Reading List

May 29, 2009

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Picture early Saturday Morning cartoons. Bugs Bunny finally looks like he is going to meet his match as he is cornered by a pack of barking, crazed dogs. He has one last chance to fight back as he raises a book over his head - and all the dogs run away into the distance over a big suspension bridge. He turns the book over to see the title - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - "Well what do you know," says Bugs.

And that is all I knew about this book - until the RS book club choose it for their reading in May. Mar read it and said I would love it. So I read it too. Mar was right. We had some discussions that went like this - "So what is it about?" - "Well, I can't say." Not because I don't want to ruin the plot - but because what it is about is life and dreams. It is about a girl growing up in the tenements of Brooklyn. Some of it is so sad it is hard to read. Some of it is really funny. But you have to read carefully, so that you don't miss the really funny parts because of the really sad parts. I know so many people would have a hard time reading this one because nothing happens. In our fast paced world, we need something to happen all the time. But in this one, Francie just grows up. In the end you just want so bad for something real good to happen to Francie - and her mother - and her brother - and her baby sister - and her aunts - and the bartender - they all need something real good to happen to them. Does it? I'll never tell.

I would give it a 4.

No it is not on the 501 must read list - but it should be.

Reading List 2009

5/29 - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
5/11 - Crashing Through - Robert Kurson
5/5 - A Train to Potevka - Mike Ramsdell
4/27 - King Solomon's Mines - H. Rider Haggard *
4/21 - Best Loved Humor of the LDS People
4/6 - Eaters of the Dead - Michael Crichton
4/4 - Mexico - James A Michener
3/6 - The House of Mirth - Edith Wharton *
2/16 - The Wonderful Wizard of OZ - L. Frank Baum *
2/11 - The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch
2/9 - Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie *
2/1 - Next - Michael Crichton