Archive for January, 2007
« Previous Entries Sunday, January 28th, 2007The Book Thief- Book Review
Poignant, gripping, compelling, lyrical and tragic - The Book Thief is all this and more. Death narrates this tale of a young girl, a stealer of books named Liesel, who is growing up in a small town outside of Munich during Hitler’s reign of terror. Markus Zukas - an award winning author of children’s literature - pens an original novel which explores (among other things) the tragedy of war, love and hate, the power of words, and that tenuous space which separates life from death. The characters who people this amazing book come alive on the page:
Rudy Steiner - Liesel’s best friend and a boy whose dreams include being an athlete as great as Jesse Owens.
“Papa” aka Hans Hubermann - Liesel’s foster father, an accordion player who honors a long forgotten promise and whose kind spirit repeatedly brought tears to my eyes.
“Mama” aka Rosa Hubermann - Liesel’s foster mother, a woman who loves as fiercely as she curses.
Max Vandenberg - The “Jew in the basement” who discovers the friendship of a girl and the healing power of words.
Ilsa Hermann - The mayor’s wife who has lost and grieved and punished herself, and yet makes room in her heart for a young girl with a hunger for words.
And finally, Liesel herself - a girl whose courage and wonderful spirit of life shines through on every page.
At one point, Liesel writes: I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right. (from The Book Thief - page 523-) Markus Zusak makes the words right. His novel will resonate with book lovers. It is a story larger than life; one that touches the reader’s heart and never lets go. Death’s voice, at once both playful and profound, delivers the ending of this novel with a flourish that will break your heart.
There were many favorite passages from this book. Below are just a few.
About the colors or life (as narrated by Death):
About Trust and Love (as narrated by Death):
About the horrors of war:
- page 110-
-page 427-
About the power of words:
Purple Hibiscus - Book Review
Jaja’s defiance seemed to me now like Aunty Ifeoma’s experimental purple hibiscus: rare, fragrant with the undertones of freedom, a different kind of freedom from the one the crowds waving green leaves chanted at Government Square after the coup. A freedom to be, to do -From Purple Hibiscus, page 16-
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel - Purple Hibiscus- is a poignant, beautifully written story. It is narrated by Kambili, a 15 year old Nigerian girl who grows up with her brother, Jaja, amid domestic violence, religious fanaticism and political unrest. Kambili and Jaja’s father, Eugene, is a well-respected and wealthy man who gives generously to his church and community; and as the publisher of a liberal newspaper, he speaks out against the tyranny of a new government following a coup. But, Adichie reveals a dark side to Eugene as he elevates his religious faith to something horrifying and tragic. As the story unfolds, we watch through Kambili’s eyes as she matures and is transformed into a girl able to see beauty in a world full of cruelty, able to find love where she least expects it, and ultimately to realize hope amid tragedy. Lyrical, honest, exquisitely crafted and with an ending that stuns the reader … Purple Hibiscus will resonate with those who appreciate an authentic tale. Highly recommended.
The following are exceptional passages from Purple Hibiscus…
About Aunty Ifeoma:
Aunty Ifeoma drove into the compound just as we finished breakfast. When she barged into the dining room upstairs, I imagined a proud ancient forebear, walking miles to fetch water in homemade clay pots, nursing babies until they walked and talked, fighting wars with machetes sharpened on sun-warmed stone. She filled a room “Are you ready, Jaja and Kambili?” she asked. “Nwunye m, will you not come with us?”
Papa-Nnukwu’s wisdom:
“This is what our people say to the high God, the Chukwu,” Papa-Nnukwu said. “Give me both wealth and a child, but if I must choose one, give me a child because when my child grows, so will my wealth.”
About joy:
The afternoon played across my mind as I got out of the car in front of the flat. I had smiled, run, laughed. My chest was filled with something like bath foam. Light. The lightness was so sweet I tasted it on my tongue, the sweetness of an overripe bright yellow cashew fruit.
About freedom:
Wednesday, January 24th, 2007She picked up an enterprising snail that was crawling out of the open basket. She threw it back in and muttered, “God take power from the devil.” I wondered if it was the same snail, crawling out, being thrown back in, and then crawling out again. Determined. I wanted to buy the whole basket and set that one snail free.
Cone Head
Have you ever had an itch you had to scratch? Or a thumbnail you couldn’t resist pulling on? Or a sore spot in your mouth that you just kept poking at with your tongue?
Argus can relate to all of these. We’re just a bit past one week into his recovery from dental surgery, and his mouth is doing fine. But, the little shaved area on his leg (where the vet inserted the IV needle) has been giving him fits. He ignored it at first. Then the hair started growing back and Argus took notice. He just had to lick it…and lick it…and lick it. We tried scolding him. We tried spraying it with bitter apple. The result was he hid in the bedroom to lick and came out foaming at the mouth. Within a couple of days, the shaved spot on his leg became red, hot and raw.
Argus now wears the dreaded Shakespeare collar … better known as The Cone. He wonks its edges against walls, and clears the coffee table of debris each time he walks past. And he is still licking, only now he licks the inner walls of The Cone. He has kept his sense of humor and figured out that he can drag a toy into the conical sphere and toss it about.
Argus goes back to the vet for his follow up visit in five days. I hope by then his leg will be healed and we can stop calling him Cone Head.
Non Fiction Challenge
I’m taking up another reading challenge…this one is sponsored by Joy at Thoughts of Joy. It is a nonfiction challenge held from May through September and the goal is to read five non fiction books over the five months. I’ve received a couple of new non-fiction books lately (a gift from my good friend, Katy, and an Easter gift from my mother), so I’ve revamped and completely changed my book choices for this challenge!!
Here are my updated selections in no particular order:
1. The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren (completed June 17, 2007; read a review here.)
2. The Other Side of the River: A Story of Two Towns, A Death, and American’s Dilemma, by Alex Kotlowitz (completed June 20, 2007; read a review here.)
3. The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson (completed September 12, 2007; read a review here)
4. Lucky, by Alice Sebold (completed June 10, 2007; read a review here.)
5. Coronary: A True Story of Medicine Gone Awry, by Stephen Klaidman (completed August 6, 2007; read a review here.)
UPDATE and RECAP of Challenge:
I completed this challenge on September 12, 2007. My least favorite book was The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren. My favorite was Coronary, by Stephen Klaidman, closely followed by The Devil in the White City and The Other Side of the River. I appreciated that this challenge got me to read some of the great non fiction books I have had collecting dust on my TBR shelf! Thank you, Joy, for hosting such a great challenge!
The Reading Across Borders Challenge
December 17, 2007 - Throwing in the Towel
With the days of 2007 winding down, it has become obvious to me that I will not complete this challenge. I read 8 of 13 books on my original list - not bad! I will eventually read the remaining 5 books, but it won’t be in 2007! My favorite read of the group was (hands down) The Book Thief, followed closely by Suite Francaise and Purple Hibiscus.
Thank you, Kate, for motivating me to read outside my boundaries. It is a habit I will keep as I move into 2008!
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I’ve decided to take up Kate’s Book Blog challenge: Reading Across Borders.
The idea is to determine which countries or regions tend to dominate your reading and to commit to reading a number of books over the course of 2007 which take you beyond those countries or regions.
I realized that I already had many books on my shelf waiting to be read which fit nicely into this challenge; and also there are a few on my list of books I want to read this year that I have yet to acquire. Here they are in no particular order:
The Translator, by Leila Aboulela (Khartoum, Sudan) - Finished 3/23/2007 and reviewed here.
Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky (France) - Finished 2/17/2007 and reviewed here.
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak (Australia) -Finished 1/28/2007 and reviewed here.
Old Filth, by Jane Gardam (England) Finished 5/29/2007 and reviewed here.
The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Spain) Finished 7/7/2007 and reviewed here.
Silver Wedding, by Maeve Binchy (Ireland)
Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts (Bombay, India)
The Alchemist, by Paula Coelho (Brazil) - Finished 6/15/2007 and reviewed here.
A Woman in Jerusalem, by A.B. Yehoshua (Jerusalem)
The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai (New Delhi, India) - Finished 3/16/2007 and reviewed here.
Purple Hibiscus, by Chimamanda Ngozi Aichie (Africa) - Finished 1/24/2007 and reviewed here.
The Reader, by Bernhard Schlink (Germany)
Hanna’s Daughters: A Novel of Three Generations, by Marianne Fredriksson (Sweden)
The House on Mango Street - Book Review
Sandra Cisneros’ love of poetry shines through in her novel: The House on Mango Street. Her sparse, beautiful prose conjures up vivid images of life in the Latino section of Chicago. Told from the point of view of Esperanza, a young girl living in the inner city with her family, the novel reveals the harsh realities of the city and the innocent beauty of a child’s perspective. It is a coming of age story, a story about a young girl who dreams one day of a house of her own “quiet as snow, a place for myself to go, clean as paper before the poem.”
A short read that flows easily along and leaves the reader with a sense of hope.
Recommended.
Favorite passages:
-page 11-
-page 28-
You can never have too much sky. You can fall asleep and wake up drunk on sky, and sky can keep you safe when you are sad. Here there is too much sadness and not enough sky. Butterflies too are few and so are flowers and most things that are beautiful. Still, we take what we can get and make the best of it.
The Grapes of Wrath - Book Review
In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.
-From the Grapes of Wrath, page 349-
In John Steinbeck’s most renown novel, The Grapes of Wrath, Tom Joad gets released from prison and returns to a home decimated by technology:
Thus, this sweeping novel takes us on a journey with the Joad family as they join thousands of migrant workers seeking a better life in the West. Steinbeck fills his novel with homespun characters and the bitter reality of life in the 1930s during the Great Dust Bowl migration.
This novel has been banned, burned and challenged since its publication in 1939 for reasons such as “vulgar language” and “sexual references.” In addition, Steinbeck angered many for his honest depiction of the political and economic landscape in the 1930s, where large landowners artificially inflated the cost of goods by destroying surpluses and drove down wages by luring thousands of workers to a California that could not support their numbers.
Steinbeck is a genius at characterization and using symbolism to draw images for the reader. Tom Joad represents all the survivors who joined together and found strength in numbers; who fought back when the future looked the bleakest; who rose up to fight for their families; and who refused to lose dignity even while camping in Hoovervilles.
The women who people this novel are wonderful - strong, authentic, the glue that holds the family together. Ma Joad’s tough, realistic character drives the novel and tugs at the reader’s heartstrings:
Beautiful descriptions of a desolate country; use of symbolism; amazing characterization; compelling dialogue; a vivid and honest portrayal of the family; and an ending which will shock…are all reasons why Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath is one of the few great American novels. A must read. The Joad family will stick with the reader long after the final page has been turned.
Highly recommended.
Following are some of my favorite passages from the novel.
About the countryside:
About Granma:
About symbolism (the turtle):
About community:
A Pain in the Mouth
When Argus was a puppy he liked to chew on rocks (he now enjoys demolishing our wood pile). This habit led to him breaking his lower canine. At the time, my husband was told he could take a wait and see approach; and hopefully Argus would have no problems with the broken tooth. Alas…it’s been seven years and that tooth has finally decided to give Argus grief. About two weeks ago, we noticed our boy was just not himself, and then we saw that his face looked weirdly lopsided. Argus had developed an abcess.
Monday he went in for a dental procedure to extract the dead canine and clean up the abcess. Because he is a Golden Retriever, he was happy to go to the vet (afterall, there are many hands there to pet him and sometimes he even gets a cookie). Later in the day, when Kip went to pick him up, he was most eager to leave. He was a bit woozy and confused last night (although confusion for Argus is generally the norm). Today, he is a bit put out by the way his tongue slides out the side of his mouth, unhibited by his missing canine. He keeps slurping and pulling his tongue back inside, then looks at me as though it is my fault (which is partially correct given it was my American Express card which paid for the surgery).
The upside to all of this? The vet says Argus must eat only soft food for a week. So Kip went out and purchased top of the line, 100% organic, canned dog food that smells better than what we eat each night. Oh, and handmade soft treats made with real meat that smells like meatloaf (I’m tempted to try one). Argus is very happy about all of this. I don’t want to tell him that in six days he’ll be back eating kibble again.
The Piker Press - Article Published
I’ve been in a writing rut for months now. Call it exhaustion or burn out or just plain laziness … but, I haven’t been writing. Until last week, when I decided to write a food article called Bananas Anyone? for The Piker Press. It will be on the site all this week. Hope you’ll go take a look!
I have many articles and stories, and even a couple of photographs published on this site; but even if I didn’t, I’d tell you to go visit. Their ezine is one of the best on the web…a talented group of writers and poets, most of whom met while doing NanoWrimo one year.
One of my 2007 “resolutions” is to get back into the habit of writing…whether it be on my blog, just for fun, or to submit to The Piker Press or other markets. I have a Nano Novel sitting in my files just waiting to be edited and rewritten…maybe 2007 will be the year I actually get it done!
The Color Purple - Book Review
You better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy.
So begins The Color Purple, a novel set in the deep south and told in the voice of a young black girl named Celie. Alice Walker brings Celie to life through her letters to God. Celie’s words tell of unspeakable horrors - her rape at the hands of her stepfather, her marriage to an older man who beats her, the loss of almost everyone dear to her. But, then her husband’s lover arrives and teaches Celie what it means to be courageous in the face of pain, and most importantly what it means to love and be loved.
The Color Purple is a splendid novel full of pain and joy, tears and laughter, love and hate. It is an American Classic that should be mandatory reading for all of us.