Weekend Blog Hops - 22 April 2017

Would you stop reading a book if an element of the plot strongly clashed with your personal beliefs, or would you continue reading until you finished?

I would keep reading. One of the joys of reading is the opportunity it offers to experience cultures and situations different from those with which you are familiar. Another person's beliefs don't threaten my own. It's interesting to see the world from diverse points of view.

 

Opening sentence:
Like oversized birds, we balanced on our respective branches, each of us with a plastic container in one hand and a feather brush in the other.

From page 56:
Noses often grow at their own pace in young people, leaping ahead of the rest of the body, but now it suited his face, his features had grown into place around it.

 

My Current Read

The History of Bees

Maja Lunde

 
In the spirit of Station Eleven and Never Let Me Go, this dazzling and ambitious literary debut follows three generations of beekeepers from the past, present, and future, weaving a spellbinding story of their relationship to the bees—and to their children and one another—against the backdrop of an urgent, global crisis.

England, 1852. William is a biologist and seed merchant, who sets out to build a new type of beehive—one that will give both him and his children honor and fame.

United States, 2007. George is a beekeeper fighting an uphill battle against modern farming, but hopes that his son can be their salvation.

China, 2098. Tao hand paints pollen onto the fruit trees now that the bees have long since disappeared. When Tao’s young son is taken away by the authorities after a tragic accident, she sets out on a grueling journey to find out what happened to him.

Haunting, illuminating, and deftly written, The History of Bees joins these three very different narratives into one gripping and thought-provoking story that is just as much about the powerful bond between children and parents as it is about our very relationship to nature and humanity.