The Submission by Amy Waldman

This book has been on my To Be Read list for a really long time and I finally stopped putting it off. I thought that the story line sounded so intriguing and I kept putting it off because I didn't want to be disappointed. The Submission is the story of an architect who submits a design to be considered for the 9/11 Memorial. His entry is entitled "The Garden". A jury, comprised of local politicians, art critics and family members is created to select the winning Memorial design. All entries are anonymous until selection. Upon choosing " The Garden" for the 9/11 Memorial, the jury discovers that the architect behind the design is a Muslim. The story is about many kinds of submissions. The entry itself - the Garden - sounds like everything one would imagine a Memorial to be - a place for reflection, remembrance and healing. It is also the story of Mohammed Khan, the architect, who submits himself to public scrutiny after his design is selected. There are several characters who accept public review and rebuke of their opinions about The Garden and it's designer. It's an interesting question - should a American citizen - who happens to be a Muslim - be allowed to create the Memorial for the victims of that awful day. I'm sure you can imagine what happens in the course of the book - the public outcry both in support and opposition to the selection of The Garden. In the end though, I found it hard to connect to any of the characters. Mohammed Khan was difficult to get to know, being alien and somewhat reclusive. Claire, the widow on the jury, at first supports and even actively advocates for the Garden. The story is a reflection of the inner struggles that people face between doing what they know to be right and their inner fears and bigotry. Many of the characters, from the mayor's man who tries to "solve" the problem to the members of "Save America from Islam" seem like trite literary devices to proves the author's point. What started out with such high hopes, did in fact end in disappointment.

Something Borrowed

I don't usually read this type of book, but it was light and I thought I would give it a try. This is a story about love and friendship. Darcy and Rachel have been best friends Forever. Then Rachel introduces selfish, party girl Darcy to her law school Crush, Dex. Dex and Darcy become involved and later we found out, as Dex and Darcy are planning their wedding, that Dex and Rachel still have feelings for one another. The result is a complicated story of love, friendship and following your heart.

I will say that this is one of the rare instances where I felt the movie was better. I loved the cast and they even managed to make wishy-washy Rachel and passive- aggressive Dex appealing characters. This is a pass for a book, but a cute movie.

Forgot One....

I read the first book in the series earlier this year, and then this sequel sometime this summer. However, I forgot to list this one.

I really liked the initial story of Sam and Grace. It was sweet, original and romantic. Then I read the sequel. Everything that the original was not. Trite and predictable.

I won't be reading the next book in the series, which is really sad because I really cared about the characters initially. This is yet another example of how commercialism spoils an otherwise great story.

The Lion

I love Nelson DeMille. The Gold Coast and Charm School are favorites of mine and the Generals' Daughter is another great book. I had been hearing a lot of buzz on the radio and such about the follow up to this book called The Lion. Since I had never read this one, I wanted to give it a go before reading the sequel.

It is a very intruiging story about a terrorist and the FBI agents working to stop him. Unlike John Updikes' The Terrorist, I find it almost impossible to relate in any way to the Lion. DeMille goes off on this tangent to explain what "made" the Lion choose to be a terrorist and he talks about the 1986 bombing of Libya. Of course, the Lion's family was among those that were killed in the attacks on Gaddafi.
I remember 1986. I remember what inspired that air raid - the West German bombing of a disco killing 2 American service men and wounding two hundred others. Then of course there was the Gulf of Sidra incident and the now infamous "line of death" comments by Gaddafi and let's not forget how Gaddafi supporting the killing of hundreds of US Marines stationed as Peace keepers in Lebannon just a few years before.

No question about it, DeMille is a master story teller but this American has no interst in sympathizing in any way with a terrorist like the Lion. I won't be reading the sequel. What a disappointment really.