Another Holocaust Story, but Different

Oh, man! I hate to put this library book down and here I am writing about it before I have even finished it. It is by Diane Ackerman and called "The Zookeeper's Wife", a war story. It takes place at the Warsaw Zoo during the Nazi occupation. Ackerman doesn't just tell a tale, she embelishes each event, each person, each place, with descriptive information that brings home all the ramifications of the unfolding drama. It is more than a story, it is a discussion of what it means to be alive for every living thing, including the earth. I like the way she weaves the science of many topics into the fabric of the story. There are some elements that make me want to revisit what I had previously known about some scientists, like Konrad Lorenz. I will read more of her writing and I will have to purchase my own copy of this book ... then I can lend it to you, but only if you remember to return it, have a cup of coffee, or glass of wine, and talk about it with me.

http://www.dianeackerman.com/work1.htm - the author's site

A critical review -http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/13/AR2007091301895.html

A Good Summer Read from the Past

My husband borrowed a new paperback from Katie this summer. While reading he kept telling me I would really like it. We read a lot of the same books and like a lot of the same books and like most of the same things that make a good read - style, descriptive language, history, setting. After he had finished the book, it disappeared. We were traveling and the book must have parted ways with us along the road. Luckily, he was able to remember the title and found an original publication at the Bridgton Public Library. We had guests this week and beautiful weather at the beach, but I had to read it late at night and up early in the the morning. He was right - I did really like it. It had great character development, interesting and thought provoking insights into marital relationships and the mysterious magic of friendships and a setting I could relate to. The book "Crossing to Safety" by Wallace Stegner was published in 1987. It is the story of two couples who meet early in their marriages on a college campus in Michigan and summer together in Vermont. Their backgrounds are individually very different, but there is a chemistry that draws them all together and they become in many ways a "chosen family". It is written from the point of view of one of the men, a writer who is fascinated by the development of the friendships and the individuals involved. Here is how he describes the other man at a critical time.

He was a man in a briar patch. So long as he kept still he was comfortable, but every time he moved he found thorns. Or put it the other way around. Busy, he could forget where he was. The minute he paused, he was reminded.

You will find lots to think about while following the lives of these four freinds that you will recognize about your own relationships. I found it so.