TSS May in Review

Sunday Salon may be found here.


Books read in May:


50.The Snow Geese**** by William Fiennes (English non-fiction about following geese migration)
51.The Lieutenant***** by Kate Grenville (Australian lit set in 18th century)
52.The Winner of Sorrow***** by Brian Lynch (fictionalized last years of the English poet William Cowper)
53.Mind's Eye**** by Hakan Nesser (Swedish mystery)
54.The Madwoman of Bethlehem***** by Rosine Nimeh-Mailloux (fiction about Arab Christians)
55.The Spare Room**** by Helen Garner (Australian lit about a dying friend)
56.Love in the Time of Cholera**** by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Spanish lit historical romance)
57.This One and Magic Life**** by Anne Carroll George (fiction-American South)
58.Possession***** by A.S. Byatt (English lit-life and loves of fictional Victorian poets via letters and manuscript research)
59.The Prospector***** by J. M. G. Le Clezio

Reading Challenges posted in May:

Southern
Diversity Rocks
Summer Vacation



Book in hand:


The Accordionist's Son by Bernardo Atxaga (Basque Spain)



Current giveaway: Testimony by Anita Shreve from Hachette Books; open until midnight Sunday, June 7.

The week ahead:

Monday: Monday Mailbox
Tuesday: Guest Review - The Museum Guard by Howard Norman
Wednesday:Library Loot, Copy Cat Covers
Thursday:Thursday Tea
Friday: Friday Haiku, Friday Finds
Saturday: Guest Review - Ex-Cottagers in Love by J. M. Kearns, Weekly Geeks
Sunday: Sunday Salon - Week in Review, and last day to enter giveaway for Testimony by Anita Shreve


What are you doing on this fine May day?

Diversity Rocks Reading Challenge

Hosted by Ali of Worducopia.

January 1-December 31, 2009

"Read 6, 12, or 24 books by authors of colour."

I will read at least 12 books, with those completed highlighted or linked to reviews.

A Mercy**** by Toni Morrison (African American)

What We All Long For**** by Dionne Brand (African Canadian)

Kitchen**** by Banana Yoshimoto (Japanese)

Tales of the Ten Lost Tribes**** by Tamar Yellin (Jewish)

The Seamstress***** by Frances De Pontes Peebles (Brazilian/Portuguese)

The Spanish Bow***** by Andromeda Romano-Lax (Spain/Spanish)

Through Black Spruce***** by Joseph Boyden (Ojibway/Native Canadian)

My Father's Paradise**** by Ariel Sabar (Kurdish)

The Sum of Our Days**** by Isabel Allende (Chilean/Spanish)

Reading Lolita in Tehran**** by Azar Nafisi (Iranian)

The Madwoman of Bethlehem***** by Rosine Nimeh-Mailloux (Arab Israeli)

Love in the Time of Cholera**** by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Columbia/Spanish)

Total:12

The Disappeared**** by Kim Echlin
The Accordionist's Son**** by Bernardo Axtaga (Basque/Spanish)
Carpentaria****+ by Alexis Wright (Aboriginal Australian)
Belong to Me**** by Marisa de los Santos (Spanish/American)
Becoming Abigail***** by Chris Abani (Nigerian)
The Jewel Trader of Pegu by Jeffrey Hantover (Jewish/Burma)

Other possiblities

Little Bee by Chris Cleave (to be reviewed)
The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (African Canadian )

Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea (Mexican American)

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh (India)

The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee (Hong Kong/Chinese)

Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden (Native Canadian)

The Age of Orphans by Laleh Khadivi (Iraqi Kurd)

Free Food for Millionairess by Min Jin Lee (Korean American)

Trail of Crumbs by Kim Sunee (Korean)

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer Lee (Chinese)

Transparency by Frances Hwang (Chinese)

Strangers from a Different Shore by Ronald Takaki (Japanese)

B as in Beauty by Alberto Ferreras (Venezuela/Spanish)

Hungry Woman in Paris by Josefina Lopez (Mexican American)

The Disappearance of Irene Dos Santos by Margaret Mascarenhas (Venezuelan/India)

Houston, We Have a Problema by Gwendolyn Zepeda (Hispanic American)

Update May 30:

I have reached my initial goal of 12 books, so I am revising my goal to read 24 books by authors of diverse ethnicity this year.

Southern Reading Challenge 2009

Hosted by Maggie of Maggie Reads.

May 15 - August 15, 2009

"Read three books, fiction or nonfiction, of any style of Southern book such as Appalachian tales, Civil War sagas, Gothic myths, Grit lit, and heart-wrenching biographies."

My 3 reading choices with completed books highlighted or linked to reviews:

This One and Magic Life by Anne Carroll George

Going Down South by Bonnie Glover

All Other Nights by Dara Horn

What's On Your Nighstand?

Hosted by Jennifer at 5 Minutes for Books.

Books read in May

50.Love in the Time of Cholera**** by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Spanish lit romance)
51.The Lieutenant***** by Kate Grenville (Australian lit set in 18th century) 52.The Winner of Sorrow***** by Brian Lynch (fictionalized last years of the English poet William Cowper)
53.Mind's Eye**** by Hakan Nesser (Swedish mystery)
54.The Madwoman of Bethlehem***** by Rosine Nimeh-Mailloux (fiction about Arab Christians) 55.The Spare Room**** by Helen Garner (Australian lit about a dying friend)
56.The Snow Geese**** by William Fiennes (English non-fiction about following geese migration) 57.This One and Magic Life**** by Anne Carroll George (ficiton-American South) 58.Possession***** by A.S. Byatt (English lit-life and loves of fictional Victorian poets via manuscript research)

No duds this month I'm happy to report.

Still on my Nightstand:

The Prospector by J.M.G. Le Clezio (Nobel author 2008)
Carpentaria by Alexis Wright (prize winning Australian lit)
The Great Lover by Jill Dawson (2009 fiction about poet Rupert Brooke)
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh (Booker shortlist 2008)
The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar (recommended by a book blogger)
All Other Nights by Dara Horn (American Civil War fiction among Jews)
Petropolis by Anya Ulinich Strangers by Anita Brookner
The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell (Holocaust lit, over 1000 pages)
The 25th Hour by David Benioff ( good film with Ed Norton, hope book even better)
Summer World by Bernd Heinrich (non-fiction about insects and plant life in New England) Blindness by Jose Saramago (Nobel author)
Plum Wine by Angela Davis (new Bookmooch acquisition)

What's waiting for you on the nightstand?

Comments, questions, or reading recommendations are welcomed.

Library Loot

Hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair.

This week's loot:

Possession by A.S. Byatt 562 pages pb. (1990)

Completed. A very enjoyable story and an excellent example of well-written contemporary literature. Highly recommended. This is my first fiction by Byatt and I will be reading more very soon. Any recommendations?

I read this as part of my Filling in the Gaps 100 Project, but it also part of the Booker Prize Challenge (it won in 1990), and is on the 1001 Books you must read before you die list. And at 562 pages, it completes my Chunkster Challenge 2009 as the sixth book.

Giveaway:Testimony by Anita Shreve

Giveaway: Testimony by Anita Shreve

Hachette Books has generously offered to send copies of Testimony to FIVE readers of Fresh Ink Books. Thank you to Valerie at Hachette.

The giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian residents only and Hachette cannot mail to P.O. boxes. I will accept entries until midnight, Sunday June 7, 2009 and announce the winners as soon as all have been contacted.

Description: "At a New England boarding school, a sex scandal is about to break. Even more shocking than the sexual acts themselves is the fact that they were caught on videotape. A Pandora's box of revelations, the tape triggers a chorus of voices--those of the men, women, teenagers, and parents involved in the scandal--that details the ways in which lives can be derailed or destroyed in one foolish moment.

Writing with a pace and intensity surpassing even her own greatest work, Anita Shreve delivers in TESTIMONY a gripping emotional drama with the impact of a thriller. No one more compellingly explores the dark impulses that sway the lives of seeming innocents, the needs and fears that drive ordinary men and women into intolerable dilemmas, and the ways in which our best intentions can lead to our worst transgressions."

To entry simply post a comment here indicating that you'd like a copy. Please make sure that your email is provided if you don't have a blog. Entries without a blog link or email address will be disqualified.

Any followers or subcribers who enter will automatically be given a second entry. Just remind me in your comment that you are one.

I look forward to reading my own copy now that it has arrived and selecting the five winners. I have read five previous novels by Anita Shreve and have not been disappointed. If you are new to this author, Testimony would be a great place to start.

The Weight of Water*****

The Pilot's Wife*****

Light on Snow****

Strange Fits of Passion****

All He Ever Wanted****

Mailbox Monday

Monday Mailbox is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.

In the mail this week:

Testimony by Anita Shreve (2008) A lovely paperback copy from Valerie at Hachette Books. I will be posting a giveaway of five copies for my readers very soon.

I've read five previous novels by Shreve and was never disappointed so I look forward to this one too.

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming (2009) by Joshilyn Jackson. Also from Valerie after my recent giveaway. Thanks again Valerie.

The 25th Hour by David Benioff (2000) from Tanabata at In Spring it is the Dawn who held a Spring Cleaning Giveaway. Thank you Nat.

Summer World: a season of bounty by Bernd Heinrich (2009) from Kristi at Passion For the Page who was kind enough to pass it on to me after she read and reviewed it here. It will be one of my four choices for the Reading Through the Seasons Challenge. I read Ravens in Winter by the same author and thought it was a riveting read. I highly recommend it. I hope this one is good too.

*I have a nice new paperback copy (not an ARC) of The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn jackson that I am willing to send to anyone who'll do a guest review for me on my blog. Just say you want it and email your mailing address.

What did you get in the mail this week that's got you excited about reading?

Library Loot

Hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair.

This week's loot:

The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville (2008) 308 pages

An account of an English lieutenant who became an astronomer and sailed with the First Fleet to the shores of what would become Sydney, Australia. Based on a real person.

Completed. An excellent story by one of my favourite Australian writers. She never lets me down. Highly recommended, along with her The Secret River and The Idea of Perfection.

The Winner of Sorrow by Brian Lynch (2005 ) 368 pages

A fictional account of the details of last years of the English poet William Cowper,set at the end of the 1700's.

Completed. A very interesting and well written account of Cowper's final years of doubt and melancholy and those around him. Highly recommended

Mind's Eye by Hakan Nesser (2008, first English publication ) 280 pages, translated from the Swedish (1993)

A Swedish mystery. My third by this author. Borkmann's Point and The Return were both excellent for this genre. I highly recommend him.

Completed and recommended.

The Kindly Ones Jonathan Littell (2009, first English publication) 984 pages, translated from the French (2005)

It's huge, with Nazis and some controversy. That's all I know.

Comments, questions, recomendations of literary fiction (no genres), and links to reviews are welcomed. No spoilers please.

Library Loot

Hosted by Eva and Alessandra.

This Week's Loot:







Petropolis by Anya Ulinich










The Snow Geese by William Fiennes











The Spare Room by Helen Garner









Strangers by Anita Brookner

The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar

Sea of poppies by Amitav Ghosh

Comments, recommendations and review links are welcomed.