The Literary Giveaway Blog Hop!

Hosted by Judith at Leeswammes' Blog.


All giveaways from June 25th to June 29th inclusive are books of literary fiction or non fiction.

 

I have one AUDIO copy of The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova to give to one of my readers.

Open worldwide. You do not have to be a follower to enter. Just leave a comment with your name and email after midnight EST June 24th to qualify. Entry closes at midnight Wednesday June 29th, winner to be announced after Thursday June 30.

This is one great story, I have read it and I loved it.

Other participants in The Literary Giveaway Blog Hop!

1. Leeswammes (Int)
2. The Book Whisperer (Int)
3. Kristi Loves Books (Int)
4. Teadevotee (Int)
5. Bookworm with a View (Int)
6. Bibliosue (Int)
7. Sarah Reads Too Much (Int)
8. write meg! (USA)
9. My Love Affair With Books (Int)
10. Seaside Book Nook (Int)
11. Uniflame Creates (Int)
12. Always Cooking Up Something (Int)
13. Book Journey (Int)
14. ThirtyCreativeStudio (Int)
15. Col Reads (Int)
16. The Book Diva’s Reads (Int)
17. The Scarlet Letter (USA)
18. The Parrish Lantern (Int)
19. Lizzy’s Literary Life (Int)
20. Read, Write & Live (Int)
21. Book’d Out (Int)
22. The Readers’ Suite (Int)
23. I Am A Reader, Not A Writer (USA)
24. Ephemeral Digest (Int)
25. Miel et lait (Int)
26. Bibliophile By the Sea (Int)
27. Polychrome Interest (Int)
28. Book World In My Head (Int)
29. In Spring it is the Dawn (Int)
30. everybookhasasoul (Int)
31. Nishita’s Rants and Raves (Int)
32. Fresh Ink Books (Int)
33. Teach with Picture Books (USA)
34. How to Teach a Novel (USA)
35. The Blue Bookcase (Int)
36. Gaskella (Int)
37. Reflections from the Hinterland (USA)
38. chasing bawa (Int)
39. 51stories (Int)
40. No Page Left Behind (USA)

41. Silver’s Reviews (USA)
42. Nose in a book (Int)
43. Lit in the Last Frontier (Int)
44. The Book Club Blog (Int)
45. Under My Apple Tree (Int)
46. Caribousmom (USA)
47. breienineking (Netherlands)
48. Let’s Go on a Picnic! (Int)
49. Rikki’s Teleidoscope (Int)
50. De Boekblogger (Netherlands)
51. Knitting and Sundries (Int)
52. Elle Lit (USA)
53. Indie Reader Houston (Int)
54. The Book Stop (Int)
55. Eliza Does Very Little (Int)
56. Joy’s Book Blog (Int)
57. Lit Endeavors (USA)
58. Roof Beam Reader (Int)
59. The House of the Seven Tails (Int)
60. Tony’s Reading List (Int)
61. Sabrina @ Thinking About Loud! (Int)
62. Rebecca Reads (Int)
63. Kinna Reads (Int)
64. In One Eye, Out the Other (USA)
65. Books in the City (Int)
66. Lucybird’s Book Blog (Europe)
67. Book Clutter (USA)
68. Exurbanis (Int)
69. Lu’s Raves and Rants (Int)
70. Sam Still Reading (Int)
71. Dolce Bellezza (Int)
72. Lena Sledge’s Blog…Books, Reviews and Interviews (Int)
73. a Thousand Books with Quotes (Int)

WWW Wednesdays

Hosted by Miz B at Should be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

*What are you currently reading?
*What did you recently finish reading?
*What do you think you will read next?

*What are you currently reading?


 

Man Walks into a Room by Nicole Krauss. 

The History of Love***** is an all-time favourite and I enjoyed Great House**** very much as well. This is Krauss' first novel, "a meditation on the nature of memory and loss."

*What did you recently finish reading?

A Month in the Country***** by J. L. Carr 

A wonderful post WWI story that I can't recommend highly enough. I will be buying my own copy now and rereading it as soon as I can.

Howards End is on the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home**** by Susan Hill

Very enjoyable. I have read several of her novels, including The Bird of Night****, Mrs. De Winter***+ (yes, it's the sequel to Rebecca), as well as her five Simon Serrailler detective series which offers so much more than the usual police procedurals do. I recommend Howards End is on the Landing and will no doubt read it again.

*What do you think you will read next?

 

The Changeling by Kenzaburo Oe

For the Japanese Literature Challenge. I have read A Personal Matter**** and Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness*****. This is a Nobel author who never disappoints.

Grace Williams Says it Loud by Emma Henderson

Orange Prize shortlist 2011

Leave me links if you've reviewed any of these, or tell me what you thought. Any plans to read some of them? I offer brief reviews by reader request. Please just ask.

Japanese Literature Challenge 5

Hosted by Bellezza at Dolce Bellezza.

June 1, 2011 - January 30, 2012.

"Read at least one work of Japanese origin. If you want to read more than one, wonderful. If one is all you can manage, wonderful. Once you've read it, you may wish to post your review on the JLC5 review site."

Suggested Reading List

Books I have read and can recommend:

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Hotel Iris by Yoko Ogawa
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
Silence by Shisaku Endo
Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Basho
The 210th Day by Natsume Soseki
The Temple of The Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima
When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness by Kenzaburo Oe
A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oë
Stained Glass Elegies: Stories by Shusaku Endo
Obasan by Kogawa
The Electrical Field by Kerri Sakamoto
Glass Children and Other Essays by Daisaku Ikeda
In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki

Books on hand, with those completed highlighted or linked to reviews:

Changeling by Kenzaburo Oe
Picking Bones from Ash by Marie Mutsuki Mockett
The Lake by Banana Yoshimoto
Translucent Tree by Nobuko Takagi
The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe
Why She Left Us by by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto
The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama
The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata
The Master of Go by Yasunari Kawabata
The Decay of the Angel by Yukio Mishima
Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima
Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima 
The Temple of Dawn by Yukio Mishima
The Samurai by Shusaku Endo 
The Twilight Years by Sawako Ariyoshi
Japan, the Beautiful and Myself by Yasunari Kawabata
Strangers From a Different Shore by Ronald Takaki
The Strangeness of Beauty by Lydia Yuri Minatoya

Recommendations of good literary fiction in this or any other category are always welcomed.