Plainsong

Plainsong by Kent Haruf

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I like how Kent Haruf chaptered his book with names of the characters.


Plainsong tells a story about:


Ike and Bobby - struggling to understand why their mother left and be independent as their dad is working and leave the house in the morning after making them breakfast. They found friendship with an old lady who later went dead on them.


Guthrie - a lonely father who raises his sons (Ike and Bobby) on his own after his wife left him. His wife, Ella, is battling with mental depression. Not sure what drives her to depression. The book doesn't tell.


Victoria Roubideaux - a teenage who got herself pregnant out of wedlock. She confided in her school teacher, Maggie Jones and lived in her house when her mother chased her out of the house.


Mc Pherons - two good old brothers who took in and help Victoria after Maggie Jones senile father attacked her thinking that she broke into the house.


Overall, it was a great story, tells about life in a small town and how they connected and helped each other in times of troubles.

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The Why Café

I finished reading The Why Café by John P Strelecky. The book is an insightful, inspiring read that offers a lot of advice. The message here is one that I could never argue with:

"do what makes you happy"

Things that will make me happy:
a) working from home
b) having a studio to paint
c) exhibiting or maybe, selling my paintings
d) writing & illustrating children’s books
e) having a line of stationery items with own design
f) having enough money to send Yassin to a good school
g) having enough money to send mother to Haj
h) having enough money to buy own home
i) ..and the list go endlessly...

Classics

I've read two classics last month - Bonjour Tristesse and The Old Man and The Sea.

Bonjour Tristesse was a good read. I needed something very thin to tuck into my handbag (it’s just over a hundred pages) for me to read in the train to work. I found out as i read that it was a story about falling in love, growing up, growing older, passion and jealousy. It was a beautifully tragic story which captures the naivety and rebelliousness of a youth. It was a quick read, but one that makes you think and ponder for a long time afterwards.

For The Old Man and The Sea, it was dreadfully boring at the beginning. It took me longer than normal to read through, to really understand the whole story. But anyway, I think the key to this book is reading beyond what he wrote.