Orange 2012

Orange Books Read in 2012:

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver - 5 stars (okay, I cheated, this one was finished late 2011)
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht - 5 stars (January 2012)

I'm cheating a bit for 2012 and Orange January, as I am working my way through The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver now and hope to have it finished before I go on holiday on Dec 27.

So far I'm really liking it. It's written fairly light despite the darkness that is creeping in, but I expect that might change later on in the book. Still, I totally get why people love this book and I keep wondering why didn't I pick this up sooner?

Welcome! It's definitely okay to start Orange January early! =) I liked The Poisonwood Bible too! Enjoy!

3> Thanks! I just finished The Poisonwood Bible and I loved it!

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The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (5 stars)

Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family – a wife and four daughters – on a mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it—from garden seeds to Scripture—is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

The Poisonwood Bible is narrated by Orleana Price and her daughters, who are all very different people with their own unique perspective. This gave the book a unique 3-D picture of the situation, both their private situation as the more general situation of the country they live in which is in turmoil. Right from the beginning I knew things were going to go wrong, and as the book followed the family as things slid from bad to worse without them knowing it, it seems, until it was too late. Every time there was a point at which they could turn things around I was hoping they would, but didn’t really expect it.

What I liked very much was that the story continued after the main happenings in the Belgian Congo, that it showed how the events there affected the family for decades afterwards and how they ended up living their lives. That, for me, was perhaps the best part of the book.

All in all, this was a heavy book (both in subject as in size), but very, very good. It will stick with me for a good long while and I highly recommend it!

The Poisonwood Bible is sitting on my TBR pile. I like your review and hope to get around to reading it myself sometime soon (but not in Janaury, I have other Oranges planned at the moment).

5> Sorry for the late reply, I was away on holiday. I hope you get around to reading it as well, it's truly a great book.

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I had planned to read Wolf Hall this month, but I've picked up a non-fiction book about the life of Thomas Cromwell when I was in London last week and I think that reading that before reading Wolf Hall will probably be helpful for my understanding and enjoyment of that book.

So, I've decided to postpone Wolf Hall until Orange July and go for The Tiger's Wife this month. I've requested it at the library, so now I just have to wait until it's in.

I love all the different perspectives that BK offers in this novel; even the less-readily-likable characters are easy to understand in her hands.

7> You're right. I found it very easy to recognize who was talking because each character had such a distinct voice.

Glad you liked The Poisonwood Bible! I wasn't as fond of it as most people, but I agree that the last part, set after all the turmoil, was fascinating.

I dived into Wolf Hall not even knowing who Thomas Cromwell was. (Maybe Oliver's Dad?) While that gave it a fascinating perspective, I think it would have been good to know more going in. :)

I got as far as the first two chapters in Wolf Hall, but I kept wondering how much was true of Thomas' early life and how much was fiction (due to not knowing anything about it).

I don't usually read historical fiction from a time/place I know absolutely nothing about, but while I know a little of the British monarchs, I knew nothing about Cromwell except for his name and that he was important. That just wasn't enough for me. So first I'll take the non-fiction road :D

I just got a message from my library saying I can come pick up The Tiger's Wife, so I'll be starting that one tomorrow. Here's to hoping I'll like it as much as everyone around here!

I hope you like The Tiger's Wife! I found it to be wonderful!

12> Thanks! I hope so too. I picked it up from the library today, so I'll be starting it later today. I'm greatly looking forward to it.

I finished Julia Leigh's The Hunter yesterday and found it an interesting read. While I admire aspects of it, I can't say I loved it. I hope to read another orange book before the month is out, probably Great House but now I have a copy of Disobedience I might just plunge into that.

#11: Samantha - I hope you like TTW too, I really enjoyed reading it and slowed down to make it last.

I've started The Tiger's Wife and am liking it so far, but just as with The Poisonwood Bible it is not a page-turner in the traditional sense of the word. Both books are good, no doubt about it, but are more suited for small portions read at a time than a big cover-to-cover session.

Also, is The Tiger's Wife set in current times? And where, exactly, in the Balkan is it taking place?

Here is what the author says about where it is taking place "Obreht replied, "It’s a family saga that takes place in a fictionalized province of the Balkans..."

I listened to this on audio and thought it was wonderful.

16> Thank you, that helps a lot. Now I know why I can't place it exactly :D

#15 Here's what I said about the setting of The Tiger's Wife in my review: "We are given to understand that the action takes place in the former Yugoslavia, sometime "after the war" that separated that country (so late 20th century). There are place names a-plenty, and references to "the Marshal", border crossings, checkpoints, but the names that became so familiar in the 20th century--Kosovo, Bosnia, Croatia, Srebrenica, Milosevic, Tudman--do not appear and the politics of the conflicts are totally absent, so it is almost possible to imagine everything happening just outside the known limits of the real world in a place where what feels fabulous to us can be accepted as normal."

18> Thanks for the info! I haven't read any review for this book, because it got recommended enough that I didn't feel the need to check out the reviews before picking it up.

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I'm now half-way through The Tiger's Wife. I like the book, but I'm not so sure where it's going. Still, it's interesting.

I read The Siege by Helen Dunmore about 5 days ago and loved it! The review is on the main page, as well as on my thread.

I'm now starting The Hero's Walk by Anita Rau Badami.

20> I think you meant to post on the main Orange January 2012 thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/127820. But I hope you enjoy The Hero's Walk

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The different threads of the story are finally coming together a bit. The story of Luka the butcher and Amana, how he was supposed to marry her but ended up with the girl that would become the tiger's wife overlaps with the story of the immortal man. At least, I think that the immortal man was the doctor that helped Amana and ran away with her, since that part of the story showed a remarkable likeness with what the immortal man told Natalia's grandfather about why he was being punished by his uncle.

There are so many layers to this story, it's amazing.

Ha, I was right! The immortal man is the same as the doctor who ran away with Amana.

I finished The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht. I really loved this book! My full review is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/129171#3178174, but suffice to say that I am going to be remembering this story for a good long while!

Yay, so glad you liked it! =)