Friday Finds

Hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

This week's finds:

Remember the first book? I thought I'd found a copy cat cover until I saw the author's name. It's her new novel.

Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery

Paperback 160 Pages
Europa Editions (Aug. 25, 2009)
ISBN 10:1933372958
ISBN 13:9781933372952

From the Publisher:

"In the posh building made famous in The Elegance of the Hedgehog, the greatest food critic in the world is dying. Revered by some and reviled by many, Monsieur Pierre Arthens has been lording it over the world's most esteemed chefs for years, passing judgment on their creations, deciding their fates with a stroke of his pen, destroying and building reputations on a whim. But now, during these his final hours, his mind has turned to simpler things. He is desperately searching for that singular flavor, that sublime something once sampled, never forgotten, the Flavor par excellence.
Gourmet Rhapsody is a charming voyage that traces the career of Monsieur Arthens from childhood to maturity across a celebration of all manner of culinary delights. Alternating with the voice of the supercilious Arthens is a chorus belonging to his acquaintances and familiars-relatives, lovers, a would-be protégé, even a cat. Each will have his or her say about Monsieur Arthens, a man who has inspired only extreme emotions in people."

Muriel Barbery was born in 1969 in Casablanca . She studied philosophy at the Ecole Normale Superieure and worked for many years as a philosophy teacher in France . Her New York Times bestselling novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Europa Editions 2008) has been published in over twenty languages. Barbery now lives in Japan and is working on a third novel.

I enjoyed The Elegance of the Hedgehog and I'm looking forward to reading this one too.

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Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

Hardcover 528 pages

Harper Collins Canada (November 3, 2009)

ISBN 10:1554684757

ISBN 13:9781554684755

From the Publisher:

"Born in the United States, reared in a series of provisional households in Mexico, Harrison Shepherd is mostly a liability to his social-climbing flapper mother, Salomé. From a coastal island jungle to the unpaved neighborhoods of 1930s Mexico City, through a disastrous stint at a military school in Virginia and back again, his fortunes never steady as Salomé finds her rich men-friends always on the losing side of the Mexican Revolution. Sometimes she gives her son cigarettes instead of supper.

Life is whatever he learns from servants putting him to work in the kitchen, errands he runs in the streets, and one fateful day, by mixing plaster for famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. Making himself useful in the household of Rivera, his wife Frida Kahlo and exiled Bolshevik leader Lev Trotsky, young Shepherd inadvertently casts his lot with art and revolution, and the howling gossip and reportage that dictate public opinion.

A violent upheaval sends him north to a nation newly caught up in the internationalist good will of World War II. In the mountain city of Asheville, North Carolina, he remakes himself in America's hopeful image. Under the watch of his peerless stenographer, Violet Brown, he finds an extraordinary use for his talents of observation. But political winds continue to throw him between north and south, in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach-the lacuna-between truth and public presumption.

This is a gripping story of identity, connection with our past, and the power of words to create or devastate, unfolding at a moment when the entire world seemed bent on reinventing itself at any cost."

Sounds like an exciting and intriguing story.

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The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk

Hardcover 560 pages

Knopf (October 20, 2009)

ISBN-10: 0307266761

ISBN-13: 978-0307266767

From the Publisher:

"A sweeping, emotionally charged novel of the nature of romantic attachment and the strange allure of collecting- this is Orhan Pamuk’s greatest achievement. It is Istanbul in 1975. Kemal is a rich and engaged man when he by chance encounters a long-lost relation, Fusun, a young shopgirl whose beauty stirs all the passion denied him in a society where sex outside marriage is taboo. Fusun ends their liaison when she learns of Kemal’s engagement. But Kemal cannot forget her: for nine years he tries to change her mind, meanwhile stealing from her an odd assortment of personal items, which he collects and cherishes- a “museum of innocence” that he puts on display to tell the heartbreaking story of a love that shaped a life."

This is Orhan Pamuk's first novel since being awarded the Nobel Prize in 2006. I have read Snow and enjoyed it very much. And I've recently acquired a copy of My Name is Red, which won the 2003 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. I hope to enjoy The Museum of Innocence soon.

What did you find that's got you excited about reading?

Afterwords

Answers to requests in the comments section of the Jan.2, 2009 review and giveaway of The Mighty Queens of Freeville By Amy Dickinson.

Topher: "Asylum is the one I'd like to hear the most about."

Asylum**** by Patrick McGrath

Late 1950s, high security psychiatric hospital, one of live-in psychiatrist's wives forms an obsessive romantic attachment to a criminal patient, another psychiatrist (the narrator) secretly adores her, she's beautiful, intelligent, but unhappy and emotionally in trouble; he tries to help her recover but things don't go quite the way anyone thinks they will, who is manipulating whom and for what reason? The story becomes intense and is well written. I recommend it highly. I also recommend his book Trauma****.
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stacey : "I am dying to read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society!"

Jennifer: "I would like to read, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer."

My full review is here.
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Amy:"The Virgin Suicides" is an intriguing title. I'd like to hear about that. Was there a movie by that name?"

Francine: The Virgin Suicides by Jefferey Eugenides sounds interesting I think this was a movie.

The Virgin Suicides**** by Jeffery Eugenides

There is a filmed version which I have not seen, I have been told it did not do justice to the book. An unusual story, I was reluctant to read it but was assure it treated what would normally be a morbid subject with respect, even if filtered through the eyes of a young male narrator with an odd manner. One daughter in a family of girls kills herself. Michigan in the early 1970s, the father is strict and each of her sisters slowly spiral into emotional trouble, until another one commits suicide. The whole town thinks the father who is a teacher, should quit because he can't handle his own children at home. Basically we watch the family through the town's eyes, those outside the family. It's well done and certainly brought attention to a serious subject. I recommend it.

I also recommend his book Middlesex****, another I was reluctant about until reassured that there's nothing in it that would frighten the horses.
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kalea_kane: "I would love to learn more about Hotel World!"

Hotel World**** by Ali Smith (Booker Prize shortlist and Orange Prize finalist)

This is about the behind the scenes lives of people who work or live in an English hotel. Never a dull moment, it follows five people, one a dead chambermaid who tells us her story too. The others are a depressed receptionist, a homeless woman invited to stay for a night, the dead chambermaid's sister, and a really bored travel journalist who stays there.There's some stream of consciousness used in the writing style but it worked for the story. Smith's writing is lyrical. Even the minor characters such as the girl who work in a shop near the hotel or a student driver and an amorous driving instructor, are interesting and add to the colour to the story. I would read this book again, rare for me. Highly recommended.

Stacie: I'd love to hear a review on The Swallows of Kabul. I have the book, but I haven't read it yet.

Anya: I'd like to hear about The Swallows of Kabul.

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

This is a beautiful book, not an easy read for some, it tells the truth of what life is like in Afghanistan under the Taliban, especially for women. It's shocking and heartbreaking and infuriatingly all too real. But it's a story that needs to be told. There are scenes of execution but by now most of us have already seen or heard of these these in the news or on television. These scenes are important to the story and if you can face that, The Swallow of Kabul is ultimately an uplifting story of bravery and sacrifice.


If I did not discuss your choice here, I will post more mini reviews to answer your requests in the near future. Feel free to leave comments, questions, or links to reviews of these books. And good reading recommendations are always welcomed.

Lost in Translation Reading Challenge

Read 6 books in translation in 2009.

Details from Frances at nonsuchbooks.

My list with completed books highlighted.

The Angel of History**** by Bruno Arpaia (Italian)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog**** by Muriel Barbery (French)
The Rabbi's Cat 2***+ by Joann Sfar (French)
Kitchen**** by Banana Yoshimoto (Japanese)
A Father's Affair**** by Karel Van Loon (Dutch)
To Siberia**** by Per Petterson (Norwegian)

Bonus Reads:

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

Completed Feb.20, 2009.

List of possibles:

The Sum of Our Days by Isabel Allende (Spanish)
The Sailor from Gibraltar by Marguerite Duras (French)
The Taker by Rubem Fonseca (Portuguese)
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (Turkish)
2666 by Roberto Bolano (Spanish)