"The Bone People" by Keri Hulme

This book has been on my reading list for a while. There’s a lot of really unusual things about it, which is probably why it was rejected by many (many) publishers before it finally was printed.

The first thing that struck me was that the narration style is very unique. Sections are written from the perspective of one of three people, so first you have to figure out who is narrating. Then it will alternate between their narration, and an internal monologue that is their thoughts and associations. Sometimes the narration and the internal monologue could be about two completely different things. Sometimes the person narrating will flip flop around a little. Sometimes the situation they are narrating with jump around temporally. It takes a little getting used to, but to be honest I enjoyed it because it was different. It makes you work initially, but eventually you get used to it.

To move on to the story, it focuses on three characters and their relationship. The first character you meet is a recluse painter named Kerewin. One day she finds a small boy in her Tower. The boy’s name is Simon, and he’s mute. So an interesting layer to their relationship is how they communicate despite him not being able to talk. Then Simon’s dad, Joe, enters the scene. The three of them become close, as Simon takes a liking to Kerewin (despite not liking many other people) and Kerewin finds herself opening up for the first time in years.

Honestly there is not a whole ton to the plot, but then about halfway through everything starts falling apart. And that’s where the title comes in. The Bone People can be interpreted in two main ways. First of all, each of the characters is more or less stripped to the bone. The ending section devotes a chapter to each one of them, as they try to cope with their shortcomings alone. They each fall apart, and need to figure out how to get themselves together again. The other way to interpret it has to do with Maori culture. Both Joe and Kerewin have an interest in Maori culture (despite the fact that Kerewin is not Maori). Bones play a large part in Maori beliefs, so the title could be referring to that as well.

While we are on the subject, Hulme includes a blend of Western and Maori cultures in this book. It does not come out exclusively for one over the other, but advocates a mixture. This can be seen most clearly with Kerewin, as she has cobbled together a small book with texts from many religions that she reads from. This resonated pretty strongly with me, since I’m interested in religion and feel like my beliefs are somewhat cobbled together from many cultures.

In addition to all that, I finally remembered why this was on my reading list for a while. While never explicitly states, Kerewin is probably asexual and aromantic. When asked (by a few characters) if she is marrying Joe, Kerewin usually says something along the lines of her not being the marrying kind. She states this more explicitly when talking to Joe about it, she says that she never had any interest in sex or being intimate with anyone. No one hurt her, that’s just who she is. Which is such a refreshing portrayal! Too often asexuality is seen as someone who was “broken” or needed “fixing” or something like that, it’s nice to see someone where it is simply who they are, no need to alter it. And additionally, her relationship with Joe and Simon is a great portrayal of friendship and love, without it being romantic in any sense. Because they all clearly care about each other.

That is what this book is really about, how caring for others can change you and transform into something greater than yourself. You can be tempted to give up on it, but in the end it is worth it. What’s nice about this is that the book puts the emphasis on someone coming to this conclusion on their own, so this is a choice you must make independently. But in the end you need other people around.

“The Silkworm” by Robert Galbraith

(This book was written by J.K. Rowling if you didn’t know, but I’ll refer to her as Galbraith because that’s what she wants to be called so there.)

This one is a literary mystery! Sure to make readers happy (that’s why there’s so many books about reading). There are some references to the first book in this series (The Cuckoo’s Calling) but it also stands well on its own.

I really enjoyed not how Strike solved the case but how he went about proving it. Which is what makes up the bulk of the book anyways. It involves some old friends that are very amusing and I quite liked. I hope they appear in other books.

Strike’s relationship with Robin is very important here, she wants to get training as a detective and is frustrated by Strike trying to protect her. On top of everything else, Robin’s fiancée thinks that there’s some hanky panky going on. Of course.

Anyways, the victim is a writer, and many of the characters are involved in the literary business, in particular gruesome tragedies. The quotes that appear with each chapter are also from tragedies which is quite interesting. (It adds an element of surreal-ness when you realize that the book in the story that reflects the murder is similar to the quotes on the chapters, sort of reminds you that this story is also a book with an author, adding a layer to the experience. I don’t know, it just seemed really meta to me.)

I quite liked it, maybe not as good as the original book in the series, but no sequel ever outshines the first in a series.

"I Me Mine" by George Harrison

Yeah the Beatles fan is back at it, I finally hunted down this book with the intention of devouring it.

So the first part of this book is like an edited memoir of George with edits and contributions from Derek Taylor (good friend of his, more of a writer than George which is why he’s in charge of this). It’s not very long or elaborate, and kind of jumps around a bit as George just goes and talks. Plenty of amusing insights though.

Then there’s a section of pictures. (Some jerk ripped out a few from the copy I got at the library, the nerve of some people.) Surprisingly enough there were some that I hadn’t seen before, which made me very happy.

Then there’s a section where George stuck handwritten copies of the papers he wrote songs on, which is really cool! It’s similar to that other book I read like a year ago, "The Beatles Lyrics" but also includes some of his solo songs. There’s also a blurb from George about each one, which is nice.

Not a long or elaborate read, but contains some nice quirks that show his personality, and a whole bunch of handwritten lyrics, my goodness.

"Blue Jean Buddha: Voices of Young Buddhists" edited by Sumi Loundon

This is a book that I’ve been meaning to check out for a while. It was published in 2001, so it’s a little bit dated, but the messages inside still hold. Essentially it is a collection of stories from young Buddhists about their experiences with and relating to Buddhism.

What makes this book great is that Buddhism is so often seen as part of the “older” generation of hippies, something that is no longer relevant to life. But stories of young Buddhists like these show how Buddhism continues to be relevant and to some people essential in this day and age.

One story that I liked was one person discussing how at an early age he was pronounced to be a reincarnation of a Tibetan monk, and how that affected his life. As a monk born into a Western family, he didn’t know how to merge the two aspects of his life into a cohesive whole that he was happy with. It’s such a great example of the challenges Buddhism faces in a world where you can get immediate gratification and worldly success relatively easily. In the face of all this, who wants to meditate?

Then there are other stories about how much Buddhism and mindfulness have helped other people, who may have been suffering from drugs or stress. It just continues to show that you can have everything that you ever wanted, but still be unhappy. For some, the solution to that is inwards, and rests on finding inner peace.

This book isn’t so much an introduction to Buddhism as a discussion about its effects on life. Which makes it an interesting read, but one that you may need some prior knowledge for. However if you are a young adult of teen interested in Buddhism, then this may be the perfect intro to it!

"The Tao of Pooh" by Benjamin Hoff

The idea behind this book is that the author explains the basics of Taoism through the stories and characters of Winnie the Pooh and friends. It’s super cute.

The main idea of Taoism is that life is inherently good, and the badness that comes into it is from our efforts to turn our lives into something that they are not. Essentially, just go with the flow and life will be ok. (This is actually rather similar to Buddhism, except that Buddhists think that life is suffering and the best way to ease the suffering is to go with the flow.)

It’s such a charming little book, and the stories make the principles easy to understand. The style of writing is really endearing, there are plenty of elements from A. A. Milne’s stories, so you’ll really like it if you grew up with them. Often the anecdotes are presented as the narrator telling the story as though Pooh, Piglet, and the whole gang were in the room with him as he is writing.

Great read whether you are into Pooh, Chinese philosophy, or both!