23. Blood on the Tracks by Barbara Nickless

Sydney Rose Parnell #1
listened on Audible
2016, Thomas & Mercer
386 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery - beginning of a series
Finished 4/22/27
Goodreads rating:  4.2 - 7696 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Denver, CO

First line/s:  "His life wasn't worth spit in a hard rain."

My comments:  Mixed emotions after reading this story.  So much horror in war.  Although the setting and genre is a murder in contemporary Denver, so much is about the aftermath and memories of being in Iraq and the horrors, atrocities, and nightmares that returning military carry with them.  It was good, but emotionally hard to read.  Sydney, for me, was not the most likable protagonist, which makes her all-the-more real.  Her military dog, Clyde, was her best friend and sidekick, and their relationship wasn't too overdone for this "oh-no-not-another-animal" person. It leaves me with a big question.  Why would someone who is freaked out by death and killing and sees the ghosts of all the people she worked on during her post in Marine mortician services in Iraq take a job as a gun-slinging cop once she returns stateside?

Goodreads synopsis:  A Suspense Magazine Best of 2016 Books Selection: Debut
          A young woman is found brutally murdered, and the main suspect is the victim’s fiancé, a hideously scarred Iraq War vet known as the Burned Man. But railroad police Special Agent Sydney Rose Parnell, brought in by the Denver Major Crimes unit to help investigate, can't shake the feeling that larger forces are behind this apparent crime of passion.
          In the depths of an icy winter, Parnell and her K9 partner, Clyde―both haunted by their time in Iraq―descend into the underground world of a savage gang of rail riders. There, they uncover a wide-reaching conspiracy and a series of shocking crimes. Crimes that threaten everything Parnell holds dear.
          As the search for the truth puts her directly in the path of the killer, Parnell must struggle with a deadly question: Can she fight monsters without becoming one herself? 

MOVIE - Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

R (1:51)

Wide release 3/4/15

Viewed opening day at The Roadhouse

RT Critic: 61   Audience:  65
Critic's Consensus:  While WTF is far from FUBAR, Tina Fey and Martin Freeman are just barely enough to overcome the picture's glib predictability and limited worldview  And my reaction to this consensus?  You guys have seen too many movies....or we're looking at different criteria completely!
Cag:  5/ Loved it

Directed by Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

Paramount Pictures

Based on the memoir by Kim Barker

Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Billie Bob Thornton, Alfred Molina, Josh Charles

My comments:  I very much enjoyed this movie.  Although Barker is smart, she is impetuous and flawed - which makes her very, very REAL.  This movie is full of humor with opportunities for deep thinking, admiration, and lot of questioning.  Afghanistan!  The Taliban!  The media.....(Silly me, it wasn't until my ride home, along Grant, that I realized what the title meant.  Duh.)

Fandango Summary:  Eager for a new professional challenge, TV reporter Kim Baker (Tina Fey) decides to serve as a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan, where she is embedded with a Marine unit. During her time abroad, she is forced to contend with a fiery U.S. general (Billy Bob Thornton), and befriends a fellow reporter (Margot Robbie) and a British photographer (Martin Freeman). Alfred Molina, Josh Charles, andChristopher Abbott co-star. Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was adapted from journalist Kim Barker's memoir The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

MOVIE - Rock the Kasbah

R (1:40)

Wide release 10/23/15

Saw this on Sat. 10/24 at Century Oro Valley Marketplace all by my lonesome....

RT Critic: 8   Audience: 39

Cag: 2/It was okay but sort of a waste of time and effort for Bill Murray's talents

Directed by Mitch Glazer

Open Road Films

Bill Murray, Kate Hudson

My comments: I was really looking forward to this, but decided it was pretty much a waste of time.  So disappointed.  The whole music contest show didn't make sense to me...the premise was pretty cool, but it didn't connect with me at all.

RT Summary:  A has-been rock manager from Van Nuys, California stumbles upon a once-in-a-lifetime voice in a remote Afghan cave in Rock the Kasbah, a dramatic comedy inspired by stranger-than-fiction, real-life events and directed by Oscar winner Barry Levinson. Richie Lanz (Bill Murray), dumped and stranded in war-torn Kabul by his last remaining client (Zooey Deschanel), discovers Salima Khan (Leem Lubany), a Pashtun teenager with a beautiful voice and the courageous dream of becoming the first woman to compete on national television in Afghanistan's version of "American Idol." Richie partners with a savvy hooker (Kate Hudson), a pair of hard-partying war profiteers (Danny McBride and Scott Caan) and a hair-trigger mercenary (Bruce Willis) and, braving dangerous cultural prejudices, manages his new protégée into becoming the "Afghan Star."

50. The Pearl That Broke Its Shell - Nadia Hashimi

2014 William Morrow / Harper Collins
452 pgs.
Adult Realistic Fiction - switches between contemporary and historical/100 years ago
Finished Sat. 8/8/14
Goodreads rating:  4.28
My rating:   4.5 This was an outstanding book
TPPL
Setting: a village in Afghanistan, includes peeks at Kabul during both time periods depicted (1900 and 2007)

1st sentence/s: "Shahla stood by our front door, the bright green metal rusting on the edges.  She craned her neck. Parwin and I rounded the corner  and saw the relief in her eyes.  We couldn't be late again."

My comments:  I have to think really hard about rating this book.  I keep thinking about the last words I read in it, in the acknowledgement section by the author.  She says, "A special acknowledgement to all the daughters, sisters, mothers, aunts, and teachers of Afghanistan...."  However, other than the protagonists (and Rahima's immediate family), with only a few exceptions, the women depicted in the novel are hateful, vengeful, and mean. This includes mothers-in-law, grandmothers, sisters-in-law, and other wives who are also daughters, mothers, and aunts.

The story is about two different women, one living at the beginning of the 20th century, the other more contemporary, living at the beginning of the 21st.  Related by blood, both get the opportunity to "shed" their female personna for part of their lives and live a bit more freely as a male.  They both become wives and mothers, but not in the way most American women might think of becoming a wife and mother. The chapters alternate and it is not at all difficult to keep the stories or the people in each story separate.

The images left in my mind after reading this book will stay with me. I couldn't put this book down. I realize that Afghanistan's reality is incredibly different from mine, and this novel gave me added perspective.  So many questions are left, particularly about religion and the heavyhandedness some apply to the "rules" that go along with that religion....

Goodreads book summary:  Afghan-American Nadia Hashimi's literary debut novel, The Pearl that Broke Its Shell is a searing tale of powerlessness, fate, and the freedom to control one's own fate that combines the cultural flavor and emotional resonance of the works of Khaled Hosseini, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Lisa See.

In Kabul, 2007, with a drug-addicted father and no brothers, Rahima and her sisters can only sporadically attend school, and can rarely leave the house. Their only hope lies in the ancient custom of bacha posh, which allows young Rahima to dress and be treated as a boy until she is of marriageable age. As a son, she can attend school, go to the market, and chaperone her older sisters.

But Rahima is not the first in her family to adopt this unusual custom. A century earlier, her great-aunt, Shekiba, left orphaned by an epidemic, saved herself and built a new life the same way.

Crisscrossing in time, The Pearl the Broke Its Shell interweaves the tales of these two women separated by a century who share similar destinies. But what will happen once Rahima is of marriageable age? Will Shekiba always live as a man? And if Rahima cannot adapt to life as a bride, how will she survive?

20. Lake of Tears - Mary Logue

#9 Claire Watkins

2014 Tyrus Books

207 pgs.

Adult Murder Mystery

Finished 4/7/14

GoodreadsRating: 3.38

My Rating: 2/ It was okay

TPPL

Setting: Contemporary rural Wisconsin

1^st sentence/s:  "The tattooed flames on the man's shoulder were illuminated by the fire."

My comments:   I have not read books 1 through 8 in this series, which means I don't have the background information on the main characters I probably needed to better understand some of what was going on.  And I think the mystery was a little weak. Had to force myself to finish, because I didn't care about most of the characters.  

Goodreads Review:  Deputy Sheriff Claire Watkins has had an easy summer in Fort St. Antoine, Wisconsin; the only problem is that her daughter Meg is leaving for college soon. When Claire walks down to the park to watch the Burning Boat--a large replica of a Norwegian longboat set on the shores of Lake Pepin, burned at the autumnal equinox--she has no idea that more than just a wooden structure is going up in flames.   

          The next day, the bones of a young woman are found in the ashes. When Claire learns that the new deputy she has hired, a vet returning from Afghanistan, was the young woman's former boyfriend, and that he is now dating her daughter Meg, she is desperate to find out who is responsible for the death.
          In order to get to the heart of this mystery, Claire must understand what happened in an attack in the mountains of Afghanistan, which left one man wounded, one man killed, and one man disturbed. Could one of those two remaining men be the killer?

MOVIE - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

PG (2:05)

Wide Release 12/25/2013

Viewed Wed. 1/15/2014 at El Con

RT Critic: 48 Audience:  77

Cag: 5 Loved it, loved it, loved it!

Directed by Ben Stiller

Actors:  Ben Stiller, Sean Penn, Kristen Wiig

My comments:  This was hilarious, fun, and clever.  Ben Stiller was just wonderful (I never realized how blue his eyes are) and Sean Penn was the perfect actor for the part he played.  I laughed loudly and often.  And I love seeing Iceland, where about a quarter of the movie was filmed, and I loved the unlikely friendships that Walter made. I think the movie was beautifully done, and I'm glad that most audiences loved it as much as I did!

Rotten Tomatoes Review:  Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller), an employee at Life magazine, spends day after monotonous day developing photos for the publication. To escape the tedium, Walter inhabits a world of exciting daydreams in which he is the undeniable hero. Walter fancies a fellow employee named Cheryl (Kristen Wiig) and would love to date her, but he feels unworthy. However, he gets a chance to have a real adventure when Life's new owners send him on a mission to obtain the perfect photo for the final print issue.

The Sky of Afghanistan - Ana A. de Eulate

Illustrated by Sonja Wimmer

2012 FSC, (all proceeds to Cometa Fdtn., wwww.fundacioncometa.org)

24 pages 

$15.95

TPPL

Goodreads rating: 3.60

My rating: 4

Endpapers: fluffy clouds on a brown paper-baggy paper showing fibers

Title Page: one kite, flying

Dedication:  "To the children who live in conflict zones, so that they can see their kite of PEACE flying high in the sky."

Illustrations: Beautiful.  They include subtle bits and pieces of Afghanistan - clothing - terrain - faces - children in daily life - simple drawings. They are done in browns with touches of color and fill the entire page - all are two-page spreads with the words in a cool font incorporated into the illustrations somewhere.

1^st line's:  "I look at the sky, I close my eyes, and my imagination begins to soar....

I fly between the clouds of the country i love: Afghanistan."

Ending:  "A place where harmony reigns, a place of togetherness...A place - please forgive me if my eyes fill with tears -- that leads us towards PEACE."

My Goodreads review:  "The sky can be full of kites, I think to myself, but it can also be full of dreams..."  This book is about the dreams a young Afghani girls has for peace in the country she loves.  It's more a piece of writing about hopes and dreams than a story, but that's more-than okay. It's really a simple wish, eh?  (And, I love the author's use of elipses!)

Goodreads summary:  Beautifully illustrated and undeniably moving, this is the story of a little Afghan girl’s dreams of peace. As her country is wracked by war, a girl’s imagination drifts toward the idea of peace for her people and for her country. Her powerful dreams soon take wing and fill the homes and hearts of those around her, uniting a people in their common desire for peace.

Books for Kids about Afghanistan

Picture Books
I See the Sun in Afghanistan (Dedie King/Judith Inglese) 2011, 40 pgs.
The Sky of Afghanistan (Eulate/Wimmer)
Nasreen's Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan (Winter) 2009
Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg and Three Cups of Tea (Mortenson/Roth)
The Old Woman and the Eagle (Idries/Delmar)

Chapter Books: Middle Grades & YA
Three Cups of Tea (Mortenson)
Afghan Dreams : Young Voices from Afghanistan
The Breadwinner series (Ellis)
Kids of Kabul: Living Bravely Through a Never-Ending War (Ellis)
Shooting Kabul (Senzai)

Nonfiction

National Geographic Countries of the World: AFGHANISTAN
Susan Whitfield, 2008

Population:  almost 32 millions
Official languages: Dari (Afghan Persian) and Pashtu
Capital: Kabul

"Afghanistan is largely a land of brown, treeless mountains and gray, dusty deserts.  But nestled among the peaks and plains are small areas of vivid green, where people grow their crops and raise their animals.
"Pistachio trees grow wild in the mountains in the north of Afghanistan...The nuts are regarded as the best in the world.
"Almost all Afghans are Muslims.  It is against the law for Muslim Afghans to convert to another religion.  As in most parts of the Muslim world, public life in Afghanistan is dominated by men.  In most parts of the country women are required to cover their heads and bodies in public....When the Taliban imposed harsh Islamic laws, women became second-class citizens.  Girls were banned from schools and women were beaten for showing their faces in public.  Today, Afghan women are still expected to cover themselves, but in less extreme ways.
"Afghans make flying kites an art form.  The best flyers work in paris.  One holds the wooden spool connected to the kite by strings.  The other pulls the strings to control the movement of the kite in the air.  People take a lot of pride in making and flying their kites.  But it is not always a peaceful pasttime.  In kite fights or duels, the fighters fit their kites with thin, sharp wires or attach pieces of glass.  The aim is for a kite flyer to cut the strings of his opponents until only one kite is left in the air."
"Despite the continuing uncertainty, Afghan people remain optimistic and are working toward rebuilding their lives.  The markets in Kabul and other cities are bustling again. Many educated and skilled Afghans who fled the country under the Taliban are returning to help their country.  In the past, Afghanistan has recovered from many periods of war.  It will do so again."

Adult
Lipstick in Afghanistan (Roberta Gately) 2010

National Geographic Countries of the World SERIES

After hunting and hunting, reading through many different series of books about different world countries in the libraries and bookstores, I've decided that this series is the most accessible to my fourth graders.  Many are daunted by too much text - I think that is why I still dislike/d reading nonfiction.  This series is full of photos and maps (it IS by National Geographic!) and there's not one single page that is only text.  It's extremely readable and the information is interesting and seems current and well-researched.  I plan to use them in my classroom as literature circles, each group focusing on a different country and becoming an "expert" by reading this nonfiction book along with some fiction.
And in my reading from other sources, I've discovered that Afghanistan's largest income from agriculture is ..... opium!

Afghanistan
Susan Whitfield
2008, 64 pages


Population:  almost 32 million
Official languages: Dari (Afghan Persian) and Pashtu
Capital: Kabul

8. Under the Persimmon Tree - Suzanne Fisher Staples

for: Middle Grades
Frances Foster Bks, Farrar Strauss & Giroux, 2005
HC, $17.00
275 pgs.
My rating: 4

This was a very interesting book, detailing, so sadly, some of the atrocities that have (and possible still are?) taking place under the Taliban in Afghanistan. This story has TWO interesting perspectives. We flip-flop, chapter by chapter, between an American woman living in Peshiwar and an Afghani girls fleeing from her destroyed home in the mountains. Both stories are heartbreaking.

It looks like Najmah has lost her whole family to the Taliban or American bombs. The 12-year old is rescued by fleeing neighbors, disguised as a boy, and set out on a difficult journey to the refugee camps on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. There is no food, little warmth or shelter, and a deep, deep sadness. Najmah stops talking, but uses her wits and determination to continue.

Nusrat has accompanied her doctor-husband from New York City to Pakistan so that he can help. She has converted to Islam, loves Faiz' family (who love and accept her) and has opened a school for refugee kids while she waits for him to return to her from the war zone, where he is working in clinics.

Najmah and Nusrat's stories progress until they come together. Incredibly sad, but an honest look at what's been going on for the last ten years in Afghanistan, to the population and particularly to the women.

There hasn't been a whole lot written (yet) for kids about what's been going on over there. I am so thankful for books like this. However, I'm such a Breadwinner (Deborah Ellis) fan that I must admit as much as I like Staples' work, I prefer Breadwinner over Under the Persimmon Tree and would recommend it first.

Such unbelievable despair. A whole country of people who have lost entire families, traditions, history, and freedom.

PLAY - The Kite Runner

Wow. Three thumbs up.
Arizona Theatre Company
Temple of Music and Art
Sept. 23, 2009 with Sheila
My rating: R
Directed by David Ira Goldstein

I've read the book, written by Khaled Hosseini. Loved it. I've seen the movie. Wonderful. And now I've seen the play, screenwritten by Matthew Spangler. Powerful. Leaving the air snapping with electricity, this stage production was wonderfully crafted, gut-wrenching, and quite unforgettable. I felt sorry for the people who had no clue about the story and were unprepared for the enormity of what they were about to see. The two young men who portrayed the two boys, Amir and Hassan, were wonderful. Believable. And always present, narrating the entire play, was the grown-up Amir. I cannot imagine givening this performance each and every day. I was exhausted and wrung out just watching it!

I have a zillion positive things to say, and only two slightly negative. (1 - The two young men playing the leads should have had a curtain call just prior to the lead Amir, not so close to the beginning of the curtain calls. 2 - The scene with Amir praying for the first time in two decades was loud and jarring and too overdone for me. It seemed out of place somehow.)

Cowardice. Guilt. Redemption. Growing into yourself. Growing up. Thanks, Sheila, for a wonderful seat smack dab in the middle of the orchestra section, and a wonderful (if very late)evening.