Hi, our new Oprah pick, "A Mountain Of Crumbs" by Elena Gorokhova is a Memoir that defines how family shapes us forever.
The author shares fifteen great family photographs on page 215 that really help us see how her upbringing in Russia shaped her life. Though her life was in some ways harsh, cold and barren of any luxuries she was filled with treasures of the heart.
The author portrays how the love of her mother helped her develop confidence even in the middle of a confining Communist regime that limited so many aspects of Elena's life.
As I begin this Memoir I am reminded of my own family history and how regardless of my intense problems as a child It was always the love of my parents and other relatives that granted me inner strength too.
Let's be inspired by this new Oprah pick, I'll blog again soon, Take care everyone and stay inspired, Leslie
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Our new Oprah pick for February-A mountain of crumbs by Elena Gorokhova
I just came back from the bookstore with our new February Oprah pick, "A Mountain of Crumbs" by Elena Gorokova. I still love the feel of a new hardback in my hands. I don't know what it is, but I think it might be the potential inspiration yet another writer will impart upon me.
On the cover jacket there's a quote by Billy Collins, the former U.S. Poet Laureate. " ...Gorokhova has written the Russian equivalent of "Angela's Ashes", an intimate story of growing up into young womanhood told with grace and humor." Well, it never hurts a writer to have our former National Poet Laureate praise the writing.
Although Elena grew up in St. Petersburg Russia, most of her life it was know as Leningrad, at the age of 24 she married an American and now lives--where else? New Jersey. A far cry from Russia, but if it's anything like the New Jersey I recall from my days living on the East Coast--there are a lot of people there with ancestors from Russia.
All of my relatives are from Russia. The older parts. Lithuania. So this should be an interesting read for me. The author dedicated her Memoir to her mother and I m planning to dedicate mine to my Mom too who recently passed away. OK here is a teaser: I love one of her opening lines on page 1.
"Born three years before Russia turned into the Soviet Union, my mother became a mirror image of my motherland:overbearing, protective, difficult to leave...She presided in our kitchen over a pot of borsch, a ladle in her hand, ordering us to eat in the same voice that made her anatomy students quiver. A survivor of the famine, Stalin's terror, and the Great Patriotic War, she controlled and protected,ferociously.
Let's read or if you can't get the book-feel free to comment on the blog anyway. Anyway, let's get inspired to be creative.
On the cover jacket there's a quote by Billy Collins, the former U.S. Poet Laureate. " ...Gorokhova has written the Russian equivalent of "Angela's Ashes", an intimate story of growing up into young womanhood told with grace and humor." Well, it never hurts a writer to have our former National Poet Laureate praise the writing.
Although Elena grew up in St. Petersburg Russia, most of her life it was know as Leningrad, at the age of 24 she married an American and now lives--where else? New Jersey. A far cry from Russia, but if it's anything like the New Jersey I recall from my days living on the East Coast--there are a lot of people there with ancestors from Russia.
All of my relatives are from Russia. The older parts. Lithuania. So this should be an interesting read for me. The author dedicated her Memoir to her mother and I m planning to dedicate mine to my Mom too who recently passed away. OK here is a teaser: I love one of her opening lines on page 1.
"Born three years before Russia turned into the Soviet Union, my mother became a mirror image of my motherland:overbearing, protective, difficult to leave...She presided in our kitchen over a pot of borsch, a ladle in her hand, ordering us to eat in the same voice that made her anatomy students quiver. A survivor of the famine, Stalin's terror, and the Great Patriotic War, she controlled and protected,ferociously.
Let's read or if you can't get the book-feel free to comment on the blog anyway. Anyway, let's get inspired to be creative.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Oprah's pick portrays true acceptance of a mate
This is the last blog for " Committed" as we are on to our February pick!
But before unveiling the new find I should say that Gilbert skillfully unveiled the art of accepting your partner as they are. She relayed well that part of true love is simply acceptance.
On page 131 she wrote, " Maybe creating a big enough space within your consciousness to hold and accept someone's contradictions-someone's idiocies, even-is a kind of divine act. Perhaps transcendence can be found not only on solitary mountaintops or in monastic settings, but also at your own kitchen table, in the daily acceptance of your partner's most tiresome, irritating faults." As I enter my 23rd year of married life I find this sentiment all too true. I must love him warts and all as he accepts me warts and all.
Well...The February Oprah magazine highlights our new pick and it looks like a great memoir. The title is "Mountain of Crumbs" by Elena Gorokhova. In this work the author describes growing up in Russia in the 1960s. The former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins says Elena has written the "Russian equivalent of "Angela's Ashes" And J.M. Coetzee, the 2003 Nobel Prize winner in literature calls her memoir , " An enthralling read"
Since I am writing a memoir and all of my relatives are from Russia this work peaks my interest. I think it will be valuable to read about the common threads that stretch across culture and continents. I will be blogging in the next few days about this new book and hope to read your comments as we inspire each other to be creative and create yet again.
take care, Leslie
But before unveiling the new find I should say that Gilbert skillfully unveiled the art of accepting your partner as they are. She relayed well that part of true love is simply acceptance.
On page 131 she wrote, " Maybe creating a big enough space within your consciousness to hold and accept someone's contradictions-someone's idiocies, even-is a kind of divine act. Perhaps transcendence can be found not only on solitary mountaintops or in monastic settings, but also at your own kitchen table, in the daily acceptance of your partner's most tiresome, irritating faults." As I enter my 23rd year of married life I find this sentiment all too true. I must love him warts and all as he accepts me warts and all.
Well...The February Oprah magazine highlights our new pick and it looks like a great memoir. The title is "Mountain of Crumbs" by Elena Gorokhova. In this work the author describes growing up in Russia in the 1960s. The former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins says Elena has written the "Russian equivalent of "Angela's Ashes" And J.M. Coetzee, the 2003 Nobel Prize winner in literature calls her memoir , " An enthralling read"
Since I am writing a memoir and all of my relatives are from Russia this work peaks my interest. I think it will be valuable to read about the common threads that stretch across culture and continents. I will be blogging in the next few days about this new book and hope to read your comments as we inspire each other to be creative and create yet again.
take care, Leslie
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