Fresh Ink Books : The Sunday Salon

Showing posts with label The Sunday Salon. Show all posts

Saturday, April 16, 2011

TSS Recently Read

It's become difficult for me to create posts but I still do a passel of reading. So if you can forgive the lack of art, this is what I've been reading.

For April is Aussie Author Month:

Butterfly**** by Sonya Hartnett
Dreams of Speaking**** by Gail Jones

Next:

Legacy by Kirsten Tranter
-------
Chinese Literature Challenge:

Three Sisters by Bu Feiyu**** (China) Man Asian Prize Winner 2011
Taroko Gorge*** by Jacob Ritari (Taiwan)

Book Reading Challenge, subject for April and May-India:

Dahanu Road**** by Anosh Irani Man Asian longlist 2011
Serious Men***+ by Manu Joseph Man Asian Prize shortlist 2011
Saraswati Park***+ by Anjali Joseph

Next:

The Pleasure Seekers by Tishani Doshi 2010
Tiger Hills by Sarita Mandanna
-------
Ireland Reading Challenge:

The Truth About Love**** by Josephine Hart

Next:

The Reconstructionist by Josephine Hart
The Matchmaker of Kenmare by Frank Delaney
-------
For Anita Brookner International Day, July 16, 2011:

Altered States**** by Anita Brookner

Next:

Dolly, Brief Lives, or The Bay of Angels

African Literature:

Sleepwalking Land***+ by Mia Couto (Mozambique)
Sweetness in the Belly***** by Camilla Gibb (Ethiopia)

Next:

The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany (Egypt)

Jewish Literature Challenge:

Wherever You Go**** by Joan Leegant
Foreign Bodies***+ by Cynthia Ozick
The Glass Room***+ by Simon Mawer

Canadian Literature Challenge:

The Matter With Morris**** by David Bergen
Letters to Omar***+ by Rachel Wyatt
The Beauty of Humanity Movement***** by Camilla Gibb

Questions, opinions, recommendations, links to reviews, or requests for reviews are welcome from readers.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

TSS I Can Dream Can't I?

Salon Sunday may be found here.

Amazon is so nice-they send me personal emails just to tell me that there's a book I don't know about that I really want to have! Usually I think blindfolded monkeys have matched me to the books but this time they were actually right.

Jewish Poet and Intellectual in Seventeenth-Century Venice: The Works of Sarra Copia Sulam in Verse and Prose Along with Writings of Her Contemporaries in Her Praise, Condemnation, or Defense by Don Harran

(Hardcover) 632 pages
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (Nov 15 2009)
Language: English

Product Description

"The first Jewish woman to leave her mark as a writer and intellectual, Sarra Copia Sulam (1600?–41) was doubly tainted in the eyes of early modern society by her religion and her gender. This remarkable woman, who until now has been relatively neglected by modern scholarship, was a unique figure in Italian cultural life, opening her home, in the Venetian ghetto, to Jews and Christians alike as a literary salon."

Imagine my excitement. But my book purchasing has to be judiciously based on personal value for price paid. I'm going to let you in on what goes through my head when I see a book like this that I would truly love to own. I think and read at warp speed so imagine this all happening in a few seconds. Italics are mine, all mine.

"Hardcover List Price $109.50"(!?) Your price " $68.99 & this item ships for FREE.(!) You Save: $40.51 (37%)."(!) (I don't know whether to laugh or cry that they do they math for me but that's another topic.) The remainder of my thoughts were directed toward the publisher, not the bookseller.

But 632 pages of "The Works of Sarra Copia Sulam in Verse and Prose"! That just might be worth taking out a small loan. I love bilingual books, I own a few. But I don't read the second language here. They don't say which it is but I'm betting Hebrew or Italian. So I'm personally paying for half a book that I can't use. Oh well, happy that others can compare the texts, more money for U of C, maybe. Okay, 316 pages of such a rare treasure will be plenty for me! But wait.

"Along with Writings of Her Contemporaries in Her Praise, Condemnation, or Defense"?! That worries me greatly. I can only imagine how many of her contemporaries (all of them) were riled up and had something to write about a Jewish female writer/thinker of the times (that's at least four strikes against her already). Don Harrán has collected " all of Sulam’s previously scattered writings—letters, sonnets, a Manifesto—into a single volume". Doesn't sound like a tome of material to me. "Harrán has also assembled all extant correspondence and poetry that was addressed to Sulam, as well as all known contemporary references to her...Featuring rich biographical and historical notes that place Sulam in her cultural context, this volume will provide readers with insight into the thought and creativity of a woman who dared to express herself in the male-dominated, overwhelmingly Catholic Venice of her time."

Now that sounds like a tome and a half. But just how many pages of this book does the Italian lady get in which to "express herself", gentlemen? Fifty? Less, I'm betting. Even at 316 pages this book is beginning to sound like one very small part Sarra and too many parts of what everyone and their ancestors thought about this nervy upstart. You already have an almost misleading title there that will take up two pages every time you write it. I know why you published this volume, the secondary reason I mean. To sell for women's studies. But how much of the woman do I get to study for my $68.99? And no, I am not overlooking the possibility that some of those who wrote "correspondence and poetry that was addressed to Sulam, as well as all known contemporary references to her" may have been women. One or two perhaps, but they are not Ms. Sulam.

No sale here. You publish all of her own words in English and I'll pay a reasonable price for that. I'm no academic but I can get a lot out of reading her for myself because I'm a woman and a writer and not much has changed. Four hundred years on and I'm still reading female writers who have to use male names to get their work picked up (e.g. Lionel Shriver). If what the rest of them have to say in this book is really worth it, word will get around. I'll spring for the Big Book of Interpretations and Opinions by Everyone Who Ever Knew or Even Heard of the Lady when I'm ready-and I'm not talking money now.

Have a good Sunday everyone. I'll see you at Mailbox Monday-yes, I broke down and bought some new books again. The monkeys talked me into it.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

TSS June in Review

Salon Sunday may be found here.

Books read:

60.The Accordionist's Son**** by Bernardo Atxaga (US)
61.Hard Rain**** by Janwillem Van De Wetering (Netherlands) mystery
62.Carpentaria**** by Alexis Wright (Australia)
63.The Italian Girl**** by Iris Murdoch (UK)
64.Last Night in Montreal**** by Emily St. John Mandel (Canada)
65.Wanting***** by Richard Flanagan (Australia)
66.The Great Lover**** by Jill Dawson (UK)
67.The Pages**** by Murray Bail (Australia)
68.Belong to Me**** by Marisa de los Santos (US)
69.The Fifth Child**** by Doris Lessing (UK)
70.Becoming Abigail***** by Chris Abani (Nigeria)

Pages read: 3,065

Books Reviewed:

The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing
Becoming Abigail by Chris Abani
Ex-Cottagers in Love by J. M. Kearns

Giveaways: Testimony by Anita Shreve

Challenges completed:

Spring Reading Thing
The 2nd Canadian Book Challenge Eh?
Themed Challenge
Pub Challenge 2009
Do Re Mi Challenge
Unshelved Challenge

New Challenges posted:

Summer Vacation Reading Challenge 2009
The Four Month Challenge

Special events:

Bloggiesta June 19 - 21

18 hours of blog improvement and writing over 2 days

48 Hour Book Challenge:

8 hours of reading, 1 1/2 books read, illness prevented more

Books and Reading Memes:

What Are You Reading On Mondays? 4
Mailbox Monday 4
Library Loot 3
New Crayons 3
Weekly Geeks 2 (Reviews Catchup)
Musing Mondays 2
What's on Your Nightstand? 1
Cover Attraction 1
Booking Through Thursday 1 (15 books that have stuck with you)

July's upcoming reviews:

Ben, In the World by Doris Lessing (sequel to The Fifth Child)
A Mercy by Toni Morrison
Little Bee by Chris Cleave (The Other Hand in the UK)
No Such Creature by Giles Blunt

My best month since January, no complaints here.

Questions, opinions, reading recommendations or links to reviews are welcomed. I'd love to read them.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

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?

Sunday, April 12, 2009

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

New weely features

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?

Sunday, April 5, 2009

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?

Sunday, March 22, 2009

TSS Week(s) in Review

Salon Sunday maybe found here.

Books read:

The Monsters of Templeton**** by Lauren Groff

Shelter Me***+ by Juliette Fay

The Interrogation*** by J.M.G.Le Clezio (Nobel Laureate 2008)

Mudbound***** by Hillary Jordan (LT Author) Highly Recommended

Little Bee****+ by Chris Cleave (LT Early Reviewer copy) Highly recommended

A very poor showing, only 6 books completed in the past three weeks, but my health has been a misery lately.

I did complete the Book Awards Challenge here and posted my reading lists for a few new reading challenges:

Serendipity:

I won this beautiful Book Buddy from Kristen at Book Club Classics and I couldn't be more thrilled. It holds any book and keeps the pages open on a pillow in my lap. It actually reduces the pain that holding a book usually causes me. And it's an exact match with the colour of my reading chair, a lovely wine red. Thanks again Kristen.

What are you doing on this first spring Sunday?

Sunday, March 8, 2009

TSS Books Read This Week

Sunday Salon may be found here.

Not the best reading week, only one book completed, so I threw in my first reading challenges update for the year.

The Gargoyle**** by Andrew Davidson

I really enjoyed this story about a burn victim who is befriended during his long hospital stay by another patient who's gone home but continues to visit in between her manic sessions of sculpting gargoyles from stone. She tells him stories about having met him in a previous life that are fascinating. The story takes hold of you and doesn't let you go. Highly recommended.

I am currently reading The Sum of Our Years by Isabel Allende, a memoir in epistolary form to her beloved daughter Paula, now deceased. I listened to her interviewed by Book Club Girl and
Isabel is an exuberant, intelligent and a delightful person to listen to.

I have started The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff. My first book by this author.

I am also working my way (slowly) through Ulysses by James Joyce. Pray for me.

Little Bee by Chris Cleave is forthcoming from LibrayThing Early Reviewers. It is set in Nigeria and I can't wait to read and review it.

Reading Challenge updates: as of March 1/09

New Authors - 30/50

Library - 19/50

War Through the Generations - 5/5 completed*

Art History - 2/6

New Classics - 3/6 ended Jan.31, 2009 - incomplete (joined very late)

E W's New Classics - 14/100...ongoing

Man Booker Prize - 11/41...ongoing

Jewish Literature - 4/4 completed*

Latin America - 2/4

Lost in Translation - 6/6 completed*

Themed - 2/4-6 with music reference in title

Martel-Harper - 1/2

Canada Reads - 2/5 ended Feb.15, 2009 - incomplete (library books not available in time)

2nd Canadian Books - 13/13 completed* + bonus 8 books

Orange Prize - 5/17 winners, 6/71 shorlist, 18/170 longlist...ongoing

What's In a Name - 5/6

18th & 19th Century Women Writers - 2/4

What an Animal - 6/6 completed* + 9 bonus books

Whitcoulls - 0/4

German - 0/6-12

Pulitzer Project - 9/82...ongoing

TBR - 5/12

Chunkster - 4/6

Well Seasoned - 3/3 completed* + 14 bonus books

Nine in 09 - 1/9

Giller Prize - 4/15 winners, 8/74 shortlist...ongoing

Costa Awards - 6/38 winners, 3/shortlist...ongoing

Dewey - 1/5

Diversity - 6/12

LibrayThing Authors - 1/5

Numbers Challenge - 2/5

Book Awards - 6/10

London 2012 - 16/202

Nobels - 1/5

Notable Books - 32...ongoing

Classics - 2/4

Cultures - 6/21

Colourful - 0/9, joined March 1

Through the Seasons - 0/16, joined March 1
Orbis Terrarum-starts March 1, 10 books from 10 countries

1% Well Read - starts March 1, 13 books, 135 read to date
Compass Points - starts March 1, 4 books

Oprah Picks - 30 read of 61 owned

Pages read - 9,000

The Year of Readers for Camel Book Charity - 31 books read to date, sponsor needed

I welcome recommendations of good literary fiction at any time. If you know one that fits any of my reading challenges I'd be glad to consider it.

How's your week going?

Saturday, February 28, 2009

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.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

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

Sunday, January 18, 2009

TSS Books Read This Week

This week's Sunday Salon consists of tag reviews of books read this week:

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

I loved this book, based on a true story. Washington state, an old elephant (Hannah) and keeper, been together 41 years; old run down circus/wildlife park created by past eccentric, we get parallel stories of parks origins and eccentric's talks withthe elephant keeper over the years, but now the elephant keeper is ill and must retire; no one know's Hannah and can care for her the way keeper and his wife have. Bossy and rigid park manager, has odd ideas how to attract people to park, but brings in smart young keeper to look after elephant who realizes Hannah is sick and will not survive poor the conditions or the keeper retiring. Plan afoot to transfer her to elephant sanctuary in Tenessee (sanctuary is real, I've seen documentaires on it), boss is kept out of loop deliberately as long as possible. Boom falls, complications, tension, ultimately a happy ending. A heartwarming story, highly recommended.

The Rabbi's Cat 2**** by Joann Sfar (translated from French)

Graphic novel, hard cover, only the second one I've ever read, they are not my cup of tea. The first was The Rabbi's Cat*****, charming and funny, beautifully illustrated by France's top graphics artist, and a good story. This one is the second book. A rabbi and his daughter in Algeria, pre war, the rabbi's cat can speak, argues Torah, points out incongruities in people's behaviour. Two stories here, one about an old man and his old pet lion. Fun to read. Second about racism but I wasn't impressed, arguing got loud and physical (perhaps in attempt to prove author's point ?) despite everyone being of the same religion; author gratuitously threw in the "f" word-once, it spoiled the tone for me. Glad I wasn't reading it with a child on my lap. No faulting the artistry or original story but I am not the one to judge graphic novels.

*Marie at The Boston Bibliophile has a weekly graphic novel review and has read these books. You can find her review of both Rabbi's Cat books here.

The Whirlpool**** by Jane Urquhart (Canada)

Set in 1889 in Niagara Falls, and the story's quirky Victorian characters are each busy with their own obsessions; whether for a woman-from a distance, nature and poetry, war history, details of death-by the undertaker's widow, or Niagara Falls and the lives its whirpool claims. Robert Browning's last days in Venice are also present as brackets (first and last chapters) to the main story. Rich language, fascinating historical details. Highly recommended. I have read four others of her novels:

Away***

The Underpainter****

The Stone Carvers*****

A Map of Glass**** (my favourite)

What are you reading?