Not for me
Definitely not for meArchive for April, 2008
« Previous Entries Wednesday, April 30th, 2008Giveaway at Novels Now
This is a new hardcover that was just published by William Morrow on April 1. If you’re interested in this book, sign up for the giveaway by going to Novels Now. A winner will be drawn on Monday, May 5. Restricted to the U.S. and Canada.
Comments on this post have been disabled. You must go to Novels Now to enter.
Popularity: 22% [?]
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008Weekly Geeks #1
The first Weekly Geeks Challenge from Dewey is to visit at least 5 new blogs that are unfamiliar to you. This was a great idea for the first challenge.
Here’s what I found:
- Serena at Savvy Verse and Wit is celebrating National Poetry Month by having a giveaway. Just post an original poem or your favorite poem in her comments by May 2, and she will post the winner on May 3.
- I had to visit Michelle’s blog just because she’s a Michelle! She had such pretty butterflies for her theme, and I love the picture of all the children’s books she just got from Amazon.
- I love the header Kristen has at Delightfully Dogmatic. She just finished Out Stealing Horses and while she was lukewarm about it, she says she’d still recommend it.
- Laura at Reading Reflections just finished The Book Thief and rated it 5/5. That was such a good book!!!!
- Kim at Page after Page has already posted a Once Upon a Time II wrap-up!! Congratulations on finishing that challenge so quickly!
Popularity: 16% [?]
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008April ‘08 Monthly Report
25. Belong to Me 
by Marisa de los Santos (2008, 388 pp.)
26. The Sister 
by Poppy Adams (2008, 275 pp.)
27. Kanada 
by Eva Wiseman (2006, 241 pp.)
28. Kaddish for a Child not Born by Imre Kertesz (1990, 95 pp.)
29. Detective Story 
by Imre Kertesz (2008, 112 pp.)
30. The Mayor’s Tongue by Nathaniel Rich (2008, 310 pp.)
31. The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway (2008, 231 pp.)
32. Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987, 275 pp.)
33. Maus I 
by Art Spiegelman (1986, 161 pp.)
34. Maus II by Art Spiegelman (1991, 127 pp.)
35. Keeper and Kid by Edward Hardy (2008, 294 pp.)
36. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (1958, 209 pp.)
Pages read: 2718 Pages read in 2008: 8874
Average number of pages per book: 227 pp.
New authors: 9
Female authors: 4
Male authors: 6
Challenges completed: Pub, Jewish Literature, Expanding Horizons, and Eponymous
Have you reviewed any of the above books at your blog? If you’d like, enter them in Mr. Linky below.
Popularity: 23% [?]
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008Keeper and Kid
Isn’t this a cute cover?! I just love it. Keeper and Kid by Edward Hardy is about a single dad trying to be a father to a 3 year-old child he never even knew he had. It’s about the shock one gets with a child when one realizes your life will never be your own again. It’s also about how our lives are made even richer for it. Struggling to make his job and his relationships work with a new child in his life, James Keeper is just overwhelmed with it all. But little Leo is so cute and says the cutest things. Children are like that. They frustrate and inspire simultaneously. I enjoyed reading this book about child rearing and relationships from a man’s perspective, though the language was a bit strong for my tastes. I’d be interested in reading the sequel if the author decides to write one.
2008, 294 pp.
Rating: 3.5/5
Popularity: 57% [?]
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008Eponymous Challenge Complete!
Thanks so much, Coversgirl, for hosting this challenge.
I enjoyed all the books I read for this challenge, with the first two being my favorites.
The five books I read:
- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
- The Sister by Poppy Adams
- The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- Keeper and Kid by Edward Hardy
Popularity: 15% [?]
Monday, April 28th, 2008Non-Fiction Five Challenge 2008
Thanks, Joy, for hosting this again! Last year after the challenge, I won The Only Road North from Joy, and I just finished it last month. Thanks for that, too; it was an excellent book!
I usually have to be forced to read non-fiction these days, so this challenge will be good for me. I’ll pick 5 from the following, making sure I have at least one that’s not a memoir:
- X Stands for Unknown by Isaac Asimov
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
- Persepolis II by Marjane Satrapi
- Reading Lolita in Tehran
- With Borges by Alberto Manuel
- Darkness Visible by William Styron
- The Sum of Our Days by Isabel Allende
- A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel
Popularity: 17% [?]
Sunday, April 27th, 2008Review: The Cellist of Sarajevo
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway is a moving story based on fact. It chronicles the few days in Sarajevo during 1992 when the real “Cellist of Sarajevo,” Vedran Smailovic, played his cello for 22 days in the exact spot where 22 people had been killed while waiting in line for bread.
In the novel, a counter-sniper, Arrow, is assigned to keep the cellist from getting shot and killed. Arrow is the best at what she does but still wrestles with the moral dilemma of having to take another’s life. She wonders if she is any better than the men in the hills trying to destroy her city.
We also meet Kenan, a man on his way to fetch water for his family, and we follow his life-threatening journey as well as his thoughts, fears, and hopes for the future. Another character, Dragan, misses his family, whom he helped to get out of the country. All of them are waiting. Waiting for help that never comes.
Told in a simple but unforgettable style, Galloway captures this unfortunate moment in history in a way that will break your heart for all victims of war.
This book will be released on May 15 from Riverhead Books.
2008, 231 pp.
Rating:
Popularity: 70% [?]
Sunday, April 27th, 2008Sunday Salon A-Z
I’ve seen several people do this lately, but I’m copying Jill who used it for a Sunday Salon. Here’s my list of some of my favorite authors from A-Z. I’ve got a fairly good start to an author index on my site if anyone’s interested. Just go to “Index” in the tabs above.
A - Jane Austen - Persuasion is my favorite
B - Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451
C - Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist and Veronika Decides to Die
D - Kate DiCamillo - The Tale of Despereaux
E - George Eliot - Silas Marner
F - Jasper Fforde - The Eyre Affair
G - Neil Gaiman - Coraline
H - Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
I - Kazou Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go (I plan on reading Remains of the Day soon and expect to like it even better)
J - Henry James - Daisy Miller
K - Sue Monk Kidd - The Secret Life of Bees
L - Lois Lowry - everthing I’ve read by her, but especially The Giver
M - L.M. Montgomery - Anne of Green Gables
N - Irene Nemirovsky - Suite Francaise
O - Scott O’Dell - Island of the Blue Dolphins, Zia, and The Black Pearl
P - Sylvia Plath - The Bell Jar
Q - Anna Quindlen - How Reading Changed My Life and Blessings (I’ll be done soon)
R - Marilynne Robinson - Gilead
S - Betty Smith - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
T - Tolstoy - Anna Karenina; I also love his short stories
U - Sigrid Undset - Kristin Lavransdatter I: The Wreath
V - Sheldon Vanauken - A Severe Mercy
W - Edith Wharton - Ethan Frome
X - Gao Xingjian - Buying a Fishing Rod for my Grandfather. This is the only ‘X’ author I’ve read. I’m reading Xinran later this year and suspect I’ll like Sky Burial a little better than this one.
Y - Taichi Yamada - Strangers
Z - Markus Zusak/Yevgeny Zamyatin - The Book Thief and We
Popularity: 18% [?]
Saturday, April 26th, 2008Review: The Mayor’s Tongue
Eugene is a mover in New York City whose favorite author is Constance Eakins. While doing a job one day, he runs into a biographer of Eakins who also happens to have a beautiful daughter, Sonia. Everyone else in the world believes Eakins is dead — that he just disappeared in Italy quite a few years back and never showed up again. He’s legally declared dead by the Italian authorities. Sonia’s father, the biographer, demands that it isn’t so — that his daughter speaks to Eakins regularly. But, no one has heard from her after her latest trip to Italy. Eugene decides to look for Sonia.
Meanwhile in a parallel story, an elderly Mr. Schmitz, also a New Yorker, is grieving the loss of his friend Rutherford who has just moved to Italy. He receives lucid letters from Rutherford at first, but then they become more and more incomprehensible. Schmitz also decides to take off for Italy to look for his friend.
This was a bizarre story that was unique enough to keep me reading and wanting to find out more. The book has quite a few fantasy elements too, and that was unexpected, but it certainly added to the story. It’s definitely a different book.
This is Nathaniel Rich’s first novel. It was released on April 17.
2008, 310 pp.
Rating: 3.5/5
Popularity: 41% [?]
Friday, April 25th, 2008Review: Things Fall Apart
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
Okonkwo commands respect from his community, his three wives, and his children through both hard work and intimidation. He rises to prominence despite and perhaps due to his father’s laziness in community and family matters. He stands firm to his culture and traditions. So he is outraged when some of his people start converting to Christianity. A power struggle ensues and ‘things fall apart.’
I’m intrigued by Achebe’s history and background. I’d like to read the sequel to this book, No Longer at Ease, at some point.
1959, 209 pp
Rating: 4/5
Popularity: 54% [?]
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