The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder. Perennial Library, 1986, c1927

I decided to re-read this slim, Pulitzer-winning volume after spotting it on a re-shelve truck at the library. (I've been finding quite a few good books that way, recently!) I opened it to a random page, read a paragraph, and was captured by the lyrical, descriptive language. I read this book when I was in the 8th grade - a little while ago - and wondered if I would find more depth and meaning now that I am older.

The story involves the failure of a bridge over a Peruvian river, plunging five people to their deaths. Brother Juniper, on his way to cross the bridge himself, witnesses the accident and wonders - not questioning the Higher Authority who allowed it to happen - why those people fell, and why at that particular time in their lives. He then embarks on a quest to find out what was happening in each person's life in the time before their deaths. After years of research, his notes, compiled into several volumes, are declared heretical and they and Brother Juniper are burned to death.

Many of Wilder's works incorporate the theme of the Day of Judgment, though not in a pedantic way. On the day the bridge fell, each victim had reached a crossroad, and made a decision. My take-away from this re-reading: it is always possible to refocus the direction of one's life, no matter how difficult it may seem to do. It involves putting the old "scripts" behind and writing new ones. It requires faith. And love. The bridge is love.

"The Double Bind", by Christopher A. Bohjalian. Shaye Areheart Books, c2007.

Wow! Had no clue, when I selected this book, that it would be a two-fer. The jacket blurb said it draws strongly from Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby", which I had not read, so I read it first. Good thing! Bohjalian seamlessly integrates the Gatsby characters and setting into his novel, and then delivers a double-whammy at the end that caught me flat-footed.

Laurel works in a homeless shelter, and because of her interest in photography, she is given a box of old photos and negatives when one of the shelter's clients dies. The mandate was to perhaps mount an exhibit that could become a fund-raiser. However, among the photos is one that triggers flashbacks recalling an incident in which she was attacked and very nearly raped while riding her bike on a mountain trail, and she becomes obsessed with finding out more about the man who took the picture.

Bohjalian presents the delusional world of mental illness so cleverly and convincingly, that the novel's end caught me completely unprepared. I had to go back and re-read whole sections to see how I could possibly have misread all the clues! And of course, upon re-reading after learning the outcome, the layers of the back story were clearly apparent. On the whole, a sobering read that illustrates the power of the mind when dealing with trauma.

The Book of Night Women, by Marlon James. Riverhead Books, 2009.

At the turn of the 18th Century in Jamaica, Lilith is born to a teen slave-child, black as black, but with startling green eyes. Her young mother does not survive the birth, and Lilith is placed with a retired slave woman to be raised. But those green eyes prove she is a member of a select sisterhood with a destiny far beyond the daily labors of a "field nigger." At a time when slave rebellions are happening frequently, Lilith is educated about the ways and facts of servitude on a sugar plantation, and is She is also taught to read, a skill taught in the dark, at night, for fear of being discovered. Ultimately, when she is old enough, she is invited to attend the monthly meetings of the "night women." At a time far removed from today's texting, tweeting and live television coverage, when slaves were not permitted to ride horses nor to leave the plantation unaccompanied, the word is still able to get around ...

The author, who is himself Jamaican, uses strong, graphic language to capture the humor, pathos, grit, and cruelty of the plantation and its people. And because I have family in Jamaica, I know the Jamaican cadence of his characters' voices is completely authentic. After reading this book, I understand a little more about the attitudes of my family, and you will understand why slavery needed to be abolished.

The soloist [electronic resource] : a lost dream, an unlikely friendship, and the redemptive power of music, by Steve Lopez. Blackstone Audio, 2008.

This is Sacramento's "One Book" title for 2009, and the library, in partnership with other local agencies, is planning a series of programs in the next month around it, including an author talk on September 24.

Musical talent runs in my family. My grandfather formed and outfitted the Waianae Plantation band, purchasing the instruments in San Francisco and teaching the members to play them. He was also an in-demand pianist, violinist, and zither player, as reported in the society pages of the local newspapers. His children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are also musical, and became professional and amateur musicians. I learned to read music before I could read words. We also have a disabled musician in our family. I think that's why this story resonated with me.

The soloist, Nathaniel Ayers, is a former student at Juilliard who dropped out of school and society when he became incapacitated by schizophrenia. He fetched up on Skid Row in Los Angeles, where a reporter, author Steve Lopez, hearing the music he was making on a broken-down, 2-stringed violin, saw a story worth telling. Over the next year, he befriended Mr. Ayers and persuaded him to move into a shelter and take up music again. The frustrations of dealing with the homeless mentally ill are clearly expressed, making the small gains Mr. Ayers has achieved even more precious. Overall, the transformations that affect all the characters are emotional and durable, and readers are not exempt!

The Heretic's Daughter, by Kathleen Kent. Little, Brown and Co., 2008.

Ten-year old Sarah Carrier is both an observer and participant in the events leading to the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, and the story reveals itself from her point of view - fuzzy on the politics and implications of the historical period described, but full of details about the daily life and hardships of the families making new lives in the New World. And as the tension mounts towards the end of the novel and Sarah's mother is hanged as a witch, you have to piece things together carefully to figure out who the real "heretic" is.

Whitethorn Woods, by Maeve Binchy. A.A. Knopf, 2007.

Seemingly unrelated vignettes of men, women and children, all with ties to St. Ann's Well in the village of Rossmore in Ireland, are woven together in this novel. From whores to spinsters, from brilliant to "soft", from honorable to base - each is affected by the myths surrounding the well and the plan to obliterate it with the imminent building of a new road right through Whitethorn Woods. Unlikely pairings prove that St. Ann may still be working her miracles, especially when the final plot twist is revealed in the last paragraphs.

My Stroke of Insight, by Jill Bolte Taylor. Viking, 2008, c2006

My sister-in-law read this book after my mom had a series of mini-strokes, and recommended strongly that I should read it, too. It's been hard to find, and also popular! There are still holds on it, two years later.

The author is a neuroanatomist specializing in brain anatomy and function. She suffered a rare form of stroke at the age of 37 and chronicles the progress of her disability and complete recovery over the next eight years. In a very readable and accessible style, she divides her story into three parts: required knowledge to understand the stroke, the story of her stroke and immediate post-stroke care, and insights about her experience and recommendations for readers.

The part that affected me most was her description of the differences between the right-brain and left-brain, and of how she uses her new-found knowledge of how they work separately and together to control her physical and emotional responses to life. It's so similar to what I was taught in school about the eternity of one's soul and the effects of prayer.

A single shard [electronic resource], by Linda Sue Park. Listening Library, 2007.

I downloaded this Newbery Medal winner a long time ago, and only just now listened to it when I began walking again.

Set in the medieval Korean village of Ch'ulp'o, where potters make the celebrated celadon ware, Tree Ear, an orphan lives under a bridge with Crane Man, who is homeless because an injured leg prevents him from working. He scavenges for food in junk-heaps to feed them both, and Crane Man provides wisdom and stories. One day, while rummaging through the potter Min's junk heap, Tree Ear happens to see Min throwing a vase on a wheel and becomes fascinated with the potter's craft. He steals into Min's house and accidentally breaks a greenware box. Min exacts nine days work from him in payment, and thus begins Tree Ear's - and the reader's - education in the production of celadon pottery and the society that supported it. Here is an image of the prunus vase mentioned in the last paragraphs of the book.

Although this is a children's book, the audio version, at least, is also appealing to adults. It would be a good discussion book because of the descriptions of the pottery processes and of Korean medieval society.

Chasing Shakespeares, by Sarah Smith. Atria Books, 2003.

This is another title I rescued from the re-shelve trucks. This time, it was the author's name that caught my eye, because I actually know a Sarah Smith, though she is not the author of this book. I showed it to "my" Sarah Smith, and she admitted to reading other works by the author, finding them pretty good.

A relatively minor American university receives a Shakespeare collection as a bequest. It seems most of the items in it are forgeries, except one letter ... and the grad student cataloging the collection takes it to London to show it to an expert. What starts as a research project turns into something far different, as research and relationships begin taking on a life of their own.

The interesting part, for me, was the travelogue and the biographies of the players and places in Shakespeare's life. A major theme was the conflicting evidence that Shakespeare was - or was not - the author of the works published under his name, and if not, who the real author might be. I usually avoid history, but I was drawn into the discussions and proofs, and feel like I got a literature lesson along with the entertaining read.

The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. HarperSanFrancisco, c1995.

The subtitle, "A fable about following your dream," tells only some of it. The boy, a shepherd in Spain, has a recurring dream about finding a treasure near the Pyramids in Egypt. He encounters an old man claiming to be a king, who encourages him to follow his dream and gives him two divining stones: Urim and Thummim. The boy sells his flock and embarks on a journey to find the Pyramids of Egypt. Along the way, he meets people like thieves, a crystal merchant, a camel driver, and others who teach him to listen to his heart and to come to know the Soul of the World.

An alchemist, we know, is someone who is searching for - or who has found - the essence of creation. Commonly, he is thought to be able to transform lead (baseness) into gold (something of rare value.) Coelho, in this fable, expands the idea of alchemy far beyond magick or religion and applies it to your life, opening up an avenue for identifying your individual destiny and actually achieving your highest dream.

The Holy, by Daniel Quinn. Context Books, c2002.

I picked this book off a truck of returned-books because the single-word title intrigued me. Holy what? The jacket blurb amplified the intrigue and I immediately got sucked into the novel.

Within the setting of a private investigation, the author explores the question of what it is that made Baal and Ashtaroth and Moloch and all the rest of the ancient gods so much more attractive to the Israelites than the God who delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Aaron asks, "What happened to them afterward? In scriptures, they are called "false gods", not figments. Did they die, or are they still somewhere in the world?" Howard is incredulous, but agrees to accept a retainer and work for a month. If he feels the question is not answerable, he will return the money.

Thus begins a chain of events that tests the credulity of readers. It encompasses altered reality, impossible coincidences, death, and the breakup of a family after the husband incomprehensibly goes walkabout. Howard no longer seems to be in control of the investigation, nor of the people he meets during its course. This could have been a great "Twilight Zone" episode!

Assassination Vacation, by Sarah Vowell. Simon & Schuster, 2005

This irreverent and sassy catalog of facts and stories about presidential asassinations will illustrate more than you ever thought you wanted to know about the presidents, their assassins, the places they lived, and the people they knew. The author's research has turned up some truly surprising and eerie connections between seemingly unrelated people and events. And it's only a little gruesome!