Hachette Winners: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson

Hachette Books will be sending copies of The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson to five readers of Fresh Ink Books.

Congratulations go to:

thekoolaidmom from In the Shadow of Mt. TBR

wanda from -A Season to Read

allison from On My Bookshelf

Debbie from Debs Desk

Bobbie from Book Reviews By Bobbie

A big thank you to Valerie at Hachette Books for opportunity to have this giveaway.

I would love to hear everyone's thoughts after you've read the book. In fact I'd like to have someone write a guest review to post on my blog. Let me know if that interests you.

I'd like to mention that the first three people I notified responded right away saying they'd won or acquired a copy since entering and that I should make someone else happy by drawing another name. I know this is common practise among book bloggers but it's certainly not expected and I think even small acts of kindness should be acknowledged. So thank you Janel (Janel's Jumble), Gwendolyn B. (A Sea of Books), and Jessica Marie (Books Love Jessica Marie). I'm proud to have you as regular readers.

Thank you to all 54 readers who entered the giveaway. Do check out the sites listed above. There are some good book reviews and news going on here on these book blogs. I follow every one of them myself. And welcome to my new followers. I hope you will continue to find good books and reading recommendations here at Fresh Ink Books.

Haiku Friday

Hosted by Christina.







Haiku Moment: an anthology of contemporary North American Haiku By Bruce Ross Published by Tuttle Publishing, 1993 ISBN 0804818207, 9780804818209, 331 pages

Haiku Moment is the most comprehensive volume of contemporary North American haiku written in English. It contains over 800 haiku by 185 poets.

It contains seven of my poems here on pages 66 and 67.
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This haiku was published in Contemporary Verse 2, a Canadian literary journal that held a haiku competition in Volume 21 No.4 in 1999. It took 1st place:

drifting near willows
the river holds its silence
three eggs of a loon

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This haiku was the winning entry for the Herb Barrett Award in 1999:

from table to table
the cafe waiter
sweeping leaves

* All of the poetry on this page is copyrighted by Sandra Fuhringer.

Thursday Tea

Thursday Tea is a weekly feature hosted by Anastasia at Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog.

" To play along, all you need is some tea, a book, and the willingness to answer some very simple questions: What tea are you drinking (and do you like it)? What book are you reading (and do you like it)? Tell us a little about your tea and your book, and whether or not the two go together."

The tea:

Yunnan Black Tea. Described on the packet thus: "Smooth, sweet honey flavour with an elegant flowery aroma. Highly prized by tea connoisseurs."

The book:

The Disappeared by Kim Echlin (2009) 235 pages HC

Set in Montreal and Cambodia during the 1970s, this love story plays out during the post Pol Pot era when Cambodia was getting back on its feet after terrible years of war and brutal oppression. The outside world was just discovering the extent of the deaths from the killing fields and democratic process was being promised but was not being delivered in any serious ways. Anne goes to Cambodia to find her boyfriend Serey after his return to his country and a silence of years that she has never been able to accept or understand. They were in love so what happened to him? Did he find any of his missing family? Is he even alive? Her heart tells her that he would never have deserted her if he could have returned to Canada. She will fight against a uncooperative bureaucracy that has much to hide, with nothing but her persistent love for this man. And she will find him but things do not always turn out quite the way we hope. A haunting tale, The Disappeared "is a remarkable consideration of language, truth, justice, and memory that speaks to the conscience of the world, and to love, even when those we love most are gone."

Do they go together?

A dark tea, Yunnan Black seemes appropriate to this story with its heartbreaking questions, deep loss and shadows of the past.

What are you drinking/reading today?

Previous Posts:

Library Loot

Haiku Friday

Review: The Echo Maker by Richard Powers

More Thursday Tea

Library Loot

Hosted by Eva and Alessandra.

This Week's Loot:

All Other Nights by Dara Horn (2009) 363 pages HC

"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."

The Madwoman of Bethlehem by Rosine Nimeh-Mailloux (2008) 368 pages Pb

Rhyming Life & Death by Amos Oz (2009) 117 pages HC translated from the Hebrew

I love this Israeli writer's work. I have read My Michael, Black Box,The Hill of Evil Counsel,Elsewhere Perhaps,Touch the Water,Touch the Wind. I am never disappointed.

The Prospector by J.M.G. Le Clezio (1985) 338 pages Pb translated from the French

Another by the Nobel Laureate 2008 that I want to read.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton (2009) 552 pages HC

I recently enjoyed The House of Riverton very much and thought I'd like to read this Australian writer's second novel.

Completed from last week's loot:

Asta In The Wings**** by Jan Elizabeth Watson (2009)

Finally, a story about neglected children that ended the way I wanted it to. I recommend this book.

The Cradle****+ by Patrick Somerville (2009). Highly recommended.

The Fat Lady Next Door is Pregnant*** by Michel Tremblay. I was very disappointed after this novel was proposed as one of the five books that represents the best in Canadian literature.

Please feel free to leave comments, opinions, or links if you've reviewed any of these. No spoilers though.

What did you plunder from your library lately?

Read-a-thon 12 hours

12 hours in

Completed thus far:

1.The Cradle****+ by Patrick Somerville (2009) Fiction, 204 pages

2.The Sum of Our Days**** by Isabel Allende (2008) Memoir, 321 pages

3.I Had a Black Dog: His Name Was Depression***** by Mathew Johnstone (2005) Non fiction, 48 pages

Currently reading:

4.Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (2003) Memoir, have read 200 of 356 pages

I've been up for 12 hours, much longer than usual for me. This time I really am going to take a nap before I continue.

Read-a-thon 7 hours

7 hours in:

2.The Sum of Our Lives**** by Isabel Allende (2008)

Memoir, 321 pages paperback, translated from the Spanish

Completed, I was part way into it before today. A very enjoyable read. Highly recommended.

Completed earlier:

1. The Cradle****+ by Patrick Somerville (2009) 204 pages hardcover

Next will be Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi.

But first, I nap.

Thank you to all those stopping by to cheer me on. I really appreciate it, I just don't know when I'll get around to your blogs.

Read-a-thon 3 hours

3 1/2 hours in

The Cradle****+ by Patrick Somerville (2009) 204 pages hardcover.

Completed, very good story, highly recommended. Saw it reviewed at Bermudaonion's. Thank you K.

My blog was spammed since the read-a-thon began and it's taken some time to clean up the mess.

Now reading The Sum of Our Days by Isabel Allende.

Is there a central location for the read-a-thon? I did sign up somewhere but can't remember now. And I read for 18 hours in the one last autumn but never got in on any of the giveaways because I didn't know where they were going on. Hopefully a cheerleader will come by and let me know. Thanks in advance.

Read-a-thon

I'm up. I'm reading. I will report in at noon.

I'm reading The Cradle by Patrick Somerville. Other possible reads:

The Entropy of AaoronRosclatt by James Sandham

The Sum of Our Days by Isabel Allende

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

Onitsha by J.M.G. le Clezio

A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear by Atiq Rahimi

My Hachette giveaway of The Girl Who Stopped Swimming is open until Sunday midnight. Canada and the US only and no P.O. boxes, sorry.

Just noticed that this is my 200th post. Whoop de...nevermind.

Thursday Tea

Thursday Tea is a weekly feature hosted by Anastasia at Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog.

" To play along, all you need is some tea, a book, and the willingness to answer some very simple questions: What tea are you drinking (and do you like it)? What book are you reading (and do you like it)? Tell us a little about your tea and your book, and whether or not the two go together."

The tea:

Apricot Peach Oolong. Described on the packet thus: "Oolong tea, peaches (peaches, cornstarch), orange peels, salflower petals."

The book:

Asta in the Wings by Jan Elizabeth Watson (2009) 314 pgs. pb.

I saw this book mentioned on a book blog but do not remember which. This story is narrated by a child who together with her brother was terribly neglected and keep away from school and indoors with only an occassional television show to give them an idea of the "outside". Asta is seven, smarter than she's taken for, resourceful and curious. She remains loyal to her family even when separated from them and trying to work life out for herself. Navigating the uncertains seas of adult whims is never easy, but when you've had little or no social exchange, even with those your own age, uncertainly about what to say or how to make friends is deeply-rooted. But our little Asta has lots to say and think about in her head and we are privleged to hear it all. It's a good story, an easy read, I am more than half way through and anxious to see how things go for her.

Do they go together?

The apricot peach oolong is really lovely, so is the aroma which is exactly what you would expect it to be with a name like that. Our weather has finely warmed up today and it feels like spring for the first time. The scent of the tea reminded me that the first tree to bloom on our farm was always the apricot tree just outside the kitchen window. We had apples, cherries, grapes, etc. but that lone apricot tree was always first to open its blossoms. My father loved the fruit on it. My own childhood was very difficult in some ways and reading this novel has taken me back to some of the nicer things. So yes, the tea seems perfect for this story.

What are you drinking/reading today?

Library Loot

Hosted by Eva and Alessandra.

This Week's Loot

Onitsha by J.M.G. Le Clezio (1992) Nobel Laureate 2008

206 pages pb. translated from the French

"Onitsha tells the story of Fintan, a youth who travels to Africa in 1948 with his Italian mother to join the English father he has never met. Fintan is initially enchanted by the exotic world he discovers in Onitsha, a bustling city prominently situated on the eastern bank of the Niger River. But gradually he comes to recognize the intolerance and brutality of the colonial system. His youthful point of view provides the novel with a notably direct, horrified perspective on racism and colonialism. In the words of translator Alison Anderson, "Onitsha" is remarkable for its "almost mythological evocation of local history and beliefs." It is full of atmosphere - sights, sounds, smells - and at times the author's sentences seem to flow with the dreamy languor of the river itself. But J. M. G. Le Clezio "never lets us forget the harsh realities of life nor the subsequent tragedy of war." A startling account - and indictment - of colonialism, "Onitsha" is also a work of clear, forthright prose that ably portrays both colonial Nigeria and a young boy's growing outrage."

I read The Interrogation and thought it was nothing to write home about. It wasn't really my choice, it was what the library had on hand until they purchased more of his work-at my request-which they did. I rarely do enjoy books written by people when they're 23 years old. This is one of his mature novels so I'm still hoping he can dazzle me.

Asta In The Wings by Jan Elizabeth Watson (2009)

This caught my eye on a book blog and I'm sorry I don't remember whose.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button*** by F. Scott Fitzgerald (completed)

I suspect this may be the one instance of a film making a better story than the book. I haven't seen it, I'm just guessing from what people have said. For its time it certainly would have been different and "curious". I've only read The Great Gatsby but Button doesn't seem representative of his better works. Still glad I read it though.

The Winner of Sorrow by Brian Lynch

The Music Teacher**** by Barbara Hall (completed)

They sent me the wrong book. I wanted The Piano Teacher by Janice. Y. Lee but my son who picks up my books at the library had no way of knowing that. I decided to read it anyway after seeing the opening lines and I'm glad I did.

"I am the mean music teacher. I am that cranky woman you remember from your youth, the one whose face you dreaded seeing, whose breath you dreaded smelling as I leaned over you tugging at your fingers."

And some mysteries because I was in the mood for some one evening and ordered them. Now I just have to hope the mood hits again before my three weeks are up.

The Angel of Knowlton Park by Kate Flora
Death by Darjeeling by Laura Childs
The Silver Needle Murder by Laura Childs

Comments pro or con, links to reviews, and reading recommendations are welcomed. No spoilers please.

What did you bring home from the library this week?

Filling In The Gaps 100 Project

Hosted by Andromeda.

Duration: 5 years

Make a list of one hundred books you feel you should read/want to read/need to read. Reading 75% or over is considered a success, give yourself a gold star.

Books completed are highlighted or linked to reviews:

Stone's Fall by Iain Pears

A Mad Desire to Dance by Elie Wiesel

The Brightest Moon of the Century by Christopher Meeks

The Sum of Our Days by Isabel Allende

Ulysses by James Joyce

Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming
Auto da Fe by Elias Canetti

The Houskeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel

Ten Cents A Dance by Christine Fletcher

Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson

The Accordionist's Son by Bernardo Atxaga

The Winner of Sorrow by Brian Lynch

Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann

Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire by David Mura

Lost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

Grief by Andrew Holleran

Tula Station by David Toscana

Eclipse by Richard North Patterson
Plum Wine by Angela Davis

The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. Lee

The Jewel Trader of Pegu by Jeffrey Hantover

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker

Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott

Breaking Lorca by Giles Blunt

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

The Believers by Zoe Heller

American Rust by Philipp Meyer

The Age of Orphans by Laleh Khadivi

Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth

Tinkers by Paul Harding

The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville

All Other Nights by Dara Horn

The Household Guide to Dying by Debra Adelaide

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Etta by Gerald Kolpan

The Glister by John Burnside

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

The Blue Fox by Sion

North River by Peter Hamill

Winter Journey by Eva Figes

Summer World by Bernd Heinrich

Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

The Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth

Tightrope by Michael Karpan
The Cradle by Patrick Somerville

West With the Night by Beryl Markham

Memoirs of Geisha by Arthur Golden

East of the Mountains by David Guterson

Going Down South by Bonnie Glover

Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura

Evidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins

The Fat Woman Next Door Is Pregnant by Michel Trembly

The Sailor From Gibraltar by Marguerite Duras

The Taker by Rubem Fonseca

The Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Disappeared by Kim Echlin

The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
The Music Teacher by Barbara Hall

The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy

The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald

My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk

Black Cherries by Grace Stone Coates

The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing

Ben, In the World by Doris Lessing

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing

The Silver Swan by Benjamin Black

The Red and the Green by Iris Murdoch

Blood Orange by Drusilla Campbell

Yellowknife by Steve Zipp

A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear by Atiq Rahimi

Wandering Star by Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio

Quarrel and Quandry by Cynthia Ozick

Books: A Memoir by Larry McMurtry

Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen by Larry McMurtry

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Blindness by Jose Saramago

Possession by A.S. Byatt

Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen

A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

The English Patient - Micheal Ondaatje

The Stone Diaries - Carol Shields

White Teeth - Zadie Smith

To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf

Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf

Under the Net - Irish Murdoch

The Italian Girl by Iris Murdoch

TSS Week in Review

The Salon Sunday may be found here.

So far in April...

Books read

36.Jacob's Room**** by Virginia Woolf (200 pages)

37.A Mad Desire to Dance***** by Elie Wiesel (274 pages)

38.An Audience of Chairs***** by Joan Clark (350 pages)

39.The Blue Fox***** by Sjon (112 pages)

40.The Brightest Moon of the Century**** by Christopher Meeks (324 pages)

Books reviewed

The Echo Maker by Richard Powers

The Blue Fox by Sjon

Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf

Upcoming Reviews

The Brightest Moon of the Century by Christopher Meeks

Ex-Cottagers in Love by J.M. Kearns

From A to X by John Berger

Currently reading:

The Curious case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzberald

The Disappeared by Kim Echlin

The Fat Lady next Door is Pregnant by Michel Tremblay

The Sum of Our Days by Isabel Allende

Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann

Ulysses by James Joyce

Current Giveaway:

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson

(Followers are automatically given a second entry)

Challenges completed:

Nine in '09 Reading Challenge

New Challenges posted

Herding Cats

German Challenge 2009

Unshelved Challenge

Book Binge

New weely features

Thursday Tea

Haiku Friday

Posts

Review (The Echo Maker by Richard Powers)

Haiku Friday
Thursday Tea(review of The Blue Fox by Sjon)

Library Loot

Unshelved Reading Challenge

Mailbox Monday

"25 Books That Caused a Commotion"

March in Review

Weekly Geeks 13 (Poetry Month)

Book Meme (questionnaire)

Giveaway (The Girl Who Stopped Swimming)

Book Binge Challenge

German Reading Challenge 2009

Thursday Tea (review of Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf)
Herding Cats Challenge II

What are you doing on this fine April Sunday?

The Echo Maker by Richard Powers

The Echo Maker by Richard Powers

Literary fiction, Hardcover, 464 pages

Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2006)

Lots of suspense with well-developed characters. A man suffers Capgras syndrome after an accident. His brain cannot match his visual and intellectual identifications with his emotional ones. He insists that the woman who claims to be his sister is an impostor. She consults a national expert on neurology to solve this dilemma, while the accident victim continues to reject her and waits for his "real sister" to show up. His sister is the only family he has. The clinical details are fascinating and Powers makes them as easy to understand as Oliver Sacks would. Local bird sanctuaries also figure prominently in the story and have much to tell us. Powers writes beautifully. I defy anyone to read the first few paragraphs here and not want to read this book. An excellent story. This novel is a National Book Award winner and a Pultzer Prize finalist. Four and a half stars out of five. Highly recommended.

Haiku Friday

Hosted by Christina.

I began writing and publishing haiku and short articles on Japanese culture in 1981. My personal site at aol was recently deleted (along with everyone else's) after 7 years. It had my prize winning poetry and articles on understanding and writing haiku in the Japanese tradition. But there are a few sites or books that mention my work. Haiku are about images and the five senses, they do not use the poetic devices of Western literarure. Read them slowly, one line at a time, and do not think, but visualize with all your physical senses engaged. Enjoy.

in a backyard
two women folding sunlight
into sheets

Museum of Haiku Literature Tokyo Award 1991

spring
she holds each egg
up to the light

Second prize in the Japan Airlines Haiku Contest 1990

noon light
the stillness of fish
in a heron's eye

First prize in the Jack Stamm Haiku Competition Australia 1999

More of my haiku.
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Recent posts:

Thursday Tea(review of The Blue Fox by Sjon)
Library Loot
Mailbox Monday
"25 Books That Caused a Commotion"
Weekly Geeks 13 (haiku poetry)
Giveaway: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming (until April 19)
Thursday Tea (review of Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf)

* All of the poetry on this page is copyrighted by Sandra Fuhringer.

Thursday Tea

Thursday Tea is a weekly feature hosted by Anastasia at Birdbrain(ed) Blog.

"To play along, all you need is some tea, a book, and the willingness to answer some very simple questions: What tea are you drinking (and do you like it)? What book are you reading (and do you like it)? Tell us a little about your tea and your book, and whether or not the two go together."

The tea:

Nuwara Eliya "floating over the clouds" (Ceylon Orange Pekoe). Described on the label as "The 'champagne' of Ceylon teas. Highly aromatic, delicately & tangy. This is a perfect afternoon tea uniquely enhanced by a slice of lemon or milk."

The book:

The Blue Fox by Sjon (2008) 112 pgs. pb, translated from the Icelandic

This is a beautifully told story that opens with a man tracking a blue fox through the snow in Iceland. The vixen temporarily escapes into a sudden blizzard but the man will persist for two days until he finds her again. Then it shifts back to a day or two to before the hunt, to the town where he lives and gives the surrounding story that shows us through the eyes of others what kind of man he is and what led up to his winter trek. A captivating story that I found unable to put down. The descriptions are lyrical and vivid, the characters well drawn and believable. We are then returned to the icy slopes where the hunt itself precipitates an unexpected turn of events and the struggle between life and death takes on a whole new meaning for our hunter. It is a lovely afternoon's read. I highly recommend what the publisher rightly calls "this spellbinding fable that is part mystery, part fairy tale."

Do they go together?

Hot tea always goes well with a story set in the snow. But I feel this was an appropriate drink for this book if only because the main character in the town is an herbalist and early in the story he makes tea for a grieving man who hasn't tasted it before. The tea set and the making of the tea are described while the man tells his guest about the tea-pickers on the slopes of Darjeeling in some of the loveliest prose I've read recently. Me and my tea felt right at home.

What are you drinking/reading today?

Recent Posts:

Library Loot
Mailbox Monday
"25 Books That Caused a Commotion"
Weekly Geeks 13 (haiku poetry)

Giveaway: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming (until April 19)

Thursday Tea (Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf)

Library Loot

Hosted by Eva and Alessandra.

This Week's Loot:

The Vagrants by Yiyun Li (2009) 337 pages HC

The Fat Woman Next Door is Pregnant by Michel Tremblay (1978) Canada , 252 pages Pb, translated from the French

This was recently chosen in a CBC radio book discussion as one of five novels representative of good Canadian literature.

Wandering Star by J.M.G. Le Clezio (1992) France

316 pages Pb, translated from the French

Nobel Laureate 2008

The Blue Fox by Sjon (2008) Iceland

112 pages Pb. translated from the Icelandic

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh (2008) India

Booker Prize shortlist, 515 pages HC

What's your loot this weeK?

Recent Posts:

Mailbox Monday
"25 Books That Caused a Commotion"
March in Review
Weekly Geeks 13 Poetry
Book Meme

Giveaway: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming until April 19

Thursday Tea (new meme) Review of Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf

Feel free to leave comments, opinions, review links, or news about any of these books. No spoilers please.

Mailbox Monday

Hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.

In the mailbox this week:

Stone's Fall by Iain Pears (2009) 800pgs. Pb ARC from Spiegel & Grau.

I read Pear's An Instance of the Fingerpost, an historical mystery set in 1663 at Oxford University, England and absolutely loved it. His next three books were art mysteries. Stone's Fall is a return to his historical mysteries and takes us from London to Paris to Venice in the late 19th and early twentieth century. I can't wait to read it.

Acquired through Bookmooch:

The Waiting Time by Sara Banerji

Winter Birds by Jamie Langston Turner (for the Reading Through the Seasons challenge)

A Spanish Lover by Joanna Trollope

An Audience of Chairs****+ by Joan Clark (completed)

I loved it. Highly recommended.

What did you get in the mail this week?

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Recent Posts:

"25 Books That Caused a Commotion"

March in Review

Weekly Geeks 13 Poetry

Book Meme
Giveaway: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming until April 19
Thursday Tea (new meme) Review of Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf
Library Loot
Weekly Geeks 12 Leave review links

TSS "25 Books That Caused A Commotion"

Sunday Salon can be found here.

According to Amazon in an email they sent me this morning...

"Some books take such risks with language or subject matter that they're denounced, banned, or even burned. These powerful books really hit a nerve."

.

The "25 Books That Caused A Commotion":

1.Lullabies For Little Criminals Heather Oneill
2.With Or Without God Gretta Vosper
3.Unbearable Lightness Of Being Milan Kundera
4.Bright and Shiny Morning James Frey
5.To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee
6.Doors Of Perception And Heaven And Hell Aldous Huxley
7.Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M Pirsig
8.We Need To Talk About Kevin Lionel Shriver
9.Animal Liberation Peter Singer
10.The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon
11.Brave New World Revisited Aldous Huxley
12.Under The Volcano Malcolm Lowry
13.Female Eunuch Germaine Greer
14.Average American Male Chad Kultgen
15.Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles
16.Empire of the Sun J G Ballard

17.Native Son Richard Wright
18.Complete Works Of Oscar Wilde Wilde
19.Seven Years in Tibet Heinrich Harrer
20.The Pleasures Of The Damned:poems, 1951-1993 Charles Bukowski
21.Londonstani Gautam Malkani
22.Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora N Hurston
23.The Grass Is Singing Doris May Lessing
24.Reconciliation Benazir Bhutto
25.Wetlands

I have read 7:

We Need To Talk About Kevin*****

The Yiddish Policemen's Union****

Under The Volcano*****

The Sheltering Sky****

Native Son*****

Their Eyes Were Watching God****

The Grass Is Singing*****

.

And I own To Kill a Mockingbird which I will be reading for the Harper-Martel challenge. We Need to Talk About Kevin and Native Son had uncomfortable elements in them; school shootings and race prejudice respectively but I maintain that it needed to be said and was done well. The grubbier aspects of alcoholism were presented in Under the Volcano, but again, I felt it was spot on accurate in its depiction. I remember nothing to cause any commotion in any of the others.

But I want to know what other readers think and have provided a few questions to stimulate your thoughts about them. Feel free to use the numbers beside each book for reference if you wish to save typing the full titles.

Have you read any of them?

Did you quit reading and abandon any? How far did you read?

Did you make yourself finish one and still not like it?

Did you make yourself finish one and end up liking it afterall?

Did you enjoy them? If yes, did you think they were outstanding or just an average good book?

If no, can you tell us what it was that you didn't like?

Which is your favourite?

Which would you read again?

Which would you recommend?

Are there any you would warn people away from? Can you tell us why in general terms?

Have you reviewed any of them? Please leave a link, I'd love to read them.

So, did any of these books cause a commotion for you?

TSS March in Review

The Sunday Salon may be found here.

Books completed in March:

31.The Gargoyle****+ by Andrew Davidson

32.The Monsters of Templeton**** by Lauren Groff

33.Shelter Me***+by Juliette Fay

34.The Interrogation***+ by J.M.G. Le Clezio

35.Little Bee****+ by Chris Cleave

36.Mudbound***** by Hillary Jordan

Reviewed: The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

Currently reading:

A Mad Desire to Dance by Elie Wiesel

The Brightest Moon of the Century by Christopher Meeks

The Sum of Our Days by Isabel Allende

Ulysses by James Joyce

Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann

Books abandoned:

Sleepwalking in Daylight by Elizabeth Flock 40 pages

The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers 40 pages

2666 by Roberto Bolano 140 pages

Challenges completed:

Book Awards 10 books, 5 different awards

New Challenges posted in March:

Pub Challenge

Dewey's Books

Mini Catch-Up

Pages Read

Spring

21 Cultures

Orbis Terrarum

Through the Seasons

Classics

Colourful

Numbers

Compass Points

This Week's Posts:

Weekly Geeks 13 Poetry

Book Meme

Giveaway: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming until April 19

Thursday Tea (new meme) Review of Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf

Library Loot

Weekly Geeks 12 Leave review links

My poorest reading month in years but I kept up my commenting, wrote posts for 12 new reading challenges and started participating in two more memes: Weekly Geeks and It's Monday! What are you reading? over at J. Kaye's Blog. I also garnered my first Hachette giveaway, 5 copies of The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson and I'm delighted. The Read-a Thon on April 18th should give me a reading boost. And spring is here, I refuse to be ill for another whole month.

What are you up to this Sunday?

Weekly Geeks - Poetry Month

Full details from by Terri at Weekly Geeks.

April is National Poetry Month.

I am combining two of the suggestions made in Option B: "Be a poet!Write your own poem and share with us! Read a poetry book and review it."

I began writing and publishing haiku and short articles on Japanese culture in 1981.My personal site at AOL was recently deleted (along with everyone's else's) after 7 years. It had my prize winning poetry and articles on understanding and writing haiku in the Japanese tradition. So the best I can do is find a few sites or books that mention me and my work.

"Haiku: Poetry Ancient & Modern is a gorgeously illustrated anthology of over 200 poems from 100 of the best haiku poets in America and around the world, as well as translations of the Japanese masters. The poems range in time from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, and follow the elemental themes of earth, air, fire, water, wood and metal. This exquisite collection of haiku is a joyful read for anyone, whether new to haiku or looking to expand their collection."

This is probably the loveliest book that I've had my own work published in. It contains one of my haiku:

winter solstice

the waterfall frozen

in mid-air

in the French edition:

solstice d'hiver

le cascade s'en gelee

en plein air

Haiku: A Poet's Guide by Lee Gurga is an excellent instructional guide for those who write haiku and wish to refine their craft. The author is editor of Modern Haiku, the longest-running journal of haiku and haiku studies in English . He is also poetry editor for Illinois Times and haiku columnist for Solares Hill newspaper (Key West, Florida). He uses one of my poems as an example of a haiku that works well. It had previously won the Best of Issue in Modern Haiku magazine which came with a $50 prize.

plum blossoms falling

the gardener softly singing

in my father's tongue

I leave you with one more:

mother in the garden

a bee among the bluebells

humming

If there is interest I will feature more of my work on Haiku Fridays which is hosted by Christina.

What are you reading/writing for National Poetry Month?

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Recent posts:

Book Meme

Giveaway: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming until April 19

Thursday Tea (new meme) Review of Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf

Library Loot

Weekly Geeks # 12 Leave review links

Book Meme

Saw this at The Boston Bibliophile and thought it was too late to do it now. Then I saw that Rebecca at The Book Lady's Blog had posted it on Friday. So here's mine:

1. Hardback, trade paperback or mass market paperback?

Trade paperback, rheumatism make the others more painful to hold.

2. Barnes & Noble or Borders?

I've shopped in both and somtimes found that Borders had a wider variety of literary fiction. But online Barnes & Noble is my favourite.

3. Bookmark or dog-ear?

Bookmarks, I would never dog-ear any book.

4. Amazon or brick and mortar?

Brick and mortar all the way, I want to touch them, smell them, and be with others who love them too. But I'm disabled now so have only online to choose from, for which I am very grateful.

5. Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random?

Alphabetized by author but shelved seperately in groups by original language, culture, or interest: Jewish, African American, South African, Japanese, English lit, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Latin, Greek, psychology, philosophy, poetry, essays and literary criticism, reference, Biblical studies, medical etc. When my son was a little boy he pointed out that I had "segregated" my books and hadn't I said that segregation was bad?

6. Keep, throw away, or sell?

Keep, give to those I think will enjoy them, have giveaways on my blog, swap on Bookmooch or Readers United, trade in at second hand stores, donate to my public library, leave somewhere in the manner of Bookcrossing, donate to charity. I believe in recycling book as much as possible.

7. Keep dust jacket or toss it?

Keep.

8. Read with dust jacket or remove it?

Remove to read then put back on to shelve it.

9. Short story or novel?

Novels-the longer the better. I read some short stories but only exceptionally good ones like Salinger, Sillitoe, Lawrence, Maugham, etc.

10. Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?

No non-realistic fiction for me.

11. Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?

I stop just anywhere and read back a bit when I return to the book.

12. "It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"?

Dark and stormy night I suppose, I don't enjoy fantasy of any kind.

13. Buy or borrow?

Buy when I had money of my own, borrowed most from libraries my whole life, also mooch a lot through swaps now.

14. New or used?

Any-happy to get them at less than cover price, and believe in recycling them as much as possible.

15. Buying choice: book reviews, recommendations, or browse?

Browsing, then recommendations, then read full reviews after reading the book.

16. Tidy ending or cliffhanger?

I don't need tidy endings, they are often unrealistic to me.

17. Morning reading, afternoon reading, or nighttime reading?

Any and all. But alone, in the wee hours when it's just me and the moon is extra special.

18. Stand-alone or series?

Stand-alone, I do not enjoy series.

19. Favourite series

Do trilogies count? The Gulag Archipelago by Alexandr Solzhenitsen.

20. Favourite children's book?

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

21. Favourite YA book? I've never read one.

22. Favourite book of which nobody else has heard?

Broken Silence by Andre Stein, a wonderful book by a psychiatrist who examines in depth the many sides of his own experience as a child of the Holocaust.

23. Favourite books read last year?

Village of Stone***** by Xiaolu Guo

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things***** by Jon McGregor

Memory***** by Philippe Grimbert

Through Black Spruce***** by Joseph Boyden

The Lizard Cage***** by Karen Connelly

Me and Emma***** by Elizabeth Flock

The Boys in the Trees***** by Mary Swan

Ten Thousand Lovers***** by Edeet Ravel

The Swallows of Kabul***** by Yasmina Khadra

The Attack**** by Yasmina Khadra

The Whalestoe Letters***** by Mark Z. Danielewski

The End of the Affair***** by Graham Greene

The Door***** by Magda Szabo

Rabbit-Proof Fence***** by Doris Pilkington

A Pigeon and a Boy***** by Meir Shalev

A Thousand Splendid Suns**** by Khaled Hosseini

Sorry***** by Gail Jones

What Was Lost***** by Catherine O'Flynn

The Secret Scripture***** by Sebastian Barry

Home***** by Marilynne Robinson

24. Favourite books of all time?

Look Homeward Angel by Thomas Wolfe

You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe

Cry The Beloved Country by Alan Paton

The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart

Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos

Germinal by Emile Zola

Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac

The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler

The Last of the Just by Andre Schwartz-Bart

Journey to the End of Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine

The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

Fires by Marguerite Yourcenar

Hunger by Knut Hamsun

Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi

The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus

A Death in the Family by James Agee

Strange Fruit by Lillian Smith

Famine by Liam O'Flaherty

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe

Dark as the Grave Wherein My Friend Is Laid by Malcolm Lowry

Under the Volcano: A Novel by Malcolm Lowry

Hear Us O Lord From Heaven Thy Dwelling Place by Malcolm Lowry

The Chosen by Chaim Potok

My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn Alexander

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

The Character of Rain by Amelie Nothomb

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons

A Map of Glass by June Urquart

The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve

The White Album by Joan Didion

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Ten Thousand Lovers by Edeet Ravel

Darkness Visible by William Styron

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Momo by Emile Ajar (Romain Gary)

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski

And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos by John Berger

The Return of The Soldier by Rebecca West

A Room of One's Own by Virgina Woolf

Tell Me a Riddle by Tillie Olsen

Teaching a Stone to Talk by Annie Dillard

Anti-Semite and Jew by Jean Paul Sartre

The Book of Job/The Bible

The Sickness Unto Death by Sorenson Kirkegaarde

Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number by Jacobo Timerman

Diary of an Unknown by Jean Cocteau

Child Of The Dark by Carolina Maria De Jesus

Diary of a Young Girl by Ann Frank...I really have to stop

25. What are you reading right now?

Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann

26. What are you reading next?

The Brightest Moon of the Century by Christpher Meeks

27. Favourite book to recommend to an eleven-year-old?

The Diary of Ann Frank

28. Favourite book to reread?

By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart

29. Do you ever smell books?

Often, especially if they're new, or on rainy days.

30. Do you ever read Primary source documents? Like, diaries or letters?

Once in a while. I've read diaries of Virginia Woolf, Jean Paul Sartre, Ann Frank, and others.

I'd love it if you were to play along and do it too. Have fun.