MUST READ: Wildflower Hill by Kimberley Freeman

In a Nutshell:
This book revolves around 2 main characters; Beattie and Emma. Beattie is Emma's deceased grandmother, a wealthy Australian businesswoman and fashion mogul who doted on Emma. Emma is a London prima ballerina who has an accident and ruins her knee. Her leg is so damaged she cannot dance anymore. She decides to fly home to recover and figure out what she should do with the rest of her life. It is there that her mother tells her that there was a part in Beattie's will, only to be read when Emma retired from dancing. The will bequeaths Beattie's original farm and land in Tasmania to Emma to do with what she wants, but only after she has spent 6 months on the property. Emma goes down there, but while Emma is cleaning out the old farmhouse to sell, she discovers letters, photos and a mystery. It seems that Beattie had a whole life before even Emma's mother was born. You are privy to some of that story as the reader, because as you get acquainted with Emma, the story goes back in time a lot to Beattie. Beattie's life story is a tumultuous beginning of some bad choices during the depression in Glasgow. She becomes pregnant and runs a way with her lover to Tasmania. Through domestic trials and drama, she ends up on a large sheep farm called Wildflower Hill as a maid. It is there she makes one brave move to change her fortune-and future-forever.

My Take:
I was still going through Kate Morton withdrawal when I saw this at Target. It had a Kate Morton review on the front, and it so happens, the two authors are friends. It seems that Kimberly Freeman has been a sort of mentor to Kate. Kimberly Freeman has been writing for a long time,  just under different names. At any rate, this book was like a sweet cup of hot chocolate. The two main characters suck you in, especially Beattie. Beattie was so well developed, her story so dramatic, strong and tragic. I cried through the whole last 30 pages. I finished this book in one week. I drank it all up at once. Emma's story was a little more pedestrian, a little more "Bridget Jone's Diary"-ish, kind of expected...from the love story  angle to her involvement with a special needs dance group she is asked to help. In contrast, Beattie's life takes on all unexpected twist and turns. The two parallel yet similar lives add some nice tension in the story and play off one another brilliantly. After all, they are inextricably tied by blood and history. The story is a wonderful homage to love and motherhood. It tells a bittersweet story of what we as mothers sacrifice in love for our children. It's also about finding love in unexpected places, and to be ready and open to it when it shows up. It is also about strength and courage in the face of complete hatred, bigotry and lack of compassion. I loved it. I now am going through Kimberley Freeman withdrawal!

MAYBE READ: House at Riverton by Kate Morton

In A Nutshell: 

This was Kate Morton's first novel, and it seemed inspired in many ways by the classic masterpiece theatre series, "Upstairs, Downstairs." a tangled, sweeping drama where the army of servants and a web of affluent British aristocracy lead parallel yet intermingled lives. The story spans from Victorian England, through WWI, to the roaring 20's. However, it is told to you by an aging grandmother living in the 20th century, who needs to unburden her secrets and guilt to her son. Her secrets come from the time she was a very young servant in the Riverton estate. It was there that she meets and works for the Hartford children; Hannah, Emmeline and David. She also meets Robert Hunter, a friend of David's, who later in life becomes a famous poet and kills himself on the estate during a party. The only witnesses of the apparent suicide are Emmeline and Hannah, and they never spoke to each other after the tragedy. As Grace, the main character who is now 90 years old and in a nursing home,  works with a movie director who is recreating the story of the "famous tragedy" at the House at Riverton her memories and guilt come back full force. Things that she long wanted to keep secret now need to be told, and she tells them..and you are along for the journey.

My Take: 
As I said, this was Kate Morton's first novel. It was interesting for me to kind of go backwards with her writing. I read The Forgotten Garden first, than The Distant Hours. You can really see the growth in writing and prose from her later books to this first one. That being said, it is not a bad read. It just kind of felt a little cliche for me. The typical Upstairs-Downstairs/Gosford Park characters and intrigue is there. You have an aging grandmother that goes back to the estate to relive her memories and validate history for a movie director working on a film about the tragedy (sounds a little like Titanic?). There was even a little guilt from a wrong done and unresolved WWI love story in there like Atonement. However, all in all, it was not that it was unenjoyable at all. I like the genre, so it worked for me. I think knowing the ending with Robert Hunter's death at the very beginning took away from the dramatic reveal of the guilty secret at the end. If you are in withdrawal from some Kate Morton, it does the trick. If you want to get started on some Kate Morton, I recommend The Distant Hours. That, I think, is her best book to date.

Mayor Emanuel, Keep your Hands off my Library. Thank You.

Irony is when you are asked to become a brand ambassador for a worldwide literacy organization, and asked to plan an event for worldwide reading day...

and you find that literacy is soon to become a luxury in your own back yard!

A couple months ago I was asked by litworld.org to become Chicago's World Read Aloud Day brand ambassador. I was floored, honored and excited. I was tasked to plan a fundraising and awareness event, big or small, for March 7th.


One of my ideas involved a library, so I went to visit my regional public library, Sulzer. They have a great storytime room and my daughter and I just love milling around and filling our tote bags with treasured books. After talking to one of the librarians, I was sad and frustrated.

She told me that the Mayor, due to budget short falls, has cut staff and hours. She said they are now closed on Mondays and they have laid off about 20 people over the past two months. She said that basically, the way the hours are being handled, they have to work 6 days but are really only getting paid 5. Meanwhile, they don't even have enough bodies to keep up with getting books back on the shelf (I noticed carts and carts of books in aisles, waiting to get put back.), let alone doing any kind of community outreach which they always felt was important,  including children's story hour!

In the first nine months of this year, the Chicago Public Library system offered 15,228 children's programs, serving 418,055 children of all ages, according to Dempsey. Librarians also made 740 visits to area schools to talk to teachers and students about what they can offer. But with fewer librarians, those programs will likely shrink. Reducing morning hours also closes the library at a time of day popular with young children, according to Lynn Elam, president of the Illinois Library Association. Elam said helping children get a jump-start on school through reading is a big part of what libraries do. (Chicago Tribune, 10-25-2011)

"Emanuel's budget also includes funding cuts that would slash full-time public library staff by 32 percent--and that comes on top of a 10 percent staff cut in 2010. The mayor's proposal would also cut eight hours a week from the branches' hours of operation. Such cuts would have far-reaching effects: Chicago Public Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey pointed out, for example, that library branches had over 8.3 million visitors--and that 60 percent of people using library computers were using them to search for jobs." (Chicago Tribune, 10-25-2011)

Ok. I get it. The economy stinks. All cities have had to make cuts to balance budgets that never can seem to be balanced. But what I take issue with is Mayor Emmanuel giving breaks where they arguably are not needed (in fact, taxes actually fund the city. We're going to have a $635.7 million deficit this year?) and social programs that citizens count on, such as the local library, is getting screwed.

"For example, according to NBC Chicago blog "Ward Room," "When the General Assembly's fall veto session begins...Mayor Rahm Emanuel's legislative priority will be securing a tax cut for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)." Emanuel is seeking $120 million in tax breaks for the CME and the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Emanuel is also pressing for an ordinance that would cut taxes for 2,700 Chicago-based companies at a cost to the city of $23 million. Companies with more than 50 workers are taxed $4 per worker per month, and Emanuel is aiming to abolish the tax completely by 2014". (socialistworker.org, 2011-11-10)

So here I am, trying to plan an event to help children globally with literacy and reading. And it seems that even though children in Africa need books and resources, there will soon be many children in my own city that I love, in the United States of America, that are going to need this event as much as any child across the globe.

I will let you know what event gets solidified, but sadly, it won't be at a Chicago Public Library.

If you wish to write the mayor's office, here is the form:
http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/eforms/org/cityofchicago/eforms/controller/contactUsForm/preFeedbackForm.do



Sources:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/8156275-418/emanuel-to-cut-chicago-libraries-hours.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2012/0112/Rahm-Emanuel-and-public-sector-union-play-hardball-over-Chicago-library-hours
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-10-25/news/ct-met-library-cuts-focus-20111025_1_chicago-public-library-library-employees-library-services

VIDEO: The magic of a REAL book.

Digital readers can do a lot, but they can't do this:

Here's to the hope that real books will still be around well after I am dead and gone!