Snapshots of Tauranga #55 – Sunshine and Books

Like me, I’m sure many of you have inevitably had personal dormant periods in your reading habits.

There are, I think, certain writings that can grab us and shake us out of these ruts. It does so by presenting a breakneck adventure we feel compelled to see through; by gently reopening us to the thrill of a good story; by allowing us to spend time in a fictional character’s mind.

Then, suddenly, they appear to us at the right moment and in the right way.

It has happened to me, and I’m back to enjoying reading more than a few pages at a time. To be fair, I’ve been reading daily, though in short bursts; my attention span didn’t last long before being taken over by a meaningful thought or utter bullsh*t from scrolling. Don’t get me started on why I re-entered Facebook again. Well, to be truthful, it did start off with a book, a book about the Camino, and that led to a group, which of course was on Facebook.

Returning to books, my escape capsule, hence the book about a long-distance walk. Other books that stopped my wandering concentration habits in their tracks were not, perhaps, the latest and greatest. However, more often than not, they provoked momentous, thoughtful moments and some plain old entertainment for my imagination.

Books that rekindled my love of long hours of reading

I’m only going to mention two; otherwise, this post will be too long, and to be honest, I’m not fancying myself as a regular book reviewer. What I’ve chosen to do today, and perhaps sporadically in the future, is share books that stayed with me the longest after I turned the last page.

The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains – Sarah Clutton – Kindle version

Emilia Bains has a medical scare and returns to a small Tasmanian town of Beggars Rock, where her mum lives. Penny is a widow, and she runs a sheep farm. She’s shocked when a young boy with an Irish accent arrives and claims to be her grandson, the child of her missing daughter.

Alfie, nearly 10 years old, has decided he wants to find out who his father is, so his endeavors include Operation Tadpole. Alfie has a cousin, Harper, two great-aunts, Hilary and Rainn and their lips are tightly sealed about the topic. He’s sure his mum and family are keeping things from him, buried secrets, and Alfie’s prepared to dig through dirt, leave no stone unturned and get a little wet and uncomfortable to uncover the truth.

Alfie is delightful, and I absolutely loved how his mind worked. He’s funny, and his quirky antics made me laugh out loud. A moving and emotive dual timeline narrative about a young boy, and you discover that anything is possible, even if you think everything has been lost.

A novel about the highs and lows mothering brings, especially for Emilia, Penny and Cynthia and with lots of twists and turns along the way.

While it does cover some serious issues, I found it uplifting and a joyful read that honestly touched my heart. I highly recommend it while sitting in the winter morning sun with an espresso and a square or two of dark chocolate.

The Women by Kristin Hannah – Kindle version

What I loved about this story was the fact that it was from the viewpoint of a historical event and the use of minor players, who were women who went to Vietnam when no one in America actually believed women did go to Vietnam, and it brilliantly combines them all into a riveting, real and information-laden read.

This story was so compelling, horrific, emotional and human, a rare talent that many book reviewers mentioned repeatedly, and as a reader, I couldn’t agree more.

They say this is the war that made America grow up, and on reading this novel, you can see how this could be true. Take an ordinary young woman, Frankie, privileged in her upbringing, yes, but who wants more for herself than simply getting married and producing babies as her parents expect her to do. She trains as a nurse, sees her adored brother go off to the war that is going to be an adventure in Vietnam, and after his death, makes the transformative decision to go too.

Throughout this book, you will understand why and how the formal term Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was coined. That is an extremely interesting history in itself.

As we all know, warfare is an unspeakably horrific disaster for everyone concerned. Everyone. And yet it is still going on. Stories like this, again but necessarily so, thump home to us how everyone matters.

Compassion, kindness, patience, and tolerance for the difficulties people are going through are the winners in the end. War will never stop, but if we can find it within ourselves to learn about the tragedies of others, even if we learn about them through a novel, then we, too, are becoming better people.

This book is one of those gifts that we can learn from. It also rekindled a few stories my sister-in-law shared about her personal experience during the Vietnam War.

On a wet winter’s day when the hours melt together, I was left feeling like it was an honour to have opened that book.

Read it.