riverECHO

Three very different books, three very different stories, one main topic of the injustice and inequality that Aborigines have faced over the last one hundred years.

I highly recommend Jackson’s Track. Daryl Tonkin shares the history of his life in the bush in Southern Australia. Working and living with aborigines in a family owned logging business, he falls in love with life on the track as a bushman and with an aboriginal woman. He stands as a witness as his friends, companions and new family are mistreated by government authorities and “saved” by missionaries and the Aboriginal Protection Board. It is a sad story but captivating. I couldn’t put it down.

I’m having a hard time forming an opinion on “Mutant Message from Down Under” by Marlo Morgan. The author heads out on a 4 month trek across Australia with an aboriginal tribe who teaches her how to live off of the land, make do with what each day brings, and to grow a spiritual relationship with the land and its animal occupants. Her depiction of the trek is engaging and some of the things she shares about how the aboriginal tribe she is with eats, heals and communicates are incredible. It’s a book that makes you rethink the material things we deem important in life. Apparently there was a lot of controversy with the validity of her story and in order to not reveal the group of aborigines whom she traveled with, she chose to file the story under fiction. Given the choice to believe it or not, I suddenly had a bunch of unanswered questions for her and I found it almost frustrating in the end. Skip this one and read “Jackson’s Track.”

I watched the movie “Rabbit Proof Fence” in a class many years ago, but I can’t remember it very well. I picked up the book by Doris Pilkington at a used book store. It’s an incredible story about three sisters born from a European father and an Aboriginal mother who are kidnapped by the government from their families to be sent away to school in the 1930s. In those days, the government claimed responsibility for all aboriginal children. Upon arriving at the school, which they describe as a prison, they immediately escape and walk over 1500 kilometers back home. It’s an amazing story and a very quick read.

OMG . . . this is like totally the best book ever.

Actually, I’m serious. I read this while we were in China visiting Brandon and Jen and couldn’t put it down. Minus all the vampires, I was suddenly back in high school worrying about what I was going to wear and giddy about what would happen if I ran into my latest crush. This is not the type of book to read if you are looking for award winning literature. But I guarantee you will have fun with it. Word to the wise . . . skip the movie.

This is the second in this new trilogy that we got sucked into when leaving Queenstown. After finding this on the rack in the Sydney airport, I figured I had to pick it up since I had just read the first one a month ago and we were heading into countries where I wasn’t sure of the availability of books in the English language. After reading this second piece of the trilogy, I am now sure to finish. I guess I’m finding out that I like the total escape that a well written crime fiction novel brings to the day. I couldn’t put this book down while we were in Railay and I am already looking forward to the release of the third book. Be sure to read the first book before you pick this one up so that you can know what is going on!

On the way out of Nelson, I had started another book about Google and its business practices. Yet, with the mindset of an upcoming vacation and with my feet hitting the road, I just couldn’t get into it. So, in the Auckland airport I picked up this unsuspecting international best seller. Being a fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers as a kid growing up (who wasn’t), and having never read an autobiography of someone having lived the “rock star” life it was an eye opener. Anthony Kiedis leaves nothing to the imagination and is very raw in sharing his life of sex, drugs and rock and roll with you. I can definitely say that I would have never traded my “normal” life for his “rock star” status. Listening to the albums that used to play over and over in Junior High and High School again after reading this book brings much more out of them. Obviously, if you were ever into the Red Hot Chili Peppers, this is a must read.

This was a completely random grab from a Post Shop / Bookstore on our way to Abel Tasman. I knew I was going to finish the book that I was taking in and wanted to be sure that I had another for our long and dark evenings in the huts. With about 20 seconds to scan the counter, I picked up what I thought was a fictional story about about drug smuggling in Thailand. What it turned out to be was a true account of one of the largest smugglers of marijuana into California in the late 1980’s. Although it did turn out to be “highly” entertaining, I doubt I would have even noticed it in any other circumstances. Amazon doesn’t even have it listed. Yet, it did have a great account of some of the places that we will be visiting in the month’s ahead.

On our way out of Queenstown, we stopped by Duncan’s house (Lisa’s “boss” at Mount Edward) to pick up some wine and say goodbye.  His wife was still in her robe after noon that day as she has been in bed all morning reading this book.  They both highly recommended it and as fate would have it, we stumbled across it in a used book store on our drive up to Punakaiki.  I’ve never really read a fictional crime novel and found that I really enjoyed it.  It is the first in a trilogy and I’m sure to be finding the others as they become available.  A great way to get into another world and completely disconnect from the day to day.

Although it took me two tries to get into it at first, I became obsessed with this book. It was by far one of the most amazing stories I have ever read and I was so sad when it finally ended. Wild Swans is a memior told by Jung Chang who was born in China in 1952. She shares her life story as well as the story of her mother and grandmother, all of whom come to question the brutal and brain-washing regime of Mao. Although Jung grows up in an elite sector at the time, her privileges and rights are soon wiped out. Her mother is detained and tourtured, her father sent to a prison camp and her grandmother left to take care of five young children. Jung is left with no choice but to join the Red Guards and face a country whose people have turned ugly from the inside out. This is one of those stories that makes me appreciate the freedom that we do have.

My little sister recommended this book to my mom who recommended this book to me and it just so happened that it was sitting invitingly on the book shelf when we moved in to our new batch on the beach. I ripped through my last book just so I could start this one and I have been in a land of laughter ever since. Water for Elephants was truly a pleasure to read. Although my favorite scenes take place while Jacob is having realizations that he is an old man, either 93 or 91, in his nursing home, the book is filled with adventure and excitement which left me eager to pick it back up again every time I set it down. I would recommend this to anyone looking to go on a little armchair vacation.

Lisa picked this book up as she had heard about the author over the years and has always wanted to read something by him. When she found that he had written about his travels in Australia, and that we will soon find ourselves there, she figured it was time. I picked the book up as I wanted a break from the business books I had been into lately…and it was exactly what I was after. Bryson has a wit about as dry, dangerous and direct as Australia itself. His accounts of the places, the people and the history that make up Australia are both hillarious and informative. This was a perfect book to start to explore the vastness of Australia and what we should be looking into before we land in Sydney this September. If nothing else, Bryson has only confirmed my ignorance of how HUGE of a place Australia is and how overlooked it is in the larger world. If you are going to find yourself in Australia anytime soon, I’d definitely read this. Its quick and fun, with numerous tidbits that will add a depth of understanding to the things you will find before you go. When we left home, I was thinking of skipping Australia…now I can’t wait to get there!

This one was a little hard to get into. The story was interesting but the writing seemed a little uninspired. About halfway through, however, it became hard to put down and I finished the second half in a weekend. Not a very uplifting story, it’s about a couple who give birth to twins, one of which has Down syndrome. The husband, scared that his child will die young, decides to “save” the family from this grief and gives the daughter away, all the while telling his wife that this child died at birth. The story spans over twenty years and at times is frustrating and sad and at others happy, throughout bringing up issues that would touch any parent or person in a relationship.