MARY POPPINS by P.L. Travers

Welcome to the magical world of Mary Poppins. When I saw "Saving Mr. Banks" at the cinema last year I knew I had to read Mary Poppins. Until then I had no idea the book existed. My children grew up with the Mary Poppins movie and to this day all three of us can quote her verbatim. Early this year I visited my favourite book store and there on the shelf sat The Complete Mary Poppins, six books in one volume. I knew it had to be mine. It still took me a few months to actually start reading it. I discovered two things completing the first installment of this magical no nonsense nanny. Firstly, Mary Poppins was somewhat of a grouch speaking and treating the children in a constant cross manner. The children seemed to respond to this treatment very well though as their disciplined behaviour shows. The movie's portrayal of her seemed to be a softer version. Secondly, Mary Poppins brings with her a stream of magical characters. Perhaps it is this and her curious existence that offsets her cross manner and endears her to the children in her care. It certainly makes Jane and Michael's life incredibly interesting. There is so much more to this story than the movie was able to portray. Your inner child will find perfect escapism from the cares of the world in the pages of Mary Poppins. The imagination of children is infectious and all children possess this unique quality that unfortunately somehow gets lost as they grow older. I admire people who can retain this quality, however, and carry it with them throughout their adulthood. If "Saving Mr. Banks" gave a correct portrayal of P.L. Travers, one can be convinced that this quality in adults is what we call eccentricity for it was obvious that the author of Mary Poppins leaned that way. The more I think about P.L. Travers and her prickly manner, the more convinced I become that she IS Mary Poppins. If you see "Saving Mr. Banks",which I highly recommend, you will understand her life and you will see why she invented this magical nanny that has the power to save the father of the story, the power she no doubt desperately wished she had in real life. The book it seems was never about saving the children but about saving the father. I am yet to get to that important part of the story as I wade through 5 more installments of the most famous nanny of them all. Couldn't wait any longer though to recommend the talent and magical imagination of P.L. Travers.

WE ARE WATER by Wally Lamb

I was conflicted reading this book. My love of Wally Lamb's style of writing conflicted highly with my aversion for swearing and non-acceptance of homosexuality. This book, however, captured my attention and I could not put it down once I started it because of its' perfect portrayal of the complexities of our society. Wally Lamb is a brilliant writer and a master of introspection which he employs as a medium for his storytelling. It was clear to me as I read this captivating story, that this book exposes the effects of our attempt to emancipate ourselves from God and His laws. As a society we have successfully removed ourselves from good old Christian values we used to live by and in the process we have shot ourselves in the foot. I think, however, that this was not Wally Lamb's intention. He cites on several occasions 'it is what it is', meaning this is the way things are, without judgement and prejudice, because nothing is ever simple, or can be justified or can be explained away. To me as a Christian striving to adhere to God's very wisely given commandments, it IS simple. If we had not removed God from our lives we would not have filled our world with crime, violence, unwanted pregnancies, addictions, alcoholism, drug abuse, pornography, sexual diseases, murder, rape, pedophilia and the list goes on. This book deals with most of these. Annie Oh, the protagonist, is a sexual abuse victim who turns to a lesbian lifestyle after 27 years of marriage; her husband Orion Oh, is a product of an unwanted pregnancy of his teenage mother and married father who would not face his fatherhood responsibility and would have nothing to do with his unwanted child; their oldest daughter, Ariane, is desperate for a child with a string of failed relationships with men who refuse to marry her (and why would they when sex is so freely given) so she resorts to artificial insemination; their son Andrew who is physically abused by his mother during his growing up years and ends us murdering his mother's childhood abuser; their youngest daughter Marissa, is a sexually promiscuous alcoholic; Annie's father is a chronic alcoholic who could never get over his wife's death; Annie's cousin and abuser, Ken, was abandoned by his father in his youth and abused on ongoing basis by the babysitter turning him into a pedophile. As I said, this book is heavy going but so accurately indicative of the world we live in. It is confronting but in my opinion also a call to examine the standards and values we are living by in this 21st century and where they are leading us.