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Definitely not for meArchive for May, 2007
« Previous Entries Thursday, May 31st, 2007Books read in May 2007
29. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert ****
30. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood ****1/2
31. The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields ****1/2
32. Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates ****
33. Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos ****
34. The Color Purple by Alice Walker ****
35. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult ****
36. Phantastes by George MacDonald ****
Pages read in May: 2466
Pages read in 2007: 10,109
Have you reviewed any of the above titles at your own blog? If you wish, enter them into Mr. Linky below.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Thursday, May 31st, 2007Book Awards Reading Challenge
Are you interested in the Book Awards Reading Challenge? The rules for this challenge are as follows:
1. Read any 12 award-winning books from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008. Please look on the sidebar for eligible books from the Pulitzer, Booker, etc. prize lists. Also feel free to pick non-fiction books or other prize winners not listed.
2. Books may be cross-posted with other challenges.
3. You may post your challenge books just on your blog, or you may also contribute to the BAC blog by giving your email address in a comment to this post. I will email you an invitation to be a contributor. Please write your email address in a manner similar to the following: janedoe AT hotmail DOT com. You must be a blogger member in order to contribute.
4. There will be prizes.
1st prize: 5 credits or in-stock books from paperbackswap.com
2nd prize: 3 credits or in-stock books from paperbackswap.com
3rd prize: 1 credit or in-stock books from paperbackswap.com
Everyone who completes 12 books for the challenge will be entered once into the drawing. For every book over 12 completed, you will receive one more chance for the prize. For example, if you complete 14 books, you will receive 3 chances.
5. Anyone may participate, but to be eligible for the prize, you must sign up by November 1, 2007. To participate in the BAC blog, you must sign up before January 1, 2008.
6. This is NOT required, but if you would like to discuss prize-winning books with others, you are encouraged to join any or all of the follow yahoo book groups:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bookawards
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Pulitzer_literature
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BookerPrize
7. Have fun reading!
I only have a partial list so far, but the titles were easy to come up with because of The Newbery Challenge and the reading groups listed above.
I’ll probably have at least the first 12 titles below finished before the end of 2007. I’d like to complete 18-24 books for the challenge. My list so far:
1. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (Booker 2000)
2. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (Booker 1997)
3. The Sea by John Banville (Booker 2005)
4. A Death in the Family by James Agee (Pulitzer 1958)
5. The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron (Newbery 2007)
6. The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli (Newbery 1950)
7. I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino (Newbery 1966)
8. Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska (Newbery 1965)
9. The White Stag by Kate Seredy (Newbery 1938)
10. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Pulitzer)
11.
12.
Award winners I read in the first half of 2007 (not counted for the challenge):
Angle of Repose **** (Pulitzer)
Atonement ***1/2 (NBCC)
To Kill a Mockingbird ***** (Pulitzer)
The Echo Maker **** (NBA)
The Road ****1/2 (Pulitzer)
Everyman * (PEN/Faulkner)
The Giver ****1/2 (Newbery)
March ***1/2 (Pulitzer)
The Inheritance of Loss ***1/2 (Booker/NBCC)
The Handmaid’s Tale ****1/2 (Governor General)
The Stone Diaries ****1/2 (Pulitzer/NBCC/Governor General)
Amos Fortune, Free Man **** (Newbery)
The Color Purple **** (Pulitzer)
Popularity: 4% [?]
Friday, May 25th, 20078 (Not So Random) Things About Me
Popularity: 5% [?]
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007Jealous? You should be!!!
I have 230+ book credits at PBS!! As of today, I am #2 on the 7 day AND the 30 day swapper chart. I have been a very busy girl. I mailed almost all of them before the postal rates changed. I won’t be mailing much out from here on out until I get settled in the Omaha area.
Remember to comment with your PBS i.d. if you haven’t already. I’ll be getting a “few” books after I move! I’d like to get them from people I “know.”
Popularity: 6% [?]
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
1982, 289 pp.
1983 Pulitzer Prize/1983 NBA
Rating: 4 3.5
I read this for the Banned Book Challenge, and I can definitely see why people would be against it. Some of the themes include incest, rape, lesbianism, language, and drug and alcohol use. I’m not saying it should be banned–just that if I had a teenage daughter, for instance, I would want to read and discuss it with her.
All of the above (and more) happen to Celie, the main character in the book. By contrast, Celie tries to protect her sister Nettie, and Nettie ends up going with a missionary family to Africa. We see Celie and Nettie both grow in different ways through what happens to them. They are separated for 30 years but do keep in contact through letters. It is appalling, really, what men can do to women. This type of novel is always hard for me to read, but sometimes I do think it is necessary for me to venture out of my protected little world into the very unprotected world of other women. If only to appreciate and thank God for what I do have and to pray for and help other women whenever I can.
- Daphne - May 22, 2007
- I read this either right before or right after the movie came out. Even though, as you say, parts of the book are somewhat disturbing, I thought it was a wonderful story about the human spirit.
- Fond of Books - May 23, 2007
- I just finished this book yesterday. I had always loved the movie and I loved the book also. I was surprised to see the relationship between Shug and Celie, in the movie it made it seem a one time thing, but of course in the book it goes on for years. However part of me was happy for her just to find love. And after all that had happened to her, I don’t think she could have ever loved a man.
Anyway, a wonderful book!
~rebecca
Popularity: 18% [?]
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos
Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos
2004, 364 pp.
Rating: 4
Margaret is an older woman who has lived alone in a mansion for a very long time. She finds out she has cancer and then decides to start taking in boarders. Wanda is her first boarder. Her boyfriend has broken up with her and she needs somewhere else to stay. The women hit it off and slowly reveal their secrets to one another. Margaret starts taking in other boarders and soon a surrogate family is developed.
I really liked this first novel by Kallos–especially the first and and last parts of the book. The middle section I didn’t much care for, or I would have rated this a 4.5. Also, there was quite a bit of s * x and language that I didn’t like. I did like how Margaret and Wanda not only forge a strong friendship but also start “really living” for the first time after they meet each other. There is much more to this novel that I don’t want to give away. I really did like the storyline, but it did seem like there were a few too many coincidences at the end. Overall, a fantastic first effort!
- I’ve wanted to read this for awhile, but hadn’t seen a review by anyone. I think I’ll still try it, even with the s*x and language. Maybe I’ll just end up putting it back down.
- 3M - May 22, 2007
- I think you’ll like the book, Amanda. I do recommend it highly. I always like to warn people ahead of time about content, though.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
Amos Fortune, Free Man
by Elizabeth Yates
1950, 181 pp.
1951 Newbery Award
Rating: 4
This book tells Amos’ story from his capture in Africa to his years of being a slave and finally to his final years as a free black man. Amos was the prince of his tribe in Africa, and it is a shock to him when he is captured for slavery. He is very lucky, though, as his owners treat him very kindly. He serves them well, saves his money, and is able to “buy” his freedom. He also buys his wives’ (he was twice a widower) freedom. Amos is a gentle and kind man who respects both God and others. I highly recommend this story to both children and adults.
Popularity: 16% [?]
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
1993, 361 pp.
1995 Pulitzer/1994 NBCC Award
Rating: 4.5
I loved this book. I loved the writing. It isn’t a heartwarming book, but it is a thoughtful one. These “diaries” chronicle Daisy Goodwill’s life from her birth in 1905 to her death in 199? (we aren’t told the exact year). Each chapter of her life is told from her point of view, although in the book (and sometimes even in a single sentence) she switches back and forth between 1st and 3rd person. We learn of her childhood, her marriages and children, loves and losses, work and leisure, and finally her old age and death. The “chapters” made me think of my own life stages so far and the ones that are to come. All of us have a similar beginning and ending, but it’s the middle that makes life interesting.
There were many, many beautiful passages in this book. I’ll leave you with one as an example of the excellence of Shields’ writing:
Something has occurred to her–something transparently simple, something she’s always known, it seems, but never articulated. Which is that the moment of death occurs while we’re still alive. Life marches right up to the wall of that final darkness, one extreme state of being butting against the other. Not even a breath separates them. Not even a blink of the eye. A person can go on and on tuned in to the daily music of food and work and weather and speech right up to the last minute, so that not a single thing gets lost.
Carol Shields died of cancer in 2003. She was a gifted writer, and I definitely plan on reading more of her works.
Popularity: 19% [?]
Saturday, May 12th, 2007The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid’s Tale
by Margaret Atwood
1986, 311 pages
Rating: 4.5
What a thought-provoking book!
Offred (Of Fred) is a woman who had her child and all her money taken away from her by the government. Her money was taken away just because she was female. Her daughter was taken away because her marriage was declared invalid. Why? Because it was the second marriage for her husband. The government has “religious” motivations for these acts. (Something I was a little uncomfortable with because I am a Christian, yet I realize there are always extremists. I took this as a cautionary tale.)
Spoiler alert! (Don’t read if you like to be in suspense during a book.)
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Things only get worse from there. She is forced to become a handmaid, or surrogate mother, for a man of high position in the government. However, the conception is to occur in the normal way–with the wife present! This was a little shocking to me! Somehow Atwood pulls this off without offending my prudish sensibilities. The life of Offred is certainly not enviable.
I found this book to be a jolt to my system. Atwood is a gifted writer, and I definitely plan on reading more of her works.
- Nymeth - May 12, 2007
- She really is a gifted writer. I recently finished “The Penelopiad”, which I recommend. I think I will be picking this one up next.
- Lynne - May 13, 2007
- I tried one of her books before and couldn’t finish it. But this one sounds interesting - might have to give her a second chance.
- Quixotic - May 13, 2007
- I really need to read something by Atwood, and soon!
- Stephanie - May 14, 2007
- I really loved this book. I don’t scare easily. I mean, I’ve read Stephen King and Dean Koontz all the time. But this book SCARED me!! I’m really glad you liked it!
- Suey - May 14, 2007
- It’s fun to read your thoughts on this book having just read it myself. I’ve been nervous to read it for years, but was glad I finally did. Thought provoking for sure. I have a couple of other Atwood books on my shelf that I hope to get to one of these days/years!
- Nyssaneala - May 20, 2007
- The Handmaid’s Tale is the book that founded by love for Atwood…and it’s still one of my all-time fave’s! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
She actually incorporated a lot of worldwide current events from the 1980’s such as the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Cold War and nuclear protection.
However, the movie is terrible.
Popularity: 13% [?]
Monday, May 7th, 2007Digital camera recommendations needed!
If anyone LOVES their digital camera, and it is easy to use, please let me know. I’m in the market for one and selecting one is difficult. I’d love to hear your recommendations!
Popularity: 3% [?]
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