Ms. Hen reviews Please: Fiction Inspired by The Smiths

 

Please: Fiction Inspired by The Smiths

Edited by Peter Wild

2009

Harper Perennial

Ms. Hen found this book by chance while she was reading book reviews online. She doesn't usually buy a book unless she knows it will be worth reading, but she took a chance on this because the premise sounded so enticing. She has been a fan of the Smiths for a long time, and they have even inspired some of her writing.

Most of this anthology is fantastic. Only one story is not, and that is, "Back to the Old House," which is written in a Scottish dialect, which Ms. Hen found excruciating to read. She doesn't know why a writer would want to torture their readers that much.

One of her favorite stories is, "I Won't Share You," about a family on holiday in a caravan, and something goes horribly wrong with the father's arm. Ms. Hen thinks this is charming and dark, which is a combination she loves.

Another story she adores is, "Oscillating Wildly," about a man who is dying, thinking about his life when he was young and the time he had gone to visit his uncle in France, who worked as the caretaker at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, and possessed a piece of Oscar Wilde's grave. This reminded Ms. Hen of the time she went to Oscar Wilde's grave in that cemetery.

She found the story, "Girl Afraid," especially beautiful and poignant, since it reminded Ms. Hen of when she was a girl, but she thinks this character would have a much different life than she had.

Ms. Hen found these stories nostalgic for a time and place she has never known, if that's possible. This book contains stories of a world that does not exist anymore, and Ms. Hen is not sure if that's positive. The world used to be simpler, or it seemed to be when we were less connected. 

Looking back, Ms. Hen thinks that things were simple, but during that time, life seemed complicated. Not being in touch, and not able to find out everything, was a type of freedom people didn't realize they had. Record stores, and taping music off the radio, and waiting for a song you love to come on the radio, and loving music because you think a band is singing about you, are activities of the past that people of younger generations will never know. This anthology reminds Ms. Hen of her youth, but she would never want to be young again, and she's glad that will never happen.

Ms. Hen at Oscar Wilde's grave

  

Ms. Hen reviews The Museum of Russian Icons

 

The Museum of Russian Icons

203 Union Street

Clinton, MA 01510

https://www.museumofrussianicons.org/

Ms. Hen was meandering through Western Massachusetts, and she stopped at the Johnny Appleseed rest stop in Lancaster, and she happened to find a brochure about this museum, and thought it sounded fascinating. She decided to go on a rainy Sunday, because they have a free Sunday once a month on the first day of the month.

On the front page of the website, the museum wrote a statement condemning the Ukraine war, and the Ukrainian flag hung outside the museum. That made Ms. Hen feel better about attending the museum.

This museum was started by Gordon B. Lankton, a plastics engineer, who became the president of Nypro. He traveled to Russia, and bought his first icon in 1989. He collected them throughout his life, and opened the museum in Clinton. Icons are devotional paintings, usually done on wood, with egg tempera. It is the only museum in the United States decided to Russian icons, and the largest collection in the world outside of Russia.

On the first floor a gift shop is located, and an exhibit "Icons and Retablos: Images of Devotion" is showing. This contains icons and retablos from Mexico, which are similar to icons, but are painted on tin.

Ms. Hen with some Retablos

 

 

 

 

Music plays throughout the galleries, and Ms. Hen thought the effect was lovely, and made her feel religious. She saw a woman blessing herself before an icon, which she thought was a weird thing to do at a museum.

The upper floor of the museum is full of icons. Lots have halos made of tin, which give the icon a crafted look. Others have jewels set in, and are quite beautiful. Ms. Hen is not a religious hen, but she loves art, and beautiful things. She would recommend this museum to anyone who is an art connoisseur, or is religious, or likes Russian history.

A tea room serving Russian tea and snacks in located in the lower level. A row of antique samovars line the wall. Ms. Hen didn't have any tea, but she admired the samovars, which are a type of Russian teapot.

Ms. Hen and the samovars

Ms. Hen had a great time at the Museum of Russian Icons. She loves spending time with beautiful art, immersed in history.

Ms. Hen Reviews The Three-Body Problem

 

The Three-Body Problem

Cixin Liu

2006, 2014 

Tor Books

Translation from Chinese by Ken Liu

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel simply because she heard it was a good book. She wants to try to read more contemporary science fiction.

This novel is about a woman in China named Ye Wenjie who discovers a way to communicate with aliens. She learns from the aliens that they are coming to take over Earth, and she is relieved because she doesn't like humanity, and what it has done to the planet, and its people. A game is invented to show people what the planet the aliens that are taking over are like called The Three-Body Problem. 

This novel starts with the backdrop of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. During that time intellectuals and educated people in China were sent away or reprogrammed to be followers of communism. A lot was lost during this time in China. The characters live in fear of what the government would do if they retaliated. Some Westerners find out that Ye Wenji communicated with the alien planet, Trisolaris, and start a group that is preparing for their arrival.

Ms. Hen liked this book, but it is very heavy on the scientific descriptions. Ms. Hen is not quite adept at understanding science, she mostly likes science fiction for the ideas that the genre presents, and the possibilities. Even so, she enjoyed this book.

This novel is a realistic portrayal of what would happen if people on Earth communicated with aliens. Some people would be excited, and some afraid, and some would be in awe. A lot would not believe that people on Earth would have the ability to communicate with extra-terrestrials, and life would go on as normal.

The idea that Earth is not worth saving is presented in this novel. However the Trisolarans believe that Earth is a superior planet, and they want to take over for the stability of the climate. Ye Wenjie tells the aliens that they can come, essentially throwing Earth under the bus because she thinks Earth's time is done.

Is Earth worth saving? If you had the opportunity to tell aliens to come here, and take over, would you? Ms. Hen doesn't know if she would. Some positive things exist on Earth, but she's not sure if the negative outweighs them. Is life on Earth worth fighting for? We've never been faced with this question, but if we were, we would have to work to figure out the answer.

Ms. Hen reviews Hunting by Stars

 

Hunting by Stars

Cherie Dimaline

Amulet Books

2021

Ms. Hen decided to read this, because she read the first book, THE MARROW THIEVES, and she loved it. This is the type of book she adores: YA Dystopian fiction, but this is about Native Americans, so this has a unique twist.

The novel enters with Frenchie captured in a school, where the Recruiters take Natives to extract the marrow from their bones in order to steal their dreams, because dreams don't exist anymore for non-Natives. Frenchie meets his long lost brother Mitch, and Mitch tries to convince Frenchie to join their ranks kidnapping Native people, and ruining their lives. Frenchie does not want to do this, but he thinks it might be his only way out of the school, and back to his family.

Rose, Frenchie's girlfriend, and Derrick, a guy from the camp where they were staying, go after Frenchie, but become involved in a house full of vampires. Frenchie's adopted family, the people with whom he traveled in the woods, attempt to save Frenchie. 

Ms. Hen thinks this is a beautiful book. The writing is exquisite, and the tension is just enough. She thinks this book is better than the first one, because more happens, and more is at stake. Strong women characters fill these pages, and Ms. Hen admires them.

Ms. Hen understands that the author decided to write this sequel because she received so much feedback from fans of the book, that they wanted more from these characters and this world. Not a lot of YA books about Native Americans exist, and the readers of this book were so enthralled that they begged for more.

Ms. Hen understands why. This is an important novel, and it needs to be talked about. The world could be headed to where this novel exists, and that is a terrifying thing.

Ms. Hen reviews A Carnival of Snackery

 

A Carnival of Snackery

David Sedaris

Little, Brown and Company

2021

Ms. Hen found this book at a Little Free Library near where she lives, and since she had read other books by this author, she picked it up. 

She was daunted by reading 17 years of diaries, but she found the book a lot of fun, and it read rather quickly. His diaries are not all about him, mostly they're about the people he meets in the world.

One of the fascinating things that Ms. Hen found reading this, was that she was thinking of where she was in her life when the entry had been made. Current events are thrown in, and Ms. Hen remembers all of them.

Mr. Sedaris travels the entire world, and meets interesting people everywhere he goes. She wonders how he has the ability to have people tell them something interesting about themselves wherever he ends up. She thinks it might be because these people want to entertain him the way he entertains them. Ms. Hen decided that if she met him, she would go to a reading, and tell him that she writes a blog from the point of view of a hen purse. She hopes that would make him laugh.

Ms. Hen likes to laugh as well, and she finds quirky stories all around. Her favorite stories to write now are about people in the hospital where she works. Everyone who walks in the door is suffering, which Ms. Hen thinks makes for great conflict. Stories abound all over the world, and everyone has one, but capturing them is the beauty of the process of writing.

Ms. Hen reviews Exhalation

 

Exhalation

Ted Chiang

Vintage Books

2019

Ms. Hen bought this book at a new independent bookstore in her neighborhood called Molly's Books. She went to there to check the place out, and it's a cute bookstore. There was a table that was dedicated to AAPI Heritage month, and she picked up this book because she had never heard of this author, but she loves sci-fi short stories, so she took it home.

This is a collection of nine stories, some are longer than others, but all of them dwell in other realms. Ms. Hen became charmed by each of these worlds, and she was swept away in each story.

The opening story, "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," is an Arabian Nights type of story, that includes time travel through a portal. "The Lifecycle of Software Objects," tells the story of digients, which are digital pets, and their owners have to fight for their survival. "Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny," is a type of steampunk story about a robotic nanny that takes care of infants, or at least attempt to do so.

Ms. Hen thought it was interesting and different that there is an explanation for the inspiration for each story by the author at the end of the collection. She thinks that knowing a story's origin is cool, but not always necessary. She learned that the story, "The Great Silence," originated as an art exhibit about parrots that can talk that was a collaboration with some artists.

This collection reminded her of, "The Paper Menagerie," by Ken Liu, that she read a couple of years ago. That book contained short stories that possessed an entire world in each one, similar to this book.

Ms. Hen is glad she read this book. She loves to read books that are strange and unusual, because she herself is strange and unusual. These are stories that make a reader think about the world, and why it is the way it is, and how bizarre things can be if a person looks in the right direction.

Ms. Hen reviews Night

 

Night 

Elie Wiesel

Hill and Wang

1958

Translation by Marion Wiesel 2006

Ms. Hen found this book at a Little Free Library near where she lives. She thought she had read it before; she meant to read it, but as she started, she realized she never had. She knew it had been in her presence before, but someone might have recommended that she shouldn't read it, because she might become upset, but Ms. Hen can't remember.

This novel is about Elie Wiesel's experience in Auschwitz when he was young. He was sent with his family, as well as all the Jewish people in his town. His entire family did not survive. He talks in the novel about the struggles of the people in the camp: how they think about food more than anything, and how everyone seems to be out for themselves. 

He describes an incident when he hurt his foot, and ended up in the infirmary. Rumors fly that the camp is going to be invaded, so he struggles to walk to save himself. He found out later that everyone in the infirmary was liberated, but nobody knew that would happen.

Ms. Hen has read many books like this before, but she understands that this was one of the first of its kind. She thinks there is a dry humor to the book, and even though the protagonist suffers immensely, he finds a reason to laugh at times. People who can joke in the face of death will never fear anything.

Ms. Hen wonders why she had never read this before. She thinks she was dissuaded because it is so well known, but there are several that she has read like this such as SURVIVAL IN AUSCHWITZ by Primo Levi, and THE LIBRARIAN OF AUSCHWITZ by Antonio Iturbe, and others. 

The stories of survival and hope never become old. Ms. Hen knows that the world is still dysfunctional, but she wants to believe that through these books and stories, the tyrants of the world have a slimmer chance of succeeding than they would have before. If only more people read books, Ms. Hen thinks the world would be a brighter place 😊