Tag Archives: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Moments from My Youth

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I am 10 and in a rare moment, my father takes us to Carvel for ice cream. I love their soft ice cream that swirls out of a machine. I choose vanilla, the flavor of sweetness and my mother’s apron on baking days. Continue reading →

Fab Five Stories I Treasure

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Try to remember the first time you picked up a book that you’ve grown to love. Chances are you probably didn’t realize then what it would mean to you. But, as you turned the pages, delving deeper into the story, it hit you: the book touched something deep inside you. It resonated and moved you, stirring a passion for the author’s story, the rhythm of the words, the characters, and the setting.

When you find a book like that, all the elements come together, leading you down a path in which you discover something new about yourself. You might be left wondering, how is it that you could love a book this much? But you do, and so it goes, and there you have it.Boys+Life

Months ago, Brenda, a blogger friend who often writes about the art of writing, tagged me in a post about her Fab Five Books. I’ve been remiss in thanking her, and writing a post on the books that I treasure.

What strikes me is that the books on my list are mostly about coming of age and loss of innocence. Evocative of another time, these books can make your eyes widen with a sense of wonder, tug at your heartstrings, make you think, make you sad, give you a chuckle, and fill you with pangs of nostalgia. Exquisitely and flawlessly written, these books have protagonists I’ve come to really care about. In alphabetical order by author, they are as follows:

Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon. This is from an author who specializes in grizzly horror, but this book is unlike his usual genre. Set in the early 1960s, in a town called Zephyr, Alabama, it’s the story of an 11-year-old boy who, while out doing deliveries with his father, witnesses a murder. As the boy tries to unravel the mystery, he uncovers truths about his town, and the people who live in it.  He grapples with forces of good and evil, including a serpent-like creature that inhabits the river. I guarantee you will love this book. Part fantasy and semi-biographical, it is 100 percent lyrical and engrossing.  Truly, Boy’s Life is a masterpiece. Favorite Quote:

“We all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act our age. Told to grow up, for God’s sake. And you know why we were told that? Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they’d allowed to wither in themselves.”

 

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I love stories about time travel and I love a good romance. The Time Traveler’s Wife has both. If you saw the movie version, please get it out of your mind, for it didn’t do the book justice. This story will make you think, and have you rooting for the couple—Henry, who has a disorder that makes him involuntarily time travel, and Clare the woman he marries—whom he first meets when he is 36 and she is, but six. They marry when Clare is 23 and he 31. Sound confusing? Just read it. It’ll have you believing that anything’s possible. Even true love. Favorite Quote:

“Time is priceless, but it’s free. You can’t own it, you can use it. You can spend it. But you can’t keep it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.”

 

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. If you want to know what perfection in writing sounds like, open The Bell Jar to any page and read it aloud. Plath was a poet and her prose reads like every word came from her heart and soul. She certainly dug deep and is unflinching in her honesty. Drawn from her own life, this is a book for the ages. Favorite Quote:A+Tree+Grows+in+Brooklyn

“There is something demoralizing about watching two people get more and more crazy about each other, especially when you are the only extra person in the room. It’s like watching Paris from an express caboose heading in the opposite direction–every second the city gets smaller and smaller, only you feel it’s really you getting smaller and smaller and lonelier and lonelier, rushing away from all those lights and excitement at about a million miles an hour.”

 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I was in sixth grade when I first read this book. I vividly remember sitting in my family’s living room, reading the day away. And sobbing. Yes, it’s a tearful journey through life as a girl who comes of age in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn, New York, with a hard-working mother and an alcoholic father. And, all she wanted was an education. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is heartfelt and inspiring. Favorite Quote:

“From that time on, the world was hers for the reading. She would never be lonely again, never miss the lack of intimate friends. Books became her friends and there was one for every mood. There was poetry for quiet companionship. There was adventure when she tired of quiet hours. There would be love stories when she came into adolescence and when she wanted to feel a closeness to someone she could read a biography. On that day when she first knew she could read, she made a vow to read one book a day as long as she lived.”

Our Town has been performed more than any other American play ever written. My hands-down favorite is this 1977 version that starred Glynnis O'Connor and Robby Benson.

“Our Town” has been performed more than any other American play. The first performance I ever saw was at my high school, but I especially love this 1977 version, starring Glynnis O’Connor and Robby Benson.

 

Our Town by Thornton Wilder. This is not a novel, it’s a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, but that shouldn’t stop you from reading it. There’s nothing that captures a slice of life in small town America, circa 1900, like Our Town. Bare bones in set and feel, it leaves much to the imagination and yet it has the power to transport you to fictitious Grover’s Corners just like that. Our Town is about love, family, marriage and death, and appreciating the little things in life while we can. What makes Our Town so enduring? Watch the video below and find out! Favorite quote:

“Good-by, Grover’s Corners…Good-by to clocks ticking…and Mama’s sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new ironed dresses and hot baths…and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you’re too wonderful for anybody to realize you.”

 

If you haven’t already, I hope you’ll read any one of these. And now, I’m pleased to tag my dear friend, Bella, of One Sister’s Rant, so she can share her Fab Five.

How about you? What are some of your favorites?

Why I’m Doing It

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Why am I doing it? Why did I agree to participate in a challenge that requires me to read 50 books and see 50 films in one year?  Well, I didn’t do it for the films. Seeing 50 films is what I’m pretty sure I already do every year.

No, I did it for the love of reading. Because I adore being transported and carried away by a good read.  Only, in my adulthood, I haven’t been reading nearly as much as I once did, from childhood, all the way through to my college years. Life’s demands and responsibilities have come between me and my passion for reading. And, if I’m going to be honest, I must confess that the number of TV shows I watch each week, hasn’t helped either.

So, basically, for the last 30 years, reading has been at the bottom of my To-Do list. Which, when I think of all my wonderful memories associated with reading, I have to wonder, how could this be?  What made me sacrifice my love for the written word? Was it my work? The advent of the ability to record programs? Did VHS kill reading? Or was it simply the need and desire to raise and spend time with my two kids? Probably all of the above.

My memories of reading start with my childhood in Queens. Every Saturday morning, my mother would drive me to the local library and drop me off at its door, returning a few hours later to pick me up.  It was a routine I grew to love. The children’s section was located on the lower level and I remember the circular staircase that led to it. I’d join the other kids there for story time with the librarian. After which, I’d pick out the books I wanted to borrow for the week. Some of my favorite books included, the Little Bear series by Else Holmelund Minarik and Maurice Sendak, and both the Pippi Longstocking and The Children of Noisy Village series, by Astrid Lindgren. Ah, bliss.

In sixth grade, I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith, and I remember curling up in a comfy chair, reading nonstop until I finished the book. So engrossed was I in this beautiful novel, I imagined myself to be Francie Nolan, the protagonist, and cried profusely when she lost someone very dear to her.

In seventh grade English, I was assigned to read A Lantern in Her Hand, by Bess Streeter Aldrich. I absolutely loved this story about a young woman who marries and heads west during the days of pioneer life. She had so many dreams, one by one they whittled away, because being a pioneer wife and mother got in the way. She had many children and eventually, each of them grew up and ended up fulfilling their mother’s dreams, in their own way. I remember loving this book so much, I read it aloud to my mother, who didn’t have time for books at all. Those were special moments.

In ninth grade, I made a friend who changed my life, when she introduced me to an array of classic works. Like the Bronte sisters’ Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, Albert Camus’ The Stranger, Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, along with books by Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker, O. Henry and the like. This opened new worlds for me and I’ll be forever grateful to my friend.

When I was 15, I spent nearly a year attending school in Caracas, Venezuela. I craved books written in English. The private school I was attending had a small shelf in the library devoted to such books. One of them was Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. I had never read this book before and became completely immersed in the story.

Around this time, I saw a book review in an issue of Time magazine that caught my eye. I wrote to my oldest brother, Michael, who was back in the states, and asked him to send me a copy of the book. Well, he sent it along with another book, that I hadn’t requested. He included a note.

“If you’re determined to read the book you ordered, then please, also read this one. It’s better for you.”

The book I asked for was Love Story, a real tearjerker by Erich Segal. Tucked underneath was The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien.  I loved them both, as I did other books my brother sent me, such as The Godfather by Mario Puzo and Catch-22, by Joseph Heller.

In college, I was deep into mysteries: Mary Higgins Clark, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Ross McDonald, and so on.

When I first married, I realized I had never read The Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. There were nine in the series and, in a few weeks, I devoured them all. Such wonderful, adventurous stories!

When I think back on how so many good books have touched my life, this much I know: That it is for these glorious and meaningful memories that I do it now.

So, tell me, what are your favorite memories about reading?

Please check out my new Fifty Fifty page. And hey, it’s not too late to sign up for the Fifty Fifty challenge. If I can do it, anyone can!