TSS February in Review

Books Read in February:

Sunday Salon may be found here.


19.The Sister**** by Poppy Adams (UK)
20.Disquiet***+ by Julia Leigh (US)
21.The Cellist of Sarajevo***** by Steven Galloway (Canada)
22.Mercy Among the Children***** by David Adams Richards (Canada) 417 pgs.
23.The Leper****by Steve Thayer (US) 400 pgs.
24.A Father's Affair***+ by Karel Van Loon (Netherlands)
25.Olive Kitteridge****+ by Elizabeth Strout (US)
26.The Spanish Bow***** by Andromeda Romano-Lax 554 pgs. (US)
27.The Mysteries of Udolpho***+ by Ann Radcliffe (UK) (1794) 542 pgs.
28.Dog On It***+ by Spencer Quinn (US)
29.A Mercy****+ by Toni Morrison (US)
30.Tales of the Ten Lost Tribes***** by Tamar Yellin (US)

and a partial but major slow read:

Ulysses by James Joyce (UK) (1922) 574 pgs. online at Gutenberg Project 344 pgs. read so far.

The best:

The Cellist of Sarajevo*****
The Spanish Bow*****
Mercy Among the Children*****
Tales of the Ten Lost Tribes*****

Favourite opening:

"It screamed down splitting air and sky without effort. A target expanded in size, brought into focus by time and velocity. There was a moment before impact that was the last instant of things as they were. Then the visible world exploded." The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

Twelve books completed in February, five from my nightstand. Several were veritable tomes, a couple of them missed qualifying for the Chunkster Challenge by a only few pages. But no time-wasters in the whole bunch and it was a short month so I'm happy.


What was interesting about your month of reading?

I will be posting a review (and giveaway) of A Mercy very soon. If any of these other titles interest you, please ask and I'll write up a brief review just for you. Don't forget to check out my giveaway of The Lost City of Z by David Grann below.

The Lost City of Z by David Grann

Review and Giveaway

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

368 pgs. Paperback

Doubleday

This is a guest review written by Tamara of Books by TJBaff.

This is not a fictionalized account of Percy Fawcett's adventures in the Amazon basin. This strives to recount quite accurately the information that Fawcett recorded about his explorations. It is mixed with the stories of a couple of other explorers that also attempted to find the lost city of El Dorado...and David Grann who tried to follow the footsteps exactly that Percy had travelled while searching for his mythical city of Z. It is unsure about why he even called it Z but he seems to have become obsessed with the idea of it and it had assumed an almost nirvana-like mysticism in his dreams.

This was a time in history when technology hadn't caught up with the dreams and needs of the adventurers in the jungle and when people went exploring they often disappeared for months and sometimes years...with no way of contacting those in the civilized world. Some never returned to their loved ones and the assumption was that they had perished in the 'green hell' that had taken over their lives. Hostile natives, disease or being the prey of carnivorous hunters was most probably the fate of all who disappeared but these mysteries just seemed to fuel the enthusiasm for hundreds of men and they all hoped to be the one to crack the mystery of The Lost City Of Z.

I was intrigued in spite of myself (I have always enjoyed a good adventure story) and quickly read through this book although it was a little dry and I needed to read it over several nights. It required thinking about as I was reading unlike a piece of fiction. The account also felt disjointed through parts of the book and I grew to wish that David Grann had just written about Fawcett and not muddied the waters by introducing some other explorers. After all, David Grann was interested in following Mr. Fawcett's footsteps...no one else's.

I did enjoy the story and was thrilled to read the last chapter. It brought the quest for the lost city of Z to a satisfactory conclusion. This book has been sold and is presently in production for a 2010 release starring Brad Pitt as Colonel Percy Fawcett.

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Thank you Tamara.

For those interested in more background on the story here is a fascinating interview with David Grann about the book at Powell's Books.

The Lost City of Z was also enthusiastically reviewed by:

Colleen at Foreign Circus Library.
Alyce at athomewithbooks.

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Thanks to the generosity of Doubleday I have two copies of The Lost City of Z by David Grann to give to my readers.

To enter:

1) Become a follower or subscriber (if you're not already) and just tell me you want to read this book. If you already follow, just remind me and I'll enter you.

2) Blog about this giveaway and put a link back to it and I'll give you a second entry. If you don't have a blog, email 3 friends telling them about this giveaway and copying me at sfuhringer (at) sympatico (dot) ca.

Entry is open worldwide until midnight Sunday March 8, 2009. Be sure to leave an email address if you don't have a blog where I can contact you.

Winner will be announced on Monday March 10, 2009.

If you've read or reviewed this book, leave a link to your review (or leave comments, but NO spoilers please) and I'll add it to the post.

What's On Your Nightstand?

Hosted by Jennifer at 5 Minutes for Reading:

On My Nightstand:

The Sum of Our Days by Isabel Allende

Breaking Lorca by Giles Blunt

A Mad Desire to Dance by Elie Wiesel

Shelter Me by Rebecca Sawyer-Fay

Sleepwalking in Daylight by Elizabeth Flock

Tales of the Ten Lost Tribes by Tamar Yellin

Molokai by Alan Brennert

The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers

The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. Lee

Now You See Him by Eli Gottlieb

Ulysses by James Joyce (online) Gutenberg Project

The Brightest Moon of the Year by Christopher Meeks

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker

and the 6 from last month's list that didn't arrive at the library yet:

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

2666 by Roberto Bolano Blue Fox by Sion

three by Le Clezio (Nobel author)

I read 12 of the 18 on last month's Nightstand. I finally actually stuck to the list, a first for me:

Mercy Among the Children***** by David Adams Richards for Canada Reads Challenge

The Elegance of the Hedgehog**** by Muriel Barbery for the Dewey Challenge

Jenford: A Short History of Upland***+ by Henrik E. Sadi

The Awakening and Selected Stories***+ by Kate Chopin for the 18th and 19th century Women Writers' Challenge

A Mercy****+ by Toni Morrison for LibraryThing and the Nobel Challenge

What Happened to Anna K.**** by Irina Reyn

The Spanish Bow***** by Andromeda Romano-Lax 554 pgs. for the Chunkster Challenge,the Themed Reading Challenge (music), and War Through the Generations Challenge

No Such Creature***+ by Giles Blunt for LibraryThing

To Siberia****+ by Per Petterson (translated from the Norwegian) for Lost in Translation Challenge

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (translated from the Japanese) for Lost in Translation and Diversity Challenge

The Sister**** by Poppy Adams Shortlisted for best first novel Costa Award

The Leper**** by Stephen Thayer

And I also read...

The Cellist of Sarajevo***** by Steven Galloway for the Themed Challenge (music)

A Father's Affair***+ by Karel Van Loon (translated from the Dutch) for Lost in Translation Challenge

Olive Kitteridge***** by Elizabeth Strout

The Mysteries of Udolpho***+ by Ann Radcliffe (1794) 542 pgs. (online at Book Glutton) for the 18th and 19th century Women Writers' Reading Challenge and the Chunkster Challenge

Dog On It***+ by Spencer Quinn a light but fun doggy narrated mystery

So 20 books read and no real clinkers, I'm happy. A bad month review-wise, I only posted two but chronic pain and illness make my mind mush. The stars will have to tell the story, so to speak.

What's on your nightstand?

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia.

The Age of Orphans by Laleh Khadivi pb ARC "The first in a trilogy of novels about three generations of Kurdish men"

Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth pp ARC fiction

Now You See Him by Eli Gottlieb pp ARC fiction

Tightrope by Michael Karpin HC ARC non fiction Jewish history

The Sum of Our Days by Isabel Allende "an epistolary memoir" pb ARC

from Book Club Girl-interview online Wednesday Feb.25

Still Life With Elephant by Judy Reene Singer from Bookmooch

I'm expecting a lightweight read here compared to my usual but hey-there's an elephant in it.

What did you get that's got you excited?

Library Loot

Hosted by Eva and Alessandra here.

This week's loot:

The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers

I suspect this is outside my comfort zone but it's about books so I couldn't resist.

A Father's Affair by Karel Van Loon

This one is about a father who finds out after his wife dies that he's always been sterile. He wants to know who fathered his thirteen year old son whom he loves very much. How could I not be interested in that premise?

Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

Another about leprosy (albeit a fiction) and those who were exiled to Molokai in Hawaii. I visited the colony there once.

What did you do this week to keep a librarian working?

Winner of My Father's Paradise

Giveaway

Today Fresh Ink Books is giving away a copy of My Father's Paradise by Ariel Sabar. It will be going to...

Melissa at Shh I'm Reading.

Congratulations Melissa. And thank you to every one of the forty people who entered and gave us some good reading recommendations of Jewish literature.

Friday Finds

Friday Finds is here.

Tinkers by Paul Harding (Jan.1, 2009)

"Tinkers is truly remarkable...It confers on the reader the best privilege fiction can afford, the illusion of ghostly proximity to other human souls." Marilynne Robinson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Home, Gilead, and Housekeeping.

That's good enough for me.

The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville (Feb.5, 2009)

I have read The Secret River***** and The Idea of Perfection****, both award winning novels by this Australian writer. One of my favourites. This is her new book.

All Other Nights by Dara Horn (Apr.2, 2009)

"A gripping epic about the great moral struggles of the Civil War.How is tonight different from all other nights? For Jacob Rappaport, a Jewish soldier in the Union army, it is a question his commanders have answered for him: on Passover in 1862 he is ordered to murder his own uncle, who is plotting to assassinate President Lincoln.
After that night, will Jacob ever speak for himself? The answer comes when his commanders send him on another mission this time not to murder a spy but to marry one."

What are you looking forward to reading?

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Knopf US 2007 (Australia 2005)


This is a guest review written by Colleen of Foreign Circus Library.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Book Thief, a novel I'm afraid a lot of people are missing because it was marketed as a Young Adult book here in the U.S. Set near Munich during WWII, this novel tells the story of a young German girl living with a foster family and trying to cope with the daily realities of the war. She exerts a measure of control over her life by stealing books even though she is illiterate when her story begins. Though marketed as a teen book, I think The Book Thief far transcends that limited label. The message, the sensitivity of the subject matter, and the stunning prose mark this as a powerful novel of the Holocaust. This book is by turns gritty and ugly and redemptive, but is it always real and always gripping.

Populated with strange and wonderful characters, the story itself is narrated by Death, whose reflections lend even greater poignancy to the sad tale that slowly and artfully unfolds through the novel. Death often offers commentary on both the life of the Book Thief and on the war itself in a voice that sent chills down my spine:

An abridged roll call for 1942:
1. The desperate Jews- their spirits on my lap as we sat on the roof, next to the steaming chimneys.
2. The Russian soldiers- taking only small amounts of ammunition, relying on the fallen for the rest of it.
3. The soaked bodies of a French coast- beached on the shingle and sand.

Death views war as a harsh taskmaster, and marvels that humans have so perfected the means for mass killing. While Liesel's story focuses on the realities of the war from a personal perspective, Death's commentary keeps the big picture in focus, and reminds the reader of the context of the tale. I would highly recommend this book to any adult reader.

Other reviews of The Book Thief:

Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit
Tricia at Library Queue
Josette at Books Love Me
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Thank you Colleen. I thoroughly enjoyed this book when it came out and would give it five stars myself. I was prepared to reject it as outside my comfort zone when I knew that Death was the narrator of the story. I first heard about it when it won a prize in Australia and was shocked when its US publisher later decided to market it as "Books for Young Readers". It is and was written as adult fiction. It is a book that should not be missed.

Feel free to leave a link if you've reviewed The Book Thief or any comments you may have about it.

Library Loot

Hosted by Eva and Alessandra here.

Mercy Among the Children*****

by David Adams Richards (Giller Prize 2000)

Finished-exceptionally good.

Read for the Canada Reads, Giller Prize Challenge,

Library Challenge, New Authors Challenge.

The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. Lee

Recommended by Kaye at Pudgy Penguin Perusals.

Reading for Themed Reading Challenge (music), War Through the Generations Challenge,Diversity Challenge, Library Challenge, and the New Authors Challenge.

Now You See Him**** by Eli Gottlieb

Read in 2008 but asked to write review for paperback release Feb. 2009.

Harper is providing a giveaway copy, watch for my review.

What did you bring home this week?

The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton

The Camel Bookmobile

by Masha Hamilton

I read this book when it came out and enjoyed it immensely. I've since been following the author's site for collecting books and funds for those in remote areas of East Africa. Yes, they literally take the lending library books to small, sometimes nomadic communities on the backs of camels. The book is fiction but it's based on her personal experience while travelling with the camel bookmobiles. It's a good read and directs people to a good cause.

Some 235 authors now support this drive, including names such as Isabel Allende, Chris Bohjalian,Maeve Binchy, Judy Blume, Michael Chabon and many others we all recognize.

I am reading for the 2009 Year of the Reader challenge for bookish charities and have chosen The Camel Book Drive to direct any contributions to. I need sponsors to contribute for each book I read this year, any amount will be accepted. But I also wanted to direct attention to this challenge and the many literary and book programs being read for.

What can you do? Any of the following:

Check out the sites, join the reading challenge that runs all year and choose a charity from the posted list, sponsor someone for the books they read in 2009, or enjoy reading The Camel Bookmobile. Sponsors may email me and remain anonymous if they wish. My progress is posted in the sidebar, eighteen books read to date.

Monday Mailbox

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.

Only two books came in this week, both through Bookmooch.

Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura

From the back cover...

"Isaku is a nine-year-old boy living in a remote fishing village on the coast of Japan. To survive, his people distill salt to sell to neighbouring villages. But this industry serves a more sinister purpose as well: the fires of the salt cauldrons lure passing ships onto rocky shoals. When a ship runs aground, the villagers slaughter the crew and loot its cargo for rice,wine,and other goods. One day a ship founders onto the rocks-but Isaku learns that its cargo is far deadlier than ever could be imagined. Shipwrecks is a stunningly powerful Gothis tale of the mysteries and horrors of fate."

Evidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins

This story is set in Tennessee post World War II. It was a finalist for both The National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. That's good enough for me.

What arrived at your house this week?

TSS January in Review

Salon Sunday may be found here.

Books Reviewed:

1.Tomato Girl***** by Jayne Pupek

2.Through Black Spruce***** by Joseph Boyden

3.The Gravedigger's Daughter**** by Joyce Carol Oates

4.Letters Between Us**** by Linda Rader Overman

5.The Museum Guard**** by Howard Norman

6.The Madonnas of Leningrad***** by Debra Dean

7.The Rabbi's Cat 2***+ by Joann Sfar

8.Hannah's Dream**** by Diane Hammond

9.Coventry**** by Helen Humphreys

10.My Father's Paradise***** by Ariel Sabar

11. We Need To Talk About Kevin***** by Lionel Shriver

12.The Seamstress****+ by Frances De Pontes Peebles

13.The Bird of Night**** by Susan Hill
14.The Mighty Queens of Freeville***** by Amy Dickinson

15.The Gate House***+ by Nelson DeMille

Also read:

16.The Elegance of the Hedgehog**** by Muriel Barbery

17.Jenford: A Short History of Upland***+ by Henrik E. Sadi

18.The Awakening and Other Stories***+ by Kate Chopin

19.What Happened to Anna K.**** by Irina Reyn

20.No Such Creature**** by Giles Blunt

21.To Siberia**** by Per Petterson

22.Kitchen**** by Banana Yoshimoto

The best

Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

Tomato Girl by Jayne Pupek

Reviews to come:

The Book Thief***** by Markus Zusak

The Disappearing Act of Esme Lennox****+ by Maggie O'Farrell

A Mercy by Toni Morrison

The Lost City of Z by David Grann- giveaway compliments of Double Day

Now You See Him****+ by Eli Gottlieb- giveaway compliments of Harper Collins

Tightrope by Michael Karpin- nonfiction Jewish family history

Eighteen books read this month, I'm happy. What was interesting about your month?