StoryMomma: 2020

Sunday, February 2, 2020

I had the honor and pleasure of narrating Yoko Nakatani's "Adventures of John Manjiro" at the New Bedford Whaling Museum in October 2019. I performed with pianist Yukiko Sekino, and together told the amazing true story of a Japanese teenager who was shipwrecked, rescued by a whaling ship, and brought to New England. The performance was a ton of fun, and the music is exciting; what a great collaboration!

Adventures of John Manjiro

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The Children of the Morning Light: Wampanoag Tales as told by Manitonquat

The Children of the Morning Light : Wampanoag Tales as Told By Manitonquat My rating: 5 of 5 stars A beautifully written book, comprised of a series of Wampanoag myths and legends retold in a lovely and comprehensible sequence. The tales are retold in clear, engaging prose, somewhat reminiscent of an oral telling style, with conversational asides that do not distract but rather amplify the warm underlying message of unity, inclusion and hope. Inspiring, heartening and very enjoyable to read. View all my reviews >>

"Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters" by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Ben H. Winters

My rating: 4 of 5 stars A very fun read, almost as good as "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." Yet somehow the ending left me with the feeling that something was lacking. Apocalyptic visions of leviathan-induced destruction are all very well, but really, how does this connect to, or inform, the fundamental problem of how to bag a man? Plus, I found the whole sea witch angle rather weak, and not well thought out. Too much of a rabbit out of the hat trick to feel like an authentic part of the narrative, whereas the recurring motif of flesh-hungry octopi I found to be both dramatically effective and seamlessly integrated into the story line. Sub-Marine Station Beta was also a fun concept, that worked quite well, menaced from within and without by both questionable morality and man-hungry aquatic life. My favorite part of the book, oddly enough, was probably the Reader's Discussion Guide at the end, in particular, question #6, which follows: It would be too easy to attribute Marianne's disinterest in Colonel Brandon merely to the fact that she is smitten with Willoughby. Does she overlook the steadfast and wise Brandon as a suitor primarily because of his age? Because he has been "attached" before? Or because of the unspeakable, writhing carnival mask of his lower face? I recommend reading this book over sushi lunch! View all my reviews >>

"Tar Baby" by Toni Morrison

Tar Baby by Toni Morrison

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I should preface this review by apologizing for the fact that this is the only one of Toni Morrison's novels that I have read, so I can claim no expertise in judging the overall quality or consistency of her body of work, only present my honest opinion of this one book. I think this is an extraordinary and moving work of fiction. Yet writing the word "fiction", I question whether or not this label is fair or accurate. Sure, Jadine, Ondine, Margaret, Son et al are not "real", but they are honestly drawn, realistically portrayed, and so they are, in a sense, true. At the very least, they are fully human, and not simply a set of archetypes parading around for our prurient amusement. Ondine and Gideon and Valerian and the rest made me feel uncomfortable at times, the rawness of their humanity laid bare before me, yet there was nothing gratuitous or forced about their vulnerability. Their exposure to my curious eye felt oddly natural, and required me to acknowledge the truth of their words/thoughts/feelings.

I concede that the ending is hard, even frustrating, as another reviewer pointed out. But does an artist such as Morrison owe us anything other than Truth and Art? I respectfully submit that the unspoken contract that implicitly exists between Author and Reader does not guarantee a neat and tidy ending. Why should we close the book expecting to feel "satisfied", as if we had just eaten a cozy meal? If you want to feel a neat sense of closure and not take one step out of your comfort zone, read Danielle Steele; if you want something more from your reading experience, take a risk and read Toni Morrison. I'm glad I did.

View all my reviews.

The Journal of Hélène Berr

This book hurt to read. In part because Berr's writing - even in translation (tho' not entirely, since apparently much of the journal was written in English, in which she was fluent) - is beautiful and lucid. But even more because of the sickening and inescapable knowledge which haunts the reader throughout the duration of this book, of what was to come, and what would ultimately befall her. The book itself is not long, but the sense of awful waiting and knowing seemed to slow the process of reading down so that, at times, it almost felt as tho' I was experiencing Berr's life in real time. I think this effect was more pronounced because I tended to read it in small sections. I needed time to digest/process much of what she recounted, I simply couldn't "devour" this book like a novel. I was grateful for some of the explanatory material that accompanied Berr's writing - footnotes, forward and afterword - which elucidated a lot of potentially obscure details which otherwise would have escaped me entirely. Needless to say, this is an important book, a rare first-hand account of what happened under Nazi rule, written by a young woman who, surrounded by injustice and inhumanity, wrote "I still believe that good is superior to evil."

Alice in Wonderland, by L. Carroll

Alice in Wonderland and Though the Looking-Glass (Classics)

We recently finished reading these two strange and absorbing tales to our 8-year-old. They are both well written, tho the first more so than the second. Carroll deftly portrays the mindset of a 7-year-old girl as she navigates and self-narrates a bewildering array of increasingly preposterous and bizarre situations and characters. Alice plays word-games with characters like the Mock Turtle and a hookah-smoking caterpillar, as well as games of a more psychedelic, symbolic and psycho-social nature. Surprisingly, all of this is not so far above the heads of young children as one might think, and I could tell that my child found Wonderland oddly comprehensible; perhaps because it is from a child's perspective that this world of absurdities is being viewed (much the way a child views - and accepts - the world of adults as absurd and phantasmagorical). I found the book clever and a refreshing break from the slew of disposable "family" films being churned out these days, in which movie-makers attempt unsuccessfully to appeal simultaneously to children (with bright colors and animation and slapstick humor) and their parents (with sly innuendo and unsubtle jabs at the contemporary establishment). Against all rational expectation, a century ago Lewis Carroll succeeded in doing on paper what Pixar and Disney - with limitless budgets and minions - fail to achieve on film.

Favorite Stories I tell (believe me, this is only the tip of the iceberg)

Anansi and his 6 Talented Children (Ashanti: Ghana) - PreK + up
Appointment in Samarra (Iraq, Somerset Maugham) - 3rd + up
Argument Sticks (Iroquois) - 2nd + up
Bastianello + the Three Fools (Italian) - K + up
Freydis in Vinland (Norse) - 1st grade + up
Gawain, the Dwarf (Arthurian) PreK + up
Ghost Soup (India) - PreK + up
Grandmother Spider Brings the Light (Kiowa/Cherokee) - Pre-K + up
Gunnar the Troll (Norse) - K + up
Highland Cows in Skye (personal) - K + up
Hoichi Mimi-Nashi (Japanese) - 1st grade + up
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anansi
The Bamboo-Cutter’s Tale/Kaguya-hime/Moon Princess (Japan) K + up
The Butterfly Friends - Nursery-PreK
The Butterfly Robe (Chinese) - PreK-2nd grade
The Cake Tree (Sri Lanka) - K + up
The Channukah Table (Jewish: Chelm) - K + up
The Chanukah Tree (Jewish: Chelm) - K + up
The Chenoo (Passamaquoddy/eastern Maine) - K + up
The Dagda + the 2nd Battle of Moytura (Irish) - adult only
The Dragon’s Pearl (Chinese) - K-2nd grade
The Dubner Magid + Ivan (Ukrainian Jewish) - 1st grade + up
The Fir Darrig and the Black Pudding (Irish) - K + up
The Forest Spirit (Arawak) - K + up
The Fraid (Jamaica) - K + up
The Frog Princess (Russia) - K + up
The Ghost in the Haunted Hotel Room (?) - K-3rd grade
The Gigantic Turnip (Russia) - PreK + up
The Guitar Player (USA) - K-3rd grade

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