Screw You, Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Downtown Pittsburgh from the North Shore, in the summer
Photo credit: Me, ya'll.

I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And I mostly love living here. It's a beautiful city, there are tons of things to do, greats restaurants, bars, cultural attractions, parks, bike trails, awesome sports teams, blah, blah, blah. But you know what? Pittsburgh is the worst place on Earth in the middle of winter. As I type this the current temperature is 6. (That is what we call bullshit.) The HIGH for the week is 25. By the time February arrives, Pittsburghers haven't seen the sun in two months. We're all a little depressed* (like, the entire city) and weird and longing for spring. Oh, the things I would do for a fresh-picked tomato or snappy green pepper or basil not from a tube. Exercise helps, but I miss riding my bike and walking in the snow sucks.

Let's read some books based in nice, warm climates!

Island Beneath the Sea, Isabel Allende

Music is a wind that blows away the years, memories, and fear, that crouching animal I carry inside me.

Island Beneath the Sea begins on the island of Saint-Domingue (modern-day Haiti), with the child of an African slave mother and sailor father, Tete. As she grows up amid the brutality of slavery and sugarcane plantations, Tete finds comfort where she can, including through music and voodoo. Purchased by the complicated Frenchman, Toulouse Valmorain, ostensibly for his wife, Tete ends up being intertwined in Valmorain's for over four decades. Decades that include their flight from Saint-Lazare plantation, a slave uprising and the raucous streets of New Orleans. I loved reading about life on the island, but it is the story that happens in New Orleans (my favorite city, besides my own) that is fascinating. And New Orleans in the early 1800s was clearly something to see!

Latin American Trilogy, Louis de Bernieres

At last the time came for them to make the arduous journey to Valledupar, a city so frivolous that the natives hung pineapples on lemon tress to confuse the tourists, and the same place that General Fuerte's donkey had once given birth to kittens.

Some of the words used to describe this trilogy: luxuriant, ebullient, joyful, lunatic, derivative, spellbinding, passionate, innovative, astonishing, a rare gem, humorous, magnificent, sly, and quirky. Each book takes place in the same fictional South American village, yet are very different tales. The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts is about diverting a river to fill a swimming pool. And crushing poverty. Senor Vivo and the Coco Lord is about South American drug trafficking , murder, corruption and love. And a professor who can talk to jaguars. The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman is about a violent, Inquisition-like feud between the Catholic clergy and the "heretics" in the countryside. And the climatic scene involves several hundred friendly black jaguars. All three books are at turns magical, riotous and moving- and a ton of fun.

Molokai and Honolulu, Alan Brennert

What's it like? Being married?

Cold feet. Middle of the night you're sleeping, suddenly, wham, you've got ice cold feet warming themselves on the back of your legs.

Winter reading from Hawaii. Okay, so one of the books is about a leper colony. Hey, I said the books were from warm climates, I didn't say they were cheerful. Moloka'i follows the life of Rachel, who is sent to Kalaupapa on the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i when she is 7 years old. Kalaupapa is leprosy settlement made famous by (Saint) Father Damien. Rachel is fostered, educated and eventually married- building a whole life while watching loved ones die from the dreaded disease. Honolulu tells the little known story of "picture brides" or young girls from Korea sent to Hawaii for arranged marriages. As you can imagine, these didn't always work out as planned. Shit, plenty of un-arranged marriages are train wrecks. But I digress. Aside from beautiful, exotic locations, both of these books benefit from Brennert's encyclopedic knowledge of Hawaii- particularly it's history and culture. (He has a new novel coming out in April, but it's based in New Jersey so it has no place on this warm weather list.)

The Book of Night Women, Marlon James

Homer was the mistress' personal slave and many of the evil things that happen to her was because the mistress was so miserable that she make it her mission to make everybody 'round her miserable as well.

More sugar plantations! It's kind of depressing that so many books about the islands focus on slavery. I was kind of surprised that The Book of Night Women didn't get more attention when it was published in 2009 because it is intense, the writing is raw and a little vicious. This time we are in 18th century Jamaica with the darkly powerful slave Lilith. When a group of slaves planning to revolt recognize this, a chain of dramatic events are set off, changing the island and the women forever. The descriptions of plantation life, the intricacies, manners, secrets and rules are intriguing and unimaginable.

Life of Pi, Yann Martel

I have a story that will make you believe in God. 

In the interest of full disclosure, this is my favorite book. Ever. Of all time. Whenever I'm feeling down, I reread it; it's that book for me. (It is also the very first movie I saw in 3D. Welcome to my vacuum.) I also met Yann Martel and he's as lovely as his writing. Basic story: Pi Patel grows up in Pondicherry, India where his family owns a zoo. Due to political strife, they decide to take themselves and their zoo to Canada via boat (you know where that's going, right?) Yes, the boat sinks; leaving Pi to fend for himself on a life boat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Adrift on the Pacific Ocean for 227 days, Pi survives by writing, by battling with Richard Parker, and accepting or at least figuring out his own place in the food chain. I finished this at a public swimming pool, literally sobbing in public. Because I'm cool like that. Go see the movie, too. Ang Lee did an amazing job.

Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Tell him yes. Even if you are dying of fear, even if you are sorry later, because whatever you do, you will be sorry all the rest of your life if you say no. 

This is my second favorite book. It's a love story that spans 6 decades! In an unnamed port city near the Caribbean, a young man, Florentino Ariza falls in love with the warm, beautiful Fermina Daza; and she with him. But alas, despite her passionate love for Florentino she takes the safe route, marrying the wealthy doctor Urbino. And so the devastated Florentino waits and waits and waits. He waits for over 50 years. In the meantime, he does "succumb" to 622 short-term affairs, but never takes his eye off the prize of Fermina. Marquez himself warned readers not to fall into his "trap" of considering this simply a sentimental love story. It is also about the sickness that love can cause, aging, dying and the perils of marriage.

The Seamstress, Frances de Pontes Peebles

The chatterer reveals every corner of her shallow mind.

Set in Brazil during the 1920s, The Seamstress really is a delightful read. Two sisters, Emilia and Luiza dos Santos, are raised in poverty as seamstresses. Instead of accepting their lot, they take completely unexpected (and opposite directions) in life. One sister marries a rich landowner, another sister marries a Brazilian Robin Hood. Scheming politicians, society women, murderous landowners all have turns in this historical gem. However, at turns exploited and betrayed, the true story of The Seamstress is about the sister's bond- their courage and loyalty and their commitment to each other.

The Dancer Upstairs, Nicholas Shakespeare

He was neither good looking nor ugly, and while he would not have turned a young girl's head, someone older might have been struck by his face and the evidence of passion which had left its traces.

Based on the true story about the hunt for the leader of The Shining Path, Peru's notoriously murderous guerrilla organization, The Dancer Upstairs reminds a lot of readers of John LeCarre and Martin Cruz Smith, but I think Shakespeare's writing is more graceful and tense. Essentially, there are two stories happening. One (kind of hackneyed) is about a British journalist (John Dyer) interviewing  military policeman Augustn Rejas about the capture of President Ezequiel, the leader of a guerrilla warfare organization that terrorized Peru. The other story is about the actual search, the fight between the repressive government and the violence organization- which included murderous children, and Reyas' love for his daughter's ballet teacher- a women with secrets of her own. The Dancer Upstairs was also made into a movie, directed by John Malkovich and starring Javier Bardem. I've never seen it, so I can't say yea or nay. I also think the book cover is one of the sexiest I've seen.

The Light Between Oceans, M.L. Stedman

You only have to forgive once. To resent, you have to do it all day, every day. You have to keep remembering all the bad thing.

This is for my Australian readers. Because I am *big* in Australia. I know from my online photography group that it's beautiful in Australia right now. Because those jerks keep posting pictures of the beach. The Light Between the Oceans is about a couple living in an isolated lighthouse on Janus Rock (half a day from any civilization.) Tom and Isabel Sherbourne are much in love and very much want to have children. They get a child, but not quite in the way they anticipated. So begins a moving tale of adults making bad decisions. Isabel finds a baby (and a dead man) washed up on their shores. For her, there is no question that it's a gift from God, meant for them. Tom, on the other hand, wants to report the boat to the authorities. The Sherbournes do eventually return to the mainland, where they discover the consequences of their actions.

This post could also be titled "Magical Realism" or "Latin America, but Hawaii too." Also, as I finish this post (late, sorry) we have four-goddamn-inches of snow on the ground. *sigh*

*My little PSA for this month. As someone who has suffered from crippling depression in their life (hey there, 0.0 GPA) I know how alone you can feel. There's no reason to suffer. And there is absolutely no reason to ever hurt yourself. Sometimes you can't do it alone. That's all right.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
National Institute of Mental Health