Flowers and bee

Flowers and bee

Saturday, December 29, 2007

It Is Gruesome, Morbid and Macabre - But a Real Good Read

Do you have the right stuff to read about something gruesome? Have you read true crime and murder mysteries? Have friends claimed you are a bit morbid in your tastes? Then I have the book for you - Necropolis: London and It's Dead by Catharine Arnold.

There is one certainty for most of us - death. And Arnold takes us on a tour of the death rituals and burial grounds of one of the world's most populous cities - London. She takes us from the pagans to modern day, with many side trips along the way.

Some interesting facts:

1) The Romans feared their dead and buried their deceased outside of the town limits. They are the first ones to wear black for mourning "as black garments were thought to confer invisibility upon the bereaved, protecting them from vengeful spirits."

2) "The custom of burying within the church derived from the concept of martyrdom. Christians revered those who had died for their faith, turning their tombs into shrines. The faithful clamoured to be buried alongside the martyrs, as close as possible to the venerable remains..."

3) During the Restoration when there was plague - they ran out of burial grounds, so open pits had to be made - a couple near the Houses of Parliament.

4) During Victorian times, the funeral procession and extravaganza was at its peak. There were even whole warehouses "devoted to the sale of mourning costumes and all the paraphernalia necessary for the funeral."

So do you think you will have the stomach for this? Try it. You might get weird looks from people on the train, but it is an excellent read. Not for the faint of heart.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

One Drop

Anatole Broyard - a New York Times book critic- was dying of cancer. He told his children his secret. He was black. He had been "passing" for white for decades. How do you handle this kind of family secret? Does it destroy you? Do you put the information away in the recesses of you mind - never to bring it out again? Or do you explore your family's background and your father's decision? In the book, One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life - A Story of Race and Family Secrets, Bliss Broyard, Anatole's daughter, starts looking at her father's Creole origins in New Orleans.

This is a book about discovery. Bliss discovers more about her father and herself in the process of her search for answers. She delves deeply into the history of Creoles in New Orleans and how their story and lives changed throughout the centuries. And she reveals how New Orleans and its culture was a very unique place in America before the Civil War.

Although it may be a bit slow in places, the story of the Creoles of New Orleans is fascinating. And this book makes you think about the question of race and what would you do if faced with the same situation : to pass or not? A good read.

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Color of Water

James McBride's book, The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to his White Mother is at first most, a tribute to his mother's tenacity to educate her children. It is a recognition of his mother's struggles to keep her life and her struggles from impeding her children's futures.

His mother was raised an Orthodox Jew in the South. Her childhood was fairly horrendous and her father although a Rabbi, was an abuser. The very fact that she escaped this environment, moved to New York and created a new life for herself among the Black Baptist community is pretty remarkable. She married and between being widowed and then remarried, had twelve children. The title comes from when her son asks her what color is God. She replies that God is the color of water - always changing...

McBride is proud to be her son, and it is reflected in his book. This book is written well and proves that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. It is a selective memoir. The reader really only gets to hear about what he and what his mother reveals. And I think the author's struggles to bring this much of his mother's past out of her, reflects on his determination to tell her story.

I have discussed this book in conversation with others who have read it and have gotten mixed responses. Some have not liked the "character" of the mother. They say she should of not of had so many children when she was poor, and she that she abandoned her own mother and sister. But I think that anyone who looks at the time period this woman was in, and the limited choices that were available to her, they will realize that above all, this woman was a survivor. And sometimes to survive one must do "horrible" things in order to move on. These choices may be reprehensible in hindsight, but how do we know we might not have done the same? The human instinct to survive is not always a "pretty" one. A fascinating look inside an interesting life.

Monday, December 03, 2007

Get Out or Die - a Roman Britannia mystery

Did you ever wonder what life was like during Roman Times in Great Britain? Have you ever taken a look at the Roman ruins in Bath or London, and have seen just how permanent they are constructed? Those buildings were build to last. The Romans were there to stay.

Take a look at Jane Finnis' book Get Out or Die. It features a traveler's inn on the Roman roads to the city that would become York. Aurelia and her Roman family own the inn and stables, which is hard enough to keep going with the transportation costs of hauling wine from Gaul, but now someone is trying to kill Roman travelers. Not good when your livelihood depends on a frequent supply of guests. And each traveler that has been murdered, has the words "Get out or Die" on them.

Just who is trying to start a uprising of the natives? Most of the nearby town is pro-Roman or is it? Who can they trust? Which locals are friends and which are enemies? Aurelia is not some ninny - she's a centurion's daughter and she is not leaving her land with out a fight.

Finnis has a great sense of the early Britannia, but since there are only bits and pieces known about that time period - she fills in the holes skillfully. Aurelia and her hotel family are great characters, and it is an exciting story, as the danger keeps getting closer and closer to them. A great read.