Book Nine: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

I was surprised by how slim this volume was, but it's not the full story of Douglass's life. He describes very little of his actual escape from slavery in order to shield those who may have helped him and to keep slaveowners from knowing possible escape routes. The book stops just as Douglass is beginning to work in the anti-slavery movement. Apparently, Douglass wrote two additional autobiographies (I found this by doing a little online research.)

Douglass is an excellent writer, all the more impressive because he had to teach himself to read and write over a process of several years. He had a well-deserved reputation for eloquence

Here's his description of how slavery corrupted the wife of one of his masters:

When I went there, she was a pious, warm, and tender-hearted woman. There was no sorrow or suffering for which she had not a tear. She had bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came within her reach. Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities. Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamb-like disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness. 

I'd love to read more about his work with women's movement.

Book Eight: A Light in the Storm The Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin by Karen Hesse

As I previously mentioned, I bought this children's book believing it was an authentic diary. Instead, it's an entry in the Dear America series of American history. The series features girls' diaries of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, slavery, westward expansion, Titanic, immigration, and Native American life. 

Amelia Martin is a teenager who helps her father, the Assistant Lightkeeper at the Fenwick Island, Delaware Lighthouse. In 1860, Amelia's Uncle Edward gives her a diary for Christmas present for her long nights on watch. Here Amelia records weather information as well as her daily activities and her concerns.

Hesse based Amelia Martin on Ida Lewis. Lewis worked at the Lime Rock Light off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island during and after the Civil War, taking over her father's duties when he became ill. Lewis saved twenty-two people from deadly storms during her career. 

By placing Amelia in Delaware, Hesse plays with the contradiction of Delaware being a slave state that did not join the Confederacy. Hesse uses the conflicts between the northern and southern areas of Delaware to mirror the conflicts between the north and south of the country as a whole. Hesse also describes the northern/southern conflict between Amelia's parents 

The language in A Light in the Storm reflects its narrator but is not overly simplistic. However, much of the Historical Note section is. 

Browsing the Book Sales

I've always loved browsing in bookstores and libraries. A recent variation is browsing at library book sales. I've been to two spring sales recently. 

I made it to the last day of the Wilton Library sale, when a bag of books went for $5. I did surprisingly well, getting five books. 

1. A Light in the Storm The Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin.by Karen Hesse. Okay, I knew this was a child's diary based on the cover illustration. I thought it was a real--not fictional--diary. Oh well, I'll read it anyway.

2. Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog. 

3. Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir.

4. The Autobiography of Henry VIII With Notes by his fool, Will Somers by Margaret George

5. Voyager by Diana Gabaldon.

6. The Curse of Oak Island The Story of the World's Longest Treasure Hunt by Randall Sullivan. I picked this up for my brother who watches the TV show. 

My latest book sale was at the Westport Library. Here are my purchases.

1. The Shipping News by E.Annie Proulx.

2. Narrrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave Written by Himself

3. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth.

I've been joking that I can't go to any more book sales because I have so many books to read: A nice problem to have. 

Book Seven: Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

Voyager is the third book in the Outlander series of nine published novels with one more planned. It corresponds to the third season of the TV show. Claire's husband Frank dies in the 1960s and Claire learns that her husband Jamie survived the battle of Culloden in 1746 and lived as a printer named Alexander Malcolm in Edinburgh. She decides to rejoin him in the past. 

I read this book at a faster pace than I read The Blind Assassin. For one thing, Gabaldon is a great storyteller, but not as gifted a writer as Atwood. For another, since Jeff and I watch Outlander, I was familiar with the story. For the most part, the show followed the book. I appreciated what the show left out especially Claire being sliced up by a pirate, a murder at the governor's reception, and a serial killer. 

I also preferred the way the show handled the Margaret Campbell and Yi Tien Cho aka Mr. Willoughby storylines; they got a happy ending.

I have a few quibbles: I got tired of Jamie and Claire's sex scenes, especially Claire's rapturous descriptions of Jamie's red chest hair. Just too much.

Book Six: The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

I didn't quite get this book as I read it. I should have realized some things before they were revealed. 

There are four narrative threads.

One: Iris, an elderly Canadian woman in ill-health, is writing her life story in the late 1990s, focusing on the tumultuous 1930s and 1940s--years of depression, war, labor unrest, and social upheaval. Iris is seemingly passive, someone that life happens to. I wouldn't call her an unreliable narrator, but she is circumspect, often alluding to things rather than making forthright statements. 

Two: Newspaper clippings punctuate events related to Iris's life such as marriages, births, deaths, and social engagements.

Three: An unnamed couple meet secretly in whatever temporary lodgings the man can find. She seems to be wealthy, while he seems to be in some kind of political trouble--a wanted man.

Four: The Blind Assassin. The man tells the woman a story about children on the Planet of Zycron blinded by their work making carpets. Most of the children become prostitutes, and some become assassins. The Blind Assassin is also the name of a novel published by Iris's sister Laura. 

I took my time reading this book. Atwood is such a good writer, I often stopped to re-read sentences and paragraphs and marked passages I especially liked. 

Although I didn't understand it as I was reading, I came to appreciate Atwood's four-narrative approach. I remember seeing multiple narrators for the first time in Norah Loft's Jassy, one of my favorite books. 

I've been going through the book to note passages I marked. 

Here's one as Iris is working on her manuscript:

Why is it we want so badly to memorialize ourselves? Even while we're still alive. We wish to assert our existence, like dogs peeing on fire hydrants. We put on display our framed photographs, our parchment diplomas, our silver-plated cups; we monogram our linen, we carve our names on trees, we scrawl them on washroom walls. It's all the same impulse. What do we hope from it? Applause, envy, respect? Or simply attention, of any kind we can get?

Here Iris is betrayed by her own body.

Just when you need it, just when you could use an arm or a leg, suddenly the body has other things to do. It falters, it buckles under you; it melts away as if made of snow, leaving nothing much. Two lumps of coal, an old hat, a grin made of pebbles. The bones dry sticks, easily broken. 

At the very least we want a witness. We can't stand the idea of our voices falling silent finally, like a radio running down. 

After a bad dream.

When you're young, you think everything you do is disposable. You move from now to now, crumpling time up in your hands, tossing it away. You're your own speeding car. You think you can get rid of things and people too--leave them behind. You don't yet know about the habit they have, of coming back. 

Time in dreams is frozen. You can never get away from where you've been. 

I'm holding on to this book. It's well worth a re-read or two.

Two Weeks Plus

It's been over two weeks since my last post on May 13. I thought things were beginning to turn around then. By Wednesday night (the 15th) I had already done the weekly shopping and laundry, gone to the gym, taken care of the birds, reviewed documents for and attended a condominium owners meeting. 

Jace and I were on a Thursday morning walk when a large, unleased puppy ran over to us.This was our third encounter.The puppy would usually run around ignoring his human as he called after him. This time, he knocked Jace over, jamming my middle and ring fingers in the leash that I was holding. 

One of the first things I did when I got home was to take off my wedding ring. I remember my mother hurt her hand and they had to cut the ring off in the ER. As for me, I decided not to go to the ER. My first thought was the money (Yes, I have insurance, but...) An urgent care center? I figured my fingers didn't hurt enough to be broken. What could they do?

I consulted Dr. Google. After a few searches, I found a treatment for jammed fingers using RICE--rest, ice, compression, elevation. I used a wrap in our freezer--probably for wrists and/or ankles--and wove it around my fingers. Later I taped my fingers together. 

Luckily, this happened to my left hand--I'm righthanded. My middle finger bore the brunt of the bruising and swelling, but my ring finger was also hurt. By Thursday, I could do most things that I needed to----but I had to adjust how I do myriad things--tying my shoes, opening the car door, sorting laundry, opening cans, carrying plates, lifting things. 

I still can't make a proper fist, but each day my fingers get better. This nagging injury made me realize how lucky and thankful I am for my good health. I won't take that for granted. 

I was determined to finish this post this morning. This was my third attempt. I have other things I want to write about, books, book sales, my birthday dinner. 

It's also a good day to pick up some free weights and see if I can properly grasp them.

I'm back.

A Good Start

I woke this morning around 6:30, feeling pretty well-rested. 

I went to the gym and included cardio for the first time in a month.  

I ran three errands, changed the bed, and sorted the laundry. 

I took Jace on three walks. 

It's not a red-letter day by any means, but it's not the day of a lethargic person in a deep funk.