about the war years, Trudy attempts to uncover answers to her questions from those who, like her mother, were non-Jews living under Hitler’s regime. What she finds about her mother surprises her. And while the reader, who has been following Anna’s trail all along, knows how her story ends, I still couldn’t put the book down until I knew how Trudy is affected by that knowledge.

The second, and to me more powerful, of the two books is People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (Viking, 2008). Several years ago Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize for March, her version of Little Women from the perspective of Captain March. People of the Book follows the journey of an ancient Jewish illuminated manuscript back through time. She chronicles how it was preserved through history as one person after another risked their life to protect the precious pages from extinction.

I don’t want to give much away as far as the plot. Much of it is based in actual events surrounding the discovery of the Sarajevo Haggadah. The character that ties everything together is a young woman named Hanna. She is an expert in preserving rare books. As Hanna prepares the haggadah for museum display, she uncovers the story of the manuscript. And she discovers her own story as an intersecting parallel. (I know…that phrase is an oxymoron. Just read it for yourself and you’ll see what I mean.)

If you know me at all, you know that I’m a sucker for stories of mother/daughter relationships. Both of these stories are driven by the bonds (or lack thereof) between mothers and daughters. Neither has a “happily ever after” conclusion. Neither is a “feel good” kind of read. The issues these authors deal with are weighty, and I guarantee you’ll think about them long after you’ve turned the final page. But the stories they share are worth reading, worth remembering, so that we never forget.