March 2020 Reads (Part 2)

1. Book Review - I'd Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel 

"For everyone who's ever finished a book under the covers with a flashlight when they were supposed to be sleeping" - a book with such a dedication can only be a charmer from start to end.

I'd Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel is a very aesthetically crafted book that discusses the delights and dilemmas in a reader's life with bookish examples that make you smile, grin and nod your head in approval.

The author begins with asking us to confess our literary sins, accept the divide between what we think our reading life should be like and what it really is, this sounds hilarious.

There are totally heartwarming sections on how the right book finds you at just the right moment, how few pages with words have the power to instill an entire gamut of emotions, books that bind us in a spell, books we keep close to our heart in inner circles and those that give a preview of life experiences.

Libraries and bookstores are chief characters in this book, many books referenced to serve as examples quite easily make up a 'Good Reads' information portal.

The coming of age tale of a reader, the need to re-read a book to know the divide between what you were when you read a book earlier and what you are now, the need to read the acknowledgements and author's notes in books - pages ooze with love for reading which the author states though mostly viewed as a solitary act is very much a social activity for there is an urgency to discuss books with other reader friends.

A chapter on Book Bossy is the most hilarious section where the author details how 'should' be never used when suggesting a read. Unsolicited book recommendations are like unwarranted advice on one's private affairs. This she says is because reading is a very personal experience. A simple question like 'Suggest me a Great Book' requires not just knowledge of books but knowing the poser of the question really well.

A beautiful love letter to reading, this book is pleasant and wholesome much like the process of reading itself.

2. Book Review - White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht

White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht is a tale of an impossibly ideal sibling love, of 2 sisters torn apart by war - of Hana who makes a colossal sacrifice to keep up a promise and of Emi whose life bequeathed to her by Hana is only a burden without her.

Hana leads a simple life with her parents and sister Emi (younger by 7 yrs) on the island of Jeju, colonised by 

Japanese forces since 1910. Hana and her mother are haeneyo women, fiercely independent,  

strong sea divers who earn their living by catching & selling abalone and sea weed.

Life turns tumultuous for Hana one summer afternoon in 1943 when she surrenders herself to a Japanese soldier, 

Corporal Morimoto in an attempt to save her sister from his prying eyes. 

Pushed into sexual slavery by him, Hana leads an infernal life in a brothel in Manchuria as a 'comfort' woman 

servicing never ending lines of soldiers who rape her brutally, strip her of her life & dignity. 

A vague possibility of re uniting with her family some day and watching her sister become 

a haeneyo lets her endure her stay in the hellhole.

Will Hana's glimmer of hope thrive the endless ordeals that crush it down to the wick? 

Will the sisters ever reunite?

We get the answers as we alternate between Hana's accounts in 1943 and Emi's accounts in 2011. 

Emi has survived two wars, seen her family and home perish, borne two children out of a loveless marriage 

who now as grown ups lead a comfortable life in Seoul. She attends few Wednesday 

demonstrations where Koreans gather outside Japanese embassy 

demanding an apology for war atrocities hoping to meet Hana there.

The prose is highly mature and the author is wise alternating narratives between the sisters. 

In Hana's accounts, we feel trapped in the darkest depths of sea, an unbroken expanse of water weighing upon us, 

squeezing our lungs and choking us and in Emi's accounts comes the reprieve, we resurface to catch a breath. 

The author's note, notable dates in history and list of reference reads provided at the end indicate 

that the work of fiction is firmly grounded in facts.

Though grim and harrowing in parts, the book ends with humanity making a delicate win, an element that illuminates 

this earth despite all the murk. 

A heartbreaking, important work of historical fiction that clearly reveals war affects women like no other.