The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly

This novel takes place entirely within the confines of a Burmese Prison.  The main character, Teza, is a political prisoner.  He has been sentenced to 20 years of solitary confinement, but finds ways to free his mind and spirit through small and powerful means.  The writing is very well done and one gets such a good sense of the political situation in Burma.  The author does a wonderful job of pointing out beauty in what would seem to be a beauty-free environment.  It is a tribute to the human soul and all that is good about people.  The back cover says, "The Lizard Cage is an urgent, necessary addition to the canon of fiction about political oppression . . . the novel tells the story of the friendship between a Burmese political prisoner and a young orphan boy.  Set entirely in a prison called the Lizard Cage, it is a gripping exploration of how human connection can liberate one's spirit despite unimaginably, cruel circumstances, as seen through the eyes of an idealistic revolutionary who inspires in a child the bravery to escape a life of confinement."  It is a powerful story, and a book I think everyone should read.

(For those that may care, the prisoners speak like prisoners and behave like prisoners, so don't expect it to be a Pollyannaesque story). 

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Ok, so Oprah just named this her newest book club book, so now I'm feeling all Jonny-come-lately, and I did start this post before her announcement, I just never got around to finishing it.....but whatever. Ok, actually, it deserves the publicity.

It's been a long time since I read a book that caused me to totally neglect my kids and everything else that I was supposed to do around the house in order to read just a few more chapters. So I loved it for that.

The central character is Edgar Sawtelle, a young teenager growing up in mid-century Wisconsin on the farm where his father and mother are raising a fictional breed of dogs, the Sawtelles. Edgar is also born mute and communicates with his parents and also with the dogs through sign. The story itself derives a lot of its elements and characters out of Hamlet, but Edgar himself would choose to identify more with the characters and elements of Kipling's The Jungle Book. Certainly one of the most interesting aspects of the story is the relationship that Edgar has with the dogs, and specifically one dog that he's been especially close to since birth. But this is way more than a boy-and-his-dog story (because I don't even like dogs).

The pace of the story telling is gentle and I felt that it was through this pace that the reader really comes to understand Edgar and his world of silence.

It was one of the most enjoyable and satisfying reads I'd had in a long time.

ps. Anna, it's nice and long (like 555 pages), so I know you'll like it.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

You've probably already heard about this book, even if you haven't read it. It's a kind of memoir/life-affirming lessons/inspirational talk by 47 yr old computer science professor, Randy Pausch, that grew out of the actual "Last Lecture" that he gave upon his retirement from Carnegie Mellon University after learning of his terminal cancer.

The "Last Lecture" is a series that CMU does with each retiring professor, but Randy Pausch turned it into a way to give his very young children a sense of who he was and how to live their lives after his death. The lecture itself became a YouTube phenomenon and because of that, he expanded the lecture into a book. I watched the lecture before I read the book and I really enjoyed it. I came to really like and appreciate him as a person (and feel inspired by him) from even this tiny glimpse into his life.

The book does follow the outline and spirit of the lecture, but it adds a lot of background info about his childhood upbringing with his parents, his relationship with his wife and their dealing with his cancer, and it expands upon many of his lecture's premises.

It was moving but not sentimental. And, frankly, I was relieved that it wasn't heavy-laden with how terminal cancer can bring a person down. Actually, it was just the opposite. Mostly, it was this really upbeat, successful, hard-working and funny guy telling about the things that he'd done in his own life, what he'd learned from doing them, and what he was grateful for that other people taught him along the way.

It's a great read.

A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

I am a huge fan of Nick Hornby.  I loved High Fidelity, and About A Boy.  Hornby writes about below average humans and makes you like unlikeable people.  And sometimes he even gives his characters some redemption.  This book is no different.  It is told from the point of view of four different Londoners.  All  meet up on a rooftop, New Years Eve, where they were all planning to take their lives.  There is an older woman who has been taking care of her son who has been in a vegetative state for twenty odd years, a punk totally messed up teenage girl, a washed up tabloid-fodder talk show host, and a musician who has never been able to get his career going.  Anyway, they decide to help each other want to live instead of killing themselves.  Hornby doesn't go for feel good solutions and keeps things starkly realistic.  It is darkly humorous, and surprisingly touching, just as all his books are. (Hornby also uses the F-word a lot, so if that bugs, don't read this book or any of his others).