Better of Beth Ashley: Curling up with good pals – Marin Independent Journal

Editor’s notice: The IJ is reprinting a number of the late Beth Ashley’s columns. This is from 2007.

When individuals speak books, I normally have lots to say.

Books are invaluable companions. They divert you from troubles, fill idle time and persuade you to postpone what you actually should do.

Sometimes I learn trash, however not usually. Usually I learn nonfiction; fiction will be so unreliable. I depend on my e book membership for fantastic picks.

The present selection is “Mayflower” by Nathaniel Philbrick, a e book I learn months in the past. If you thought you knew the Pilgrims’ story, assume once more. “Mayflower” talks about Plymouth because it actually was — a harrowing story that leads as much as King Philip’s War.

Philbrick additionally wrote “In The Heart Of The Sea,” a couple of real-life band of Nantucket whalers whose boat is destroyed in mid-ocean by an 85-foot whale and who, thereafter, endure unimaginable hardships to outlive. Don’t learn this e book for those who’re averse to tales of folly, close to mutiny and cannibalism.

“River of Doubt,” final month’s selection, is a survival story, too, however with an overlay of historical past and a few fascinating classes in pure science. It describes Teddy Roosevelt’s expedition by dugout canoe up an unexplored tributary of the Amazon River. Recently defeated in his bid to be elected president on the Bull Moose ticket, Roosevelt decides — in true bully vogue — to throw himself into a brand new problem, one which very practically kills him and his companions.

The crops and animals, the wild river and the native individuals of the rainforest all conspire towards him. Doesn’t sound like your cup of tea? This is a e book I couldn’t put down.

Other massive, massive winners on my checklist: “The Lemon Tree” by Sandy Tolan and “Prisoners” by Jeffrey Goldberg, each of which take care of the ideological divide between Israelis and Palestinians. Both are real-life descriptions of real-life individuals.

“The Lemon Tree” tells of the unbelievable friendship between a fiercely partisan Palestinian and a feminine Holocaust survivor who lives in the home close to Ramla from which his household was pushed. Their makes an attempt to bridge the divide are each heroic and heartbreaking. Ultimately, they’ll’t actually make it.

“Prisoners” is informed with good humor and noteworthy honesty by the writer, who studies on the Middle East for the New Yorker. As a younger man, Goldberg shuns his Jewish American persona, hoping to turn out to be an genuine Israeli and, finally, a purveyor of peace. He lives on a kibbutz, he guards a herd of Palestinians in a desert jail and he tries to show that either side can turn out to be pals. There are moments of hope, however as soon as extra you sense an irremediable chasm, rooted in age-old grudges and unshakable non secular beliefs.

(You ought to listen to Goldberg quote the Quran.)

For me, these two books had been an awakening. Both made me unhappy. (For an amazing follow-up e book, learn Jimmy Carter’s “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,” detailing the lengthy historical past of ill-fated efforts towards an enduring answer.)

Not all was gloom in our group’s e book choices. We had been dazzled by “Bury The Chains,” by Adam Hochschild, who additionally wrote “King Leopold’s Ghost,” my first actual introduction to the slave commerce in Africa.

“Bury The Chains” tells the story of a handful of visionaries, politicians and Quakers who had the vitality and zeal to deliver an finish to the slave commerce in England. Talk about heroism. Talk concerning the energy of the few to vary historical past.

A current movie, “Amazing Grace,” tells the story barely otherwise, with an emphasis on totally different heroes. But each variations are heart-stopping and effectively price visiting.

I’ve additionally learn books by myself, in fact: “Iran Awakening” by Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, discussing her valiant campaign to defend girls and kids in a rigidly antagonistic society; “I’m Sad About My Neck” by Nora Ephron, who hits mid-life angst on the button, and “The Audacity of Hope” by Barack Obama — hooray for Obama, at the very least for his viewpoint.

In the world of fiction, I learn “Lipstick and Lies,” by Marin writer Margit Liesche, a rollicking homicide thriller involving the WASPS of World War II and real-life characters who had been double-crossing spies.

Another: “The Jukebox Queen of Malta,” reconstructing the times when Malta was essentially the most bombed goal in World War II. It was fiction, but it surely was additionally actual. To my big shock, a Spitfire pilot talked about within the e book was a severe boyfriend of mine after I lived in Germany.

On my bedside desk, ready to be learn ASAP: “Grace (Eventually)” by Fairfax resident Anne Lamott and Marin writer Isabel Allende’s “Daughter of Fortune,” the selection for Marin’s first marketing campaign to have everybody within the county learn the identical e book on the identical time.

What a blessing books are.

How grateful we’re to their authors.