The Empty Envelope

"Here is a little something for you," said the lady as she handed my daughter an envelope with her pay.  When my daughter opened the envelope, it was completely empty.  Whether the lady knew it was empty has been a comical debate in our house, whether the lady's children needed some cash has been proposed, or whether the lady's maids pocketed a nice tip has also been conjectured.  Alas, we will never know.  Now when something is not genuinely as it seems, we smile knowingly to each other and chirp, "Here is a little something for you."  

And not to bash the lady, she was surprisingly, perhaps inadvertently truthful, for "little" was the key operative word.   

Well, in much the same way, I offer book suggestions I enjoyed.  With the best of intentions, here are some reads that stimulated me, but they very well may be an empty envelope to you.   

An incredibly well-written account of human discipline and determination to explore an unmapped icy world.   Fast-paced.  Hampton Sides pens perfection.

 The overarching theme of this book is God's sweet presence bringing supernatural peace and miraculous rescues to the Marines in the battle for Iraq.  The war is ghastly and yet noble.  The Chaplain understands perfectly that the US military was granted a part in a bigger story, as they fought to free the oppressed people of Saddam's evil dictatorship.  God still declares liberty for the captives. 

 

I have never been a foodie, but the power of Reichl's descriptions make me want to be one.   Her growing up years were just as colorful as the recipes she describes making.  She intertwines her memoir with perfectly seasoned spice to make you crave more, and I succumbed.

A book named Garlic and Sapphires has to be good.   The cover designs gives you a clue of the author's journey of becoming a stranger to herself.  She tries on multiple personalities as easily as her outlandish disguises.   You'll get to sit down to savor some of the best cuisine in New York City as an armchair food critic.  Beware if you read it in bed, to not wipe your mouth on the bedsheet.

This book should be listened to on audio CD.  Robin Miles, the voice artist, makes the book sparkle with tenderness, humor, humility and sass.    A gripping account of overcoming blindness and a life of complicated choices.

The Communists' Long March is retold with the emphasis being on the women involved.   It is a tragic, but thoughtful tale of woe and extreme misery.   What makes this book unique is that it clearly doesn't vilify the ideology of the Communists, rather it tells of the hope the Communist women held for a better future.   The women's dreams were replaced with a living nightmare, but the fact they survived when tens of thousands of their comrade men didn't is remarkable.