Books read: 12 book month of August

I do not think I have read 12 books in a month for a very long time! The first half of the month I was finishing a book every few days--I think I got to 8 books by day 15--and then I slowed down, but finished a total of 12 books in August 2021!

1. Continuing with July's trend of reading books that contained Zoroastrianism, I discovered an old book, originally written in 1927, which I borrowed through ILL. The story behind the book is that in 2001 a Princeton professor was doing some research in the British Library (Dr. Gyan Prakash) and the research was very dry, and a couple of days in, he gave himself a break to look for some fiction to read; to let his mind recover from so much data. So he found a manuscript, and he got to a certain page--and the manuscript just stopped. In the middle of a sentence. He finally found the complete manuscipt in Mumbai in the Scretariat Library in the Asiatic Society in 2003. (A setting for some of the action in various of the Perveen Mistry novels by Sujata Massey.) The full manuscript revealed the entire book by Hiroshaw Jamsetjee Chevalier "Chaiwalla" called The Tower of Silence. The story is based on an actual incident that took place in 1923 when a plane flew over a dokhma (tower for the dead) and took pictures of what was inside the tower. Since a dokhma is very sacred to Zoroastrians, a Parsi named Beram tries to find the pilot and get back the film. A detective called Blake is trying to protect the pilot from the oversealous Beram. A very interesting, action-packed tale. The story of Chevalier, the author, and Dr. Prakash's search for the entire manuscript is almost as interesting as the book itself.

2. Restoration: God's Call to the 21st Century World by Patrick Q. Mason (friend of Andrew and Nancy from their sojourn in Egypt) is a great little book that can help a person who is feeling disheartened by all the negative things in this the 21st year of the 21st century to feel a bit better. Little book = 100 pages. Short and sweet non-fiction book.

3. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. This was an interesting fiction read--a book club book, which I probably would not have found and read on my own. I have not read Ann Patchett before. She is a good story teller. The brother and sister who grow up in this house and who are a bit obsessed with it; their absentee mother, who could not stand the house; their father who dies too soon; their cold step-mother who is also obsessed with the house; the two step-sisters, Norma and Bright; the wonderful servants, honestly the nicest people in the book. Who knew that a house could so influence the lives of so many people?

4. Trouble Never Sleeps by Stephanie Tromly, the 3rd book in the Trouble series. Like the other two books in this fiction series by a Winnipeg-based author, a story well-told. Digby and Zoe and their friends are creating havoc as they go, as they continue their quest to find Digby's sister Sally.

5. Nonfiction My Lettermen Years: To Hell and Back by Jim Pike and E.L. Scott. Okay, this is the first of several books I read this month as part of my research for a presentation Janet and I are giving at a conference in November, and then we are doing an exhibit next Spring with a couple of other librarians. Our topic is the Provo to Hollywood Pipeline--so BYU-connected people who either start at BYU and then head to Hollywood, or start in Hollywood and then head to Provo. So The Lettermen. This singing group was started by BYU students Jim Pike and Bobby Engemann who teamed up with Tony Butala, a Las Vegas nightclub singer. They started in 1960, and Bobby left in 1968 and was replaced with Jim's brother Gary. Then Jim had to leave in 1976, and replaced himself with his brother Donny. In 1981, Tony sort of did a hostile takeover, and he still owns The Lettermen franchise. But the "hell" for Jim, and what forced him to leave, was losing his voice. And the "back" for Jim was, of course, getting his voice back eventually. Very interesting read.

6. To "B" or not to "B": a film actor's odyssey by Robert Clarke was an interesting read for our project. Robert Clarke married Alyce King, and the King Family is, of course, part of the Provo to Hollywood Pipeline. Robert Clarke was in a lot of "B" movies; never quite became a "name" in Hollywood, but he always had work. He was a really good father, committed to Alyce and her two sons Lex and Ric (their father had died when they were quite young) and the son they had together, Cam Clarke (the voice of Leonardo of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). I loved learning about his movie production that was a box-office flop but became a cult classic The Hideous Sun Demon--which involved so many family members, even his mother-in-law Pearl Driggs. 

7. The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg. I read this because Josie asked for my help making a list of gentle books for elderly patrons at her library--but they are so particular!! I am never sure if a book is gentle enough for them! I was going to suggest Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flagg--but there is, you know, the dead guy who gets cooked, and is that gentle? So I was googling gentle books, and this other Fannie Flagg novel was suggested, so I read it, and I loved it. Meet the flying Judabralinski sisters who are WWII Wasps. Sookie (Krackenberry) Poole is about to find out that she is not Lenore Simmons' daughter, but the daughter of Sophie J, niece of Fritzi, Tula and Gertrude. (I may have spelled Judabralinski wrong.)

8. Another non-fiction title: Real Moms: Making it up as we go by Lisa Valentine Clark. I got this book because Lisa was the speaker at a BYU devotional, and I really liked her speech. (So I linked it so others can listen, too.) This made me want to read her book, which was written before her husband died during COVID. Only he died of ALS. The book made me feel melancholy for the family that was when her husband was alive, but I think they are a great family, so they have survived!

9. The girl with the louding voice by Abi Daré -- what a beautiful book, but I had to read it slowly because it is just too much for me. Like, the abuse, the squalor, the toughness of the life of girls (still!) in Nigeria. Adunni's father can't afford much of anything, so after her mother dies, he sells Adunni off in marriage as the third wife to an older man. Really hard stuff happens! Adunni's goal is to get educated so she can have a louding voice for girls and women, who are so often ignored, not heard, enslaved, abused. Abi Daré 's first book, inspired by wanting to speak up so her daughters hear. Abi relocated from Nigeria to England about 18 years ago.

10. Winterborne Home for Mystery and Mayhem by Ally Carter, sequel to a Winterborne Home book that I read in 2020. Ally Carter writes good stories. This one is a book for young readers, but a good read. April, who has never been sure who she is, discovers that she is a ... Winterborne! And she learns that though they might be a motley crew, they are a family.

11. My Dad and Me by Larry King. And by "by" it means collected? edited? It was Larry's idea, but he asked many of his friends to tell stories about their dads. I read it, you guessed it, for our research, because Karl Engemann was one of Larry's friends (and also his father-in-law) and there is a section in there about him. I was not actually planning to read this whole book, just the one section, but it captured me, and you know what? I really liked this book. I would read it again. In its pages, I met all kinds of dads. Some of them were not the best; some of them were terrific; some of them were gone too soon; some of them lived a looong time. But all of them taught things to their kids: how to be, how not to be--you could really feel the love, the forgiveness, the respect--a really good read.

12. A place at the table by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan is a junior book written to examine the question "How does it feel to be an American kid when your parents are not American?" So two children of immigrants wrote this story about two children of immigrants in a cooking club and how they find acceptance, and how they learn to forgive a friend with a racist father as that person comes to realize that she has been mean and just wrong. Elizabeth is the daughter of a Jewish American and a Brit. Sara's parents both immigrated from Pakistan hoping to gain a better life for their children. It was a good read.

Memories of Rita

I don't remember when I first became aware of Rita: she was a part of that much-loved family of cousins, the Navratils, and since I was the youngest child in my family, the Navratils were just always there, a part of our extended family from my birth. Aunt Celia Navratil was my mom's next older sister, and they had always had a close relationship. The Navratils had nine children to our family's four, and we were stair-stepped in there: Darrel, Donna, Bruce, Rita, Colleen, Lori, Dwayne, Arlene, Priscilla, Rod, Myrna, Nola, Kerry. There were 13 of us in our two families--kind of like Rita's 13, only from two families instead of one! 

When we visited each other, we divided frequently into three distinct groups: the boys, the older girls, and the younger girls. So Rita and I were not in each other's group! I just knew her and admired her from afar--I mean, we talked to each other and stuff, but did not have common interests due to age, which matters when you are really young. 

All that changed for me in 1983, when Bruce and I and our three children moved back to Alberta from San Diego (culture shock!) and settled in Raymond. All of my cousins who lived in Raymond were so welcoming --also of course Uncle Frank and Aunt Celia--and they treated us just like we had always been there. It was lovely! But this post is meant to focus on Rita, so that is what I will do! Starting in 1983, I had the opportunity to develop a close relationship with my cousin Rita, and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to learn from and be loved by Rita.

There was just the general friendliness that Rita was so good at demonstrating, as well as how delighted she was to introduce me to people in town as "my cousin." People who loved Rita were welcoming to me and my family just because I was related to her. I felt inspired to live up to her esteem for me.

I started a piano studio, and many of my cousins signed up their kids (Myrna Clark's kids, Donna Nilsson's kids, Rita's kids)--and it was so fun to get to know my young cousins up close and personal in their weekly lessons, in master classes and recitals. Rita's girls--Cara, Camilla, Cherilea--were especially diligent in their practicing. No surprise! Their mother and father were both very diligent people, in all that they did, and the girls were no different. It was a joy to teach them!

I remember one particular time when the flu was going through our family, so I had to call Rita to cancel piano lessons for that week. Later in the day, at about dinner time, there was a knock on the door, and there were the girls--but instead of piano books, their hands were full of a container of delicious homemade soup and some rolls. Rita, knowing we had sickness in our family, just decided that she should make our dinner for that night. I was so surprised! She didn't ask, she just saw a need and DID. And it was so much appreciated--I remember how particularly tired I was feeling, and since I am not a great cook at the best of times, the need to cook was definitely a burden that day; a burden that was lifted by Rita's quiet act of service. She blessed our lives, but also her daughter's lives, as she made them a party to her service, helping to shape their characters as well.

In 1985, Rita and I were both pregnant at the same time. We got together often and talked about our preparation for our new babies. She was expecting #9, and I was expecting #4. In those days, we didn't know what our baby would be--we found out when they were born! I remember that my due date was at least a few weeks ahead of Rita's--but Lowyn was born first!! I was so jealous that Rita had her baby, and I was still waiting! Nancy was my only baby to go overdue--so I think it was the very next day that I had Nancy! Rita and I were in the hospital together! It was fun. The Raymond Hospital gave a wonderful birth experience in 1985! We each had our own room with backrubs twice a day. Rita and I could visit each other, which was really fun. We had a good time chatting while having a rest and time to recover for a week before going home to our families.

It happened that we hit the paper--six babies born in the Raymond Hospital during the same week was newsworthy!

Soon after Nancy was born, we had two things happen at the same time: super lots of rain + a bad roof resulting in a cave-in in our living room. I had no place to teach piano lessons! And I got a fulltime job at Raymond High School. But instead of having her branch of the family stop piano lessons, Rita moved lessons to her house. On Saturday mornings, I would teach the Hardy girls, the Nilsson girls, and Aunt Celia at Rita's house! (Yes, Aunt Celia asked for piano lessons!) So the opportunity to enrich my relationship with Rita and family continued.

One time, Rita's ward Relief Society had a program going where women were encouraged to develop a talent that they had not had the opportunity to develop. Rita had always wanted to write a song, so she did. (Too bad I didn't keep a copy of it at the time! I hope it still exists!) Rita had some trouble writing it down, with knowing how to notate it; so she asked me if I could come over and help her with the musical notation in parts that were confusing to her. I remember walking over there with all my kids (4) and they were playing with their cousins while Rita and I were pouring over the music.

We were sitting in the living room, our two heads together over the manuscript, when I happened to look up--and we were surrounded by 13 children. They were sitting in a semi-circle watching us very intently. They were just quietly listening as Rita sang through some of the phrases to me, and I made little alterations on the paper to match what Rita sang. I was so surprised by the quiet of the children! I had a child who was not that great at sitting still, and yet ALL of the children were sitting so quietly! Just mesmerized by her love-filled voice.

One time I asked Rita about why/how her children were so GOOD! She told me that she and David had consistently prayed that Heavenly Father would send them obedient children who were receptive to the spirit. I was amazed. That was not something I had ever thought to pray about. I thought that you just get what you get! Rita taught me much about how important it is to pray about everything--that there is nothing too small, too big, too ordinary, to pray about. 

After we moved away from Raymond, we ended up living in greater Vancouver, two years in Burnaby, and five years in Port Coquitlam. We enjoyed living there and the warm welcome we received from our Aunt Edna's family in BC. But we didn't see much of the rest of our family for those seven years. My parents came out to visit two or three times; my brother Bruce came once; and David and Rita Hardy came to visit. We were so happy to be included in their time when David brought Rita along on a business trip. It was just like we had never been apart--the same warmth and love were there in our relationship. 

When we moved back to Alberta in 1995, through 2000, we got to see many of our Navratil cousins. They are always so welcoming! We enjoyed living near Darrel and Rod and their families (Lavon, too) and just feeling embraced as an important part of the family. We were especially appreciative of Rita and her family and the way they watched over my parents in Raymond. We got down to Raymond as often as we could, but Rita and her family were always there. They might not have been over at my mother's house every day, but they certainly were every week. Mom hired the Hardy Boys to do yard work, and the Hardy Girls to do house work. My mom knew that if she had any worry about anything at all, she could pick up the phone and call Rita, and get help immediately, in the form of a Hardy child sent by their mother, or by Rita herself. What a blessing that was to our family! Uncle Frank and Aunt Celia, too, were so good to our parents! But it was Rita and the children who saw to it that physical needs were met and problems solved as needed. How our parents loved the Hardy family!

Living in Utah has made it possible to know the Utah branch of our extended Hancock family tree better, but we were happy to come back to Alberta often, and to keep family relationships alive. When my mother was dying of liver cancer in 2003, Rita and her children remained a constant force for good. Her original Hardy Boys and Girls had grown up and moved on in life, so my Mom had the younger set of Hardy Boys and Girls helping her to keep house and yard going. When Mary (Phillips) and I came up to Raymond, bringing my daughter Josie along, to take care of Mom for a week or two, it was hard for Josie to be always at home. Of course, who jumped in to help? Rita. She and Janae and Shelyse were such a blessing to little Josie, who was only 8 years old. She was welcome at Rita's house. Janae and Shelyse made paper dolls for her. They just gathered her in and kept her happy while Mary and I focused on the needs of my mother. So much appreciated.

The last really big service Rita and David did for our family was in the summer of 2014. We were coming to Alberta for a week in August, and we needed a place to stay that was big enough for Bruce and I and our granddaughter Rosie, and for our daughter Abra and her three children. Seven people! Rita happily volunteered to be our bed and breakfast. Our whole family was wrapped in the arms of the Hardy family love. Daily scriptures, a hymn and prayer with David, Rita and Joseph. The adventure of the hatching of the pheasant chicks! (And pheasant eggs for breakfast!) So many good conversations!

Rita, Abra, Deklan and Malachi:

Rosie, Malachi, Myrna, Rita, David, Joseph

In 2015, during our American Thanksgiving break, my daughter Josie and I with cousin Mary Phillips made the trek north to visit with family, and especially to have a visit with Nola who was seriously ill in the hospital in Calgary. (This is something we really would have liked to be able to do with Rita, and we did consider it, but 2021 is a much different year than 2015 was! COVID logistics prevented us from doing this--and we were not sure how Rita would feel about it. Nola was dicey, but it ended up that we were able to spend several hours with her.) During that 2015 trip, we were delighted to be able to stop in Raymond and attend the Show Choir show with Rita, who went to every show, and Kerry, who got the tickets, and Priscilla. So fun to watch the children of our cousins, and even some of Rita's grandchildren! Building more memories with Rita! Mary and I got to sandwich Rita between us! (Lynette, our cousin Pam's daughter happened to sit near us, so she joined our picture. Josie was the photographer.)

                                            Lynette, Kerry, Priscilla, Myrna, Rita, Mary

We saw Rita again a few weeks later, at Nola's funeral. Sad circumstances; wonderful cousins. (This time Mary and I traveled with Scott Navratil and Lisa Proctor Woodruff.) Here are Mary and I with all the wonderful Navratil cousins except for Nola. 

Sadly, our next opportunity to see Rita was at David's funeral in November 2016. We just couldn't NOT go. We wanted to be able to see Rita, to hug her, to let her know how much we care. (That time Mary and I traveled with Scott and my granddaughter Rosie. Rosie had so much enjoyed her week of holiday at David and Rita's home in 2014, and her schedule allowed her some time to go with us.)

It somehow fell to me to try to see that Rita could eat. She was very hungry and so tired with sorrow and having enough energy to greet people after the funeral as the large extended Hardy and Navratil/Hancock families gathered. I recorded on my blog at the time that Rita said this was a way of being the center of attention that she had never wanted to experience. She was pushing herself to represent David. In between people, I would say, just take one bite--reminding her to eat. Here pictured are two of my grand-daughers, Piper and Rosie, both of whom had enjoyed that chick-hatching week with Rita in 2014. They both love her so much!

                                                    Lori, Mary, Donna; Rita & Myrna in front

July 2017, Hancock Family Reunion. My family only went for one day of it, because we had Conrad things on the other day, but how happy I am that I got to spend time with Rita again! I am so glad that we both went on the same day--what if I had missed her?

The last time I saw Rita in person was in August 2019. When our family was going up to Alberta, Lavon and I thought to have a little mini-reunion with whoever could come. I am so glad we did that!! Who knew that COVID would happen and close the border for a long time? Who knew that this would be my last opportunity to be in the same room as Rita? Life is short and full of unexpected things. It is so important to be with those we love while we can be! I am so happy that Rod, Colleen, Lavon, Kerry, Rita and I could get together with many of our spouses and children and grandchildren for a few hours. 

So that is my last picture with Rita, and isn't that great that I got to stand beside her? I did not know it would be my last opportunity in this life. I am so thankful for her. I feel so blessed to be a part of this extended family. I am so thankful that our parents organized the Hancock reunions years ago, to ensure that all of us cousins knew each other, to give opportunities for our children to know each other. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to live in Raymond for a few years, and to be able to get to know my older cousin Rita so much better. She is only 6.5 years older than me, which is not really that much--when we were children, it was. I have watched her as an example of how to make good choices and do things well for my entire life. I am just so very grateful for her, my amazing cousin Rita.

There is a Relief Society song that is not very well known, but that really has meaning to me.  I learned it while living in Raymond--Rita and I were both in this little women's chorus that was directed by Janelle VanOrman. Sometimes the group was jokingly called "The Mama-Tones." It was fun to sing with Rita and the other women in the group. We sang this song at a Stake Relief Society event, and I think the words just personify Rita so accurately: "Faith in God, hope in tomorrow, charity for those in need; lifting hearts of those who sorrow." That describes Rita so well.

Books Read July 2021

 It was another ten-book month for me! 

1. The beauty of the moment by Tanaz Bhathena.  I really liked this book! The heroine, Susan Thomas, has a very English sounding name, but was born in India and raised in Saudi Arabia, and has recently moved, while in high school, to Mississauga, Ontario. (Tanaz  was born in India, and raised in Saudi Arabia and then Canada, where she currently lives in Mississauga, Ontario. Write what you know, right?) Susan is a super straight A student, and Malcolm, the Zoroastrian boy she meets at high school, is nothing like that. They grow so much as they learn who they are and make goals for their future. They re-meet in college at the end. Reading this book made me want to read more by this author. (I started her fantasy book, Hunted by the Sky, but I just couldn't get into it. It is an award-winner, as is its sequel, but it just wasn't hitting the spot for me this month, and when it was due at the library, I returned it, unfinished.)

2. Trouble is a friend of mine by Stephanie Tromly. Another Canadian-based author, this time from Winnipeg, but via Manila-Hong Kong-Pennsylvania-Los Angeles. I really loved this book! Zoe, the new girl in town, is irritated by the weirdness of Digby, but she keeps getting caught up in his wild and crazy crime-solving schemes. With Zoe, I grew from being super irritated with Digby to liking him. And wanting to read more about these characters! A favorite quote from the book, about Zoe's father: "He's a hoarder, but because he hoards money, it's classy and no one thinks it's weird." (That made me think a bit about billionaires!) They equate Zoe's dad's hoarding to the dragon with his treasure--it is doing no earthly good for anyone; not for the dragon, not for anybody else. Anyway! Loved this book!

3.Women of Character by Susan Easton Black and Mary Jane Woodger. I read this collection of short biographies because my friend Darrell Babidge, who is a music professor at Juilliard, posted on Facebook that his wife Jenny is in the book. (Jennifer Welch-Babidge, an opera singer.) Since I also know Jenny, I wanted to read the book. It was a nice mix of women, past and present, who have made a difference in some area of life. I especially enjoyed reading about Martha Hughes Cannon, a suffragist and physician who was the first female state senator in the United States, elected in 1896, running as a democrat and beating out her own husband who ran as a republican against her. 

4. How to make friends with the sea by Tanya Guerrero. The author lives in Manila, Philippines, and that is the setting of this book. It is a juvenile fiction book, and at first, the little boy character was so irritating to me. (I am apparently not as kind and patient as I should be, because this little boy thrives under kindness and patience. I felt ashamed of myself.) Pablo has lots of fears and seems kind of weird (to me, and to other characters in the book) but when his mother takes in Chiqui, an orphaned girl who is afraid of people because of their reaction to her cleft lip and palate (this is a huge problem in the Philippines, where 1 per 1000 children are born with this disorder.) Pablo learns to do hard things (for him) in an effort to make life better for Chiqui. As I read this book, I warmed up to it and its message of hope and love. (Patrick would like that Tanya Guerrero and her family actually live in a shipping container home.)

5. If you lived here, I'd know your name: news from small town Alaska by Heather Lende. I so loved this non-fiction book! Heather Lende started out her journalism career writing obituaries for her local newspaper in Haines, Alaska. She and her husband arrived in Alaska (with one new baby) on a vacation that never ended--because they stayed to raise their family of five children there. When you live where there is no hospital, dependent on long roads that are often treacherous, or seas that are often treacherous, or air travel that is often treacherous--you look at life differently, with more respect for both life and death, for family and community. Loved this book and the people I met in it! Highly recommended. I need to read her other three books!

6. The Bombay Prince by Sujata Massey. Reading about a Zoroastrian boy in the first book I read this month reminded me that I had not yet read all of Sujata Massey's stories about Perveen Mistry, the female lawyer in 1920s Bombay. So I got my hands on her third book, and it was another interesting legal mystery as her other books were. The murder of a Zoroastrian university student, female, plays out against the backdrop of the visit of Edward VIII, the Prince of Wales, to India. Differing attitudes to British rule are examined (most Zoroastrians supported the British, but Perveen herself does not) in what amounts to a historical fiction-ish mystery this time around.

7. Trouble makes a comeback by Stephanie Tromly. Hurray! I got to read the second book of Digby and Zoe hijinks! Trouble really does follow Digby around--or maybe he attracts trouble! I will quote Amazon here: "Zoe can either choose to stay on her current path toward popularity, perfect SAT scores, and Princeton, or she can take a major detour with Digby, and maybe find out what that kiss he stole from her [at the end of the first book] really meant." Fun read!

8. Survivors by Elisabeth Navratil. I do not remember how I chanced upon this book about the Titanic, but it was the author's last name that attracted me. To me, this name is both common (my cousins have this name) and uncommon (who but my cousins (or their cousins) have this name?) so I wanted to read about the Navratil brothers who survived the sinking of the Titanic. (Research informs me that Navratil is the 139,996th most frequent family name world-wide, borne by only 3,190 people. By contrast, Layton is the 14,659th most frequent family name, And my maiden name, Conrad, is 5,524th. Much more common.) So, Michel Navratil ran away from his wife in Nice, France, stealing their two sons (of which she had custody) under someone else's passport, which he had "borrowed" with the intention of not returning it until he and his sons made it to America and a fresh start. Michel and Edmond did not know their real names--they were called by nicknames, Lolo and Momon--let alone their mother's name (Maman, right?), so when they survived and their father did not, it took a bit of doing--in 1912--for the children to be reunited with their mother.

9. The Bollywood Lovers' Club by James Goldberg and Janci Patterson. I actually really liked this fiction book by my friend James and his friend Janci. Since college, which has been a decade ago at least, James has been working on this novel idea about Mormon boy meets Sikh girl and they fall in love--what happens? The main character Dave Gill seems so James-like to me, that James' voice was saying all his lines in my head. Also--Gill. Like, that is their family name, right? That is their grandpa. Like, my friend Janice's dad, and James' grandpa. So, this was kind of their family to me. A grandfather who was born and raised Sikh who is a Mormon, so that Dave's connection to Sikhism is traditional, not a lived religion. Amrita Sidhu is a practicing Sikh. She is new to the high school in Ohio [where actually James grew up] from California. (I know enough about the Gills so that the farming Sidhus in California reminded me about Janice's uncles who farm in California. So weirdly, to me, both the Sidhus and the Gills seemed like James' actual family to me. Too much inside information! But it allowed him to write what he knows.) I really like the way they handled the religion problem--there is no conversion story. It seems right to him that she is a Sikh. It seems right to her that he is a Mormon. They both value the faith of the other. I loved that. (PS I fully endorse all the movies watched by the Bollywood Lovers' Club.)

10. I ended the month where I began--with a book by Tanaz Bhathena. A girl like that was her first book. I started out not liking it--but then, I am not a lover of tragedy. And we start out with the fatal accident that kills Zarin and Porus. So, I knew there was no happy ending in sight! We get to examine Zarin's life (and to a lesser extent, the life of Porus) and to understand her rather harsh reputation. Not to spoil the book, but Zarin is right there when her mother is murdered, and her Zoroastrian aunt and uncle have a difficult time with raising a child who is half Hindu. And losing her sister twice--once to a Hindu man, and then in death--took a real toll on Zarin's aunt. So, while there is no happy ending, there is closure, as Zarin grows to understand herself, and grows to value what Porus really means to her, which in life she was not ready to realize. So, a sad book, but a story well told.