When You are Engulfed in Flames

After saving David Sedaris' latest collection of essays, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, as my final book for 2008, I wasn't disappointed.

As always, Sedaris' is in rare form with essays about his various escapades in New York, London, France and Tokyo.

I had read or heard some of them before, but reading them as a collection is always fun.

Monster Mash about his experience at a medical examiners office and The Smoking Section about his attempts to quit smoking, were two of my favorites.

Zookeeper's Wife

I think that the Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman is going to be one of my favorite books for 2008. It is non-fiction, but written much more like fiction.

The story revolves mainly around Jan and Antonina Zabinski who managed the Warsaw Zoo at the start of WWII. Once Warsaw became occupied by the Germans and the zoo animals were removed, they used the zoo to save over 300 people from the Nazis. The code name for their house was the "The House Under the Crazy Star" because of all the characters that passed through.

So, it was a great mix of characters with interesting stories and history of the German occupation of Warsaw.

Friday Night Knitting Club

While I was on vacation, I finished White Tiger. It was a good story and an interesting portrayal of the people who live as servants in India.

I also read the Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs which tells the story of Walker and Daughter knitting shop including Georgia (the owner), Dakota (her teenage daughter), Anita (the elderly woman who works part time the shop and wise mother-figure) plus various other employees and customers who make up the Friday Night Knitting Club.

It's an easy read, kind of chick lit, but the knitting aspect is fun and made me wish I was a better knitter or that Walker and Daughter was down the street. The story has a sad ending, which I didn't necessarily like, especially because I finished it right before bed. So if you do pick it up, I suggest making sure you finish it before bedtime.

The White Tiger

I'm reading The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, winner of this year's Man Booker Prize. It's interesting so far, I just wish I had more time to read it.

Oh, guess what? I will!! In just two days, I'm off to Puerto Rico for vacation. I have a stack of books lined up, now it's just a matter of widdling it down to a few to take along. I'm not sure Scott is ready to see how many books I pack for a one week trip to the beach!

I can't wait to relax and read. Plus I get out of the icky rainy weather.

Hopefully I will come back with a long list of book recommendations and reviews.

I fear that I have been neglectful in chronicling the latest books I have been reading. And now I fear that I will forget what I've actually read.

I re-read most of The Namesake for a book club. Even knowing the story, it was still enjoyable. Every time I read anything of Jhumpa Lahiri's, I'm reminded about what a beautiful writer she is. It leaves me in awe.

I am now about two-thirds through The Omnivore's Dilemma. It has gotten much more interesting as it has progressed and I'm excited to finish it. I may hold off on the last section since book club is now scheduled to discuss it in January.

Meanwhile, I went to the bookstore today and used a gift card from my birthday (thanks Karen!) that was burning a hole in my pocket. I ended up with White Tiger (Winner of the Man Booker Prize) and The Zookeeper's Wife. I still want to read Molokai and am considering delving into a Philipa Gregory novel (I heard her on NPR and she was different than I expected).

If I recall any others that I've read since my last post, I will add them. In the meantime, I'm excited to start White Tiger.

Girls in Trucks

Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch has such a great cover that you think it'll be a great read. But sadly, it's just so so. The main character is hard to like and you want to reach in and shake her at time. Plus, in the end it feels like a big cliche.

The Long Walk Home

At first glance, The Long Walk Home by Will North has the possibility of being a sappy melodrama in the vein of Nicholas Sparks. Luckily, strong writing and a deep insight into the characters feelings and psyche make it a far cry from a Nicholas Sparks novel.

The story takes place in North Wales and the descriptions of the landscape made me want to plan a vacation. Fiona runs a B&B in a small village on the hill her husband has farmed for years. When a handsome stranger arrives at Fiona's B&B, she feels an instant connection and begins to examine her relationship with her husband.

I recommend The Long Walk Home if you are looking for a sweet, romantic story.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows was a great summer read. It's been all the buzz and I usually avoid reading those for fear that they aren't worth the hype

But this was a great surprise and a good book. It is set right after World War II in England. The book is actual letters between Juliet, a journalist, and the residents of Guernsey Island. It's well told and easy to read. Definitely a treat!

I know this will be made into a movie, so now I'm having fun figuring out which actors and actresses will play each of the roles.

Run

I finished Ann Patchett's Run just after getting home last night. I had less than 5 pages left when the plane landed...the first time a US Air flight is on time is when I'm reading a good book, figures!

I enjoyed Run a lot. It wasn't as compelling as Bel Canto, but it definitely made me think about nature vs nurture.

The story centers around the Doyle family. Tip and Teddy are both adopted, Sullivan is the Doyle's biological son. Bernadette Doyle dies when the boys are young and they are left in the care of their father, an aspiring politician.

The story examines family relationships, expectations as well as the idea of nature vs nurture. All of this takes place within 24 hours and though not exceptionally fast paced is filled with poetic paragraphs and great descriptions.

How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life

How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life by Mameve Medwed is a light book that I'd categorize as Smart Chick lit.

The plot is kind of frustrating. I kept worrying that nothing will ever go right for Abby Randolph or that she'll never get a backbone. Luckily, things turn out in true Disney/Chick lit fashion.

There are some clever references to NPR and other writers and it's a good summer read.

No One Belongs Here More Than You

I finished Miranda July's book of short stories No One Belongs Here More Than You. This was my first collection of July's stories I've read (I did see one of her short films on Wolphin) and it wasn't what I expected.

Her stories and characters are eclectic, almost bizarre.

One "Swim Coach" is about a woman who teaches a group of seniors how to swim...even though there's not a pool for miles. She lays out bowls of water and the "students" put their faces in the bowl and "swim" around the kitchen.

The last story "How to Tell Stories to Children" doesn't end the way I thought it would, but it is touching and thought-provoking.

A Walk in the Woods

I read A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson very quickly and I've been quoting him ever since.

It is a great and funny book and I can't believe I didn't read it sooner. If you like hiking or being outdoors or just find humor in the idea of someone attempting to hike the Appalachian Trail, it's a must read.

I found myself alternating between laughing out loud and worrying about Bill and his hiking companion. Luckily, all ended well! Bryson also mixes in history and background on the trail and the environment which adds another level of interest.

Plus it gives you a true appreciation when you are hiking .7 miles of the trail. I don't think I'll ever hike as much of it as Bryson did, but I do want to hike more of the little bits I've accomplished so far.

The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears

I finished The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu this weekend. It's a very beautiful book and the language is gorgeous.

The story revolves around an Ethiopian refugee in Washington DC and two of his fellow refugees. Sheba owns a small store in a "transitional" neighborhood in DC and it's interesting to hear the perspective of an insider as the neighborhood moves from being mostly burned out buildings and prostitutes, to restored homes and a white influx and then shifts back again.

It's a quick read and easy to get caught up in the lyricism of Mengestu's words.

Infidel

I finished Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali this weekend. It was a very interesting book and definitely opened my eyes to different aspects of Islam. I feel like I learned a lot and can understand somethings about Muslims that I didn't understand before.

I thought the firs two-thirds of the book was better than the last third, because it focused on her childhood through her asylum in the Netherlands. The last third was about her political career and viewpoint and I found that more difficult to follow and it was obvious that she had more of an agenda in that portion of the book.

There were also some loose ends that she never tied up. It seems that as a refugee and someone who moved so much in her life, that she doesn't have many long-term friendships/relationships, but that may be a false assumption because she didn't tell us what happened to xx person.

I'm probably the only one who would notice that, so I think it's definitely worth reading.

NPR's Summer Books 2008

I'm about two-thirds of the way through Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and really enjoying it. Hopefully, I'll have a full review by the weekend, but in the meantime I wanted to share a list of Summer Books for 2008 from NPR.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90995424

B-Mother

I also finished B-Mother by Maureen O'Brien. I don't usually read books about birthmothers, but this one was recommended and I borrowed it from the library, so the commitment was low.

It was actually a really good and compelling story of a teenager giving up her child for adoption and the intervening years until they reunite. There were bits of it that was a bit trite and the author throws a whole lot at the main character.

But the emotions are right on and it was a quick read.

Unaccustomed Earth

I just finished Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri and it was another excellent collection of stories by one of my favorite authors. Definitely 5 stars!

I had read some of them before but it was fun to read them as a collection.

Three stories about Hema and Kashuik that were published together in this collection and while I had already read two of them, it was great to read them in order. The third one was new and the ending was kind of crushing. But still worth reading.

Lahiri is at her best in her short stories and while the themes are the same or similar, each has a different spin to make it memorable.

Only Goodness

This is how the short story Only Goodness from Jhumpa Lahiri's new collection begins:
"It was Sudha who'd introduced Rahul to alcohol, one weekend he came to visit her at Penn - to his first drink from a keg and then, the next morning in the dining hall, his first cup of coffee."

Such a great start to a really good story. And, without giving too much away, what you think happens does.

Unaccustomed Earth - Part 1

I started reading Jhumpa Lahiri's new collection of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth.

I've read three of the stories so far and they were fabulous. I'm trying to read this slowly and savor each story!

Chidren's Book Week Bookmark

Just in time for Children's Book Week, here's a cute bookmark. And it reinforces Mrs. Sherman's teaching.

http://www.cbcbooks.org/cbweek/teachers/gramatky.html

Moving = No Time for Reading

Ugh! Moving has left me with no time for reading! I was able to finish "Water for Elephants" which was a really sweet, good read.

I should be starting Then We Came to the End for book club, but we pushed back the date and my friend is going to lend me her copy. So what to read next?? Decisions. Decisions.

I'll let you know :)

Water for Elephants

I just started reading Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and have only read a couple of chapters. But I thought this was great...

"When you're five, you know your age down to the month. Even in your twenties you know how old you are. I'm twenty-three, you say, or maybe twenty-seven. But then in your thirties something strange starts to happen. It's a mere hiccup at first, an instant of hesitation. How old are you? Oh, I'm -- you start to say confidently, but then you stop. You were going to say thirty-three, but you're not. You're thirty-five. And then you're bothered, because you wonder if this is the beginning of the end. It is, of course, but it's decades before you admit it."

Isn't that so true??

Roomates Wanted

I read Roommates Wanted by Lisa Jewell. It's completely chick lit, but in my opinion it's smarter and more creative than Candace Bushnell or the like.

In her latest novel, Jewell follows the story of Toby and his house full of random "roommates". Toby's father bought him the huge old house 15 years earlier and after his wife left him, he opened it up to creative people in need of a free/cheap place to live. After 15 years, the sitting tenant dies and Toby finally decides to grow up.

Leah, lives across the street and is intrigued by the odd assortment of tenants in the house across the street. After 3 years, she finally has a chance to talk to Toby and joins his plan to fix up the place, kick out all the tenants and sell the house. Of course everyone ends up happy and either in love or on the way there, but that's to be expected - it is chick lit after all.

Power of One

I FINALLY finished Power of One by Bryce Courtney. It ended up being a really good read and I'm glad I stuck with it.

It's the story of a young boy in South Africa and recounts his dreams of being the welterweight champion. It's touching and interesting to watch him mature.

Now I'm on to a much lighter read - Roomates Wanted by Lisa Jewell (as far as I go into chicklit) but I'm still trying to read Profiles in Courage and the Robert Kennedy, Jr book about the environment (he came to speak in Charlotte and I was fired up to know more)

Profiles in Courage and Power of One

I'm reading two books (well really 3 or 4, but who's really counting) - Profiles in Courage and Power of One.

Profiles in Courage isn't what I thought it would be, but I'm sticking with it.

Power of One is a novel set in South Africa. It's interesting but a long read. I'm only about a hundred or so pages in. I don't have anything too enticing on the horizon, so I'm trying to keep going. I hope it'll pick up soon.

Happy Reading....

Forgive Me

Forgive Me by Amanda Eyre Ward

All of Amanda Eyre Ward's books are the kind that keep you up all night because you can't put them down. Forgive Me is no exception.

Part of the appeal is the story, but another is the quick sentences and staccato of her stories.

Forgive Me is about Nadine Morgan, an foreign correspondent who has gotten caught up in the nomad lifestyle of a journalist. After being beat up in Mexico, she returns to her hometown in Cape Cod and is forced to confront who she is and who she wants to be. She makes one last trip to South Africa to complete a story that has been following her, her entire career.

I stayed up until 2:30 reading this last night, so be forewarned. Once you start, it's hard to put down.

Loving Frank

I finished Loving Frank. It was an interesting and engrossing story, but possibly because it also described the history of Frank Lloyd Wright and was set around the Women's Movement (you know I prefer historical fiction to nonfiction).

What was interesting was that Mamah left her husband and two very young children as well as her sister to pursue this relationship. And while she talks about missing them, there almost seems something unnatural about it. The character, Mamah, seems to use the writings of a swedish feminist and her ideas of following your passion a little too literally.

The ending was shocking because I didn't realize that there was a murder and fire at Taliesin in 1914. But I do want to go visit Taliesin in Wisconsin now.

Loving Frank - Part One

What I'm reading now....

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

This is the much talked about fictionalized story of Frank Lloyd Wright's lover, Mamah Borthwick Cheney. It was a very scandalous story especially for the early 20th century.

It's made me interested to look and learn more about Wright's homes (esp Taliesin which is a big part of the 3rd part of the book). But I may wish I hadn't been so curious...I just learned about Mamah's fate!!!

I'll write a full review after I finish.

I bought "Profiles in Courage" at the bookstore today. Why haven't I read it before now?

Special Topics in Calamity Physics

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl is such a smart book! Sarah was reading it over the holidays and gave it a good review, so we picked it for my book club.

Unfortunately, we haven't had our meeting yet, so I was holding off posting so I wouldn't give away my thoughts on the book, but I figured I'd better post something.

Blue is a high school student - but definitely not your average teenager. Her mother was killed in a car accident when she was young and since then she and her father don't stay any place for very long. For her senior year in high school, they settle in the NC mountains where she will attend St. Gallways. There she becomes part of an elite group of students, the blue bloods, who have a close relationship with one teacher, Hannah Schnieder (sometimes distrubingly close).

In that year, Blue gets the chance to be more of a "typical" teenager but also learns more about her life, her mother's death as she recounts the tale of Hannah Schneider's death.

At times, I thought the voice of Blue was a little too mature for a teenager, but then by the end it all made perfect sense.

Complete Jane Auten on PBS

Here's one benefit of the writer's strike - I've been channel surfing and found that Masterpiece Theatre on PBS is running the "Complete Jane Austen" series every Sunday night.

Tonight was Mansfield Park and next week is "Miss Austen Regrets" (a biopic) followed by "Pride and Prejudice" (3 weeks), "Emma" and "Sense and Sensibility" (A Room with A View follows the Jane Austen Series).

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/schedule/index.html

The Keep

My book club didn't select The Keep by Jennifer Egan (we read Look at Me instead), so I decided to read it myself.

In the end it was a little bizarre but it was fun to read this story about a billionare turning an old castle somewhere in eastern Europe into a hotel/retreat (yes, I did have visions of the castle I stayed at in Gloggnitz, Austria in my mind.

Great Book Club Books

Great book club books:

Are you looking for a book for your next book club? Or just want to read something juicy that you can discuss with friends? Here's my list of great book club books and what my book club is reading next.

Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
Bel Canto, Ann Pachett
Notes on a Scandal, Zoe Heller
The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai
The Distant Land of My Father, Bo Caldwell
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, Lisa Murphy
The History of Love, Nicole Krauss
The Known World, Edward P. Jones

What my book club is reading next:
Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Marisha Pessl

Away

The bookstore near my office was having their yearly 40% after holiday sale, so I picked up a couple of books that I've been wanting to read but was waiting for the paperbacks. Luckily, I didn't have to wait until spring to read Away by Amy Bloom.

I'm only half way through the book, but it's great so far. It's easy to get caught up in this book -which is great during a "snowy" weekend!

After Lillian's entire family was brutally murdered in Russia, she ends up in New York living as a seamstress and mistress. She is told that her daughter, Sophie, isn't actually dead so she heads to Siberia to find her. Lillian has just made her journey across the US and is in Seattle, trying to get back the money that was stolen from her so that she can continue her journey....I'm hooked :)

Gift from the Sea

I've been meaning to write about Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Linbergh for a while now. It is such an amazing gift of a novel. It was written many years ago but it is filled with timeless wisdom. A different chapter will probably resonate with you with each reading, which is what makes it so breathtakingly beautiful. I want to read it everyday to remind myself of the beauty of words and to be reassured that I am not alone in my feelings or fears.

2007 List of Books

2007 books (my favorites are at the top):

The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
The Distant Land of My Father, Bo Caldwell
Gift from the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, Lisa Murphy
Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai
A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseni
On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan
Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky
Intuition, Allegra Goodman
View from Castle Rock, Alice Munro
Not on Our Watch, Don Cheadle/John Prendergast
The Keep, Jennifer Egan
Talk, Talk, TC Boyle
Passage to India, EM Forrester
A Breath of Fresh Air, Amulya Malladi
Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
Sisters Keeper, Jodi Picoult
People's Act of Love, James Meek
Little Children, Tom Perrota
Look at Me, Jennifer Egan
Bastard of Istanbul, Elif Shafak
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, JK Rowling
Love Walked In, Marisa de los Santos
Monique & the Mango rains, Kris Halloway
A Hole in the Universe, Mary McGarry Morris
Accidental Tourist, Anne Tyler
Amateur Marriage, Anne Tyler
Digging to America, Anne Tyler
Something Borrowed, Emily Griffin
Blue Shoes & Happiness, Alexander McCall Smith
The Almost Moon, Alice Sebold
Missing Joseph, Elizabeth George
Playing for Ashes, Elizabeth George
A Place of Hiding, Elizabeth George
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets,