The Hare with Amber Eyes - Edmund de Waal

 Sub-title: A Hidden Inheritance

This was a dreamy, meandering book for my first read of the New Year.  The author is a descendant of the Ephrussi Family, a very wealthy banking dynasty that originated in Russia in the mid-1800s and expanded across Paris, Vienna and Britain.  The business was taken over in Austria by the Nazis and the family scattered across the globe. Throughout that timeframe, one of the author's great-uncles collected Japanese netsukes, small, intricate carvings that served as buttons to secure a man's kimono.  Edmund traces the path of these treasures he eventually inherits and along the way unveils the family history.

I loved how he used letters, official records, family stories and reminiscences to weave together the art and family.  I read the version with pictures of the netsukes and family photos that made what would have been a historical accounting into a fascinating, melancholy tale of a time, a place and a family.

The author is a renowned ceramic pottery artist and his eye for art and craftsmanship carries over to his descriptions of the characters and their lives.  I found it a fascinating read.

Published: 2010  Read: January 2022  Genre: Memoir

The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World - Laura Imai Messina

 I loved this story, though it was sad, it shows the evolution of grief from different perspectives and the ultimate ability of people to go on.  Yui, a young mother, loses her small daughter and mother during a tsunami.  She travels to the site to a phone booth where those who have lost someone talk to their relatives on the "wind phone" - unconnected but voices are carried on the wind.  She meets Takeshi who has lost his wife to illness and his daughter to silence.  They heal themselves and each other sharing their grief.  A touching, yet uplifting read.

Quotes:

p 36 - "Time may pass, but the memory of the people we've loved doesn't grow old."

p 65 - "There must be an expiration date on the soul like there is on the body."

p 75 - "Yui knew that the strongest kind of love is the kind that is taken for granted."

p 106 - "A famous citation from the American psychotherapist Virginia Satir (1916-1988) reads: 'We need four hugs a day for survival.  We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. And we need twelve hugs a day for growth."

p 111 - ...the things you end up missing most about somebody when they're gone are their flaws: the most ridiculous annoying things."

p 158 - "Anyone who has experience great grief wonders at some point which is more difficult, learning or unlearning ...now she was sure it was the second."

p 223 - "As Yui opened the door onto the dense silence of her house, she concluded that memories were like objects...sooner or later, they always floated back to the surface."

p 260 [Yui on the radio] "You speak to people, but you don't know who's listening to you.  But you come into their home and make them happy anyway. 'I don't know about happy, but they certainly feel like they have some company.' 'Isn't that the same thing?'"

p 364 - "Ultimately, that was what he wished for everyone who came there--that each person would find a place where they could tend to their pain and heal their wounds.  That place would be different for each one of them."

Published: 2021  Read: December 2021  Genre: Fiction

Pachinko - Min Jin Lee

This book is a history lesson of Koreans who lived in Japan from shortly before WWII through the 1980s.  I had not known they were treated as 2nd class citizens, even those born and raised over multiple generations.  To cover the time frame, the book is over 500 pages and at times dragged on without moving the story forward.  Often chapters would end and jump ahead many years without any transition.  I liked learning about this period but felt it could have been covered in fewer pages.

Published:  2017  Read: September 2018  Genre: Fiction

The Hummingbird - Stephen Kiernan

Finally, a wonderful read!  It's been a slow year without much sure-fire reads.  This book was very satisfying.

This is the story of a hospice nurse who goes to care for an elderly history professor who is dying of cancer.  Her caring spirit is tested by his sarcastic, negative banter.  When she returns home after work, she must deal with a husband suffering from PTSD after having served in Iraq multiple tours.
She breaks down the barriers built by the professor by reading his unpublished manuscript that describes the bombing of the Oregon coast by a Japanese pilot during WWII and the subsequent relationship of the town and the pilot in the post war aftermath.

Her compassion is absolutely inspiring.  The author lets us know how she feels yet contrasts it with how she reacts, both to the professor and her husband.  There are lessons to be learned here.  Highly recommended read, my pick for best so far this year.

Published: 2015  Read: May 2016  Genre: Fiction