Connie ’s
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(group member since Nov 11, 2013)
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from the Reading with Style group.
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10.2 Book Lover's DayA Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cossé
"A Novel Bookstore" is a beautiful tribute to fine literature. Bookseller Ivan and heiress Francesca open a bookstore in Paris that sells only good literature chosen by a secret committee of eight novelists. The store with its high quality books and comfy couches is very successful at first. But then the bookstore comes under attack online and in other media by what seems to be an organized group determined to stop a new trend quickly. Is it a publisher, a writer, or a prize judge whose books have not been chosen? Publishing is a big business dependent on selling the newest books, and there are lots of people earning a paycheck from the industry. Some thugs physically attack people associated with the bookstore. An investigator is brought in, although there is no tidy ending to the mystery.
The best parts of the book were about the relationships of the main characters as friends and romantic partners, the authors in the secret committee, and the booksellers' deep love of literature. Francesca published a letter written from the heart about her love of good books. I found myself rereading it several times since it expresses the feelings of a true bibliophile, and included a small portion of it.
"We want books that cost their authors a great deal, books where you can feel the years of work, the backache, the writer's block, the author's panic at the thought that he might be lost: his discouragement, his courage, his anguish, his stubbornness, the risk of failure he has taken.
We want splendid books, books that immerse us in the splendor of reality and keep us there; books that prove to us that love is at work in the world next to evil, right up against it, at times indistinctly, and that it always will be, just the way that suffering will always ravage hearts. We want good novels."
+10 task (shelved 183X as books about books)
+20 combo 10.7 AEOU, 10.8 Double O, 20.4 (born 1950), 20.5 non-linear
+10 review
Task total: 40
Season total: 620
15.6 Pick 'n' Mix 2A1 Set in USA
Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope by Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Edward Kelly
Task total: 20
Season total: 580
20.5 Non-LinearThe Dead House by Billy O'Callaghan
"Do you believe in ghosts? . . . There is little about life as we have come to know it that can't be explained away on some basic scientific level. Yet when the wind howls, and we find ourselves alone with only the yellow pool of a guttering candle to hold back the darkness, our instinct, perhaps our innate need for something above and beyond, still screams otherwise." (From Prologue)
"The Dead House" is an atmospheric ghost story set in contemporary times, but seeped with the ancient superstitions of Ireland and tales of the Great Famine. The story is narrated by Michael, the art dealer who sells Maggie's paintings. Maggie is a psychologically frail young woman recovering from a terrible experience with an abusive boyfriend. Although she feels better physically, she decides to leave London to find a quiet, beautiful place to restore herself emotionally, and provide inspiration for her artwork. She finds a crumbling stone cottage on the isolated coast of West Cork and arranges for its renovation. Maggie invites her three closest friends--a gallery owner, a poet, and Michael--to a housewarming weekend. All goes well until one of them pulls out a Ouija board. Her three friends are still feeling fearful in the morning as they are leaving. Maggie is left alone in the remote cottage--or maybe she is not alone.
"The Dead House" is suspenseful, but not terrifying, since the author never gets inside Maggie's mind and the book is told from Michael's point of view. There is a feeling that you're sitting around a fireplace with a group of friends, all lubricated with Irish whiskey, while Michael tells an unsettling story. It has a psychological twist at the end that has him living in fear. Billy O'Callaghan's writing is gorgeous literary fiction with lovely descriptions of the Irish coast, and musings on art, friendship, love, and Irish legends.
+20 task
+ 5 combo 10.7 I, Y, O, A
+10 review
Task total: 35
Season total: 560
20.2 Wolf HallKing Lear by William Shakespeare
Set in the 8th Century BC in England, "King Lear" is one of William Shakespeare's most popular tragedies. The main plot involves an aged King Lear, his three daughters, and the division of his kingdom. A subplot shows Gloucester and the treatment of his legitimate and illegitimate sons. Both fathers, King Lear and Gloucester, misjudge which of their children are trustworthy. Power, pride, justice, reality versus appearance, devotion, betrayal, blindness, self-knowledge, and redemption are some of the themes in this complex play. "King Lear" is a bloodbath with both the good and evil characters coming to violent ends in the chaos. As in all his plays, Shakespeare displays an acute understanding of human nature.
+20 task (pub in 17th Century)
+10 not a novel
+10 review
+25 oldie
Task total: 65
Season total: 525
15.5 Pick 'n' Mix 2C6 Multiple Points of View (told in alternating points of view of 3 characters)
Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly
Task total: 20
Season total: 460
20.6 Monster ReduxThe Ghost Writer by Philip Roth
Nathan Zuckerman, a young short story writer hoping for a mentor, visits established writer E.I. Lonoff. Over a twenty-four hour period several conflicts arise showing the struggle between a writer's devotion to his craft, and the loyalty he feels toward his family and his religion. The older writer has devoted his whole life to his writing while ignoring his own happiness and the needs of his wife.
Zuckerman has written a short story about a true event in his family's life involving a dispute over money. His father does not want it published because it shows Jews in a stereotypical unflattering light. His father and a family friend put pressure on Zuckerman not to publish.
The third thread of conflict occurs in Zuckerman's imagination where he pretends that a visiting young woman writer is really Anne Frank who has survived the Nazi concentration camps. The woman is conflicted whether she should reveal her identity to her aging father in Europe. If she was alive, it would reduce the literary importance of her diary.
Author Philip Roth writes from the point of view of a Jewish writer. The various parts of the story are beautifully woven together showing the conflicting demands a writer faces, especially when he puts real experiences in his fiction. The need for a father figure also runs under the surface. Roth's writing is intelligent, showing both the humorous and tragic parts of life.
+20 task
+15 combo 20.3 Author, 20.5 Non-linear, 20.8 Periodic Table PR= Praseodymium
+ 5 oldie pub 1979
+10 review
Task total: 50
Season total: 440
20.5 Non-LinearThe Starlet and the Spy by Ji-min Lee
It's 1954 in Seoul and Alice J. Kim, a Korean translator for the Americans, is barely surviving emotionally. We slowly find out about a love triangle, and the Korean War through flashbacks and letters. Alice is still suffering from guilt and despair.
Alice is assigned to be the translator when Marilyn Monroe visits Korea on a USO tour to entertain the troops. Although Marilyn plays a minor role in this book, there is a connection between the two troubled women.
This was a heartbreaking portrait of Korean citizens used as pawns by various political groups. However, I did not feel a strong emotional connection to any of the characters. This may be due to the short length of the book, and because so much important information was withheld until a revealing letter near the end of the story.
+20 task
+10 review
Task total: 30
Season total: 390
10.7 AEIOU, sometimes YI'll Be Your Blue Sky by Marisa de los Santos
"You're his blue sky. When everything else is darkness. But is he yours?"
"No one should live with someone who scares her."
Clare Hobbes is having prenuptial jitters, trying to list the good qualities belonging to her possessive fiance. A talk with an elderly woman, Edith, gives her the courage to break off her engagement.
A few weeks later, Edith's lawyer tells Clare that she has inherited Edith's home--Blue Sky House--near a Delaware bay. Through photographs and hidden ledgers, Clare learns about the people Edith has loved and her courage in helping others. Clare enlists the help of her best friend--and former boyfriend--Dev to find out more about Edith's life. Clare also discovers more about herself in the process.
The book alternates between chapters involving Clare in the present day, and Edith in the 1950s. This is a story about relationships between family, friends, lovers, and strangers in need of help. I cared about the outcomes of the characters in the book, including the ones with problems.
+10 task
+ 5 combo 20.5 Non-linear
+10 review
Task total: 25
Season total: 360
15.4 Pick 'n' Mix 2B2 Publication date 1951-2000
A Garden Beyond Paradise by Rumi (published 1968)
Task total: 15
Season total: 335
20.8 Periodic TableEscape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West by Blaine Harden
"Escape from Camp 14" is a disturbing account of the life of Shin Dong-hyuk, a North Korean who was born in a political prison camp and knew nothing about the outside world. Every day brought hours of constant labor with the hope that he managed to find enough food to survive and avoided beatings by the guards. The children had no idea that love or morality existed, and were taught by the guards to snitch on everyone, including their families. People had been imprisoned for three generations for the crimes of their relatives.
When Shin met an older prisoner who had once been part of the elite, conversations with him opened up Shin's world. At first Shin could only think of the good food available if he escaped from Camp 14, but eventually he recognized that there was an opportunity for a better life. The book tells about Shin's escape, and his travels through North Korea to China. He journeyed to South Korea where he spent months trying to adjust to a highly competitive, highly educated country. He also was nurtured by a non-profit group in the United States that arranged for him to give talks to human rights groups. Psychologically Shin's journey was still continuing since he was haunted with feelings of guilt from some of his actions in the camp, as well as nightmares from the torture during his captivity.
"Escape from Camp 14" is a brutal story full of violence. But it's important that the world knows about the atrocities in North Korea. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people are slaves in North Korea's political prison camps. This book is a remarkable story of endurance and survival.
+20 task BH= Bohrium
+ 5 combo 20.5 Non-Linear
+10 not a novel
+10 review
Task total: 45
Season total: 320
15.3 Pick 'n' Mix 2E3 Title is sentence
Here We Are: American Dreams, American Nightmares by Aarti Namdev Shahani
Task total: 15
Season total: 275
20.7 Speculative FictionThe Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood introduced us to Gilead, a totalitarian theocracy controlled by men, in "The Handmaid's Tale". Her sequel, "The Testaments", starts 15 years later. It features the testimony or journals of three women. Aunt Lydia is the leader of the Aunts who mold young girls into the women needed to produce babies in the polluted world where many are sterile. Aunt Lydia is smart and cunning. Her backstory gives us reasons for her devious behavior. Aunt Lydia has the political instincts needed to manipulate people to facilitate change. The other two narrators are teenagers--Agnes who has grown up in Gilead, and Daisy who has lived in Canada.
"The Testaments" shows Gilead, with its Puritanical roots, in relation to the rest of North America after the United States had broken up. Canada is a lifeline for Handmaids who want to escape their fate with an Underground Femaleroad helping them travel north. Some dark humor from Aunt Lydia, and some teenage humor from Daisy are a welcome contrast to some of the dystopian scenes. The book is speculative fiction, a thriller, and a page turner. The story's thought-provoking ideas are important since variations of Gilead's methods for controlling women are already being used in parts of the world.
+20 task
+15 combo 10.3 Andre Gide, 20.1 Inaugural, 20.5 Non-linear
+10 review
Task total: 45
Season total: 260
10.10 Group ReadThe Friend by Sigrid Nunez
When I looked at the colorful cover with the beautiful Great Dane, I thought I would be reading a cute dog story. Instead I was treated to a wonderful, contemplative book of literary fiction. The narrator is a woman who is grieving after the suicide of her best friend and mentor. He was a charming writer, professor, and womanizer. She inherited his huge Great Dane, Apollo, who was also very much in mourning for the friend. Her tiny rent-controlled apartment did not allow dogs, and she needed to convince her landlord to let Apollo stay.
The book is about friendship, loss, and grief. The grief gets so much more complicated emotionally when the person you loved is a suicide. There are also many interesting thoughts about teaching, literature, writing, and bonds with pets. Both Apollo and the narrator were heartbroken, and I'm not sure who provided the most tender comfort to each other in their time of need. The writing is spare, and the plot is minimal so it's not a book for everyone. It's partially a thoughtful group of observations that speak of the mystery of life and death.
+10 task
+25 combo 10.3 Andre Gide, 20.2 Author (both the narrator and the friend are authors), 20.4 Boomer (born 1951), 20.5 Non-linear, 20.8 Periodic Table SN=Tin
+10 review
Task total: 45
Season total: 215
20.5 Non-LinearThe Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali
"The Stationery Shop" opens with 77 year old Roya seeing Bahman, her former fiance who did not show up at their meeting place in Tehran on the day they were going to elope sixty years ago. This was the first time she had seen the politically active Bahman (who had supported Prime Minister Mosaddegh) since the fateful day of Mosaddegh's violent overthrow by the Shah in the 1953 Iranian coup d'etat. Roya went on to attend a small college in California, and live a totally different life in the United States. But she never forgot her first love.
The book has a wonderful sense of place weaving in Iranian culture, customs, history, and family traditions. There were also lots of descriptions of Iranian food with its delicious layering of spices. It was a story of love and loss in several ways. I enjoyed the interesting characters, the intense romantic story, and the immersion in another time and culture.
+20 task
+10 review
Task total: 30
Season total: 170
Lynn, The Scarlet Letter is one I should reread too. I read it in high school before half of the class had even started dating. I'm glad they have recently added some multicultural and more contemporary books to the high school book list.
20.4 BoomerIn the Footsteps of Marco Polo by Denis Belliveau
In the 13th Century Marco Polo, the Venetian explorer and merchant, dictated his memoir, "Book of the Marvels of the World", also called "The Travels of Marco Polo". It told of his wonderful adventures along the Silk Road from Venice to China, as well as the sea route back to Venice. Denis Belliveau, a photographer, and Francis O'Donnell, an artist and ex-Marine, decided to pay homage to Polo by journeying to 200 places mentioned in Polo's book using no air travel. They prepared for a year, studying the Turkish language, getting sponsorship from Kodak and other groups, obtaining visas, and getting letters from regional warlords.
This book tells about Belliveau's and O'Donnell's 25,000 mile journey, accompanied by stunning photographs. Belliveau shot 3,000 rolls of film, kept journals, and made drawings. They were held at gunpoint in Afghanistan, crossed the Wakhan Corridor, got caught in a dangerous sandstorm in the Taklamakan Desert, saw the Monlam festival in Tibet, stayed in a yurt and ate homemade cheeses in Mongolia, walked through the jungles of Sumatra, and saw carved Buddhas in Sri Lanka. Quotations from Marco Polo are highlighted in gold italics next to their experiences at the same location. In some locations there had not been much change in the way of life in 700 years. The duo completed their journey in Venice in 1995, the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's travels.
The explorers were good storytellers, and the writing felt like they were talking to a group of friends. The photographs by award-winning Belliveau were magnificent. They have also made a documentary about their expedition.
+20 task born 1964 https://www.google.com/search?client=...
+20 combo 20.5 Non-linear, 10.7 AEIOU, 10.8 Double O, 20.8 Periodic Table Dubnium
+10 review
+10 not a novel
Task total: 60
Season total: 140
I was looking at the books on the list, and think we are forced to read some of the books before we have had much life experience. I remember thinking that "Moby Dick" would never end, and feeling bored as Silas Marner counted his money when I was in high school. I'm sure I would appreciate them more now.
Coralie, I'm very sorry for your loss of your mother and your other family members.
20.10 DifficultBeloved by Toni Morrison
"And if she thought anything, it was No. No. Nono. Nonono. Simple. She just flew. Collected every bit of life she had made, all the parts of her that were precious and fine and beautiful, and carried, pushed, dragged them through the veil, out, away, over there where no one could hurt them. Over there. Outside this place, where they would be safe."
Sethe, a runaway slave, would rather see her precious children pushed into the afterlife than to experience her brutal life on the plantation. "Beloved" is a powerful novel haunted by ghosts and by memories. It alternates between life in the present 1870s, and Sethe's traumatic past on the plantation, and her difficult escape and journey to her free mother-in-law's home. When her friend, former slave Paul D comes to visit, he keeps his past in a "....tobacco tin buried in his chest where a red heart used to be, its lid rusted shut" so his painful memories don't overwhelm him. Slaves were treated as commodities to be traded, not as human beings, which destroys a person's identity and sense of self-worth.
Author Toni Morrison uses magical realism to show how trauma and guilt haunt Sethe's mind, especially as it concerns her daughter Beloved. Morrison was inspired by an 1856 newspaper article about Margaret Garner, an escaped slave mother who killed her child rather than sentence her child to a life of slavery. As I read "Beloved", I had no doubts that every horror of slavery and its psychological aftermath in the book actually described some slave's reality.
+20 task
+15 combo 10.5 Banned (# 17 on list), 20.5 Non-linear, 20.8 TM=Thulium
+10 review
+ 5 oldie (pub 1987)
Task total: 50
Season total: 80
Welcome back, Don! It's good that you're feeling stronger.
