by Eleanor Lippman

 

The first time I ever heard my father tell a lie, I outright confronted him. I was just a little kid.

Apparently, he was embarrassed and uncomfortable about being caught by a little kid who heard him not telling the truth but it was too late to change what he had said earlier.

My father had been immersed in a long telephone conversation. It sounded to me to be very complicated and very emotional. At times he was angry and then he would speak in a measured, patient voice. Then there would be a long silence as he listened to what the caller was saying. Then more talking, more listening, and finally, he said something that even I, as a little kid, knew was not true.

I did not understand what they were talking about as it was all very grown-up talk, too complicated for a little person. But I do remember listening to my father, my favorite human being, my idol, tell a blatant lie. After he hung up the phone, in my prissy little voice, I asked him, already knowing he had told a lie to someone.

He paused and looked at me and realized he had some explaining to do. He had to scramble to justify what he had said.

I was a little kid and usually, in situations like this, he would pull me onto his lap and surrounded by his strong arms, he’d talk to me. His lap-side conversations always began with him singing a refrain of the song from the musical “Guys and Dolls”. “I love you a bushel and a peck,” was his love song to me. This time, no song. He talked to me face to face, with a face more serious than I ever remembered. I stood there and he kneeled down to be at my eye level, his cornflower blue eyes staring directly into my hazel eyes.

His tried to explain the difference between a bald-faced lie, a little white lie, and a fib. He gave example after example, each time simplifying the back story and inventing an outcome with each showing that a big lie was hurtful and caused serious damage while a little while lie could be kind and comforting. A fib was just impertinence, a little jab to the heart. It was all very confusing to me and my face must have revealed that I still couldn’t tell the difference.

“So let me try again,” he would say and careen off to another story. No better. In my simple mind, a lie was a lie. A bald faced lied was big and bold, a white lie gentle, and a fib was a sort of joke. It didn’t make very much sense to me, a little kid who only saw things in black and white.

But he was my father, my hero, and if he said he was just telling a harmless fib, well, I guess it did not hurt anyone. (Or did it?)

by Debbie Adler

Happy Lunar New Year! The Year of the Wood Snake begins on January 29, 2025 and is a time for growth, creativity, and introspection. Let’s harness the energy of the Wood Snake by spending more time in the library!

Special thanks to library patron Janice Williams for researching the book display topic and bibliography for January: CHINA.

Why do Chinese novels stand out in the literary world? Chinese novels are often celebrated for their rich storytelling, intricate and complex character development, and deep cultural insights. By embedding their culture, beliefs, and historical contexts into their narratives, Chinese authors not only showcase the beauty and complexity of their heritage but also invite readers to reflect on universal themes of love, conflict, and morality.

January’s book display features Lisa See, who is acclaimed for her richly drawn characters and vivid storytelling. Lisa See’s Shanghai Girls chronicles the lives of two sisters who come to Los Angeles in arranged marriages and face, among other things, the pressures put on Chinese-Americans during the anti-Communist mania of the 1950s. The sequel, Dreams of Joy, focuses on Pearl’s daughter Joy who travels to Shanghai to find her birth father, heedless of the dangers in the Communist regime and the Great Leap Forward.

Lisa See’s latest novel, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, became a Goodreads nominee for Best Historical Fiction. Set in 15th-century China under the Ming Dynasty, the novel is inspired by the true story of a woman physician who struggled to break free from traditions imposed by her arranged marriage in order to help women with their illnesses.

More to explore:

Melissa Fu’s Peach Blossom Spring, a beautifully rendered novel about war, migration, and the power of telling our stories, Peach Blossom Spring follows three generations of a Chinese family on their search for a place to call home.

Eve Chung’s Daughters of Shandong, a propulsive, extraordinary novel about a mother and her daughters’ harrowing escape to Taiwan as the Communist revolution sweeps through China. This is Eve Chung’s debut novel based on her family story.

James Zimmerman’s The Peking Express, the thrilling true story of train-robbing revolutionaries and passengers who got more than they paid for in this Murder on the Orient Express style adventure, set in China’s Republican Era.

Helen Zia’s The Last Boat out of Shanghai, the dramatic real life stories of four young people caught up in the mass exodus from Shanghai in the wake of China’s 1949 Communist revolution.  The lives of these men and women are marvelously portrayed, revealing the dignity and triumph of personal survival.

Happy New Year and happy reading from the library volunteers!

Pictured is Liz Caldwell, library volunteer extraordinaire!