Labfs39 Books for 2010 no.2

Thread 1 is here.
An asterisk means I would recommend it above the others.
Am being insanely indecisive about whether to count children's audiobooks. Have now removed them from my 75 Book Challenge and into a separate list underneath.

83. The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-Hwan
82. The Company of Ghosts by Lydie Salvayre
81. Translation is a Love Affair by Jacques Poulin*
80. The Siege by Helen Dunmore*
79. Little Princes by Conor Grennan*
78. Two Lives by Vikram Seth
77. Room by Emma Donoghue
76. A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cossé*
75. Iqbal by Francesco D'Adamo*
74. It Wood Be Fun: Woodworking with Children by Michael Bentinck-Smith*
73. Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder
72. The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat
71. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell*
70. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick*
69. Ruff's War: A Navy Nurse on the Frontline in Iraq by Cheryl Lynn Ruff
68. Love in a Headscarf by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed
67. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
66. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
65. Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse*
64. When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka*
63. Ms. Hempel Chronicles by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum
62. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
61. Walk the Dark Streets by Edith Baer
60. The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam*
59. Barefoot in Baghdad by Manal M. Omar
58. A Frost in the Night by Edith Baer
57. Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb
56. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
55. Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
54. Life After Genius by M. Ann Jacoby
53. A Fine and Pleasant Misery by Patrick F. McManus*
52. Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada
51. Skylark Farm by Antonia Arslan

Audiobooks:

29. The Porcupine Year by Louise Erdrich*
28. The Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich
27. The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich* (National Book Award for Young People's Literature finalist)
26. Julie by Jean Craighead George*
25. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo* (Newbery Award)
24. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George* (Newbery Award)
23. Mattimeo by Brian Jacques
22. Redwall by Brian Jacques
21. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George (Newbery Honor)
20. Island of the Blue Dophins by Scott O'Dell* (Newbery Award)
19. Wanted...Mud Blossom by Betsy Byars*
18. A Blossom Promise by Betsy Byars
17. The Blossoms and the Green Phantom by Betsy Byars
16. The Blossoms Meet the Vulture Lady by Betsy Byars*
15. The Not-Just-Anybody Family by Betsy Byars
14. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin
13. Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright (Newbery Award)
12. These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder* (Newbery Honor)
11. Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
10. The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder* (Newbery Honor)
9. By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Newbery Honor)
8. On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Newbery Honor)
7. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder*
6. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
5. Matilda by Roald Dahl
4. Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
3. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery*
2. The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall*
1. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall* (National Book Award for Young People's Literature)

First!!

New thread time! Cool beans!

50. The Gendarme by Mark T. Mustian*
49. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
48. Valeria's Last Stand by Marc Fitten
47. The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia by Orlando Figes*
46. A Woman in Jerusalem by A.B. Yehoshua
45. The Girl Who Played Go by Shan Sa
44. Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
43. Six Months in Sudan: A Young Doctor in a War-Torn Village by James Maskalyk
42. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
41. Thinking in Pictures and Other Reports from My Life with Autism by Temple Grandin*
40. The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed by Judy Shepard*
39. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides*
38. The Bride by Julie Garwood
37. The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood by Sy Montgomery
36. The Last Summer of Reason by Tahar Djaout
35. The Most Beautiful Book in the World by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
34. Sweet Dates in Basra by Jessica Jiji*
33. Journey into the Whirlwind by Eugenia Semyonovna Ginzburg*
32. In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story by Ghada Karmi*
31. If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name by Heather Lende
30. Gardens of Water by Alan Drew
29. Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver*
28. A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar
27. A Girl Made of Dust by Nathalie Abi-Ezzi
26. Sharon and My Mother-in-Law: Ramallah Diaries by Suad Amiry

25. Amandine: A Novel by Marlena de Blasi
24. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa *
23. Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok *
22. Horse Boy by Rupert Isaacson
21. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
20. Caspian Rain by Gina B. Nahai
19. The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad *
18. Sepulchre by Kate Moss
17. Incantation by Alice Hoffman
16. Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoir by Marina Nemat
15. How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles
14. Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah *
13. Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa *
12. Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
11. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
10. Finding Nouf by Zoë Ferraris *
9. Not Quite Paradise by Adele Barker
8. The Rabbi by Noah Gordon
7. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery *
6. Daemon by Daniel Suarez
5. Emotional Intelligence by Matt Cohen
4. The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst
3. Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
2. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
1. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver *

Five best reads of 2010 so far:

1. The Gendarme by Mark Mustian
2. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
3. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
4. Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris
5. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Best young adult read:

1. Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Best reads by loser authors:

1. The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia by Orlando Figes
2. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

Best read I wasn't able to finish:

1. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

Books with best titles:

1. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
2. The Good, Good Pig by Sy Montgomery
3. The Most Beautiful Book in the World by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

Wow! You found me before I was even done entering my books! Darn touchstones not working slows me down.

Yeah, those Touchstones are quirky!

I love your loser authors category.

And what the heck was Good Good Pig about?? Must go and have a look back... sounds fascinating! (Right am going now, 2 kids to get bathed.)

#10 Umm. A pig? No really, it is about a pig and it's owners who start a farm in New Hampshire. Good title, but was hoping for more about how smart pigs are, and less about how big they get. I love pigs and would really love to have one, but hubby draws the line at pigs...

Okay, I don't usually do this: I've tried to keep my mundane life and LT separate, but I need to gripe. I've had one heck of a year. Last summer I found out I have hip dysplasia (at 42) and will probably need hip replacements within a couple of years. Surgery for a labral tear in my hip in September. In December I got put on a medication that makes it very hard for me to read. For someone who loves books, not being able to read is torture. Instead of a book every day or two, I'm lucky to read 10-20 pages. Then I got sick this September. First my doctor sends me to the ER, then 10 days later the specialist calls 911 from his office and sends me to the ER. After every test known to doctors, and a hospital stay, they still don't know what is wrong. Now today when they were doing some more tests, they discovered that I will need surgery for a completely unrelated issue! Unbelievable. I don't want to complain to my friends and family, stiff upper lip and all that, so it feels safer to vent here. Argh!!!!!!

Ok, vent over. Next post will be book talk, promise!

Venting is allowed, indeed encouraged, around here! Go to it, Lisa! It sounds like this year has been a bad one and I can only hope that next year proves to be a better one!

Couldn't wait for the library copy, so treated myself and bought The Finkler Question at my favorite bookstore. I'm going to try and hold off starting it until I finish The Coldest Winter. I'm enjoying the CW, it's just taking a while for me to get through. The writing is very engaging, with coverage not only of the war, but also mini-biographies of all the players (from Truman to Acheson, Kim Il Sung to Joe McCarthy, and the entire MacArthur family). It's just very long!

I also picked up a couple of library sale shelf finds:

The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter which was a National Book Award finalist

The Journals of Hildegard of Bingen by Barbara Lachman. Although this one is fiction, it is extremely well documented (the footnotes take up half of each page), so I thought I would give it a try.

Off to 1950 Korea!

Really sorry to read about your health problems, and hope they figure out what it is soon - and schedule the surgery quickly. I have been really lucky so far with health, but find the waiting for results the worst.

If you're not sick of 1950s USA when you're finished The Coldest Winter, I read an excellent biography of Dean Acheson last year by James Chace. And I'm putting The Coldest Winter onto my wishlist. Hope you like the FQ!

#14: I hope you enjoy The Finkler Question when you get to it, Lisa!

Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm

Our Only May Amelia is a wonderful story about a Finnish-American girl growing up in southwestern Washington in 1899. May Amelia has seven older brothers and is continually being told to act like a lady. But that's hard to do when you are the only girl in the settlement, and there are so many exciting things happening.

A Newbery Honor Book, Our Only May Amelia is based on the diary of the author's great-aunt who was a Finnish-American girl growing up on the same Nasel River in the nineteenth century.

I listened to the audio version. Four stars for young adult fiction. Edited to fix numbering

#17: That one sounds good. Thanks for the recommendation, Lisa!

*sad face* about all your health issues. I hope things get better. And I think you should treat yourself to several more books. You deserve them!

#19 Now that's a good idea!

This morning on our local Seattle talk show (Weekday on KUOW radio), the host interviewed Ingrid Betancourt, a former Presidential candidate in Columbia who was kidnapped while campaigning. She was held hostage by the FARC under increasingly brutal conditions for six years. Her story sounded fascintating in part because as a political player she had been involved in peace negotiations with FARC before her kidnapping, and her captivity gives her inside perspectives on their intentions and beliefs. She was rescued two years ago and has recently published a book entitled Even Silence Has an End: My Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle. I have added it to my wishlist. If you would like to hear more about this book and its author, go here.

#21: Lisa, I clicked on the link but it did not go anywhere. Could you check it please? The book sounds fascinating and I would like to know more. Thanks!

Sorry about that, Stasia. It's fixed now!

#23: Thanks, Lisa.

Hi. Delurking to say how sorry I am about your health issues. Like you, I hesitated for a long time before deciding to mention my problems on LT. I then found I felt so supported by the kind messages I received that I was glad I'd done it. I hope this is your experience, too, and I hope things move forward quickly for you.

Thanks, Janet. Not being a facebook, twitter, etc user, I still feel uneasy about sharing personal info online. But LT has been such a supportive community, that I feel better less vulnerable about it. And sometimes I just have to let it out.

I have found this to be a very encouraging (and safe) community of book lovers who feel bad when one of our people is compromised in reading books! Now that just stinks. I hope the experts get to the bottom of your problems -- and quickly.

I'm glad you were able to buy some new books recently. That is always helpful in boosting the spirits. Okay, going back to lurk mode now to await your comments on The Finkler Question.

Thanks Donna, although I must warn you that it may be a while as I am trying to finish The Coldest Winter first. I am still enjoying it and finding it very readable. I love how the book describes all the idiosyncracies and positions of the key players. I'm reading about Mao right now: his relationship with Stalin, and his decision to enter Korea. I'm learning tons: words and phrases like Pusan Perimeter and Inchon actually mean something to me now!

Redwall by Brian Jacques (audio)

I'm taking a page from Mark and listening to some audio books with my daughter. I read Redwall years ago, and it was fun revisiting the abbey. For those unfamiliar with the world of Brian Jacques, the series creates a world of woodland creatures that battle evil in the name of peace. The center of this world is Redwall Abbey and the peaceful order of mice who live there. Redwall is the first book written by Jacques in this series, although not the first chronologically. I enjoyed hearing the story again because it's such an interesting play on the heroic quest and battle. Formulaic and yet different. Listening with my daughter, however, I was more aware of how evil, cruel, and violent Cluny the Scourge is and how that is depicted. I'm not sure I would have picked it for us to listen to if I had remembered that.

I'm not going to write a "real" review, because there are a million already in LT.
Edited to fix numbering

#29: I picked up that book at the library and returned it before I had a chance to read it. I will have to take a second look.

I watched Letters from Iwo Jima last night--wow. I found it to be a much more powerful movie than Flags of Our Fathers. According to IMDB, the story was based on two books: Picture letters from the Commander in Chief and So Sad to Fall in Battle: An Account of War. Does anyone have recommendations?

I read James Bradley's book Flag of Our Fathers but have not seen the movie version. I am a little unclear as to whether you are asking for further book recommendations or movie recommendations, Lisa.

Sorry, I meant book recommendations. I think I'll also ask msf50 as he is a big war book reader.

I haven't read anything else but Redwall by Jacques and someday I will read more. I heard him speak a few years ago and he said that the reason he started writing books stemmed from a time when he read books to visually impaired people. He was dismayed at the lack of description in the books available. You can really see how that influenced his writing. You have a perfect picture of each and every setting described.

#33: Are you looking specifically for the Pacific theatre during WWII or just WWII books in general?

#34 That's really interesting about Jacques' motivation for writing, and explains why his books are so engaging to listen to. I hadn't remembered how vivid his descriptions of Cluny and his acts of violence were. I was worried it would be too much for my daughter (we listen on the drive in to school), but she assures me that it was not scary, and she wants me to check the next one out of the library. She was caught by the story and wants to see what happens next.

#35 Hi Stasia, I am now interested in the Japanese perspective of the war and was thinking of starting with one of the books on which the movie Letters from Iwo Jima is based. I was wondering if anyone had read those books or could recommend another similar one. Sometimes it's hard to find a good history book that is readable, especially if it is translated.

#36: I can recommend a terrific fiction book for you. It is called Black Rain by Japanese writer Masuji Ibuse. Sorry, I have not read extensively from the Japanese perspective, but Ibuse's book is excellent.

Thanks! I'll check it out.

ETA: Added to wishlist. Sounds amazing.

#38: I will be interested in seeing what you think of it when you get a chance to read it, Lisa.

I'll second Stasia on how wonderful Black Rain is. I also read Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzburo Oe which takes place in Japan during WW II. There are a few other books on the subject that I've read, but alas, the titles/authors fail me now. I will check my library and get back to you. (One I read this year is Fire on the Plains, but the touchstone doesn't seem to be working and I can't recall the author's name).

I hope your health issues get resolved soon. Re your hip problems, my husband had hip replacement surgery at a relatively young age a couple of years ago, so if you'd like to discuss his experiences etc., PM me and I can let you in on what we learned.

How wonderful to hear from you, Deborah. I will definitely check out the books you suggest. Thank you!

Lisa- Just stopping by to say hi! Keep up the good reading & listening!

Well, started setting up my third non-personal library on LT. The first was for a large local non-profit where I was doing some contract work. Then I set up our local girl scout service unit. They like it so much that regional has asked me to do theirs. If you add in all the friends and family I've talked into joining, I am starting to think I should get my own LT letterhead!

Sounds like it! If I lived near you, I would help out with the Girl Scout libraries.

Hooray! I finished The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War. It was great--I've just been distracted, and it's 650 plus pages, not counting endnotes. I'll put up a review tomorrow, but wanted to share my happy dance for finishing. :-)

Yay!! (I'm 200 pages through a 600 pager and I am looking forward to that happy dance here in a few days...)

Happy dancer for Lisa . . .

>43 labfs39:: Ha! Ha! I know, I'm always trying to sell people on LT too, but you really made it happen. Lisa, I'm so sorry about all your medical troubles--we're sort of a mess here on LT aren't we? ;-) I've never heard of people having hip dysplasia--you sound like you're really suffering. I hope the doctors can figure all that is going on with you, and you get the medical tx you need real soon. Maybe this will make you feel a bit better: 40% off all used books at Third Place Books this next weekend.

Had to fix a spelling--don't tell me if there are more I missed.

#46 Hi Cushla! So which 600 pager are you immersed in?

#47 The happy dancer makes me laugh out loud each time I see it! Not that my happy dance is quite so slim and energetic!

#48 I know, I thought only dogs got hip dyspasia. Lucky me. But the TPB book sale is sure to make me feel better!

60. The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam

Despite having been a history major, or perhaps because of it, these days I prefer my history tomes readable. David Halberstam's The Coldest Winter is both of these: a tome and readable. Originally a journalist, Halberstam's book is like an extended story, one whose cast of characters include the great (MacArthur, Truman, Acheson, Mao) and the everyman who might have been us (Paul McGee, Pappy Miller). These biographies are woven into the story so that we live the action through the characters, rather than observe the battles from a distance of time and space. I was thoroughly engaged throughout and wish that I could have been a fly on the wall during all the interviews that Halberstam conducted in the course of researching the book. General or infantryman, heroic or weak, the people are fascinating.

The other strength of the book is the clear way in which the author explains the origins and first winter of the war. Part I draws the reader in with a spell-binding, edge of your seat telling of the Chinese ambush of the American forces at Unsan. Once hooked, Halberstam takes you through the political forces, both domestic and internationally, which led to the Korean War. Then once again he returns to Korea and relates first the defeats and then the limited victories that were to define the war.

For anyone interested in an introduction to the Korean War, I would highly recommend The Coldest Winter. For more extensive research, Halberstam's bibliography might be a useful resource.

four stars
Edited to fix numbering

OK, I thought I would be adding that one to my wishlist... nice review!

I'm 300 pages through Finest Years by Max Hastings - called Winston's War: Churchill 1940-1945 in the US, I think. I'm enjoying it very much and am behind on everyone's threads because I keep wanting to read it! And I have gone crazy with the Nov TIOLI challenges, and want to get onto some of them.

It's so cool that you're setting up the girl scout libraries on here. Well done.

#51 I hope you'll like The Coldest Winter. I found it interesting and like you, didn't want to put it down! How odd that you touchstone led to an Onion book! I'll look it up separately.

Were you a girl scout/guide? If so, I would love to learn more about your experience. It would be fun to share with the girls. (I'm my daughter's troop leader--Brownies.)

Nope- I did speech and drama instead. (A mixed blessing, but I did get to read lots of plays early!) But our son is doing tiger cubs over here, and will probably do keas when we go home (NZ thing that comes before scouts and cubs). It's really good and they have been on some good trips already. The last one was to an apple press in France - he thought that was very cool and came home with a bottle of pasteurised apple juice.

#49: Glad you like the happy dancer, Lisa.

#50: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation!

#53 I grew up in rural Maine, so my options were limited as to extracurriculars. Scouting was great fun though, and when I was older, my parents were the co-leaders. We raised enough money to go to Washington DC for a week. It was a really big deal. One of the girls in my troop had never been more than 50 miles from home before. It's been fun to get involved in scouting again, this time with my daughter. We started in September, and our big thing so far has been a two night camping trip on the Olympic Peninsula. Despite the pouring rain, the girls all said they had fun and wanted to do it again. Visiting an apple press in France... Can I join his troop?! We were thinking of going to France for a couple of weeks this summer, but then I was laid off, so I don't know if we will. If we do, we should get our families together!

#54 I hope you like it!

61. Walk the Dark Streets by Edith Baer

Edith Baer escaped the Nazi's and came to America in her teens, the only member of her family to survive the Holocaust. The two young adult novels A Frost in the Night and its sequel Walk the Dark Streets are a very close but fictional retelling of her own experiences growing up in 1930's Germany.

I enjoyed A Frost in the Night and was looking forward to reading the sequel. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy Walk the Dark Streets nearly as much. Whereas the first book takes place in a relatively short period of time (a year), the sequel is spread out over seven years. Each chapter covers about nine months. Such a whirlwind tour is hard to sustain in a meaningful way. The plot jumped along jerkily, and it was hard for me to see Eva grow significantly along the way.

In addition, due to the increasingly violent society about which she is writing, Baer's language lacks the same quality which made her bucolic descriptions of pre-Nazi Germany so attractive. Her writing in the sequel seems flat in comparison.

My suggestion would be to stick with the first book.

3 stars
Edited to fix numbering

I'm excited to have a new ER book on its way: Love in a Headscarf by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed. Written by a British Muslim, the humorous memoir is about the author's decision to find a husband through traditional Muslim channels. If you would like a sneek peek, check out the book's webpage: http://www.loveinaheadscarf.com/.

#56: OK, I think I will pass that one by!

#57: Congratulations!

I was a girl scout leader for both of my daughters. One of the funnest things the girls did was to spend a day with the cheerleaders for the Seattle Supersonics basketball team. Then, at the game that night, they went out on court to perform cheers. I guess that sounds like a kind of sexist thing nowadays--why weren't they with the players learning basketball moves?--but the girls really loved it.

#59 Oh, so you know the local Scouting scene! It's sounds like the girls had fun, and displayed "courage, confidence, and character" in getting out there in front of all those people.

Instead of reading, I actually watched a movie tonight while hubby was at the gym. It was an animated/claymation type Australian film that won a ton of awards and was playing on the Sundance channel. Although not usually my thing, I was drawn by the description: the long correspondence between a young Australian girl and a middle-aged Jewish man living in New York City. I was pleasantly surprised at how interesting and touching the movie was, despite my reticence at the format. The movie is called Mary and Max, and if you are interested, you can go to www.maryandmax.com to learn more.

#61: I checked and that one is available on Netflix, so I will try and watch it this weekend. Thanks for the recommendation, Lisa.

Lisa- Thanks for the heads-up on "Mary and Max". I also added it to my Netflix queue. It has a good cast of voices: Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Eric Bana and others. I'm always up for a good movie rec.

Although this may be cruel to those of you on the book buying ban, I wanted to share my good fortune at the library book sale today.

The Riders by Tim Winton (Shortlisted for the Booker Prize)
Fred Scully is waiting for his wife and daughter to return, but only his wife does. His life becomes an obssessive search for the reason for his wife's disappearance.

Purity of Blood by Arturo Perez-Reverte Translated from the Spanish
Captain Alatriste, a Spanish swashbuckler, attempts to rescue a young girl forced into being a concubine. The girl's father is denounced as not being of "pure-blood", in fact Jewish, and the Captain must solve a conspiracy involving the Spanish Inquistition.

Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII by John Cornwell
Examines evidence of whether Pope Pius was complicit in Hitler's rise to power and thus the fate of the Jews.

Brave Companions: Portraits in History by David McCullough
Minibiographies of Alexander von Humboldt (South American explorer), Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederic Remington, Louis Agassiz (Harvard), Charles and Anne Lindbergh, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Beryl Markham (pilot), Harry Caudill (Appalachian advocate), David Plowden (photographer).

Ms. Hempel Chronicles by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum
The life of a middle school teacher.

The Gendarme by Mark Mustian
Although I have a copy, I thought it was such an amazing book that I bought a copy for a friend. Any takers?

Finding Manana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus by Mirta Ojito
Later a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, in 1980 the author and her family flee Cuba for the United States bia the controversial Mariel boatlife.

The Line by Olga Grushin shortlisted for the Orange Prize for New Writers
Based on the rumor that an exiled composer is returning to Russia for a concert, a line forms in front of the ticket booth. As the months pass, and no tickets appear, the people in the line begin to become a community.

And, I then skipped upstairs to the Third Place Books 40% of Used Books sale. Because of my luck at the library sale, I was a little more restrained at this point.

Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse recommended by Stasia, of course!
A novel about the life of a young woman caught in the fallout from the bombing of Hiroshima.

Defiance by Nechama Tec
Based on the true story of three brothers who escape the German invasion of Russia (now Belarus) and the subsequent slaughter of Jews. They flee to the woods where the join the resistance. Eventually the eldest brother orchestrates the largest armed rescue of Jews by Jews in WWII.

Speak You Also: A Survivor's Reckoning by Paul Steinberg Translated from the French
At the age of 16, the author is sent to Auschwitz where he does anything in order to survive. Primo Levi later accuses him of moral compromise for his own benefit. A self-examination of culpability and survival.

Shameless plug coming

My daughter has LT envy, so in an effort to encourage her reading, I helped her set up an LT account tonight. She only got three books entered before bedtime, but she wrote her first review. It is so cute! Check her out at k8lovesbooks or see her review (the first for the book, no less) at Three Little Dassies.

Great haul, Lisa! I do hope you like Black Rain. And if no one else has claimed The Gendarme, I would love a copy.

Off to check out your daughter's review!

Edited to correct TS. I seem to be having difficulties with them tonight.

Lisa, great book haul!! And don't worry, reading other people's lists of purchases is still fun even if I am being restrained (nearly a whole week now since I bought anything...)

Somewhere in a box in NZ, I have Under his Very Windows by Susan Zuccotti, which sounds like it's about the same topic as your Pope and Hitler book.

I hope you get to France - it's such a beautiful country. Have you been before? We are very close to the border, so the French apple press was a 20 minute drive, and I quite often go over there to the supermarket because it is much cheaper. And the croissants are better too!

Am off to check out your daughter's page now.

Lisa- Excellent haul! It's such a pleasure, right? I have not read Winton, although I have a couple of his books. I also have the 1st Captain Alatriste book, which I've been meaning to get to. Another LT friend is currently reading The Gendarme and enjoying it.

I won't be tempted by Lisa's book haul.
I won't be tempted by Lisa's book haul.
I won't be tempted by Lisa's book haul...

#71: That's it, Darryl! Stay strong!

#66 Thank you for supporting my daughter's first day on LT! Bonnie and Stasia, you should be getting a message back later today (she just ran out to play with the chickens). And thanks to everyone who gave her a thumb on her review, she now has as many thumbs on her first review as I have every received. She is greatly enjoying that fact! P.S. Her second review on Eloise is much better. She was so nervous writing her first. Now she wants to join the 50 book challenge! I told her to wait until the first of the year. Ahh, I have created an LT monster...

#67 I'm looking forward to Black Rain, in fact it may displace Cutting Stone for my next read. I just wish the print were bigger. I may need stronger reading glasses! Boy, getting older is not for wimps.

#68 Actually I've been to France a few times and lived with a host family in Blois when I was in college. My daughter is fortunate to go to a school with lots of foreign language programs and started learning French when she was four. Unfortunately, the class focuses mostly on vocabulary, so I thought it would be fun to take her for a little immersion. I was thinking of renting a little cottage or apartment and just let her make some friends on the playground. If not this year, maybe next.

#70 The Gendarme is my favorite read for 2010. I hope your friend likes it.

#71 I have so enjoyed reading your mini-descriptions of new books that I decided to try doing it myself. The best thing about my haul was that the books in the first list were all $1 each, many hardcover, all pristine! I love books, but I love books that I've gotten inexpensively even more. :-)

#67 Oh, and Stasia, you were first for The Gendarme. I sent you an email in order to get your snail mail address. I hope you enjoy it!

OMG! My daughter is a hot review for the day. She is over the moon! Thank you, guys.

Hi Lisa, I hope things work out for you personally, health- and otherwise. I think you'll like the Capek-book I read a few weeks ago, as you already indicated yourself.
What a cute review your daughter wrote. There's no stopping her now :-)

#76 Thanks, Monica. Hope yours is a good busy and not a stressful one. I have indeed added the Capek book to my wishlist. Thanks for the suggestion.

It's so cute to watch her get into reading and into LT, which she sees me do and enjoy. She is starting to find other girls on LT and gave one of them a thumbs up for her review of the Lorax. It's very fun to watch, and I feel that LT is a safe place for her to try her online wings (plus I check her account frequently).

Take care, and hope things get back to normal for you soon!

#75: Congrats to Katie for her hot review!

62. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson

It's hard reading a prize winner after it's announced, I think, because one's expectations are high and, well, expectant. To this extent, I was a little disappointed at first and found the beginning rather slow. The main character, Julian Treslove, is a hard character to like, although by the end I felt I had begun to understand him, which is something different. Julian is a man in search of an identity, and his job as a party double for famous people, because of his ability to look like anyone, reflects this. After a particular incident, in which Treslove is obsessed with finding meaning, he decides that the identity he is meant to have is Jewish. The rest of the book is his attempt to "become" Jewish and what that means.

"That was the total of Treslove's findings after a year of being an adopted Finkler {Jew} in his own eyes if in no one else's--they didn't have a chance in hell. Just as he didn't."

Treslove isn't the only character trying to find his identity. Sam Finkler is Jewish, but that hasn't made his identity any easier to define. Much of his time, he belongs to a group he calls ASHamed Jews. Trying to escape the influence of his Orthodox father, and gather more aclaim by protesting Zionism, Sam struggles with what it means to be Jewish as well.

"He was a thinker who didn't know what he thought, except that he had loved and failed and now missed his wife, and that he hadn't escaped what was oppressive about Judaism by joining a Jewish group that gathered to talk feverishly about the oppressiveness of being Jewish. Talking feverishly about being Jewish was being Jewish."

There are other important themes carried through the book: the Jewish/Palestinian troubles, anti-Semitism, whether the Holocaust is still a necessary barometer of Jewish life, and the crises that face us as we age. Overall the novel is layer and intellectual, raising questions without answers, and challenging us all to question our self-concepts as Jews or our stereotypes about them.

4 stars

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Lisa- Terrific review! That one is on the List!

I really enjoyed The Finkler Question. I am glad to see you enjoyed it as well, Lisa.

Cool book title of the week: The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating. The first review is great, and tells how the book was written by a young women incapacitated by illness, and given a garden snail by a friend. I must confess that it sounds like a fascinating book, in no small part to the fact that my daughter is forever housing creatures in her terrarium, include a snail that laid eggs in front of our astonished eyes.

Lisa- I recently heard about this book on a podcast! It sounded very good!

#82: I saw that book mentioned on someone's book blog recently. I do not know that I am fascinated enough by snails to read it though.

#82 That certainly does sound very interesting. I might have to read it.

Nice review of The Finkler Question, Lisa; I'm glad that you also enjoyed it.

63. Ms. Hempel Chronicles by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum

I didn't realize until I had finished the book and was reading the acknowledgements that six of the eight chapters in the book had been published separately as short stories. That explained quite a bit. All the stories are about Ms. Hempel, a seventh grade teacher who is looking for more from life, at the same time that she loves her students. However, the stories (or chapters) switch between her present life and her childhood, sometimes jarringly. In addition, as the stories were published, and presumable written, over a number of years, the writing style varies.

Despite these drawbacks, I enjoyed the story and the character of Ms. Hempel, especially in the first two chapters: Talent and Accomplice. The language in these two stories, both of which were published independently, is beautiful with some phrases that I had to reread several times, just to savor the words.

"That is what is marvelous about school, she realized: when you are in school, your talents are without number, and your promise is boundless. You ace a math test: you will one day work for NASA. The choir director asks you to sing a solo at the holiday concert: you are the next Mariah Carey. You score a goal, you win a poetry contest, you act in a play. And you are everything at once: actor, astronomer, gymnast, star. But at a certain point, you begin to feel your talents dropping away, like feathers from a molting bird."--From Talent

"Uncomplimentary words, however, seemed to overshadow the complimentary ones. That wasn't it, exactly. But whereas an ancient compliment would suddenly, unexpectedly, descend upon her, spinning down from the sky like a solitary cherry blossom, words of criticism were familiar and unmovable fixtures in the landscape: fire hydrants, chained trash cans, bulky public scuptures."--from Accomplice

Recommended: 3.5 stars

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#87: Nice review, Lisa.

64. When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka

There is not much I can add to Linda's (Whisper1) beautiful and lyric review, except ditto.

That said, there is one part of the novel that Linda does not address: the epilogue. It is told from the perspective of the father, and it is heart-breaking. Heartbreaking in that he confesses in the hopes of returning home and in a self-defeating sense of self-effacement. Had they done something to deserve this? Had they misunderstood some sort of cue that would have told them a different way to interact with their more American neighbors? And yet running beneath this veil of humility is anger. I think that tension between quiet acceptance mingled with depression and anger is the crux of the emotional impact of the book.

4 stars

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Just read Ms. Hempel Chronicles myself and I had no idea they were former short stories! That does explain the writing style a bit...

Shucks Lisa, I'm blushing! I'm glad you liked When The Emperor Was Divine. Thanks for adding more in depth analysis to the characters.

Thumbs up from me!

Well, thumbs up when you post the review!

#90 I would never have known either, except I happened to read the acknowledgements at the back of the book. It does rather explain things a bit, doesn't it?

#91-92 Actually, I wasn't going to publish this one, as it is mostly musings not a review. And who could top your beautifully worded one. I gave you a thumbs up!

#89: I enjoyed that one too. I am glad to see you did as well, Lisa.

65. Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse

Shortly after the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima, a black rain fell from the sky that stained everything that it touched. Black Rain is a beautifully written novel exploring the effects not only of the bombing and the subsequent radiation sickness, but also of the privations and sacrifices of war and the fear of defeat. Ibuse is a wonderful writer, capable of exploring these topics without either looking away from or reveling in the horror.

The narrator of the novel is Shigematsu Shizuma, a mid-level factory manager, husband, and guardian of his niece, Yasuko, who lives with them. At the time the story begins, Shigematsu is worried whether they will be able to find a husband for Yasuko because a rumor is circulating that she was in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped. In an effort to belie the rumor, Shigematsu begins copying out his journal of the days in August that detail what he and his family were doing. He plans to lend one copy to the marriage go-between and donate the other to the school collecting firsthand accounts. To support his narrative, Shigematsu asks his wife to write down her thoughts and also includes journal excerpts from two other survivors. The only voice not heard in the novel is Yasuko's.

When Shigematsu is not copying out his journal (and thus relaying to us, the reader, his story), he is with his two friends planning an elaborate carp raising endeavor. The author's ability to switch from the death and misery of the bombing to the everyday activities and concerns of the survivors is one of the things that saves the book from being overwhelmingly depressing. In addition, the way in which the story switches from the "present", nearly a year after the bombing, to the recorded past in his journal keeps the reader from experiencing everything firsthand. We know that the family survives and that in a way creates an emotional buffer which a straight narrative would not do.

Black Rain is an amazing novel as much for what it isn't as for what it is. It isn't maudlin although it is sensitive, it isn't horrific although it looks at horror unflinchingly, and it isn't dismissive when it includes everyday detail. Highly recommended.

4 stars
Thank you to Bonnie (bonniebooks) for the recommendation

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Hi - I'm not sure if I've ever stopped by your thread before, but I enjoyed reading through this one. I also loved When the Emperor was Divine and Black Rain looks very interesting!

#96 Thanks for dropping in! I love the pictures on your profile: happy dog and beautiful scenery (and baby!).

Lisa- Good review of Black Rain. Sounds very good. Hope you are having a nice weekend!

I am glad you enjoyed Black Rain. It was one of my favorite reads several years ago.

#98 Hi Mark! Well, I finally gave in and got Catching Fire. I was one of the few to be underwhelmed by The Hunger Games, but your thread has contained so many positive reviews of the series, that I gave in, and....I'm liking it more than HG. Who would have thunk it. So, thanks (although I'm just getting to the games, so we'll see)!

#99 Thanks again for the rec, Stasia. Did you get The Gendarme yet? I sent it book rate, so it may take a while.

#100: No, I have not received it yet. I will let you know when I do though. Thanks again for sending it my way.

I've added Black Rain to the tbr pile. Thanks for your excellent comments.

Lisa- I hope you continue enjoying Catching Fire and yes it takes a bit of spunk to continue a series if you were underwhelmed by the first entry, which I loved BTW!

66. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

What can I say? I liked Catching Fire! After reading Hunger Games I was rather disgusted by the somewhat gratuitous violence and the sappy teenage angst of the ending, and swore off the series. After reading so many positive reviews on Mark's thread, and seeing Catching Fire at Costco for 1/2 price, I succumbed and gave the series another go. I'm glad I did. I found Catching Fire less violent and more thoughful than the first. Although I still find the main character, Katniss, obtuse and naive, the other characters make up for her lack. I am going out today to purchase Mockingjay.

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67. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Okay, I've drunk the cool-aid. I didn't care for Hunger Games, as I wrote above. Catching Fire and Mockingjay were much better. By book three, Katniss was a more complex person. My only gripe is that I read in the acknowledgements at the end of the book that they are making a HG movie. Bad idea, in MHO. Our kids see enough violence, do they really need to see this: mutant semi-human creatures decapitating and eating people? Or even better yet, couldn't the book have been written without those parts? Maybe even more meaningfully? Will it be as Plutarch says at the end of the book, that humans are doomed to repeat these horrific acts of violence until we evolve? Is reading and watching violence an evolutionary step to not needing violence any more, or is it simply a primer for the perpetuation?

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Lisa- Boy, you knocked that out fast! I had more problems with Mockingjay. It was very dark and not as engaging as the first two. Hope your next reading choice is a bit more sunnier!

#106 How funny! Mockingjay was my favorite of the three. I'm glad you convinced me to stick with the series. Thanks! P.S. I've added many of your war books to my TBR pile (Matterhorn, The Things They Carried, etc.). I've also added Revolution. Your thread is a great resource. :-)

ETA touchstones

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68. Love in a Headscarf by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed

"At the age of thirteen I knew I was destined to marry John Travolta. One day he would arrive on my north London doorstep, fall madly in love with me, and ask me to marry him. Then he would convert to Islam and become a devoted Muslim."

If only life were that simple. For Shelina, trying to find love in London while adhereing to her Asian cultural background, her British sensibilities, and, most importantly, her Islamic religious understandings is NOT simple. From arranged introductions from the "buxom Aunties" to speed dating to Internet matchmaking, Shelina tries to remain true to her culture, her religion, and herself with humor and patience. Only as she learns more about Islamic Love of the Divine does she begin to understand the love she seeks with a marriage partner.

Some of the initial chapters of Love in a Headscarf are very funny, with descriptions of encounters with would be suitors and their expectations, as well as her own. As the book progresses and time passes for Shelina, the book becomes more reflective of her religious development and her maturing understanding of the nature of marital relationships in an Islamic context. Although I found the book interesting, I did get a bit bogged down two-thirds of the way through. Some of her understandings and insights are elaborated on numerous times, from slightly different angles. I found the tone of the book to transition from a humourous, self-deprecating one, to a self-assured tone that bordered on condescending.

Overall I thought the book a welcome addition to the growing collection of Muslim women's voices that provide a needed alternative to the stereotype of the black-veiled oppressed Muslim woman.

3.5 stars

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#109: The last line of your review is what makes me want to read that one. Thanks, Lisa!

Lisa- Those are all great titles! I hope you love them all as much as I do!

69. Ruff's War: A Navy Nurse on the Frontline in Iraq by Cheryl Lynn Ruff

In February 2003, Cheryl Ruff landed in Kuwait as part of Bravo Surgical Company and spent the next three months following the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force into war in Iraq. If you think of the TV series MASH, plunk it down in Southern Iraq, add lots of sand, gastroenternitis, sand, flies, sand, scud missles, and a lot more sand, you can begin to imagine what Commander Ruff experienced. Well, only if you also take away buildings, water, cots, enough abdominal sponges to use more than one per patient, and reliable transportation.

Ruff was a registered nurse anesthesiologist with 25 years of service in the Navy when she went to Iraq. The first quarter of the book details her resume to that point: her childhood, her decision to join the Navy, and her training. This part of the book could have been summarized to a few pages without losing any significant impact. Once Ruff lands in Kuwait, however, the book gets interesting. The writing is fairly flat, but the details are fascinating. For instance, of the six surgeons assigned to Bravo Surgical Company, a frontline surgical unit, two of them were OB/GYNs and one was a podiatrist. Military planning at it's best.

The disquieting parts of the book were both the military's stance toward the medical treatment of Enemy Prisoners of War (EPWs) and Ruff's own change of attitude toward the Iraqi soldiers, which I found difficult to understand within my own context of medical personnel being the unbiased providers of aid and life.

If you read Ruff's War with an eye toward understanding frontline medicine in a war zone, I don't think you will be disappointed. Just don't expect poetic writing or an unbiased political viewpoint.

3 stars

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#112: Nice review, Lisa, but I think I will pass on that one.

How is your daughter's reviewing going? I am off to see if she has posted any more. . .

I'm interested in Ruff's War but wish the writing was better. Love your review; I may just have to read that one at the book store if I can't borrow it from the library. ;-)

I get impatient with women of any religion who allow themselves to have their lives so circumscribed based on the rules of their religion, so probably won't read Love in Headscarf Nice review though.

#113 My little one has not been doing much on the computer of late. We've had lots of playdates (and the grownup equivalents), birthday parties, and holiday activities lately. Then the snow. She'll probably do some more over the Dec. break. I'll let you know. *wink*

#114 If you do read it, Bonnie, I would recommend starting with when she lands in Kuwait.

As for Love in a Headscarf, the author would argue that her life is not circumscribed at all. In this interview with The Guardian, Shelina says:

Janmohamed is keenly aware of how non-Muslims tend to view arranged marriage and Muslim women in general. She recalls visits to bookshops where she would find "shelves and shelves of misery memoir and all these women in black veils with camels walking in the background and titles like I Was Sold Into Marriage." She smiles flatly. "And the only other stories that we saw were of Muslim women who had somehow broken through this oppression, had decided that Islam was the source of it and had rejected it, and had gone off to be - and the only way to put this is in quotation marks - 'liberated'. And you know, this is a really serious issue, the idea that women don't get to exercise their free choice and are pushed into areas of life that they shouldn't be forced into: that does need to be addressed. But I think it's really important that as part of that wider picture of what it is like to be a Muslim woman there are some positive stories told." She lifts her hands. "I like being a Muslim woman!"

#115: I noticed that she is still at 2 reviews. I understand why now :)

I'm baacckkk! With no family on this coast, we went up to Mt. Baker for our Thanksgiving getaway. No cell phone reception, no laptop connectivity, no tv. Just books, puzzles, and Yahtzee inside, and snowshoeing, sledding, and hottubbing outside. The good news is that I read three books over the weekend. The bad news is that the outdoor activity caused my hips to flare up, and they are now pretty bad. More good news: we stopped in Bellingham on the way home, and we visited both Eclipse and Village Books. Here's a list of some of my finds:

A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of my Afghanistan by Nelofer Pazira (recommended by Ardene-markon)

Michelangelo in Ravensbruck: One Woman's War Against the Nazis by Karolina Lanckoronska

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

The Plague by Albert Camus

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin (recommended by Cushla-cmt)

The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat (turned out to be a duplicate, but I hadn't read it, so did so over the weekend)

Nice haul, Lisa! Michelangelo in Ravensbruck immediately captured my attention. I look forward to seeing what you think of it.

Sorry to hear about your hips flaring up. I hope now that you are back home the pain will ease some.

This is the first month that I've tried the TIOLI challenge (thanks to avatiakh on Cushla's thread). I didn't actually pick books based on the challenges, but matched up the books I read to the challenges, which may be cheating. Anyway, here's how I fared:

Challenge #7: Remembrance: Read a Book with a World War I or World War II setting
Walk the Dark Streets: A Novel - Edith Baer - WWII, Germany - labfs39 - COMPLETED

Challenge #10: Read a Book About History, Fiction or Nonfiction
The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War - David Halberstam - labfs39 - COMPLETED

Challenge #11: Sadie Hawkins Challenge - book that follows another book and written BY A WOMAN
Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins - labfs39 - COMPLETED

Challenge #12: Book by an author whose first name ends with the same letter their last name starts with
Black Rain - Masuji Ibuse - labfs39 - COMPLETED

Challenge #16: 21st Century Challenge redux: Read a book published after 2005 and has 5 or more words in the title
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - Maggie O'Farrell (2006) - labfs39 - COMPLETED

#117 - Hope you enjoy bed of red flowers Lisa!

70. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

This is an amazing and insightful book! As the North Korean government is once again in the news for attacks against South Korea, it couldn't have been published at a more opportune time. Who are the North Koreans? What do the civilians think about such attacks and about their government? How do they live and was the 1990s famine as bad as we were led to believe? Barbara Demick interviewed hundreds of defectors, mostly from the northern city of Chonjin to try and find the answers to these and dozens of other more homey questions.

I had just recently finished The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War, when I picked up Nothing to Envy from the library. It was the both a continuation of the military history and a corrollary: a continuation because the North and South Koreas are officially still at war, especially for the North; and a corrollary, because it offers a perspective of how everday citizens are taught about the war and what they think about South Koreans and the "Yankee imperialist bastards". Because I knew so little about the Korean War, it was helpful to me to have read the history first.

According to the defectors interviewed by Demick and the sources with which she tried to corroborate their stories, life in North Korea was not bad after the war ended. China and Russia provided raw materials, food, and technology, and North Korea soon had a stronger economy than South Korea. When the Communist bloc support ended, however, North Korea found herself politically isolated, economically bankrupt, and without a means to feed its population. What followed was the absolute collapse of social services, but not an end to the government's Stalin-esque control of society. When Kim Il-Sung died, things in many ways deteriorated more, because Kim Jong-Il cracked down on some of the black market economies that had kept people alive.

Demick focuses her book by following the lives of six main interviewees, including a girl's love for a boy from a higher social class, a female doctor, and a middle-aged Socialist believer who clings to her beliefs far longer than seems possible. The book ends with a look at their lives in South Korea as defectors. From first page to last, I was completely entralled by their lives and their perceptions of life in this last Communist dictatorship.

I would highly recommend this book. 4.5 stars

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Nothing to envy sounds like an intriguing read - on to the TBR pile it goes.

I loved Black Rain--it was sensitive and quiet about issues that are not.

Hope to get to Nothing to Envy soon. And I hope you are feeling better and all recovered from your outdoor activities.

#120 Thanks, Ardene, I'm really looking forward to reading it. I was so amazed to find it at half price so shortly after adding it to my TBR list. I hope you enjoy Nothing to Envy.

#123 Both Black Rain and Nothing to Envy shed light on topics and areas of the world where I don't know enough. They were both very good reads.

My hips are doing better today thanks. Acupuncture does wonders for pain management for me. I am extremely fortunate that my insurance covers some of the cost.

Lisa- I hope you continue to feel better! Great review of Nothing to Envy. Sounds very interesting.

71. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

Looking for a great one-night read? You've found it. I picked this up at a library book sale the other day and stuck it in my knapsack for a light read over Thanksgiving. I was not disappointed; in fact I read the whole thing straight through pausing only to kiss my daughter goodnight and wave my husband off to bed.

The novel is built around three characters: Esme Lennox, her great-niece Iris, and her sister Kitty. Esme is due to be released from an asylum after 61 years because the asylum is closing. Since Kitty has Alzheimer's, Iris is the closest relative Esme has. Although the point of view occasionally shifts to Iris or Kitty, the floor is irrevocably Esme's. The narrative moves between the present with Esme's impending release, and her childhood, first in India and then Scotland.

I loved the character of Esme, from the time she was an irrepressible child in the heat and beauty of India, to the rebellious teenager unable to fit into her grandmother's Scottish respectabilities. In addition, the plot has as many twists and turns as my daughter's hair after a day in the mountains. I was spellbound to the last page.

My only warning is not to read the blurbs on the inside pages. In my opinion, the New York Times Book reviewer gives away too much.

4 stars

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72. The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat

Edwidge Danticat never writes books that are easy to read, but they are always incredibly beautiful and moving. The Dew Breaker is no exception. It is a novel made up of a series of short vignettes. Tying them together is the character of "the dew breaker", a Haitian macoute who specializes in torture. In some ways the book begins at the end, when the dew breaker is a husband, father, and shop owner in New York. He is trying to be a good man and a good father, and I felt sympathetic towards his situation. Through each of the succeeding chapters, most of which were published separately as short stories, we are taken back into the dew breaker's past, into Haiti's past, until with the last chapter we see how it all began.

Haiti is a beautiful country that has been torn and tortured by conquerors, dictators, neighbors, and nature. Edwidge Danticat writes of the beauty and sorrow of Haiti in the same breath, with the same words, and as a result, I cannot separate the two in my mind. Every time I read one of her books, I linger emotionally in a place of exquisite sadness, thinking of the plight and the strength of a desperate people.

3.5 stars

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I keep meaning to read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox but for some reason I've never picked it up. Thanks for the reminder and also for the warning! I hate it when that happens.

I already have the Barbara Demick on my wishlist, but once I am back to buying new books on Jan 1 I'm going to get this one on Book Depository.

And thanks for the review of The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - I keep seeing it around but now it's going onto the wishlist too. And I really loathe spoilers. I've almost stopped reading blurbs on books. Do editors think people like knowing what's going to happen?!

#125 Thanks, Mark. I have hip dysplasia, so my hips continue to worsen, but I continue to fight to keep my favorite activities. So I'd rather have a little pain than not get to do things!

#128, 129 I had never heard of Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox until I picked it off a book sale shelf, but I'm glad I did. Not to build up your expectations--it's not great literature--but it is a darn good read for a few hours. It's amazing the reasons women were written off to asylums in the "good old days". I'm going to have to look for a nonfiction book on the topic soon.

#129 Cushla, I think you would like Nothing to Envy. Fast read, but really interesting. There is another called The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag that is supposed to be historically reliable that I've added to my wishlist.

Barbara Demick, author of Nothing to Envy was on NPR this morning talking about the Koreas and China's role in propping up the NK regime. You can listen here.

Lisa- I love your book choices! Good review of The Dew Breaker ! I have that one in the stacks! Need to get to it!

Happy Hanukkah! We had a nice first night celebration, and I got a new book! Iqbal by Francesco D'Adamo. It's a novel about a Pakastani child laborer in a rug factory. It's been on my wishlist thanks to cameling. Can't wait to start it, but want to finish Strength in What Remains first. Maybe tomorrow night...

Third Place Books is the best Indie bookstore ever. Wandered in today and found that not only do they carry all the Archipelago and NYBR books, but most are on the Bargain Book table for 1/2 price. Made a huge list for hubby!

Ended up picking up used copies of

The Unloved: From the Diary of Perla S. by Arnošt Lustig, one of my favorite authors. It is very hard to find some of his older books, so finding this was a treat.

Two Lives by Vikram Seth, which was just recommended to me a day or two ago by Benita on Mark's thread. It sounds fabulous.

Just catching up on threads only to find some great reviews here, Lisa!

Nice review of The Dew Breaker, Lisa.

I hadn't been adding the audio books that K and I listen to in the car everyday to and from school, because I wasn't "reading" and they are books for younger readers. But after seeing Tad's wonderful review of My Side of the Mountain, one of the books we had just listened to, I decided to go ahead and count them. So, I added 12 audiobooks to my list today. I waited until I reached 75 with Strength in What Remains. I'll see how I feel about the inclusion of kids' books. If they disappear, you'll know I felt like I was cheating!

P.S. Today for Hanukkah I got The Siege, which I've been dying to read given all the chatter on LT.

73. Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder

Thank you to Mark for suggesting this book!

Deogratias is a man without a country. Escaping from the genocides in Burundi and Rwanda, Deo is put on a plane to NYC with $200, no English skills, and knowing no one in America. Sleeping first in an abandoned building in Harlem, then in Central Park, Deo works 12 hour days delivering groceries for $15 a day. A long way to fall for a talented medical student. But Deo has luck, the uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time, and a penchant for making friends with those who can help him. After years of hard work, Deo has learned to control his debilitating fears, has become part of a new family, and is ready to return to his country and help others.

The first part of the book, Flights, is Deo's memoir. I found it to be an amazing story, by turns depressing and uplifting. The second part of the book, Gusimbura, is the author's interpretation of Deo's life and ambitions. Although the story continues (Kidder accompanies Deo on a trip to Burundi and Rwanda), the story is now superimposed by a conscious narration. I was immediately distracted and less engaged with the story.

My first introduction to Tracy Kidder was his blockbuster Mountains Beyond Mountains. I was impressed then, and now, with Kidder's ability to "live" an interview--to follow someone for days, months, even years to get a sense of who they are and what they believe. I think he conveys as real a sense of the person as is possible without it being an autobiography. That said, I do find a bit too much Kidder present, almost as though he can't completely give up the stage to his subject. Personally, I would recommend reading the first part of the book and simply skimming the second.

3.5 stars

Edited to fix numbering

74. It Wood Be Fun: Woodworking with Children by Michael Bentinck-Smith

What a surprisingly fantastic little book! My husband is a woodworker who has done several projects with our daughter, and I thought he might find it interesting. Little did I know that I would find it so entertaining when I read it to review for Early Reviewers.

The author taught woodworking to kindergarteners through sixth graders at Milton Academy for 41 years. His love for his job, both the craft and the teaching, jumps off the page at you. He is funny, warm, and one of those New Englanders who believe that it is impossible to learn to drive a nail without hitting your thumb at least once, and that that is an okay lesson for a child to learn. He emphasizes respect for the child, for the tools, and for effort.

The book is divided into three general sections: setting up a workbench and selecting tools, tips on using the different tools suggested, and projects ranging from simple to intermediate. Interspersed throughout are tips, quips, and old-fashioned advice. He believes in putting the children in charge, giving them ownership and accountability, encouraging effort and perservance, and watching them take pride in a project they will keep forever. (I still have the dog shaped pencil holder I made when I was 10!)

I'll leave you with a couple of entries from the book's glossary, and I hope I've enticed parents to pick up a copy of the book for themselves or to give to their child's school.

Coming-out party Nail that starts crooked and pokes out through the side of a project.

Holiday Housepainter's term for a missed place in the paint job.

Money-back guarantee A problem that comes up in a project that is not the child's fault; I fix it; the child gets bailed out, the project is saved.

Rubber nail Nail that gets bent over while being hammered.

4.5 stars

Edited to fix numbering

#137: You received The Siege as a Hanukkah gift? What a great present! I loved that book - as well as its follow up, The Betrayal. Enjoy, Lisa!

#139: I need to find that one - for me. It sounds about my speed.

#132 The Dew Breaker is a fast read, if that helps in getting it off your TBR pile sooner, Mark.

#136 Thanks for stopping by, Darryl. Have you read Strength in What Remains? It touches on some of the issues related to poverty, inequalities, and health care. Deo is a protege of Paul Farmer.

#140 Hi Stasia! I didn't know there is a sequel to The Siege. Well, there are still four days of Hanukkah left--maybe I should drop some hints to the hubby! It Wood Be Fun was a great read, even if you never make big pieces of wood into smaller pieces of wood. I think you would find it of interest as a homeschooling parent too.

Edited to fix touchstones.

Yes, there is a sequel to The Siege and it is a terrific book in its own right, but I recommend you read The Siege first.

Sounds like a great Thanksgiving weekend, Lisa, but you're too young to have hip problems! That probably makes you feel lots better to hear that, huh? ;-) I just heard recently that hip surgery was easier than knee surgery--that really surprised me. Are you going to have to consider that or is it manageable as long as you don't do to much snowshoeing, sledding, followed by hot-tubbing?

Have you read Krik-Krak? That was my first Dandicat as well as the first stories about that island that I had read, and it's still one of my most memorable, and favorite, collections of short stories. You've got some good books there that I'm going to look for next year (forcing myself to forego a new wishlist untll I get rid of a few more books from my tbr piles).

And blurbs are getting to be more and more like movie previews--they give away waaay to much. I actually never look at them anymore. Same with the NYTimes reviewers. Too many sound like they're writing book reports.

Happy Hanukkah!

The 'too much Kidder in the book' problem that you identified is exactly what I thought marred Mountains beyond Mountains. I will probably still read this one though, sounds so interesting.

Lisa- Happy Hanukkah. my friend! I also snagged a copy of The Siege, a few weeks back. I'd love to try squeezing it in somewhere, in my impossibly tight reading schedule.
Good review of the Kidder book! I liked it as a whole, a bit more than you did but agree the 1st half is stronger. I also own a copy of Mountains Beyond Mountains and hope to get to it sometime next year.

#143 When I was told I had hip dysplasia, I said "but only dogs get that!". Come to find out woman in their early forties are often told that too. My doctor said I needed to "readjust my lifestyle expectations". Well, pooey on that. So here I am one surgery and a year and a half later, and in October I went camping (cots and platform tents, but still...) and over Thanksgiving weekend I walked a mile and a half on snowshoes. No sledding I'm afraid, I'm afraid of breaking more bone off, but I was happy to get back on snowshoes, even for such a pathetically short distance on a groomed trail. My surgeon originally said I would need hip replacements by the time I was 45, and I don't know what to hope for there. The thought of multiple hip replacements over time is no fun, but if they allow me to have a higher quality of life now? We'll see, currently I'm not a candidate because I have adequate joint space. Acupuncture has helped with pain management, and thankfully my insurance helps out with that (although my co-pays will double as of the first of the year).

I haven't read Krik? krak!, but it's on my list. I've heard it is her best. How depressing is it? I feel like all I've done lately is read about famine Nothing to Envy, torture Dew Breaker, and genocide Strength in What Remains. And now I'm reading Iqbal (child slavery in Pakistan)! I need a good laugh, I'm afraid.

# 144 Thanks, Cushla! Strength in What Remains is a good read, I just found the second half a little Kidder heavy. It was interesting to hear about the connections to Paul Farmer, since you've read MBM, and there is more objective history in the second half.

#145 Hi Mark! I love the idea of an "impossibly tight reading schedule". I'm a little to erratic for that, but I love the idea. I'll look forward to comparing notes on The Siege. And Mountains Beyond Mountains is, I think, a bit better than Strength in What Remains, although both are inspiring. Paul Farmer, whom you meet briefly in SIWR, is an amazing person, and the focus of the book. One of his partners, another amazing person, is now president of my alma mater. The third co-founder of Partners in Health is Roald Dahl's daughter, Ophelia.

I haven't read Strength in What Remains yet, Lisa; I'll add it to my wish list, though.

75. Iqbal by francescodadamo::Francesco D'Adamo

Thank you to Cameling for the recommendation!

In real life, Iqbal Masih was a young Pakistani boy who escaped child slavery in a carpet factory and worked to help free other exploited children. This short historical novel is written from the perspective of a young girl who works in the same carpet factory as Iqbal and becomes his friend. Like many children in Pakistan, Fatima is indentured by her family and has no hope of ever paying off the debt. Her despair and hope are beautifully described in an analogy where every morning she stretches toward a window that brings in the scent of the almond tree outside. She hopes to someday be able to reach the window and pull herself up for a look. Perhaps she is 1/4 of an inch closer? No, probably not. Then Iqbal is transferred to her Master and begins working at a loom near hers. They become friends, and Fatima becomes aware that Iqbal is not like her and the other children. He is not afraid. Or rather, he is afraid, but stands up for them anyway.

I was afraid to begin reading Iqbal because the topic of child exploitation is so emotionally difficult. But instead of despair, D'Adamo creates a beautiful mood of childish innocence and hope that transcends the passivity of some characters and the greed of others. I found myself wanting more: both of the delicate language and of the story. I plan to read more by this new-to-me author, and the book's bibliography provides some opportunities to learn more about the real Iqbal Masih.

4 stars

Edited to fix numbering

#149: I read that one earlier in the year and enjoyed it too. I am glad you did as well, Lisa!

Have you read any of D'Adamo's other works, Stasia? Are there any you would recommend?

I have not read any of his other books yet, Lisa. Unfortunately, Iqbal is the only one of his books that my local library has.

Rats, unfortunately I could only find one other of his titles that has been translated to English, My Brother Johnny, and my library doesn't have it either.

Don't you hate that? Arg.

Those are all good books, Lisa, but I agree! You totally need something lighter. Some of my favorites this year that fall into that category are: The Housekeeper and the Professor, A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and definitely The Uncommon Reader.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've read Housekeeper and Uncommon Reader, but I'll check out the other two, thanks! I actually just spent an hour browsing in TPB and came home with A Novel Bookstore. Hopefully a mystery book about books will be just what I need.

Following Tad's example, I tried the new author's nationality map. Here is a reflection of my collection:

I love that new graph beta feature!

Unfortunately, "other" includes not just other countries, but all authors whose nationality has not yet been added to Common Knowledge. In addition, because the category "nationality" is entered by country, you end up with some authors listed as Czech Republic and others as Czechoslovakia. Ah well, it's better than a kick in the teeth.

Wish there was a way to do the map by collection so that I could exclude all my children's books.

Very fun to play with though.

#159: Tad could probably help you with the map by collection, Lisa. I am sure he knows a way to do it.

Hi Lisa
Just to say hello. I've seen that you read The coldest winter and other books on Korea. I also read the Coldest winter, a daunting task to start with but definitely worth it. Do you have any special interest in Korea?

I would like to do a nationalities map, too. Are there some instructions how to do it? I think I missed that.

Hi Paul, thanks for stopping by.

I like to read history and was woefully ignorant of the history of Korea. I had read a few books about WWII in the Pacific and therefore about Douglas MacArthur, so I carried on into Korea. I enjoyed The Coldest Winter and another book about North Korea that I finished recently Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, which I would recommend if you haven't yet read it. How about you? Do you have any suggestions for me?

As for the nationalities graph, it is brand new. You can read about it here, but basically if you click this link, it should work for you:

http://www.librarything.com/profile/paulstalder/stats/nationality

One thing to note is that authors whose nationality has not been added to the author's Common Knowledge page, come up as "other". Wait, cancel that. Since last night, some changes have been made. They are now listed as unassigned. It's still very much a work in progress!

Edited to correct above statement.

Nice review of Iqbal, Lisa; I'll have to keep my eye open for it.

Currently reading and enjoying A Novel Bookstore. Quote of the day:

"You have just confirmed to me that one of the most fortunate purposes of literature is to bring like-minded people together and get them talking."

The same could be said of LibraryThing.

Lisa- Amen, sister! Nice quote!

I like that quote, Lisa! Thanks for sharing it!

Hi Lisa
Thanks for the hint about the authors nationalities graph. I found it and started to add the infos for nationalities where I could.

My wife is Korean and so I got interested in Korean literature and history. I read some personal reports of/about Koreans, like Flucht aus dem Paradies, Ein Leben ist kostbarer als die ganze Welt, Das Dorf der Vergessenen, Die Strasse zum Himmel. Some are translated into English. I also enjoyed some literature, such as Songs of the dragons flying to heaven. Li Mirok is not my LT yet. There also some Korean authors living in the USA, like Kim Suki The interpreter or Lee Chang-Rae The surrendered.

Just enacting your quote >164 labfs39:

#164, 165 From some of the reviews of A Novel Bookstore, you might think it's a real slog. I'm finding it delightful. Like stepping into an alternate universe where people walk around in RL loving literature. I just wish I were more familiar with French authors beyond the standard eight or ten. I haven't found much time to read this week, and then yesterday I backed over my shoulder bag in the parking lot. The book survived fine, but my reading glasses... well, they slightly resembled a coat hanger that had been used as a car door opener.

#167 I'm glad you are finding the nationalities graph interesting. I'm still stuck trying to figure out how to correct having my books showing up as Czech, Czechoslovak, and Czech Republic (with no Slovakia). Or Russian Empire, Russia, Soviet Union. I think Soviet Union should only refer to post break-up, because Ukranian authors should IMHO always be Ukranian, irregardless of when they are or aren't a SSR.

Thank you for the suggestions of some additional Korean literature to try. I will definitely see which ones I can find. Do you have any Korean history titles that you found particularly good? What do you think of Lee Chang-Rae? He's become very popular in the US, but I haven't year read any of his books. I sometimes let the chaff settle before I try a "too-popular" author.

I read A Gesture Life by Lee earlier this year and enjoyed it, although from what I hear, it is not his best work. I am going to give more of his titles a try next year.

76. A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cossé

Do you stand reading in bookstores until you realize you are now late, and the book is half done? Do you find yourself scanning friends' bookshelves surreptitiously, while nodding at small talk? Do you think some books are better than others? If so, you will probably enjoy this book as much as I did. However, if you think there is no such thing as a "great book" or are a publisher or mega-chain bookstore owner, you probably won't.

Although this book contains within it a mystery, a couple of love stories, and a bit of otherworldly Chagallishness, mostly it is about people who love books. The catch is that these people don't love just any books, they love good books. Often today's culture celebrates diversity by saying everything is equally good. The consumer should decide for his or her self. Differences in quality or ability are minimized, hidden, or ignored for fear of the e-word: elitism.

A Novel Bookstore explores this concept in the world of book publishing, selling, and reviewing. Fed up with the mediocrity and sameness of the mega-bookstores, and even many smaller ones, Ivan and Francesca decide to open the ideal bookstore: one which carries only “good” novels. We are led through their entire planning process. Novels or all fiction? Just classics or also newly released? Only new copies or also used? And above all, who will decide? The bookstore opens with a flourish and attracts both serious readers and the attention of those who stand to lose if some books are deemed better than others.

I found the beginning of the book delightful: a celebration of literature wrapped in a fun mystery-love story. But somewhere in the last third, I began to feel as though the author had lost her way. A narrative voice appears from nowhere and is a distraction, the mystery comes bogged down and is never resolved, and the theme of discernment in literature turns to an inditement of large publishers, booksellers, critics, and book prize judges in general. But despite a less than optimal ending, I found the book fun to read and a reminder that it is okay to say, “This is a good book, and this one is not.”

4 stars
Edited to delete diatribe on the leveling of ability in America.

Because LTers tend to love lists, as well as books, when I read about the bookstore owners in A Novel Bookstore asking their committee members to come up with a list of 600 good novels to include in their store, my first thought was "which books would I choose?". My second thought was "I wonder which 600 books Bonnie/Cushla/Mark/Darryl/Monica/Richard/Ardene/Tina/Stasia/Deborah/etc. would choose?" I may try it someday, listing the 600 books I would recommend (but I don't think I will restrict myself to novels, although I haven't decided). Maybe in 2011!

77. Room by Emma Donoghue

This was a book that I started to read standing up in a mega-bookstore and only came to myself when a salesperson asked me if I needed help. Startled, I walked away without the book. But the opening chapters had grabbed me, and I needed to find out what happens.

I found the idea of the book, writing a story from the perspective of a five-year-old boy who has never been outside of an 11' x 11' room, to be genius. I fell for Jack from page one and never tired of his voice. Jack shares the room with Ma, and when she starts to assert her voice over Jack's, planning an escape, the novel begins to become a less unique story and one of many horrible instances of entrapment and abuse. Once outside Room, Jack occasionally has moments of clarity of voice and I rejoice. Unfortunately, Outside is a place filled with voices, and Jack's becomes one of many.

3.5 stars

Another quote from A Novel Bookstore that I added to Common Knowledge:

My grandfather left me a great deal more--a passion for literature, and something additional, fundamental: the conviction that literature is important. He talked about it often. Literature is a source of pleasure, he said, it is one of the rare inexhaustible joys in life, but it's not only that. It must not be dissociated from reality. Everything is there. That is why I never use the word fiction. Every subtlety in life is material for a book.

I am going to have to track down a copy of A Novel Bookstore in the new year!

>168 labfs39: Lee Chang-Rae: I read The surrendered, I have mixed feelings about it. The part he writes about the orphanage in Korea are lively and interesting, but the other sequences are flat and sometimes disconnected. The idea by telling the story from different times in different times and from the other character's perspective is good, but he has overdone that. If you have it, read it, but don't chase it. I liked The interpreter better. It's her first novel, so there things to make better. She tells the story of immigrants in New York.

I met several Koreans on Saturday and hopefully will get some new titles from them. I did two terms at the University of Zürich Koreanistics, so I jotted down what the prof said and didn't do too much reading back then...

But I liked what you wrote about A novel bookstore - I am going to put it on my wish list.

Lisa- Good reviews! A Novel Bookstore is already on the WL. I loved Room. Several readers had problems with the "Outside" part of the book. I thought it enriched the 1st half.
I have both The Surrendered & A Gesture Life in the stacks. Hope to get to one of them early next year.

Room is one of the New York Times's Top Ten Books of 2010. I hate when I have to wait to read a book that everyone else has been talking about for a whole year. Sigh... One of the downsides of being on LT. A Novel Bookstore sounds good too. Even if it's not perfect, it's sounds like a book that any LT-er would enjoy--especially thinking about which books I would choose. Probably not great books--I'm not into the "Great Books" at all. For example, I can't stand reading Shakespeare, and only cringe a little at admitting it.

What do you know: I've added Room and A novel bookstore to my wishlist. Somehow I think I'll like them.
I kind of like your idea to do something with the 600 books I'd put in my store. Maybe we could start a thread or a wiki or something for next year?

Hi Paul, Thanks for more Korean suggestions. I tried looking for some of the previous ones that you had suggested, but couldn't find an English translation. I think I'll just have to jump in with Lee Chang-Rae.

Thanks, Mark. As I think more about Room (I read it yesterday), I think that part of the reason that I had trouble with Outside is because then the story became more like the horrible things you read in the news. Somehow, when they are in Room, it seemed less emotionally raw. I have a hard time reading about child abuse, so perhaps that skewed my review. I did read the book in one day, so I was certainly engaged. We'll have to keep each other apprised of our progress with the Lee books!

I know, Bonnie! My number finally came up for The Passage and Revolution at the library, long after most people are through discussing it. My husband took pity on my interrupted in-store reading of Room and got a discounted copy online for me.

:) Yes, my far-away twin, I think you will like A Novel Bookstore! Not so sure about Room just because my own response was uncertain. What would be really fun is if we could try to agree on the 600 books to have in our bookstore. We would have to "justify" our choices to our friends. Hmmm, first my list. A thread or wiki or something sounds good. Have you done that before?

I'm not through discussing The Passage and Revolution. I'll be here for you! I loved both of these books!

Oh good! I put both on my TBR list because of you. :)

Well, everyone, please send strong healing thoughts my way tomorrow (Richard, you're on point once again). I'm having laparascopic abdominal surgery, and we're hoping the surgeon will be able to find and correct whatever caused me so much pain in April and September. This and another procedure scheduled for right after, will most likely wreck havoc on my hips, because of the way they have to arrange me, but it will be worth it if they can find and prevent any more attacks. I'm tired of doctors calling 911 from their offices and sending me to the ER! Wish me luck...

P.S. Most importantly, I have a nice stock of books to keep me company as I recover. I'm currently enjoying Two Lives by Vikram Seth, then I have the two books Mark recommended that came into the library today, and finally I got an ARC book today, about which I am very excited. It's called Little Princes.

Lisa- Sending healing thoughts your way! I hope everything goes well and your on the fast track to recovery. When's the surgery?

Yikes, Lisa! I forgot that you were having surgery. I don't know whether to wish they find something or that they don't! For sure, I'll send healing thoughts your way--and since it's such a short trip, they should come in strong. Who's going to tell us how you're doing? Will your husband get on or...?

I'm wishing you all the luck you need and a a whole lot more to be on the safe side. I hope you have a speedy recovery and that the problems are solved for good then. You are in my thoughts and hey, we do have to make that 600-books-list, so make sure you're back in shape soon :-)

Hi Lisa,

Good luck for the surgery today - I hope they find something and can fix it up straight away. Will be thinking of you from over here.

Prayers heading up for you, Lisa!

Hope the surgery goes well, Lisa. Will be thinking of you.

I hope the surgery went well, and that you are feeling better. I'm thinking of you.

Thank you all for your well wishes! It was nice to know you were thinking of me. Surgery went well, anesthesia not so much. Ended up back in the hospital for an overnight. Still having some minor problems, but my surgeon says if I go back to bed, I should avoid another visit. Try doing that with a seven year old on vacation! Anyway, didn't get much reading done, maybe because Two Lives was such a slog. Started Little Princes last night, and it is great so far. Will have to catch up on threads later. Happy holidays for those with Christmas looming!

Hi Lisa, glad to see you back here, doing reasonably well. I'm sorry your last read wasn't succesful. I've started reading Ali and Nino today and after only two chapters, I'm hooked. There seems to be much more to this book than meets the eye so I'll have to look into this story as well. To make a long story short, I think this might be one that would end up in our joint book-venture :-)
Take care !

Anesthesia--yuck, phooey, spit... I'm usually more afraid of it then the procedure, so try to avoid it whenever I can--though guess it's a necessary evil, huh? Glad you're home now and hope you're getting in the necessary lounging time despite the 7-year-old (hint: tv movies and/or the parents of his friends--whimper when you call.) Have a great Christmas! Hope Santa puts some good books in you stocking.

#190: I hope the minor problems clear quickly, Lisa!

78. Two Lives by Vikram Seth

(I was led to the author Vikram Seth by an Indian friend when I found fault with two of my recent reads set in India: Shantaram and The White Tiger. Were either an authentic portrayal of India? Was there truly no middle class in India? My friend suggested A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, and I was not disappointed. So when I saw the memoir Two Lives, also by Seth, I was quick to pick it up.)

When Vikram Seth, an Indian author of acclaim, was seventeen, he went to live with his uncle and aunt in London in order to attend school there. The first part of the book, and frankly one of the most interesting parts, is the story of his childhood spent bouncing between India and England and the account of his intense schooling. Once Vikram is fledged, he keeps in touch with his surrogate family, and after his aunt dies, decides to begin interviewing his uncle in order to someday write a dual biography. It's an interesting idea.

Shanti Seth was born in India and in 1931 moves to Berlin to study dentistry. He ends up rooming in a Mrs. Caro's house, despite Mrs. Caro's daughter Henny advising her mother not to take in the black man. Despite this initial impression, Shanti and Henny become friends and the two of them have a busy social life in Berlin. In 1939 Henny flees the coming Holocaust and with the aid of her fiancé’s father escapes to London. A year later Shanti joins the British Army's Dental Corp. He serves in North Africa and Italy, is seriously injured in the battle for Monte Cassino, and returns to London to continue his dental career. Henny has been in London since the war began, and the two of them continue a rather lopsided relationship until they are married in 1951.

The memoir has the potential to be fascinating: an Indian man's relationship with a Jewish girl in pre-war Berlin, the loss of her family and many friends in the Holocaust, and her extensive correspondence with friends in post-war Germany. However, I found reading the book rather like being stuck watching someone's interminable home movies. Shanti fails to share with his nephew any insights into his life, so the account is rather flat and uninspired. Henny is more complex with secrets that are only revealed through correspondence discovered after her death. Unfortunately she didn't keep copies of all of her letters, so too often the account is construed from what friends wrote to her. This reading between the lines is frustrating and leads the author to assumptions that can never be proved.

To balance the personal stories, Vikram adds occasional chapters meant to provide historical background, but he is not an historian, and the chapters stick out like the interruptions they are. So the book ends up neither fish nor fowl, neither interesting history nor compelling personal narrative. During the last section, when the author returns to the present and his uncle’s decline, I began wishing the book would just end. Then came the reading of the will and the inevitable ensuing family drama. The end was a welcome relief.

2.5 stars

edited to add diacritic

79. Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan

Who doesn't love the story of a young idealist who goes out into the world tilting at windmills and actually succeeds? Uplifting story, exotic location, big-eyed children, and yes, even a love story, this book will be a blockbuster.

Conor Grennan is a young Irish-American, who after eight years at the East-West Institute in Europe, decides to travel around the world spending his money, carousing with friends, and drinking lots of beer. But first he spends a couple of months doing the obligatory volunteer thing, in this case working at a children's home in Nepal. While there, Conor begins to see the world differently, and his life takes on a new shape.

Children in Nepal are often given up by their parents either in an effort to see them better fed and educated, or because the parents cannot afford to keep them. These children end up as cheap domestic labor or "orphaned". NGOs, such as Little Princes, where Conor works, try to keep the children from exploitation by providing a group home and education. Conor decides to take it a step further and try to reunite the children with their parents.

By turns humorous and touching, the book is a look at a side of Kathmandu and Nepal that non-tourists and -trekkers rarely see. More importantly, it sheds light on an international problem, the exploitation of children, and it is a study in self-discovery and how one person can make a difference. My only reservation is that Conor's one person crusade, while completely admirable, may have been better served by working with other NGOs already established and working in Nepal on these same issues, rather than clumsily trying to start his own. In any event, if you liked Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time, you will love Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal. *only slightly tongue in cheek*

4.5 stars

#194: Too bad about that one. At least your next read made up for it!

#195: I will look for that one. Thanks for the review and recommendation, Lisa!

I hope you are recovering nicely from your surgery.

I enjoyed both of your reviews, Lisa. I'm disappointed that Two Lives wasn't a good read, but I'll have to look out for Little Princes.

#191 Hi Monica, you are right! Ali and Nino sounds right up my alley. Thanks book twin!

#192 Thanks for the good wishes, Bonnie. I did okay with anesthesia last time, because they knew to load me up with anti-nausea meds before and after. This time around I got an anesthesiologist who was more interested in talking about drinking (which I don't do) than in my needs. Mmm. Not pleased. Especially as the next night I ended up with dry heaves in the back of an ambulance after abdominal surgery.

#196 Thanks, Stasia. I am doing a bit better. Was able to get out of the house for short stints. Little Princes is definitely worth a couple of hours. :)

#197 Hi Darryl, I was disappointed in Two Lives, it had all the makings of a book I would really enjoy. Just didn't work for me. Little Princes is an uplifting, fun read. I was a little uncomfortable because there have been so many start-up NGOs and accompanying books lately. Having worked in the non-profit global health sector, I know how well-meaning individuals can sometimes sabotage long-term development strategy. But that sounds stingy. Anyway, it was a good quick read. Due out in January, I believe.

That's too bad about Two Lives. I have it on my shelf and I was looking forward to it.

I hope you are feeling better. I guess your kids are out of school now, and can "help" you.

Hi Deborah, Maybe you will enjoy Two Lives more than I. Like I said to Darryl, it sounded as though it would be right up my alley. If you do read it, I would love to know what you think.

Yes, my daughter has this week off and has been a wonderful helper. I'm just sorry she had to see me at my worst when the ambulance came. I don't want her scarred for life!

Audiobooks:

29. The Porcupine Year by Louise Erdrich*
28. The Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich
27. The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich*

Although I haven't been writing reviews of audiobooks, or counting them in my 75 challenge, I did want to say a few words about this series because they are well worth a look for those interested in YA or Native American literature. Louise Erdrich is a member of the Chippewa tribe and her mother was Ojibwe. Erdrich wrote her first young adult book, The Birchbark House, about an Ojibwe girl named Omakayas. The book was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People. Erdrich based this and the subsequent books in the series on her own experiences, the stories of her family, and research into her grandmother's life.

The first book, The Birchbark House, is told through the voice of a seven-year-old girl, Omakayas, who lives with her family on Lake Superior in 1847. The story is captivating and innocent, with a child's perspective on her family and nature, with a bit of foreshadowing created by overheard adults talking. In The Game of Silence, my least favorite in the trilogy, the tension just sensed in the first book is increased as the tribal leaders try to determine if they need to move from their island in response to pressure from the increasing white population. The Porcupine Year tells the story, still in Omakayas's voice, of the family's move.

Although originally checked out from the library for my daughter to listen to on our trips to and from her school, I too became completely caught up and was disappointed when I learned that the series did not continue. I would recommend the series for its creation of a historical time and place that is captured in a way others have compared to Faulkner's creation of Yoknapatawpha County, although the Native American north and Faulkner's White South make "strange bedfellows" as Erdrich says. My only negative comment is that you can probably skip the second book, The Game of Silence, and not miss much in terms of plot and only a slight maturing of Omakayas.

4 stars for the series

Edited to try and align images horizontally. Failed.

Interesting question you had for your Indian friend. Finally added A Suitable Boy based on both your recommendations.

#201 - Lisa, thanks for the reminder about Erdrich's juvenile books. It's been awhile since I read them. When I first ran across them, I thought of them as an alternate "little house on the praire," probably because of the first title in the series, The Birchbark House.

#202 Be prepared, Bonnie, for a chunkster!

#203 Hi Ardene, I love the comparison to the Little House books. Have you read any of Erdrich's other books? What would you recommend?

80. The Siege by Helen Dunmore

Can you say you enjoyed a book when the subject is horrific? Can you love a book about the Holocaust? Enjoy a book about the exploitation of children? That’s where I find myself when trying to describe my reaction to The Siege. Like a rubbernecker driving past a car accident on the highway, I found myself unable to look away from the descriptions of incredible loss of life during the siege of Leningrad. Made personal by the story’s characters, the siege becomes imaginable in a way that hearing the statistics (872 days of siege with the loss of over one million civilian lives from starvation, mostly in the first winter) alone can’t convey.

Anna Levin is a young woman whose dreams have been thwarted by family obligations. When her mother dies in childbirth when Anna is seventeen, she becomes mother to baby Kolya and main breadwinner for her family when her father’s writings are no longer acceptable by the Communist publishers. An artist with no opportunity for higher education, a pragmatic by circumstances, hindered by her class status as part of the intelligentsia, Anna has few choices. One the other hand, this life has given her the fortitude to struggle on against incredible odds to try and save herself and her family during the siege.

Entwined throughout the depiction of the daily grind of survival, the author writes of the beauty of the seasons and the sense of place so essential to being a Leningrader. In addition, the story contains two loves stories, both Anna’s own belated one and that of another woman who joins their family unit. The larger backdrop of history and the story of this little family are woven together in a way that enriches each.

2002 Orange Prize shortlist

4 stars

For a grim Russian perspective (what Russian perspective isn't grim), try the short story "Our Father Who Art in Heaven" by Ivan Katayev. It is included in the collection 416894::Great Soviet Short Stories edited by F. D. Reeve.

Edited to try and fix touchstones.

Lisa- Great review of The Siege! Boy, you have good taste in books! I picked up this one after being sold by Bonnie (Brenzi). I was hoping to squeeze this one in, maybe in the next couple weeks. Yeah, right!
Have a wonderful Christmas!

#205: I loved both The Siege and its follow up, The Betrayal. Great review!

Lisa, of the ones I've read, I think The Painted Drum & Four Souls are my favorites. I don't recommend Love Medicine (I can't keep the characters sorted out) or her latest Shadow Tag (too depressing). I think what I like about much of her writing is that though she describes awful situations, and people who do horrible things sometimes, there is a lot of compassion in her work.

Thanks for your question - it made me look up biographical information on her, and reminded me that she is a poet as well - I need to check her poetry out since I haven't read any yet.

Wikipedia entry

Bibliography

And if I ever get to Minneapolis I plan on visiting her store, Birchbark Books

Lisa I hope you are continuing to improve.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays, Lisa!

Merry Christmas, Lisa! And thanks for that great review of The Siege, which I'll read next month for Orange January.

Happy Merries to all of you as well!

#206 Thanks, Mark. It's brenzi with the good taste though... I think I got the recommendation for her!

#207 I'll have to find The Betrayal next. Is it as good as The Siege? I hate to read a sequel and be terribly disappointed.

#208 Great info on Erdrich, Ardene. Thank you! I think I am going to try The Painted Drum per your suggestion. I like that it has a New England connection.

#209 Thanks for the check-in, Deborah. I'm hacking up a lung and am beginning to wonder if I have bronchitis. "If it doesn't kill yah, it makes yah strongah", as they say in Maine. ;)

#210 Thanks, Stasia! I've been having terrible insomnia lately. We'll have to have another of our middle of the night chats. Hopefully not tonight, please not tonight, to bed perchance to sleep... No wait that's not right...

#211 High praise coming from you Dr. Darryl. Thank you! And thank you for working holidays so that docs with families can be home. I hope Santa was extra good to you.

ETA missed message

Good things come in small packages. Translation is a Love Affair may only be 144 pages long, but wow! I'm loving it so far, will hopefully post review tomorrow. Fascinating to be reading a book about translating books that is in translation itself. More to come...

#212: I hope you are getting some rest tonight, Lisa!

Hi Stasia, I got about seven hours which is a definite improvement. I was up fairly late finishing Translation is a Love Affair. It was so good that the book looks like a hedgehog with all the sticky notes sticking out! Review soon...

I like the idea of a hedgehog-book :-)

I read a book once that called them hedgepigs, which I think is infinitely cuter. Can't think of which book is was though. British, I think.

Lisa, I often feel a twinge too when I say I love a book that also deals with a horrendous subject. But that's also a part of why I love the book--that the author told such an important story in such an exceptional way. Nice review! If I hadn't already added The Siege to next year's new wish list, I sure would have based on your comments.

Hope you had a good Christmas! I miss the little kid years. The upside: my two grown boys picked out some outstanding books for me. :-)

December is such a great month for bibliophiles! I got a great haul. And I haven't even used my Amazon gift card. :)

The Siege by Helen Dunmore (2002 Orange Prize shortlist)
Great novel about the siege of Leningrad.

Translation is a Love Affair by Jacques Poulin (French Canadian; Archipelago)
Wonderful, lyric novel about the beauty of language and translation.

The Company of Ghosts by Lydie Salvayre (French)
A novel set in 1942 and 1997 France.

The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-Hwan (N. Korean memoir)
A North Korean defector who, together with his family, was incarcerated in a camp for 10 years. He was only nine years old.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
Vietnam war novel much talked about on LT.

The Family Mashber by Der Nister (NYRB press)
A classic Yiddish novel about three brothers and the mysterious outsider who haunts their lives.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Australian)
Young adult novel set in WWII Germany. The protagonist is a young girl who steals books in order to save them. Theme sounds like Too Loud a Solitude, one of my favorite books.

Unbroken: A World War Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hellenbrand
New book about WWII in the Pacific

Blackout by Connie Willis
One of her time travel books, this one set in WWII during the Blitz.

I also scored a LibraryThing: What's on Your Bookshelf t-shirt which I am wearing today! (It helped that I left the page up on the family room computer with size and color already selected!)

Edited to try and fix Translation touchstone.

Lisa- What a great haul! The Things They Carried & The Book Thief are 2 of my favorites. Unbroken is very high on my WL! Enjoy!!

Wonderful haul, Lisa! Color me jealous :)

81. Translation is a Love Affair by Jacques Poulin

I am in love! The object of my affection is small, short, and translated, but my, is it wonderful. This book should really be shelved in the poetry section, for some of the lines are exquisite. The descriptions can be so captivating you have to read them twice, and the characters are good, kind, and lovable, just what is needed this time of year.

There is a plot. A young, talented, but rudderless translator meets the author whose book she is hoping to translate. The two are brought together through their love of words and by their need for love in their lives. Together they uncover a mystery: a note on a cat that leads to a young girl and a rather witch-like woman. But that is so beside the point. What the book is really about is words and language and the beauty that can be found in the perfect turn of phrase or in capturing the essence of a thing with words. Not only does an author need to find these things, but then a translator has to be able to capture the essence and style of the essence and render it into a completely different language. And to really blow your mind, this beautiful book about translation, is in translation!

But I’m gushing. In order not to ruin the book with too many of my own words, I was going to end with a few of my favorite quotes (hard chosen because the 144 pages of this book are covered in sticky notes until it resembles a hedgehog). But I was afraid that would ruin it: one person’s manna and all that. So I’ll just say that I hope you’ll be enticed to run out and buy this Archipelago treasure. And fall a little bit in love.

82. The Company of Ghosts by Lydie Salvayre

Can injustice be atoned for? Is there a point at which nations can, and should, forgive themselves and move on for atrocities committed decades before? What obligations do the survivors of atrocities have for keeping the memories alive in the public consciousness? These are some of the questions that arose for me as I made my way through this short but difficult book.

The story is much like a one-act play. The setting is a small apartment and the entire action takes place in the space of perhaps three hours. There are only three actors: Rose Mélie, a survivor of the Jewish Action in Vichy France; her eighteen-year-old daughter, Louisiane; and the government official sent to inventory the Mélie's apartment prior to their eviction for failure to pay rent. The scope of the novel, however, is much broader and multi-faceted than this simplicity implies.

Rose was six when her brother, Jean, is killed in a brutal way that forever changes the way she views the world. Rose is unable to psychically leave 1942 and replays the events of that year, and the way they effected her family, endlessly in her mind and aloud to her daughter. Louisiane has spent her entire childhood listening to the historical ravings of her mother and trying to keep things under control. When things get too bad, her mother is institutionalized, and she is sent to foster care. Hard for a young girl who would rather watch soaps and learn about sex. The arrival of the official sets off Rose, who mistakes him for a Vichy militia member, and Louisiane who wants desperately to make things appear normal in the hopes that they might be given a reprieve.

I was unable to fully engage with the novel, despite this rather interesting premise, for a couple of reasons. First, I didn't connect emotionally with any of the characters, all of whom are "difficult to love". Second, the novel is written almost entirely in dialogue, but without the punctuation that makes it easy for a reader to follow along. Finally, the book is just plain difficult. Woven around the plot described above is the analogy of the present representing the collaborationist atmosphere of the past. Just as Rose confuses the two, the reader is led to imagine Rose as the French citizen who does try to speak out against the regime, but is silenced. Louisiane is the person who appeases rather than confronts, hoping to overt disaster. Finally, in the the short piece, "Some Useful Advice for Apprentice Process-Servers", included in the book I read, we hear from the perspective of the official, whose voice only confirms the analogy.

Not sure if I will recommend, nor how many stars I will give this one. I don't think I liked it, but when I reread what I have written, it sounds like a book I would like.

I must say, I don't tend to enjoy reading novels set in the first or second world wars, but you've made The Siege sound so interesting I just might check it out. :)

#222: I already have that one in the BlackHole. I just need my local library to get a copy.

#220, 221 Thanks! I'm very pleased. And Mark, I added The Things They Carried based on your recommendation.

#224 Maybe you can try it as a genre buster. ;)

#225 Can you get it through ILL? It's a great little book. P.S. Did you like The Gendarme?

The Things They Carried is magnificent. I hope you get to it soon. If you like it, you might also want to read O'Brien's In the Lake of the woods, in which the protagonist's Vietnam experiences come back to haunt him years later. I didn't like Going After Cacciato as much, although many seem to prefer it to The Things They Carried.

That's a ringing endorsement. I'll tackle it next. Currently I'm reading The Book Thief which is rather unusual in that it is narrated by Death.

Lisa, I just listened to The Things They Carried on audiotape, but was so amazed at how good it was that I went ahead and bought a heavily discounted used copy, so that I could read it for myself. Change of topic: I loved that the narrator of The Book Thief was death--very interesting; it created a kind of calmness and gentleness to some of the tragic scenes--or at least that's how I remember it.

Oh, and here's a LINK to my 2011 thread in Club Read if you want to keep chatting.

edited to add link

#227/229: Echoing Deborah's and Bonnie's recommendation of The Things They Carried. Terrific book!

Gone to Victoria, BC for the weekend. See you in 2011!

Have a great trip, Lisa! See you on the flip side!

I'm back from our trip and have finally created my 2011 thread. Hope to see you there!