IDENTICAL STRANGERS

The book is "Identical Strangers; A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited" and the authors are Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein.
The book is non fiction with alternating entries by the two authors, identical twins who were adopted and raised by diffferent families. Elyse is in her mid-thirties and living in Paris when she begins to search for information about her birth mother. She never finds the mother but she does discover her identical twin. The two women meet and discover that they have much in common-- so much so that their chronicle is an important contribution to the dialogue about whether we are shaped more by nature or nurture.
Should twins be separated? How different would their lives have been if they had been raised together? These are the recurring questions that haunt these two women as they struggle to forge a new bond. Fortunately they are both articulate writers and have produced a fascinating, self written case study.

Unfamiliar Fishes

The book is Unfamiliar Fishes and the author is Sarah Vowell. The author writes about history -- and achieves the unlikely result of making it funny. This story begins with the arrival of US missionaries in Hawaii, followed by the development of sugar plantations, and finally the deposition of the last native ruler, Queen Liliuokalani. Vowell takes an ironic look at the benefits brought by the haoles (whites) -- such as literacy, balanced against the native Hawaiins loss of culture and autonomy. She is unsparing as she recounts the foibles of both sides in the many conflicts involved. Somebody once commented that an author is well on the way to fame when his/her name appears on the book cover in larger print than the title. If this is true, then Sarah Vowell is on her way.

Pagoda Dreamer

The book is Pagoda Dreamer and the author is Judith March Davis. Davis has written a biography of her mother Dorothy Rowe, based on her own recollections but largely aided by the letters that Dorothy wrote to her sister throughout her lifetime. The sister, known as Lurry, saved these lettters and presented them to Davis after her mother had died. The story begins in China, then moves to the states and then to Michigan, where a summer home in Pentwater plays a large part of the story. The book is a chronicle of a remarkable life; it also made this reader nostalgic for a time when people sat down and hand wrote long letters, sharing their feelings and perhaps administering a form of self therapy.
The story reminds me that I too have a box of letters. They were written by my younger self to my mother, when I was off adventuring in the world. I discovered them after my mother died, but for some reason I have never taken the time to read them. I wonder why??

South of Superior

The book is SOUTH OF SUPERIOR and the author is Ellen Airgood. Airgood lives in Grand Marais, Michigan, and has used her home as a template for McAllister, the isolated Upper Peninsula town that is the setting of her novel. Madeline Stone, the protagonist,comes to live in McAllister in response to a request from a woman she hardly knows. But that woman is the only link Madeline has to her birth family, and she can't resist the longing to know more about her roots. As Madeline navigates the rigors of her new environment, she meets characters who will eventually change her life. Though I enjoyed the tale, I never felt immersed in it; I never completely identified with Madeline.

WINE AND WAR

The book is WINE AND WAR, and the authors are Don and Petie Kladstrup. Based on extensive research and numerous personal interviews, the authors have fashioned a highly readable story about the French wine industry during the German occupation of World War II. They use personal narratives throughout the book, weaving them with historical events and little known facts. I was sorry when the book ended. So then I read the epilogue. And then the glossary. And finally the footnotes. Someday I'll read the whole thing again.

Middlesex

The book is MIDDLESEX and the author is Jeffrey Eugenides.
In this age of transgender surgeries -- which have been publicized in books, films and even on televisions's Dancing with the Stars (thanks to Chaz Bono)--- I thought I was ready for anything. But I was totally knocked out by Eugenides' book, which is narrated by a hermaphrodite. I had seen pictures in historic and medical textbooks, but it never occured to me to wonder about such a person's interior, emotional life. Eugenides takes on this neglected subject and runs with it. First of all, he thoroughly educates the reader on the condition without ever becoming dry or pedantic. But more important, he takes us inside the mind of a young woman who hits puberty in a maelstrom of confusion as she realizes that she is different but doesn't understand how or why.
As I read, I became so involved with this young person that the act of violence committed on her/him in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park was heart- breaking. After 529 dense pages, the author fashions something more than we could hope for -- a happy ending. In my humble opinion, Eugenides is a genius.

The Yellow Brick Road

The book is FINDING OZ and the author is Evan Schwartz.
It would be hard to find anyone in this country who has not seen the movie "The Wizard of Oz" where Judy Garland sing "Over the Rainbow" and gets transported to the colorful land of Oz.
The movie came from a play and the play came from a book written by L Frank Baum in the very early 1900's. I knew all of this since I grew up reading the "oz books" and have a complete collection. But Schwart'z book told me some things I didn't know about Mr.Baum.
For one thing, his mother-in-law, Matilda Gage, was an ardent and active feminist, campaigning for the vote for women. This might explain why the protagonist is a spunky, resourceful girl rather than a boy. Secondly, Baum was a emember of the Theosophical Society -- a group which brought tenets of Eastern religion and philosophy to the U.S. One of their studies involved the four paths to enlightenment -- through cultivation of the mind (intellect) development of the emotions (love) or through withstanding tests of courage. There you have it -- the scarecrow, the tinman and the lion. The fourth way is serenity -- finding home. This children's story became an American myth because it embodies a very real and helpful road map for becoming an adult.