Books
-
Madeleine L’Engle 1918 – 2007
I know, I said I was on Hiatus…but really, the reason was that I had nothing new to say. Plenty to say, but nothing new.  We’ll see how the whole ‘hiatus’ thing goes. I could ignore the whole iPhone price reduction scandal, which was tempting to write about, but I couldn’t ignore the passing of one of my favorite authors of all time, Madeleine L’Engle. I think the first book I read of hers was A Wrinkle In Time. I loved the books in this series, loved reading about Meg, Charles, and the whole family. Loved that their mother was a smart, loving scientist. A Wrinkle in Time was written…
-
Gilead
I’ve always envied men who could watch their wives grow old. Boughton lost his wife five years ago, and he married before I did. His oldest boy has snow white hair. His grandchildren are mostly married. And as for me, it is still true that I will never see a child of mine grow up and I will never see a wife of mine grow old. I’ve shepherded a good many people through their lives, I’ve baptized babies by the hundred, and all that time I have felt as though a great part of life was closed to me. Your mother says I was like Abraham. But I had no…
-
Seconds Book Challenge
Joy over at Thoughts of Joy has issued a tempting little challenge…when I first saw it, I thought, what, another challenge? NOOOOO!!! But I kept coming back to it, mentally…I would come across a book and think, hey, this could work… So, I’m diving in. The idea is to “read 3 books by authors that you have only read one other”, and the time frame is October, November, and December of 2007. I’m going to list 5 books, because I’m having trouble deciding, and vow to read at least 3 of them. How’s that? 🙂 My 3 books, then, and two alternates, are: March, Geraldine Brooks. I’m already reading this…
-
The Road
What if you lived your life for just one person? And that person lived just for you, so you were ‘each other’s world entire’? I think there’s a romantic sense of that feeling, of being consumed by a new love affair, a new baby, a feeling that without that person, life would not be worth living. But we all have other reasons to live, whether we acknowledge them or not. There are family, friends, helpful strangers, animals, nature, books, work, music, whatever it is that gets you through. But what if you didn’t? No family, no friends, no helpful strangers, no faith in God, not enough food, no clean water,…
-
Sepharad
Susan over at West of Mars has an interesting reading challenge…find a book that you would consider a ‘Hidden Treasure’, that has never been on any best seller list, read it, and let the world know about it. That sounded pretty good to me, because so often I see the same books popping up on people’s lists, over and over again…and while I love the feeling of community that comes from reading a book that other people know about, and can talk about together, it sounded like a great idea to search out something new. So I started looking around, and found a list at New York Magazine, The best…
-
My Name Is Red
My Name is Red is a somewhat convoluted murder mystery that takes place in late 16th century Istanbul. The main characters of the story are miniaturists, artists who draw and color the illustrations for books prior to the printing press, when books might be taken apart and rebound in a different sequence, depending upon who is paying for the story that is being told. The Sultan has commissioned a a new book, and he wants part of it to be painted in the new European style, showing things as they appear to people, rather than in the Ottoman tradition of showing the world through the eyes of Allah. For instance,…
-
The Giver
I’ve just finished the first book in my Book Awards Reading Challenge, The Giver. The Giver is a children’s book, written for kids about Maya’s age (aka, probably found in the young adult section in the library), and it won the Newbery Medal in 1994. The Giver is sort of science fiction, set in the future, and at first appears to be a Utopian setting. The main character is Jonas, a 12-year old boy. At the age of 12, children learn what their careers are going to be. A group of elders watches them for a couple of years prior to them turning 12, while they volunteer throughout the community,…
-
Admiration
Artwork by blueskysunburn I just started a summer read type book, The Sunday Wife, by Cassandra King. It’s the story of the wife of an up & coming preacher in small town Florida, who is strongly influenced by her friendship with one of the more powerful women in town, Augusta. Early on in the book, Augusta is reading from a book that the preacher husband has written. There’s a section of advice to women on how to keep their husbands happy. He longs for your praise and admiration more than anything. Brag on his accomplishments, tell him how much you admire him, and watch how he responds. Give him your…
-
Cloud Atlas
Wow. That’s the word I have for this book, just Wow. For a little background, I picked this book up quite awhile ago, probably at my favorite San Francisco bookstore, Green Apple Books. Green Apple is one of those independent bookstores where the smart and savvy employees write little comments on a note card, tempting you to make purchases you might not have otherwise made. Thus it was with me, and I made the purchase, brought the book home, put it in my TBR pile, and promptly forgot about it. Months later, I picked it up, and started in. Chapter one was kind of boring, and I gave up and…
-
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wins the Orange Prize for Half of a Yellow Sun!
Ms. Adichie, from the website for her book. Dewey over at The Hidden Side of a Leaf has interviewed me about my recent read, Half of a Yellow Sun. Coincidentally, I recently found out that Half‘s author won the Orange Prize for this book! She’s only 29 years old, so this makes her the youngest author ever to be awarded the Orange Prize, AND, I believe she is the first African to be awarded this honor. So, to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, I say, CONGRATULATIONS!
-
Scarlett’s Trilogy
While researching my list for the challenge, I noticed that Gone With The Wind won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. I have mentioned a few times of my love for Gone With The Wind, how I’ve read it over and over again, how I can open it at almost any point in the narrative, and know exactly what’s going on. I have to say, though, that I have always felt a bit guilty for loving it, because of the racism of the writing, in addition to an overly romanticized view of the ‘gentility’ of the antibellum south. And yet…I’m sucked in. Sucked in so completely that I can’t resist a…
-
Book Awards Reading Challenge
I discovered a new book reading challenge that I’m all over like a cheap suit…this one is called the Book Awards Reading Challenge. Coincidentally, Ted got me hooked last week on yet ANOTHER internet timesuck, which would be goodreads, where you can keep track of all of the books that you ever remember reading, look at what your friends are reading, compare your lists and ratings with them, and figure out what NEW books you might want to read. Fun, huh? Definately. (Mom, it looks like you can upload your spreadsheet maybe…if you want another time suck in your life. 😉 ) Back to the challenge…this challenge is to read…
-
Half of a Yellow Sun
Last night, I finished the second book in my Chunkster Challenge, Half of a Yellow Sun, in which the author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells the story of the small, short lived nation of Biafra. Biafra tried to seperate itself from Nigeria in a horrible civil war, from 1967 – 1970. Nigeria received support from the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, while Biafra was supported covertly by France, Rhodesia and South Africa. While Nigeria certainly had military superiority, they mainly won victory by shutting off borders and shooting down relief planes, causing a famine that killed over a million people. It was from the horrors of Biafra that the humanitarian…
-
Madame Bovary
(image from stereototal.com) I’ve finally finished Madame Bovary, just 2 months late for the Winter Classics Challenge. I have no idea why it took me so long to read this book, why I had so much trouble becoming engrossed in it, especially as I have read it before, perhaps 15 years ago, and I loved it then…so why don’t I love it now? Is it because I’m older now, and not as sympathetic to the youthful Emma Bovary? Or, as a married woman, I’m not as forgiving of a woman who strays from her marriage so readily? Or, maybe, I already know the story, and I’m out of touch with…
-
Marguerite Duras
The other day, I was flipping through the latest New Yorker, and I came across a short story by Marguerite Duras, The Stolen Pigeons. My first thought was, “Hey, I thought Duras was dead?” Well, I was right about that, she died in 1996. I didn’t know that the New Yorker published fiction by dead authors…I mean, there are so many LIVE authors out there, who would LOVE to get their work published in the New Yorker, so why go with someone who doesn’t care? I guess this gives me away, and you all know now that I don’t read the New Yorker closely every time…just look for anything interesting,…