One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Elton Kesey

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Many of us have books we feel we should read, for a variety of reasons: someone we know recommends it, we've read good reviews of it, or it's considered a classic. If we're fortunate, each book we pick from these groups is one that speaks to us in a positive way. If not, it leaves us wondering, confused.

For me, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Elton (1935-2001) Kesey almost falls into the latter group.

I'd picked up a copy of it several years ago, and never got much beyond the first page or so. However, I finally decided to read it in its entirety. I'd seen the movie featuring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher years ago, as well as seeing it as a stage play (again, years ago), so I knew the book's premise.

The story is told by Chief Bromden, a seemily mute patient in a mental hospital. He classifies the patients into several groups (the Acutes, the Chronics, and the veggies), and tells what happens when Randle Patrick McMurphy, a boisterous, rebellious patient, arrives in the hospital. McMurphy pushes hard against the oppressive Nurse Ratchet, causing trouble, and, eventually, attacking Ratchet. It is shortly thereafter that McMurphy receives a lobotomy. Chief Bromden then smothers him as an act of mercy before escaping from the hospital.

The language in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is rough, which goes along with the story itself. However, the reader can't help but root for McMurphy, then feel sad about what happens to him.

If you're looking for a possitive book with beautiful language, Ken Elton (1935-2001) Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is not it. But if you read it a little bit at a time, you might find bits and pieces that appeal to you.

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Mercy Street, by Jennifer Haigh

Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Have you ever read a book that you connected with to the point that, upon finishing the last page, has you wanting to start back on page one immediately?

Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh is one of those books in my recently-read stack that I wanted to restart almost immediately. (More on that in a minute.)

Claudia Birch works in a women's center on Boston's Mercy Street (hence the title). Every morning, despite the cold winter weather, she must work her way through the crowd of protesters to get to the building, where she and her coworkers man the phone lines, dispensing advice to women needing birth control and/or abortions. Divorced, childless, and estranged from her mother, Claudia finds her job rewarding, but stressful, occasionally visiting her local pot dealer to help her make it through the work week.

The book also dives into the lives of Tim (the pot dealer), Anthony (disabled from a work accident, who finds his daily trips to church, smoking weed, and protesting in front of Mercy Street all as ways of finding meaning in his life), and Victor, a scary, misogynistic man who posts signs around the country denouncing abortion, and runs an internet site showing women who he perceives are getting abortions.

How all these lives, as well as the other women on Mercy Street - workers and those in need - intertwine and feed off of each other binds the story together in a thoroughly engrossing way.

Whatever the reader's thoughts on abortion might be, Mercy Street still makes for interesting reading. The very end of the book - what happens to all of the main characters - wraps the book up nicely.

This is definitely a "must read."

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The Women of Brewster Place, by Gloria Naylor

The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While many, if not most, novels are written as one long story, other novels can be separated into short stories that are woven together to make up one novel. The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor is one such novel.

In this novel, Brewster Place is a tenement building on a now walled-off road, where those who can't afford better land. Each chapter introduces us to another woman and describes what led to her landing on Brewster Place, weaving her life together with the other women's lives.

The writing in this book is superb, the characters believable, keeping the reader engaged and cheering for the women.

I originally read The Women of Brewster Place in 1983, shortly after its pubication, and wondered if it would hold up. It does, making me wonder why I waited so long to reread it.

If one is looking for a book that stands up well and draws one in, Gloria Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place is worth the read.

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Jane Austen in Boca, by Paula Marantz Cohen

Jane Austen in Boca by Paula Marantz Cohen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Over the past couple of decades, it seems that numerous books come out in groups: Jane Austen books (those with Jane Austen in the title and/or as an updated version of an Austen book), animal books (following the success of Marley & Me, The Art of Running In the Rain, and Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, as well as other groups.

One of the Jane Austen-based books that I've just reread is Jane Austen in Boca by Paula Marantz Cohen.

I originally read it maybe 20+ years ago when my dad sent a box of large-print books that he figured I'd like. (We have similar tastes; I'll be rereading the other books that he sent in the near future.) Jane Austen in Boca was one of the books.

In this twist on Pride and Prejudice, Carol Newman discovers that Norman Grafstein's wife has died. Carol's husband was a childhood friend of Norman's son, and lives in Boca Raton, where her husband's widowed mother, May, lives. Carol immediately decides she has to set May up with Norma.

The book takes off from there, and involves May's friends, Flo and Lila, as well as other men.

If you love Jane Austen's books, and are looking for a modern light-hearted twist, Paula Marantz Cohen's Jane Austen in Boca just might be the book you're looking for.

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Caught, by Jane Schwartz

Caught by Jane Schwartz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There are times when I just want to read (or reread) a book that's interesting and a quick read. Caught by Jane Schwartz is one book that does it for me.

On the surface, Caught deals with the world of pigeon chasers in Brooklyn during the 1950s. Louie is a young girl who is introduced to pigeons on roof-tops through her brother and brother's friend. When the group is found stealing birds from a man who stole from them, Louie is the only one officially caught, then dragged to the local pigeon store. After this trip, Louie meets up with Casey, who owns a large flock in the neighborhood. Casey, who is in his late-30s, needs a chaser, and hires Louie on.

The surface story deals strictly with the birds, Louie and Casey's relationship on the roof, and Louie's family's concern about Louie's time on the roof. As with any decent story, though, there are various layers to sift through.

At the end, though, Louie's mom and step-father decide to move, taking Louie and her brother with them. While Casey promises to come visit, the reader knows that this will never happen, that their relationship is over, and that Louie's chasing days are over.

While the ending may be inevitable, the events leading up to the last page will stick with the reader, making this a book to read, set aside, and read again at a later time.

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The Color Chartreuse, Etc, by Jane Hallock Combs

The Color Chartreuse, Etc by Jane Hallock Combs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Who doesn't love reading about quirky family members? But then, most of us are related to quirky family members; that, or we are the quirky one, right?

The Color Chartreuse, Etc, by Jane Hallock Combs, is full of quirky family members. Many of the essays here were read on NPR station WKMS in Murray, Kentucky, as well as appearing in several newspapers.

Disclaimer time: I do appear several times in The Color Chartreuse, Etc, as Jane Hallock Combs was my mom. So, maybe I'm a little partial to many, if not most of the essays. I have a feeling, though, that even without that family link, I would laugh at many of these essays.

Why? you ask. Fair question.

Example: Cousins Anna Mae and Ezra, who, during WWII, held off a Nazi invasion with a baseball bat - when they weren't literally tearing their house apart; Greg, who didn't want the tooth fairy tip-toeing into his room to leave money for the tooth under his pillow, and sat in his bedroom doorway with a baseball bat to keep the tooth fairy out; Greg, who after breaking his leg, had a double-legged cast on, and, unable to help Mom at the laundromat, leaned out the Volkswagon's sun-roof, giving a passionate speech to passers-by about being "a poor little boy with a broken leg who just wanted to hep with the laundry!"; and more. There's the time the school bus went to take Mom to school, after her brother told her that the road being taken was the road to heaven...

If you want a good laugh, this is the place. The Color Chartreuse, Etc, by Jane Hallock Combs, has enough laughs to help you through the day.

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The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Most of us have books that we've been meaning to read for a while, and never quite get around to. For me, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis was one of those books.

A family member had mentioned the book - actually, the whole set of Narnia books - for years, to the point that it became a running joke for us. But finally, I decided to give it a go.

The book takes place in an almost magical wardrobe during World War II, when four siblings are sent to stay elsewhere. As the children explore the house, the youngest child, Lucy, discovers a wardrobe that, when one goes deep enough, turns into another reality. When she comes back out, her siblings figure she has imagined it. They soon realize the truth.

Once inside Narnia, the siblings meet many characters and are drawn into a battle of right-vs.-wrong, and are subtly changed in the process.

C.S. Lewis's classic book is a quick read, and definitely worth reading. After finishing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I will be going on to finish the rest of the series, as well as recommending it to others.

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