BOOK: Other Colors by Orhan Pamuk

Other Colors: Essays and a Story by Orhan Pamuk

winner of the Nobel Prize

I read Pamuk's book Istanbul last year after I got back from my summer cruise, which included stops in Istanbul and Sirence, a small village in southern Turkey. I enjoyed the memoir and portrait of Istanbul immensely. It was not like any other book I'd read - full of imagery and descriptions, remembrances and anecdotes; I felt I'd been immersed in the melancholy and history of Istanbul that I'd only been able to visit for several hours.

This is Pamuk's first book since being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature last year. He is most known for his novels, including My Name is Red, Snow, and The Black Book. I am interested in reading his novels, because he defines himself as a novelist foremost. However, I've only read his nonfiction, and I've enjoyed both now.

This book is a collection of essays and pieces he has written over the years. They are divided into sections called Living and Worrying; Books and Reading; Politics, Europe,and Other Problems of Being Oneself; My Books are My Life; Pictures and Texts, and a few other assorted writings, including his speech at the Nobel ceremony, and one story.

I liked certain sections more than others. As I haven't read any of his novels, his discussions relating to the books weren't as interesting as if I had. Once I read one of his books, I'll go back and read about his view and hopes for each. The essays about his favorite books exposed me as being terribly unliterate, as I haven't read Dostoyevsky, Nabokov, Bernhard or Salman Rushdie. Still, his views and writings are enlightening, and rather deep.

The selections I enjoyed the most were the ones about Living and Worrying. A wide range of topics, from his daughter, to a seagull out his window, to the earthquake in 1999 that rocked Istanbul, Pamuk writes in a way that makes you identify with him, with humanity. We all feel the same way, think the same types of things, he just does it in a way that makes me think - why can't I put that thought into words in such a beautiful way? Some of these articles touch on themes from Istanbul, about the city, the river, the ferries, and his family.

One other major theme of Pamuk's involves identity and belonging. Istanbul has always been in the middle of the East and West of the world, and Pamuk as well struggles with his identity. As a Canadian, and from a small province, I can recognize the dilemma - so close to a dominant culture and a part of it, and yet different at the same time, and striving to maintain that sense of self, independent. It is very interesting to read his writings from the Western point of view, seeing how others, in the East, see us.

I enjoyed this book, especially as it reminds me of my wonderful trip. I got to see both Istanbul, in Europe, and Kusadasi and Sirence in the Asian part of Turkey. I read Pamuk before I knew he was a novelist; I was just looking for a book about Istanbul. Instead, I stumbled upon an amazing writer. His novels scare me a little, because they would be very 'literature' and I'm often not able to follow those strands of thought. His nonfiction, on the other hand, is very lovely. He thinks, and writes about many varied things, in a lyrical, magical way.

What's nice in a collection like this, is the varied topics and the number of essays, some of which are very short. There were some I didn't enjoy as much, but, turn the page, and there is another, new article which may engage you more. It is difficult ot summarize this book, because there is so much there. It is not often I get to read a book from a Turkish point of view, and I imagine his Nobel prize is partly that - beautiful writing that exposes the world to a unique point of view - western and eastern at the same time.
I loved visiting Turkey, and Pamuk's writing takes me back there. Incidently, I love the cover of the book. It is in black and white photo of Istanbul, with colored strips for the title. Very beautiful and wonderful play on the title. I jumped at the chance to get this review copy. I took all these pictures, except for the ones I am in, obviously, during our excursions.

ETC: Trailer Park Boys video clip

PEI is pretty quiet, all in all. Here's an example.

Eleven years ago, Gary Gormley killed Clifford McIver in a drug robbery with lots of scandal and some hint of homosexuality as McIver was gay. Gary was caught and convicted pretty easily, but the whole trial was front page news every day. Gary was a well known criminal around town, but considered a good old boy before the murder. His accomplice was the more hardened guy, but didn't do the actual killing. This story is not sounding like idyllic PEI at all.

Fast forward to two weeks ago. Gormley is now near the end of his life sentence, and he had declined parole, because he felt he wasn't ready for society. He is now at a minimum security jail just across the bridge in New Brunswick. So he 'escaped.' He's been on the loose for a while. Lots of rumors - he'd gone to Ontario to get the guys who told on him, he was on PEI because that's where he's from. But still no sightings at all.Today, he drove to the RCMP barracks in Stratford, a five minute drive from my house, to turn himself in. There were no police there, so he waited 15 minutes until they turned up. Back to jail he goes.

Kind of like this scene from the Trailer Park Boys, a local show from Nova Scotia that might air on Bravo or BBC America in the states.
Caution: bad, bad language. Really. I'm not just saying that. If coarse language upsets you, DO NOT watch this clip. If it doesn't bother you, enjoy! Notice how Julian always has a rum and coke in his hand.

Ricky trying to get arrested

MEME: music meme

It's a music Me!Me! that I got from famous99 She gave me S. I originally posted this at livejournal, but I hate to waste all that linking work, so I'll post it here as well. Song lyrics are like poetry, so that makes it book related.

Comment and I'll give you a letter. In your journal, list 10 of your favorite songs that begin with that letter.

Suicidewinder - Ridley Bent [my favorite song]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/19mxhd

Seasons of Love - Rent soundtrack [love the movie]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/thkv61

Sunday Morning After - Amanda Marshall [a little Canadian content]http://www.sendspace.com/file/oekcn0

Somebody Told Me - the Killers [the teeny bop in me]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/oewsdl

Speed of Sound - Coldplay [I teach physics!]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/eczv4e

Stan - Eminem [he repulses me, yet I am oddly compelled to listen]http://www.sendspace.com/file/uvcjfn

She Drives Me Crazy - Fine Young Cannibals [the 80s!!]http://www.sendspace.com/file/8sk3e7

Should I Stay or Should I Go? - the Clash [I'm not really punk though]http://www.sendspace.com/file/97f0e2

Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2 [classic]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/shaiha

Somewhere Only We Know - Keane [my recent hit]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/y2p4nu

This is hard to decide. I wanted to put Steady (as she goes), the live version, by the Raconteurs, but I'm cheap and only had a protected version I got for the free download of the week from iTunes. However, the second song I got from iTunes for free was Suicidewinder and I like it so much I bought Ridley Bent's album, Blam for myself. It's my favorite song, you should listen to it.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: a small peril

All That You Love Will Be Carried Away by Stephen King from the Everything's Eventual collection

King is known for his scary, horror stories, but he does poignancy as well as anyone. He has a way of connecting in little ways with people, his characters, that the reader immediately identifies with. That he can do this so well in a short story speaks to his talent.

Alfie Zimmer is driving, on the road. The story begins as he is checking into a motel in Kansas or Nebraska, somewhere in the desolate prairies. Alfie is typical midlife, Willy Loman salesman, questioning his life and meaning. The interesting quirk of Alfie is that he collects graffiti and studies it as poetry and humor, the comments on America. This was King's germ of an idea that built into a story. I enjoyed the poetry analysis that Alfie applies to his graffiti, and felt for Alfie as he deals with a crosssroads in his life.

EDIT TO ADD: I was thinking about graffiti: I have these wooden squares in my physics lab that I use to ration out the masking tape, because kids use masking tape like they don't have to buy it! Anyway, these little pieces of wood now have the funniest graffiti on them, and they crack me up when I read them. Of course, right now all the funny escapes me, but the witty, pithy comments of well done graffiti are poetry in themselves, especially the ones that get answered.

heh, a short review for a short story

BOOK: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Would you believe I had never heard of Neil Gaiman before this year? How is this possible? And I don't mean I hadn't read any of his books - never heard of the man. Then I read American Gods and I really enjoyed it, it had a real Stephen King quality to it. This is high praise from me. Then I read Coraline during the Once Upon a Time challenge and found it super creepy. And then I laughed my way through Good Omens, a tale of the apocalypse but in a funny way.
But I think I liked Neverwhere the best.

First of all, I really want to go to London. Gaiman uses the mythology present in England to fashion an amazing world, underneath London. The subway system is an integral part of this novel and I really want to ride the tube now. One night on his way to dinner with his fiance, Richard Mayhew comes across a woman, hurt on the sidewalk. He insists on helping her, and this becomes the most momentous decision in his life. He loses everything - his fiance, his home, his job, and his life on the upper levels of London. Because Richard has fallen through the cracks into the underside of London, where Knightsbridge is a Night Bridge, and angels and Friars and shadows and some really creepy people are hanging out. When you hear "Mind the Gap" you should take it serious.
Richard is soon on a quest with Hunter, and Lady Door and the marquis de Carabas in a battle underground. Gaiman has created the most amazing world and interesting characters and I enjoyed picking this up every time. Richard is a rather reluctant hero and I liked how his everydayness made him a realistic person. He doesn't do amazing feats, just is brave when necessary and thinks for himself.
So, hurrah for the RIP II challenge and me finding this great book. There was violence and some gory scenes, but the world underneath was amazing and Gaiman is an amazing writer to imagine this place just beneath our periphery.

MEME: Booking Through Thursday

Okay . . . picture this (really) worst-case scenario: It’s cold and raining, your boyfriend/girlfriend has just dumped you, you’ve just been fired, the pile of unpaid bills is sky-high, your beloved pet has recently died, and you think you’re coming down with a cold. All you want to do (other than hiding under the covers) is to curl up with a good book, something warm and comforting that will make you feel better.
What do you read?

(Any bets on how quickly somebody says the Bible or some other religious text? A good choice, to be sure, but to be honest, I was thinking more along the lines of fiction…. Unless I laid it on a little strong in the string of catastrophes? Maybe I should have just stuck to catching a cold on a rainy day….)

Do I want to cry? Cause it's Anne of Green Gables, and I'll just flip to a page with Matthew's name on it, and I'm blubbering.
If I just want to go into another world, it's probably Bridget Jones or maybe Evening Class by Maeve Binchy. Both of those I've read many times, which is what I'd want, comfort food, good old favorites, with happy endings.

BOOK: Tomorrow by Graham Swift

Tomorrow by Graham Swift

This is the first book I've read by Swift, but I see he won the Man Booker Prize for Last Orders in 1996; since I'm reading all of those, I'll have to add Last Orders to the near top of the list.

This will be tricky to describe, because the plot unfolds slowly and the big reveal takes quite a while - almost too long, I was getting a little frustrated waiting for Paula to finally tell her twins what the big news is. That's the premise of the book - a mother is lying awake the night before she and her husband plan to tell their children something. We get a glimpse into the life of this family - the Hooks, through some pivotal times in history and in their everyday life. The things that make a family, the remembrances and events that all together make up the thing called 'our family.'

The difficult part is I can't give away the big news, and that makes some of the questions I want to ask not possible. It takes over half the book to get there, and I'm not sure it was as big a deal as Paula thought. But then again, it's not me, so maybe it is for someone else. Part of the problem is that it seems commonplace, but, maybe not if it is specifically you that has to deal with it. So, overall, this was a good book, an insight into a couple, both born as the war ends in 1945, meeting and attending college during the late sixties, and having kids later in life - a real boomer story. The mom reminisces their story, rambling somewhat, posing a lot of questions, and filling her son and daughter into the events that led her and Mike up to this night.

In some ways, Paula and Mike define the baby boomers, in that the times they lived through were pivotal - the Pill, divorces, changes in science, parents aging, and are typically boomer issues, and sometimes I get a little tired of boomers dealing with their issues as if they are the most important issues and no one has had to live through what they have, and blah, blah, blah. Not that this is Swift's fault, he actually nails it very well, and he was born in England in 1949 so he knows of what he speaks. I don't want to give the wrong impression, there is a whole bunch more to this story and it was well written and compelling - I wanted to keep reading and find out the what and the why of the discussion for 'tomorrow'. Swift raises lots of philosophical questions of who we are and what makes us the people we are.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: a small peril

The Man in the Black Suit by Stephen King from the Everything's Eventual collection


I love how Stephen King recognizes the beauty of the nine, ten, eleven year olds. They are at a wonderful age, not a child anymore, just beginning to grow up, but not a teenager yet. They are smart and can think, but still have the wonder and belief in their eyes. (I have a nine year old son myself, so I can see these wonderful qualities for myself) some of his best stories involve this age as main characters - It and Stand By Me come to mind immediately. Philip Pullman also has a ten year old main character in Lyra, saving the world in His Dark Materials' Trilogy.


The Man in the Black Suit is the reminisces of an old man, to a day in 1914, when he was nine (of course) years old. It is a simple story, but told well. Only a nine year old could have this experience and tell it this way, because they don't question what they see, they know. And if a nine year old sees the devil, he knows. He doesn't convince himself that it is something else, or that he dreamed it, or he was mistaken. He knows he met the devil. This is that story.


King includes a little explanation with each story, because he truly has so much to tell. This story was his hommage to a Nathanial Hawthorne story Young Goodman Brown. If I were a more responsible reviewer, I would have also read the Hawthorne story, and compared and contrasted them and had a more complete review. That is not me, however, as I have children to feed instead, but in my head, I can imagine I did that and you are suitably impressed. Mayhaps a commenter can comment and save me the work. Some day Hawthorne, some day.

BOOK: Among the Shadows by Lucy Maud Montgomery

I finished my first book for the RIP II challenge, one I've been waiting to read ever since I realized there was a LM Montgomery book that fit this challenge. Of course, the surprising thing is that there is only one book of short stories that were compiled into a darker collection. Montgomery was not a happy woman, and most of her stories show her hope for happy endings. She had an unhappy marriage, and her husband suffered from episodes of melancholy, so her stories often show characters unwilling to settle for a loveless a marriage, and who would rather stay single than enter a union not up to their standards.



I think Montgomery's short stories go best in a collection like this. I don't know if many would stand alone, in a collection of stories by other authors; I find her stories somewhat blend together, but for Montgomery fans, that's perfect. The themes here are ghosts, messages from beyond, unexplained happenings, and 'bad' people, which in the early 1900s, included sins like drinking and excessive jealousy or pride, and crimes like embezzlement. Montgomery's talent for description of nature helps set the mood in many of the stories, moonless nights, friendly shadows, mysterious fir-lined brook. All in all, this book was what I expected and I enjoyed the diversions and happy, if mysterious, endings. I'm not sure I believe in ghosts, but I don't disbelieve either.

BOOK: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I really wanted to like this book. I always loved The Importance of Being Ernest when I studied it in university, twice. It's on all the 'important' lists of books to read, including the top 50_books list. I saw it could be a book for the RIP so I was expecting eerie and creepy. In truth, I liked the story, it was the execution that made me fall asleep every time I picked it up.
It's a classic story, one that I knew the gist of - Dorian Gray doesn't age, the painting of him does all the aging. There were parts I liked, such as when the characters spoke to each other, except when they began rambling on about art and the role of the artist. Lord Harry spoke in that Victorian double speak or irony, like he got lost from the comedy of manners play, The Important of Being Ernest and wandered into this novel. I wasn't expecting his more humorous comments, so it was confusing me from the atmosphere I was expecting. Lord Harry says things like "To get back my youth, I would do anything in the world, except exercise, get up early or be respectable." He's full of witticisms like this.

There are a lot of comments about beauty and art and probably some social commentary, but somewhere around the middle I began to really scan, as I realized I might never finish it if I didn't change something. Wilde was certainly making some statements about the classics with many literary allusions, as the Reader's Supplement at the back of my edition attests. I wanted to finish it but it may be a book best analysed with a professor in an English class, not me reading it for fun. Part of the problem is that I knew what the story was, and it was good a good story, just that reading how Wilde wrote it wasn't worth it to me. And knowing how Wilde lived and died, it seemed rather autobiographical, with the decadent lifestyle that Dorian Gray was allowed to live. Most of the debauchery was only hinted at, but with hindsight, and knowledge of Oscar Wilde, it could be a different book written today.

With this, I've finished off the summer classic challenge and this gets me to 13 books in 13 decades, a respectable amount.

MEME: What if?

I've seen this meme around - kookiejar, and literary feline come to mind. I want to post something new this week and this looks like fun.
Back to school is a tiring week for me; I've managed to read some blogs, but haven't read much, so I don't have anything to review. Maybe tonight I'll be able to read without falling asleep by 10:30, which is early for me when I'm on summer hours. I'm hoping to finish a RIP book, and I got a great looking book in the mail from randomhouse today that I'm dying to pick up, justforthehelluvit. But I also want to read another RIP book; Neverwhere just came in at the library. So many books, so little time.

School was good - seeing lots of teacher friends, and my classes look good so far (crosses fingers) but a little large - everyone wants to take physics this year it seems.
We had out 15th anniversary this week, so the family all went out to supper. The kids were great and nobody had to cook or clean up. Great for all!

1. If you could have super powers what would they be and what would you do with them? (Please feel free to be selfish, you do not have to save the world!)
I just thought of it! To be able to survive on 5 hours sleep every night and be as alert and functioning as if I had 10 hours sleep

2. Were you to find yourself stranded on an island with a CD player...it could happen...what would your top 10 bloggers island discs be?
I don't listen to a lot of music, but these have been favorites over the years

1. Meatloaf - Bat Out of Hell
2. Rent - soundtrack
3. Coldplay - x&y
4. Bare Naked Ladies - Gordon
5. Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits
6. John Mellencamp Greatest Hits
7. Ridley Bent - Blam!
8. Tragically Hip -a compilation album (I'm going to see them on Sept 25th woo!)
9. Johnny Cash - Greatest Hits
10. Love Actually soundtrack


3. If you were a smell what would it be?
gingerbread and Christmas trees

4. What bird would you most like to be?
An owl.

5. If you were a bird who's head would you poo on?
I don't think I would on anyone on purpose

6. Are there any foods that your body craves?
chocolate covered pretzels (chocolate and salty together, like a peanut buster parfait)

7. What's your favorite time of year?
summer - school's out, it's hot, the beach, the books, the naps, the flowers,

8. What's your favorite time of day?
late at night, I'm a night owl - see my consistent answer, along with 1 and 4

9. If a rest is as good as a change which would you choose?
definitely rest, I don't like a lot of change

10. If you could have a dinner party and invite any 5 people from the past or present who would they be? (Living or deceased.)
Albert Einstein - the brains
LM Montgomery- the books
Pierre Elliot Trudeau- the leader
Terry Fox- the heart
George Clooney- the looks

SHORT STORY MONDAY: a small peril

As one of the RIP perils, Carl has suggested reading a short story of a spooky nature on the weekend and posting about it. At the same time, john mutford has been posting Short Story Monday. I have always enjoyed short stories. Serendipity, no? It does seem to be calling out to me to read and post about some short stories. As I looked at my pile of books, and my RIP list, I seem a little short story heavy as it is. Among the Shadows by LM Montgomery, and Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman are both on my list. I have Everything's Eventual by Stephen King on my alternate list. [I've been carrying this book around since last year, when my sister picked it up in the library on the Grand Princess of our Mediteranean cruise. How great an image is that? A library, with a shelf of take 'em/leave 'em books, to read on the deck, under the Mediterranean sun, with Angelo bringing another strawberry daqueri, with no children?] I didn't get to read the King book last year, so RIP seemed appropriate. And if I read one story a week, this should last me the two months of reading in peril. That's my plan, then: one Stephen King a week, and my thoughts.

Now my Stephen King background: I love him. I mean his writing. I was in a huge King phase, reading most everything I could get my hands on, during the eighties. The Stand - read it in nearly one sitting, and if you know that book, you know the bedsores I had, It, Needful Things, Different Seasons, I mean he has written some of my absolute favorite books. He is so readable. But I went off King, for some reason. Sometime around The Dark Tower series, I lost the thread of his books; they just didn't scream to me or make me scream anymore. So here I am, with the book, and the challenge, and the blog, all coming together in a Short Story Monday. I just started the Introduction and was right back in King fangirl status. Even his intros are good. "Yet for me, there are few pleasures so excellent as sitting in my favorite chair on a cold night with a hot cup of tea, listening to the wind outside and reading a good short story which I can complete in a single sitting." Amen, Mr King, amen.


Autopsy Room Four
With the first story, King leads, 1 -0 in scaring the bejeesus out of me. I was on the edge of my seat for the whole 30 pages. First, I'll have to tell a little story about me. Once, in my single, university dorm room, I had an experience. My brain woke up, but my body did not. I could think, but not move. I tried to move, nothing. I tried to talk, scream, twitch; nothing. I was a little panicked, but couldn't do anything. In a move which characterizes me very well, I gave up and went back to sleep. In the morning, I woke up like usual. Anybody I mentioned this to, dismissed it as a dream, but I know it wasn't. I'm sure I even read somewhere, sometime, that this is a syndrome, or sleep event.


King takes an event, based on an old Hitchcock show, that people would fear: being alive and being mistaken for dead, with no way to let anybody know. Thus our narrator describes, slow step by slow step, his experience in the title. Part of the fear is knowing that Stephen King is writing, and how far will he take you? Does he have any boundaries? He builds and builds the suspence. Is our narrator really alive? Is this really what death is like? Could this really happen?

The characters seem real, and included are his characteristic popular references. For example, the Stones are playing in the background and their songs become a part of the story. King takes advantage of the fact that our imagination is even worse than anything he can come up with, and the genius of his writing is waiting for the story to end, to see how he can possibly finish this other than the ending you have imagined. This one ended a little quickly and corny, but the build up was worth it.
How will I ever wait until next week for King's next short story?

BOOK: We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

First of all, Lionel Shriver is a woman. I don't know why that should make a difference, but just like it changes how you say someone's name if you know how it is spelled - Sean, or Shawn, it does make a little difference.

Second, holy cow! What a book. It took me about 100 pages to get into it, and I wasn't sure I would like it in the beginning, because the narrator is not easy to like. But suddenly, I was wondering where my Sunday went, because I didn't get off the couch. This is not an easy book to read, it may challenge some ideas, it may make you think, it may make you scared, very scared, but you won't forget Kevin.

Plot summary, from the back cover:
In this gripping novel of motherhood gone awry, Lionel Shriver approaches the tragedy of a high-school massacre from the point of view of the killer's mother. In letters written to the boy's father, mother Eva probes the upbringing of this more-than-difficult child and reveals herself to have been the reluctant mother of an unsavory son. As the schisms in her family unfold, we draw closer to an unexpected climax that holds breathtaking surprises and its own hard-won redemption.

The big question after one of these shooting incidents, is always, why? Eva, the mother, takes us through Kevin's life and her own, to look for these answers. She is brutally honest about herself and how she saw things, but it is only her perspective in the end. There are parts where you will cringe with uncomfortableness, with sympathy, and with a 'there, but for the grace of God, go I'.

I don't like to put spoilers in a review, and I won't, but I would really like to talk to somebody who has read this book. This would make a great discussion book, especially among parents and teachers. Dewey picked this book for her Something About Me list, because she is the parent of a high school boy and a high school teacher. I teach high school, and my kids are younger, but it still had a great impact. Thanks, dewey, for the suggestion, I am really glad I read this one.

UPDATE: August Books

I felt I tackled some large books this month, Jane Eyre, The Blind Assassin, and We started the month off slowly, and I didnt' expect to end up reading this many books. A few children's novels helped the stats at the end of the month. I am pleased with the quality of books and the variety: I had dystopian, classic, scifi, childrens, young adult, contemporary and just released fiction. I've got Canadian and world views, old and new authors, with a total of 13 books. A few challenges are just about done, and there are some great ones about to begin. Happy Reading!

Books Read for Dystopian Challenge - 2
Books Read for Something About Me Challenge - 5
Books Read for Classic Challenge - 2
Award Winners - 4
top 50_books list - 2

Best Books: Never Let Me Go, I Am the Messenger, Cloud of Bone these three might make my year's best list they were so good
Best New Author: Markus Zusak, Kazou Ishiguro
Favorite Canadian Author: Bernice Morgan

95. Fighting Ruben Wolfe - Markus Zusak
94. O Pioneers! - Willa Cather
93. Cloud of Bones - Bernice Morgan
92. Number the Stars - Lois Lowry
91. The Reluctant Fundmentalist - Mohsin Hamid
90. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
89. Never Let Me Go - Kazou Ishiguro
88. Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
87. The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
86. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
85. We - Yevgeny Zamyatin
84. I Am the Messenger - Markus Zusak
83. The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood

MEME: Booking Through Thursday

There was a widely bruited-about statistic reported last week, stating that 1 in 4 Americans did not read a single book last year. Clearly, we don’t fall into that category, but . . . how many of our friends do? Do you have friends/family who read as much as you do? Or are you the only person you know who has a serious reading habit?

In my family, my parents both read; Dad carries a book any where he might be going around the house and Mom has always read mysteries and other types of books. My sister reads, not nearly as much as I do, but I think she reads a bit before bed every night. We trade books.

My husband reads a bit at night, but very slowly. I'm his dealer and I keep him supplied in books so he never picks his own books. He only reads what I give him. My son has to have a book to read before bed, but again, I'm his supplier for the most part. ie, he won't go to the library, he wants me to pick out books for him.

At work, there are a lot of readers and some read as much as me I imagine. There is often a pile of books for the taking in the staffroom, and I've mentioned before, our high school librarian orders books for teachers as well. I wasn't the only one getting a stack to read for the summer in June. I guess I am well surrounded by readers in my life. Aren't I lucky?

BOOK: Fighting Ruben Wolfe by Markus Zusak

Fighting Ruben Wolfe by Markus Zusak

young adult novel

I did my first book just4theehelluvit, as suggested by Think Pink Dana, who was tired of only reading books for challenges. So she came up with the anti-challenge, where you can't make a list or plan or anything. Every now and then, you have to veer off the plan, be easily diverted by the shiny objects, and Markus Zusak is my newest shiny object.

I already read I Am the Messenger and have The Book Thief lined up for a book themed challenge, so I found his first novel at our school library yesterday, when I went to school to get ready for the first day. Don't ask how I got distracted by the libary; I shouldn't have been there.

This book isn't as powerful as I Am the Messenger, but it has the same feel. It's a coming of age story, narrated by Cameron Wolfe about his brother and their family and getting through hard times. Are you fighting the outside world? Or are you fighting yourself and how you fit in? This was a very quick and touching read and was a good young adult book. It's about brothers and identity and self esteem.

BOOK: O Pioneers! by Willa Cather

I was expecting Little House on the Prairie with this book but got a big ole soap opera. Well, as soap opera-y as you can get written in 1913. But there was a lot more character action than I expected.

Set in Nebraska, it wasn't an easy life, mostly because it seemed like immigrants landed there and expected to be able to be farmers with no expereince. Hello? Alexandra was the oldest in her family, and her Swedish father recognized that she was the smartest and on his death bed, had her brothers agree to listen to her. She was smart, and strong, but not all that good at her own emotional stuff. She built up the farm but never married. Lots of American dreams being realized here, including getting successful enough that the youngest can go to school and not have to be a farmer. When will parents realize that telling their kids they can't do something (farm) isn't any different from making them do it. No choice.

It seemed a little rushed, and the characters and actions could have been a lot more drawn out, but maybe shorter was better. I could see this being studied in American high schools, because a lot of emotions and motives could be studied: politics, family relations, role of women, jealousy, violence, gun control, the family farm.

The Nebraska wheat fields are beautifully described and the characters love of land comes through. The multicultural background of America - Swedes, Bohemians, French, is nicely described, and could explain the modern day 'midwestern' character, when you see the people and customs that built it.

Another one for the decades challenge (1910s) and the summer classic challenge.

BOOK: Cloud of Bone by Bernice Morgan

Cloud of Bone is Bernice Morgan's recent novel, telling the tragic tale of Shanawdithit, believed to be the last surviving member of the Beothuk native tribe of Newfoundland. My heart is still aching after reading this terrible tragedy wherein the settlers to Newfoundland, the Dogmen, eliminated the Beothuk's hunting grounds, and forced them inland, attacking them, and by 1829, all the Beothuk were dead.

Morgan combines three different stories: Kyle Holloway, a young ruffian from St John's, member of the Royal Navy during World War II.(Newfoundland did not join Canada until 1949) Holloway faces his own betrayal and tragedy. Then, Shanawdithit's story of her people and their struggle to survive and fight the Europeans. Finally, Judith Muir in the present, an anthropologist, dealing with her own grief after an incident at a genocide site in Rwanda. Morgan manages to connect the three stories to "make both an intriguing mystery and a meditation on lost innocence, brutality and the power of memory."[from the inside cover]

I wrote in a previous post that I thought Morgan's first novel, Random Passage and its sequel, Waiting for Time were the definitive Canadian novel. I am certainly a fan of Bernice Morgan and this book did not disappoint. I jumped at the chance to get it from randomhouse.ca, for their reviewing program. There are several issues addressed in this book, with the Beothuk history obviously making the biggest impact. The shame and anger I felt at how the Europeans dealt with the native people of this land gives me great pause. To be able to read this history from the Beothuk's perspective, knowing the Europeans view from our history books, is quite an eye opener. Morgan has done a wonderful job of describing the day to day life of Shawadithit's meotick, putting the reader into the tribe, amidst all the usual human emotions: hope, jealousy, anger, love, contentment, and the traditions and cultures that developed over years.

Then, how Morgan connects this to modern day events such as the Rwandan genocide (pushing Romeo d'Allaire's nonfiction book Shake Hands with the Devil, his account of UN Peacekeeping in Rwanda, up my reading list) makes this a powerful book. How do we reconcile leaving bodies to rest in peace with the knowledge that can be gained from the anthropological study? How long can you leave bodies before their historic significance outweighs the respect for their resting place? Why do humans feel a need to eliminate a whole tribe of people? Who speaks for the dead?

Very powerful book.

CHALLENGE: Long Term Projects

Wouldn't it be fun to be able to say "I've read all the Pulitzer prize winning books" or "I've read all the Bookers"? Well there are a bunch of ambitious readers around who think it would be fun. We are not completely crazy so this is a long term project, as in eventually, I'll be able to say I've read all these great books. I think it will be interesting to see which books I tend to prefer, because I imagine there is a definite feel that each list takes on. In the same way I think I tend to like the Giller prize winning books, but maybe it's because I'm Canadian.


Pulitzer: For distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life




books already read:
1961 To Kill a Mockingbird read in the 1990s
1981 A Confederacy of Dunces reviewed here
1983 The Color Purple read in the 1990s
1988 Beloved (I'm 90% sure I read this; also 90% sure I didn't get it. At all) read in the 1990s
1994 The Shipping News read in the 1990s
2003 Middlesex read in 2005

So, obviously I have quite a way to go, only 75 more. Unfortunately, there are several that I had no intention of reading; I'll save them for the end.
Here's the ones that I say, I want to read that, every time I see them. I expect to read them within the next year, she hopefully types.

2007 The Road
1999 The Hours
1995 The Stone Diaries
1958 A Death in the Family
1932 The Good Earth

Man Booker: is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of either the Commonwealth of Nations or the Republic of Ireland.




So far, I've read:
2002 The Life of Pi read in 2004 and loved it.
2000 The Blind Assassin reviewed here
1997 The God of Small Things reviewed here
1993 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha read in the 1990s
1985 The Bone People reviewed here

I found a big old list of Bookers I'd like to read and the ones that top the list are:
1983 Life and Times of Michael K
1989 The Remains of the Day
1998 Amsterdam

The Man Booker long list has been released and I'm hunting down any that I can find easily, ie, my library. Here's what I found at wikipedia, so I assume the links go to that site.

Darkmans by Nicola Barker
Self Help by Edward Docx
The Gift Of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
The Gathering' by Anne Enright
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Gifted by Nikita Lalwani
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn
Consolation by Michael Redhill
Animal's People by Indra Sinha
Winnie & Wolf by A.N. Wilson

So far, I've read The Reluctant Fundamentalist, reviewed below, and I am in a patient line for On Chesil Beach, and will be able to get Consolation at the library as well. Others may take a while.

I think I liked this book, after some reflection. As I read it, I wasn't sure, but since it was short, under 200 pages, I knew I'd keep going. This is the story of a young man from Pakistan, who came to America to go to Princeton and live the American dream. His life in New York City, with a high status job as a valuator, changes after September 11, 2001. The narrative voice is a little strange, and I'm not sure it was the best way to tell the tale. He tells his story to an unknown American he meets at a cafe in Pakistan, after the fact. We never find out who this stranger is, and a lot is left unsaid at the end. There is also a love story of sorts as the narrator recounts his love of an American girl during his time in America.

I'm not sure what an American reader would feel about this book. There is a definite outsider looking in quality, and the terrorist topic is a sensitive subject, quite rightly. The narrator is not a terrorist, but provides an interesting perspective to these times. There are political statements about America's involvement in Pakistan-Indian affairs, and the term fundamentalist has several connotations that are played with during the story. The ending is quite ambiguous and could be interpreted several ways. I think it has been longlisted for its somewhat daring topic, the narrator perspective, and the ambiguous ending, all of which make it easy to discuss and argue and analyze.

BOOK: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Newbery Winner 1990

Booklogged picked this as one of her selections for the Something About Me challenge. She said: I really like Lois Lowry, both as a person and an author. The other reason I chose this book is because my ancestor are from Denmark, which is the setting for this story.

I liked this book too. It was a very easy read, and sometimes it is nice to read a children's book and get a message in a different method. I'm definitely going to put this one on my kids' pile of books. I also enjoyed the setting of Denmark, and would like to read more books set there, even if it just involves rereading some old Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales. But this book is set during the Nazi occupation of Denmark so it is not a fairy tale at all. Lowry uses an example from the Danish resistance to define the word bravery for children in a concrete, wow, imagine if my life were like that kind of way. I've read two of Lowry's books this year (Number the Stars and The Giver), and each were excellent in very different ways. Thanks for the suggestion booklogged.

BOOK:Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

I knew this book would be good because it was on the list of top books as recommended by the 50_book challenge, and they haven't steered me wrong yet. I'm not a huge science fiction fan, but not matter what the genre, there are good examples of books to read that you think you wouldn't like, because the story and characters and writing are too good. I present exhibit A.

Ender's Game has won the Hugo Award and is a Nebula Winner. I found this to be very interesting to read as a study of war and the how and whys of war and battle. Andrew 'Ender' Wiggin has been identified at the very young age of 6 as the hope of military genius needed to protect the Earth from the buggers. The Buggers are expected to attack the Earth again, and although Earth survived the last attack, this next one is going to be big. Ender is thus trained, rather brutally, the lead the next attack. Much of the book follows his training and isolation and mind manipulation.

Some quotes I liked from the book:
Because as long as the people are afraid of the buggers, the IF can stay in power and as long as the IF is in power, certain countries can keep their hegemony.

So the whole war is because we can't talk to each other.
If the other fellow can't tell you his story, you can never be sure he isn't trying to kill you.

Very interesting quotes in today's world. Card also used the net to show how information could come from an anonymous person, and spread throughout the world. The book was written in 1977 long before blogs and the internet were common and I thought it was very interesting how this was predicted.

My copy from the library was missing the last page, I think, as a sentence wasn't finished, but it was wrapped up pretty much so I don't think I missed anything. This is the first book in a series of books, and I'll get to them eventually, but I don't feel the need to rush out and grab it. I know some people really love this series, and Becky and Karlene both recommended it at the Something About Me challenge for different reasons. Here's a link to a post Becky wrote about Ender and why she loves him and the book.

BOOK: Never Let Me Go by Kazou Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go by Kazou Ishiguro

read for the Dystopian Challenge


I'm not going to say much about this book, as I enjoyed it without any background. I knew very little about this before I read it, other than it was for the Dystopian Challenge - I found it on a list at wikipedia, and that it was at the top of the list of 1001 books to read before you die. The first book, it was driving me crazy, I wanted to read it so I could cross it off. I've had it since April to read and I don't know why I took so long to read it, because it only took a day once I picked it up.

I've never read a book by Ishiguro, but his writing was phenomenal. It felt like every word was perfect, and there were no extras. I was pulled into this story, and couldn't put it down. Written as a memoir, Kathy narrates the story reminiscing about her time at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school in England and her life after. Ishiguro gradually reveals the story amidst his moving prose. This was easily my favorite of the dystopian books so far.

Some quotes from the back of the book:

Suspenceful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day.

A Gothic tour de force ... A tight, deftly controlled story... (The New York Times)

The work of a writer at the top of his game, a graceful, chilling and moving yarn to set alongside Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. (National Post)

BOOK: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

translated from the German by Anthea Bell
soon to be a major motion picture

This is a book I've been meaning to read for quite a while, and when I saw it on the reading list of Becky in the Something About Me Challenge, I was ready. I borrowed it for the summer from my school library and was just waiting for August so I could read it. I am also going to give it to my son to read; I think he'll like it.

Genre: fantasy/fairy tale, young adult
Basic Plot: Meggie and her father are both book lovers; her father is a book binder. They are suddenly on the run as a sketchy character comes looking for a book they own. The character was actually a character in the book that Meggie's father 'read out' of the story. See, Meggie's father has a talent for this and he has accidentally unleashed some unsavory characters into our world, from the book Inkheart.

Quote from the book: The world was a terrible place, cruel, pitiless, dark as a bad dream. Not a good place to live. Only in books could you find pity, comfort, happiness - and love. Books loved anyone who opened them, they gave you security and friendship adn didn't ask anything in return; they never went away, never, not even when you treated them badly.

Favorite part: I liked the quotes at the beginning of each chapter, taken from some rollicking adventure books like Treasure Island, Peter Pan, The Princess Bride, and Lord of the Rings.

Favorite character: I liked Dustfinger, a lost character, and fire-eater. He was selfish, but he tried to do the right thing. I also liked Elinor, Meggie's grand aunt, a book lover and collector who gets caught up in the adventure, and finds reserves of strength she didn't know she had.

Anything Else? I found the time element on the book confusing. It takes place in modern day Europe, but it felt more like that 'unknown time and location' that can happen in some books. Like the wizard world in Harry Potter, but it was supposed to be now, with cell phones and banks. I was often unsure, and kept reminding myself that it was now this was happening. But overall a great adventure read; I read the over 500 page book in a few days.

BOOK: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

1997 Booker Winner

What lovely prose and a compelling story. Roy's debut novel tells the tale of twins Rahel and Estha, during the 1960s and in the present. The spiralling story deftly carries you along, gradually introducing characters and more and more information about an event that happened one day and affected both twins. I found the suspense building and building as more layers of details are revealed.

We are shown a slice of life in one family in Kerala, India but also the political climate of the day, the caste system of course and how both contributed to the event in question. The story is well written and the language is beautiful, as Roy plays with words and with the idea that twins have a special connection.

CHALLENGE: 2007 RIP II ((Readers Imbibing Peril)

Then the shadows began to gather; first little furtive ones under the table, and then bolder ones in the dark panelled corners…~H.P. Lovecraft (The Strange High House in the Mist)



Carl says: Time for gothic tales and things that go bump in the night.
I've been looking forward to this challenge, and have been planning some books to read. There are several perils you can take for this one. This is part of what makes Carl's challenges so much fun; it's an adventure just deciding which peril to take.

A man [Ed. note: or woman] who limits his interests, limits his life.~Vincent Price (editorial addition by Carl V. Anderson)

I'm chosing Peril the First, read four stories of your choice. I had planned to read:

• Among the Shadows by LM Montgomery
• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Seterfield
• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (alternate)
• Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
• The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason

I also thought I'd read Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman, which turns out to be An Additional Peril. It is being released as a paperback in Canada on September 19. Perfect. Aaand, I am considering reading that giant tome, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke for an online reading group, which almost becomes Peril the Third, a scary sandwich peril. I don't want to commit to that, as I may be committed trying to read that giant book. But I might. The option of a book list, with choices, is there too. I am in favor of this, because once the reviews start, I will see books I really want to read, and I want to be able to change my mind.

The book list of choices right now will include:

• Twilight by Stephanie Myers
• Never Let Me Go by Kazou Ishiguro
• The Talented Mr Ripley
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• Lisey's Story by Stephen King
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
• Everything's Eventual by Stephen King

So, four books it is, plus Fragile Things. Let the spooky fun begin!

MEME: Questions for Bloggers

I found this meme of questions in the Tiny Little Reading Room and it looked like fun so I gakked it. Thanks

What are you reading right now? Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Do you have any idea what you’ll read when you’re done with that?
could be The Reluctant Fundmentalist, or Special Topics in Calamity Physics, or Cloud of Bones, or Silas Marner, or maybe Pretties

What magazines do you have in your bathroom right now? No magazine, but I have a book of short anecdotes, Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman by Richard Feynman, an amusing physicist (not an oxymoran)

What’s the worst thing you were ever forced to read? Lord of the Flies would be right up their - grade ten English

What’s the one book you always recommend to just about everyone? Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding

Admit it, the librarians at your library know you on a first name basis, don’t they?
Not my local library, but the librarian at the high school whereI teach sure does. And she's awesome; she orders books for teachers to read as well as students.

Is there a book you absolutely love, but for some reason, people never think it sounds interesting, or maybe they read it and don’t like it at all? I really liked A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, but I don't think I've convinced anyone to read it yet.

Do you read books while you eat? While you bathe? While you watch movies or TV? While you listen to music? While you’re on the computer? While you’re driving?
I read the paper during breakfast; I usually shower, so no; I will read while watching TV; I'll read when I'm waiting for something on the computer; not while I'm driving

When you were little, did other children tease you about your reading habits?
I never noticed, but my nose was in a book anyway

What’s the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn’t put it down? It's not always because it is that good, if I'm within 100 pages, I usually want to finish a book. The last book I stayed up too late reading was A Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty

BOOK: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

It is hard to read a most beloved book that has earned so much praise. There is such an expectation while you are reading, that the poor book doesn't stand a chance. However, Jane Eyre was a great book and I really enjoyed it. I think if I had read it earlier in my life, I would absolutely love it, because I certainly developed a huge crush on Mr Rochester, but I didn't devour it, my usual judge of books that go on my best list.

I'm not sure what I thought this book was about; I knew there was some crazy person in it, but I didn't realize how wonderful Mr Rochester was and how tremendous of a heroine Jane was. Her confidence in herself, and strength to do the right thing for her impressed me. What a survivor! And Mr Rochester, I loved how she called him that right to the end. The atmosphere was creepy and gothic, wonderfully moorish. There was a little too much of St John at the end of the book, I just wanted Jane! But that is the reflection of the religious themes in the book; I preferred the mystery and love story aspect.

So, I liked the book and the characters. It's not going to be one of my favorite books, but I can see why it is for many people. I'm glad I read it, and wish I'd read it years ago.

BOOK: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

This book is the first to be read for the Books in Translation yahoo group, sponsored by the amazing 3M, and I'm not completely sure what to say about it yet. I certainly would never have picked it on my own, because I had never heard of it before. I did see someone review it on the Dystopian Challenge blog, but I skimmed over it I confess. I am anxious to discuss it with the group.

In a nutshell, this novel was written around 1920 by a Russian, Yevgeny Zamyatin but it wasn't published in Russia. I need to brush up on my Russian history - revolutions and the communists timeline, to make sense of when this was written and what was going on at the time. Zamyatin has written a prophetic account of the communist Soviet Union, where the group, We is more important than the individual, I. People are numbers, and interestingly, the women are are vowels, ie, I-330 and O-90, while the men are consonants. There is a great wall surrounding the civilization, (the Berlin Wall?) and logic and reason rule. The one Great Benefactor rules all. Our hero, D-503, is a wonderful citizen, loves his mathematics and logic. He is the Builder of the Integral, and is a believer in his world.
As with most dystopian novels, D-503 begins to question the society he is in and the rules. He only partly questions though, and his biggest issue is his crush on I-330, who appears to be a rebel, working for the revolution.

I really liked all the math references, and the general novel. Many times I felt like I missed key plot points within the prose. It wouldn't be until the next entry (chapter) that I would realize something. Even though, I still enjoyed it. I think this is a book best analysed with others, because there is a lot to talk about. I'll understand this better in September when the discussion begins.

OTHER: what I'm reading

How in the world am I ever going to get back into the real world of work in September?
It takes me all morning to get through my 'reading' before I even pick up a book.

First, I roll out of bed, hopefully by nine o'clock. Seriously, I am so lazy these days and since my children have figured out how to pour a bowl of cereal themselves, I don't have to be up.
I read the local paper, focusing on the letters to the editor and the obituaries. (I live in a small community, and funerals and wakes are a big deal here.) Then I turn on the computer, my downfall. Check gmails. It seems the readers of the yahoo novel group stay up late chatting about their challenges, because every morning I need to take while to get caught up. There are new challenges afoot I believe, *rubs hands with glee*

I first started blogging on Livejournal, and I read my friends page there. With an assortment of communities, including recipes, teaching, and reading challenges - my first, the 50 book challenge is a great place to read reviews and get ideas, plus the coolest site: bento lunches. I get hungry there every day, and yet, still only manage to toss some grilled cheese in the pan for my own kids. C'est la vie of the lazy woman.

Next, I feed my TV fix with the snark that is Television Without Pity. They do hilarious recaps of shows, such as Hell's Kitchen and Big Brother,my summer TV fare. The forums are an abyss I try to avoid getting sucked into, because I could read for hours the analysis and speculations that go on there. This fall, the Lost stuff will really pick up, but there is almost too much to wade through.

For some reason, I have a compulsion to do the daily jobs at Webkinz everyday. Now, these are really my kids toys and games, but for a computer gamer like myself, it is quite addictive. Most parents I know reluctantly admit they play more on the site than their kids.
Luckily this summer I found out about blogreader on my gmail, which helps me not spend all day checking on my reader pal's blogs. It has helped me a lot.

In real reading news, I am 30 pages from finishing We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin and 80 pages from finishing Jane Eyre. These books have taken me forever, or 3 weeks to read. I think it's because I have to think a little more and cannot scan-read like I usually do. It's slowing me down, this real reading I'm doing. I can feel my brain growing though, three times its usual size.(2 points for the first person who gets that allusion)

Books I am hoping to get to before the end of August include:
Inkheart somthing about me challenge
The God of Small Things book awards challenge
Ender's Game something about me challenge
Cloud of Bones random house book
Special Topics in Calamity Physics nyt notable books challenge
and poor Never Let Me Go, dystopian challenge,which has been on every month's reading list since April. Maybe this month!

I think we are going to go here this weekend, with my sister and her family and my parents. Looks like a lot of fun. I'm definitely ordering a meal to be cooked at the table. mmm

LIST: Top twenty books I've never read, and don't plan to.

John, at The Book Mine Set, made a list after he read Bybee's list, and I've love lists! So I have to make one too. And it's easy, because there are a lot of famous books I've never read. I'm going to focus here on twenty allegedly great books I have little to no intention of reading, because I've done a great job this year of reading many famous/classic books that for some reason never made it onto my reading list. I stuck pretty tight to mysteries and Stephen King for the last forty number of years, so my eyes are wide open this year. However, they will not likely ever open to the following:

1. The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
2. The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien
3. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
4. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
5. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
6. Ulysses by James Joyce
7. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
8. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
9. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
10. Middlemarch by George Eliot
11. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
12. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
13. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
14. Watership Down - Richard Adams
15. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
16. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
17. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
18. Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
19. Kim - Rudyard Kipling
20. The Old Man And The Sea - Ernest Hemingway

They are either too long, or just don't interest me. I'm sure I'll eat my words some day and end up loving one or two of these. But I doubt it.

There are, of course, many other great books I have not read, but I would like to get to some of them. That's a list for another day. Yeah, more lists! So, what's your confession? (go see John, he's giving out penance I believe)

UPDATE: Summer Challenges Completed

I seem to by cycling with the reading challenges this year. I try a few, then get carried away and suddenly I'm stressing, and I know, they should be just fun, but, I really like to finish a list, and cross it off. And I'm picking books I want to read, so I'm not torturing myself here. I found June got a little crazy, with the Spring Reading Thing, Once Upon a Time and the Chunkster all finishing around the same time. So, to reward myself, I signed up for a bunch of summer ones, but a little more carefully. Here's what I have recently finished:

The Summer Reading Challenge, Round 2
1. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

2. Good Intentions by Joy Fielding

3. The Translator by Leila Aboulela

4. Arthur & George by Julian Barnes

All good reads, but the best was, Arthur & George.



Aah, mysteries. I couldn't pass up this challenge: read 6 new to you mystery authors. I could have done this one with already-read authors, because this just adds to my never ending list of books to read.
1. Murder on a Girl's Night Out by Anne George
2. The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Eriksson
3. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
4. Restless by William Boyd (not a series)
5. Shakespeare's Landlord by Charlaine Harris
6. Killer Swell by Jeff Shelby

All perfect little mysteries. I'll read more in each series, but I particularly liked Shakespeare's Landlord.


Then, was Joy's Nonfiction Challenge. I need this challenge more often, because I don't read as much nonfiction as I could, and I always enjoy when I do. Bring on more, Joy.
Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Zlato's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

I liked all of these in different ways, and would recommend any of them.

This was my favorite challenge, because it really exposed me to some authors and novels I would never have read. I didn't even realize it could be called a genre, or style. Maggie did a lot of prep work before this one started, and she got me intrigued. I still resisted, but finally succumbed, reading:

1. Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind: Ann B. Ross
2. Murder on a Girl's Night Out: Anne George
3. A Confederacy of Dunces: John Kennedy Toule
and for extra credit, because it got really hot here:
4. Quite a Year for Plums: Bailey White
5. Shakespeare's Landlord: Charlaine Harris
What perfect books for the lazy, hazy days of summer.


These challenges are so much fun. I'm reading good books I might never have found, meeting interesting people who also love books, and just having a lot of fun. What are you waiting for? Go try one. This group has a list of all challenges ongoing, and lets readers talk about the challenges they are doing, and completing. Or, this blog lists most ongoing challenges and links to them. Wendy (caribousmom) has been great to keep us all organized. I think she likes lists even more than me!

BOOK: I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

I've been reading lots of reviews of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and many readers are adding it to their list of favorite books of all time. Having just finished this book and loving it, I can't imagine how good The Book Thief must be.

Ed Kennedy is a twenty year old cab driver in Australia, with not much hope in his life. He plays cards with his equally hopeless mates, is in unrequited love his best friend Audrey, is on the outs with his family and lives with his very smelly dog. One day he witnesses a bank robbery, inadvertently gets involved, and then his life is never the same. He is given a playing card, with a very vague message on it. Ed takes up this challenge and has to help some people.

I loved Ed's acceptance of his role, his faith in people and especially himself, to know the right thing to do, without knowing why he was doing it. I found this a very uplifting story, seeing how small, seemingly insignificant events can be so important. Ed's bravery to confront people, especially his friends, is quite a message.
How many people get this chance?
And of those few, how many actually take it?
This is a book that will stay with me for a while. Thanks to jill(mrsteme) for recommending it as a part of the Something About Me Challenge.

MEME: Booking Through Thursday

Do you have multiple copies of any of your books?If so, why? Absent-mindedness? You love them that much? First Editions for the shelf, but paperbacks to read? If not, why not? Not enough space? Not enough money? Too sensible to do something so foolish?

I don't have doubles of any books because I'm too sensible/cheap to do something so foolish.

I don't actually buy many books. I grew up in a house that read a lot, but we read library books. I can barely remember my parents buying any books. We had some books as kids, but mainly lots of trips to the library. So it is a very new thing for me to buy books, but thanks to amazon.ca and second hand book stores and the terrible influence of a whole bunch of internet people - I'm looking at you!- I've been buying more books. I probably have 20 books I've bought but haven't read yet. When I read that people have hundreds of books they bought but haven't read, it blows my mind. I'd probably use pbs, but they don't deal with Canada yet.

The closest I have to two books is two versions of Dr Seuss's ABC book - the regular and a smaller board book version for the car.

BOOK: The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

Booker Prize Winner 2000

I've read a few Margaret Atwood books now, Cat's Eye, The Handmaid's Tale, and Alias Grace, and I am still not sure if I like her books. There are elements of each that I like, but overall, I'm not a complete fan. I read them, but I never get immersed in the novel. The characters in this book have their flaws and I could never sympathize, empathize, or care enough about them to truly enjoy the novel.

There are several layers to this story. Iris Chase Griffen is the narrator of her life story both past and present, and at the same time, The Blind Assassin novel written by her late sister Laura, is told. This novel in the novel is the story of two clandestine lovers and the science fiction story they are telling each other. This sounds more confusing than it is, and that is where Atwood is a great author because it doesn't take long to understand. Iris' story is told from her writing and memories, and as well, newspaper clippings and letters.

There is a grand tale here, and I really enjoyed the setting of Ontario during the thirties. The Chase's were a rich industrialist family, facing hard times during the depression. The depressed economy and the beginning of unions and the communist threat are touched on, but because it is Iris' narrative and she was a naive, sheltered daughter, this aspect is just touched on in terms of how it related to her protected life. An instigator, Alex Thomas comes to town and becomes involved with the two sisters. Iris tells the story of Laura as well, but it is from Iris's perspective. I felt Iris was protective of Laura, but never really understood her.

Iris gets married off to her father's main competitor, Richard and his sister Winnifred. Still, Iris is just going through the motions, not really much of a participant in her own life and still tries to narrate the story. Viewing Toronto from the elite perspective was also interesting, since there was a depression on, yet these people were still living the high life. There is supposed to be some mystery here I think, but it seemed pretty obvious, so the suspense never really built for me. Any of the other so-so reviews I've read so far seem to have the same complaint; with no mystery to have revealed at the end, the story just falls a little flat. If you don't like the characters, then the plot has to carry the story and if the plot isn't there, then the characters have to be what you cheer for. I didn't feel like The Blind Assassin did it for me.

The whole science fiction story and how it paralleled the other story was the main part I didn't like. Sometimes I think I shouldn't read real literature because it takes too much thinking for me, how does this symbolize what Iris was? or where does Laura fit into this part of the story? Once I read some analysis, it made more sense, but some days I don't want to have to think so much. I can see why this story was written how it was, and it is very ambitious and well done, but overall, it didn't resonate with me. I felt too detatched from the characters since Iris herself wasn't very aware for much of her life.

UPDATE: July Books

Here's a big advantage of being a teacher: able to read all day, while I watch my kids play at the park, or the beach, or the back yard. So, I've been doing a lot of reading. I don't usually read several books at a time, but I've got books stashed in several places for reading while I'm there: in my purse, in bed, in the living room. I read 15 books in July! I finished off 4 challenges: the nonfiction, summer reading, summer mystery, and the southern Reading challenge which was probably my favorite of the year. I'm going to do a wrap up post for those challenges soon. Happy reading to you all.


Total books read: 15, 14 fiction and 1 nonfiction

Books Read for Nonfiction Challenge: 1 and DONE!
Books Read for Southern Challenge: 2 and DONE!
Books Read for Classics: 1
Books Read for Summer Reading Round 2: 1 and DONE!
Books Read for Dystopian Challenge: 1
Books Read for NYT Notable Books: 2
Summer Mystery Reading Challenge: 5 and DONE!
Books Read for Book Awards Challenge: 2

Best Finish to a Series: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows
Best New Series: Uglies, Lily Bard mysteries
Best Book: The Bone People, Arthur & George, Harry Potter

the list:
82. The Halifax Connection - Marie Jakober
81. Galileo's Daughter - Dava Sobel
80. Murder on a Girls' Night Out - Anne George
79. The Year of Secret Assignments - Jaclyn Moriarty
78. The Princess of Burundi - Kjell Eriksson
77. HP and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling
76. Killer Swell - Jelff Shelby
75. Arthur & George - Julian Barnes
74. Shakespeare's Landlord - Charlaine Harris
73. Restless - William Boyd
72. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
71. The Hound of the Baskervilles - AC Doyle
70. The Bone People - Kerri Hulme
69. Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
68. Alentejo Blue - Monica Ali