Well, it is the last day of the first month of this little experiment and it has certainly been interesting so far. I absolutely love how much I am reading. All of the books I have been fortunate to read up until now have been excellent reads. I would whole-heartedly recommend any one of them. And often do! That fact has made an otherwise very stressful month much more tolerable. They lived up to their purpose of providing me a delightful escape. A few things to note at this point, however. This month has been especially busy, getting a new quarter started and dealing with a myriad of family issues, but positive and negative. As mentioned, the reading helped to deal with the stress, but I am also beginning to realize just how big of an undertaking this little venture really is. As promised, I never read a book to the point where it adds to my stress and is anything less than an absolute pleasure. However, I must be mindful of not using this New Year's Resolution as an excuse to put off my real work. Required reading has been hefty, but it must get worked in somewhere too. As I am sure anyone with adequate math skills can deduce, I am currently behind "schedule" if any such thing existed. But I should average 8-9 books a month to meet the goal, which I have not done yet. But I do anticipate being able to catch back up during breaks throughout the year. And the six I have read have been real winners at least!
Bottom line at this point in the game is that, although this is a major time commitment, I have loved every minute of the reading and am thrilled that I am gaining exposure to so many great stories. I just have to focus on time management!
That brings us to the wrap-up discussion of my most recent read.
Here are the stats on The Wednesday Sisters.
Author: Meg Waite Clayton
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date: 2009
My start date: 1-25-10
My finish date: 1-31-10
If you are looking for motivation and inspiration, this book is for you. As I mentioned in the last post, I, too, have aspirations to write fiction but often find myself lacking confidence. However, much more than just writing, I have a whole long list of things I want to accomplish in my life. Although this whole book made me feel ready to go out and check things off my list, there is a particular scene in the book that just really made me step back and wonder what I am waiting for. Read this book and look for the coffin scene; you will know what I mean afterwards. The book is set in the 60s and early 70s and the main characters are all traditional housewives but experimenting with being a little bit more than what is expected of them. At first I had a hard time identifying with the characters. Then at some point I could no longer stop reading and at every chapter I felt myself more and more inspired to get started on things. Read this if you need a boost!
Besides the motivational factor, I loved loved loved the friendships in this book. I kept thinking throughout about what life would be like if I had a group of friends like that one. Now, don't get me wrong, I have some great friends. Friends whom I love dearly and who have been there for me on any number of occasions. But I am specifically speaking here of the group aspect. You can't help but wish you were a part of the Wednesday Sisters by the time you are finished. It is kind of like how most of us (go ahead, admit it) really wished we were a part of the tight-knit circle on the TV show Friends. There is just something so appealling in having a group like that. I don't know, maybe it is just me.
One final great thing here: the issues. Clayton effortlessly works in the major events and political issues of the period in a way that makes those of us not alive during the era really feel like we can understand life then. But even better, all of the women deal with major life issues that are still applicable today and you just get pulled right into the story as you experience their brushes with illness, tragedy, marital issues and everything else. That being said, guys, sorry, but this is probably a more interesting read for females. That doesn't mean you shouldn't read it though! You never know, maybe you will get a new perspective on things! ;-)
So, that wraps that up. On to other news and business. Below is the promised link to The Wednesday Sisters. I do recommend. As requested, I will be adding links to the Kindle products as well, for your reading ease, but that will likely be tomorrow in a seperate post. As to what I am reading next, I am not entirely sure yet (don't forget, Clarissa still looms...!) but plan on picking tonight and will update tomorrow!
Until then, keep reading!
Sarah
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tales of Writing
I finally was able to break away from 18th century epistolary novels today and spend some time on The Wednesday Sisters. While I am not quite finished yet, this book has proven to be very inspirational to me thus far! As I started reading it, I initially wasn't very drawn in. I just didn't feel like I connected with the housewives of the 1960s and was worried that I would have difficulty going on. And then it all changed. I am not at all sure at which point I totally started loving the characters, but suddenly, I couldn't put this book down!
One of the main connection points for me is the discussion of the writing process and how personal it is. Having aspirations of writing the great novel myself oneday, that literary focus was what initially encouraged me to get the book in the first place. Lately I have been having frustrations with professors seeming overly critical of my work and have found it hard to take constructive criticism from my writing class colleagues. Every bit of redirection, no matter how helpful, can come across harsh and completely squash me. Yet, following this group of women as they learn how to channel their thoughts into increasingly brilliant writing and watching how they all experience repeated criticism and rewrites reminds me that it is all just part of the process and not to take it personally. As I said, this novel comes at a particularly relevant time for me!
So, back to reading, hope to have it finished for you tomorrow!
Keep Reading!
Sarah
One of the main connection points for me is the discussion of the writing process and how personal it is. Having aspirations of writing the great novel myself oneday, that literary focus was what initially encouraged me to get the book in the first place. Lately I have been having frustrations with professors seeming overly critical of my work and have found it hard to take constructive criticism from my writing class colleagues. Every bit of redirection, no matter how helpful, can come across harsh and completely squash me. Yet, following this group of women as they learn how to channel their thoughts into increasingly brilliant writing and watching how they all experience repeated criticism and rewrites reminds me that it is all just part of the process and not to take it personally. As I said, this novel comes at a particularly relevant time for me!
So, back to reading, hope to have it finished for you tomorrow!
Keep Reading!
Sarah
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Book Shopping
Well, as I mentioned, my reading of Clarissa leaves little time for pleasure reading today, however, I did make a slight change to the blog that is designed to be useful to the readers. Many people have expressed interest to me in reading the books I have discussed themselves. So, if you fall into this category, I have partnered my blog with Amazon to enable links directly to their sites for the books. I chose Amazon because, honestly, that is where most of my books come from these days. Although I am also a devoted, card-carrying member of Barnes and Noble, in recent months it has simply become a lot easier and cheaper at Amazon. It is easier in that, since I order so many books, I am set up as an Amazon Prime member, so my 2 day shipping is free, which means I get my books quickly, but without having to drive to the store. But more importantly, the number of books I read starts to add up, financially, and books on Amazon lately, somehow, manage to be significantly reduced from any store sales I have found. Not sure how they are doing it, but we are talking about at least 30% cheaper, sometimes more. Anyway, long story short, if you want these books, they are now only a click away!
Normally I will link directly from the appropriate post going forward, but to catch up on what we have missed, here are the books I have already finished:
Happy Reading!
Sarah
Normally I will link directly from the appropriate post going forward, but to catch up on what we have missed, here are the books I have already finished:
Happy Reading!
Sarah
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Clarissa begins...
I knew this point would come...I have been trying to prepare for it since the beginning of this project. But now it is here. One of the classes I am in has assigned the reading in its entirety of Samuel Richardson's Clarissa, or, The History of a Young Lady. If you are not familiar with it, you should look it up. It is a great story and very entertaining. However, it is also one of the longest novels in the world. Literally. At my last check it ranked #7 on the wikipedia list of longest novels in a western language. So, the point of all this is that between class yesterday and class tomorrow, and between this and my other class, I was assigned to read somewhere approaching 500 pages. No joke. Long story short, pretty much no progress on The Wednesday Sisters. Tomorrow might not be very promising for pleasure reading either, but count on a good update on Thursday night for sure!
That said, Clarissa is indeed a truly interesting story (keep in mind, that comes from someone who has chosen of her own free will to write a dissertation of several hundred pages on the 18th century novel...) and if you are looking for a longer-term challenge than your typical size pleasure reading novel, you might check it out! There is even an abridged version that is only 800 odd pages...
Keep Reading (I know I will...)
Sarah
That said, Clarissa is indeed a truly interesting story (keep in mind, that comes from someone who has chosen of her own free will to write a dissertation of several hundred pages on the 18th century novel...) and if you are looking for a longer-term challenge than your typical size pleasure reading novel, you might check it out! There is even an abridged version that is only 800 odd pages...
Keep Reading (I know I will...)
Sarah
Bitter Sweet
I just finished a great book! And, man, did I need it after a day like today, which involved hospital visits by a number of loved ones. And when I consider that it was Jamie Ford's debut novel, I get really jealous! Hats off to you Mr. Ford! Let's look at the stats for Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.
Author: Jamie Ford
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date: 2009
My start date: 1-21-10
My finish date: 1-25-10
So, first of all, as I mentioned in my last post, I especially enjoyed reading about the history of the city in which I live. Yes, this is a fictional novel, but the places and major events are all real. I started reading this book while sitting at Kobe Terrace Park in International District, never realizing until later when I looked it up, that I was within sight of the Panama Hotel discussed in this book. Had I only looked up from my reading, I would have seen it! However, that is my point. The novel was such a good read, that I didn't often take time to look up once I dove into the world of Ford's WWII Seattle.
Ford's characters make this book. The dynamics of the main character, Henry Lee's family are so real. Henry is caught between his confused identity as American born, but of Chinese background in a time in which race and politics are hot spots for members of all ethnic communities in the US. This is further complicated, as Henry is between childhood and becoming an adult during the main action of the story. On the one hand he is losing the innocence of believing that his parents are infallible and on the other he is confronted with the realities of adult decisions. However, while these qualities all make him a realistic and intriguing character, I will admit that I loved him for the delightful love story with Keiko, another absolutely charming character and the female lead. This love, which went against tradition and logic and which defied any number of obstactles reminds you what a good old-fashioned, pure and uplifting story can be. No sarcasm or cynicism needed. I only wish I had known a thirteen year old as dedicated, gentlemanly (if that is a word) and brave as Henry.
Even more great than these two leads, the side characters were a treat. I fell in love with the characters of Sheldon and Samantha. You will too, but I won't tell you more, because you are going to go out and read this yourself, right? Self discovery is always more fun, I think.
I started the discussion in my last post about the topic of the Japanese Internment. I am just not sure what to say about it and won't pass off any conclusion here. I recognize that things were very different then and wartime USA was a whole different world. But at the very least, I will say that it is a tragedy that it couldn't have been handled in a better manner. You try reading the scenes in which innocent Japanese families are forced to burn their memories and leave behind their most precious possessions simply to avoid be arrested as being too Japanese and thus a threat. I am one quarter German. My grandmother lived during this era and I am thankful that, to my knowledge, she was never rounded up or otherwise harrassed for her German heritage. But she could have been. The idea that something like this could happen today makes me shudder. Who would we round up, disregarding a person's full citizenship or having been a multi-generational American family, simply on the basis that they look different or their great-grandfather lived once upon a time in a different country but came here looking for a better life? What would the rest of us do? I certainly hope it would be different.
Enough deep thoughts for a very long and stressful day. I need rest. And you need to go out and buy this book. In the meantime, I have started my next read: Meg Waite Clayton's The Wednesday Sisters.
Keep Reading!
Sarah
Author: Jamie Ford
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date: 2009
My start date: 1-21-10
My finish date: 1-25-10
So, first of all, as I mentioned in my last post, I especially enjoyed reading about the history of the city in which I live. Yes, this is a fictional novel, but the places and major events are all real. I started reading this book while sitting at Kobe Terrace Park in International District, never realizing until later when I looked it up, that I was within sight of the Panama Hotel discussed in this book. Had I only looked up from my reading, I would have seen it! However, that is my point. The novel was such a good read, that I didn't often take time to look up once I dove into the world of Ford's WWII Seattle.
Ford's characters make this book. The dynamics of the main character, Henry Lee's family are so real. Henry is caught between his confused identity as American born, but of Chinese background in a time in which race and politics are hot spots for members of all ethnic communities in the US. This is further complicated, as Henry is between childhood and becoming an adult during the main action of the story. On the one hand he is losing the innocence of believing that his parents are infallible and on the other he is confronted with the realities of adult decisions. However, while these qualities all make him a realistic and intriguing character, I will admit that I loved him for the delightful love story with Keiko, another absolutely charming character and the female lead. This love, which went against tradition and logic and which defied any number of obstactles reminds you what a good old-fashioned, pure and uplifting story can be. No sarcasm or cynicism needed. I only wish I had known a thirteen year old as dedicated, gentlemanly (if that is a word) and brave as Henry.
Even more great than these two leads, the side characters were a treat. I fell in love with the characters of Sheldon and Samantha. You will too, but I won't tell you more, because you are going to go out and read this yourself, right? Self discovery is always more fun, I think.
I started the discussion in my last post about the topic of the Japanese Internment. I am just not sure what to say about it and won't pass off any conclusion here. I recognize that things were very different then and wartime USA was a whole different world. But at the very least, I will say that it is a tragedy that it couldn't have been handled in a better manner. You try reading the scenes in which innocent Japanese families are forced to burn their memories and leave behind their most precious possessions simply to avoid be arrested as being too Japanese and thus a threat. I am one quarter German. My grandmother lived during this era and I am thankful that, to my knowledge, she was never rounded up or otherwise harrassed for her German heritage. But she could have been. The idea that something like this could happen today makes me shudder. Who would we round up, disregarding a person's full citizenship or having been a multi-generational American family, simply on the basis that they look different or their great-grandfather lived once upon a time in a different country but came here looking for a better life? What would the rest of us do? I certainly hope it would be different.
Enough deep thoughts for a very long and stressful day. I need rest. And you need to go out and buy this book. In the meantime, I have started my next read: Meg Waite Clayton's The Wednesday Sisters.
Keep Reading!
Sarah
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Culture and War-Time Politics
Just a short post since I haven't posted in a couple days, but wanted to start thinking about some topics coming out of Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. This is an amazing book, especially for the author's debut novel. It gives me hope that my debut novel might be decent, whenever I get around to writing it... Anyway, this is a really fun read for me on one account, because it takes place in wartime Seattle, which is where I happen to be living at the moment. Well, Seattle, that is, not the wartime part. Obviously. But Ford really knew his history and Seattle geography, so it is really fun to read about streets, sights and even shops and restaurants that I know and visit myself! On the other hand, while very interesting to learn about, this book brings up a very unhappy topic: the internment of the Japanese during WWII. The conditions these families were forced to live in is simply appalling. The loss of personal property, family heirlooms, memories, careers, and freedom to American citizens simply because of their ancestry just makes me so sad and, frankly, so embarrassed. How can we have treated people this way?
More on this after I finish, tomorrow.
Til then, Keep reading!
Sarah
More on this after I finish, tomorrow.
Til then, Keep reading!
Sarah
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Biblical fiction
Today I finished Marek Halter's Sarah, the life story, told in the first person, of the Biblical Sarah/Sarai, wife of Abraham. Here are your stats:
Author: Marek Halter
Publisher:Crown Publishers
Date: either 2003 or 2004, I believe this translation was 2004
Originally Published in France with Robert Lafont
My start date: 1-17-10
My finish date: 1-21-10
I began my discussion of this book yesterday by introducing the topic of taking holy figures from religion and creating fictionalized accounts of their lives, making them more realistic or ordinary, if those are the right words. So, I will think along those lines first. As I mentioned, I have read many of this kind of work in the past, some great, some not, but all very interesting to me. Halter's book is one that I will probably categorize in the former category. Although, to the research I can find, several of the details of this fictional Sarai's life do not coordinate with those of the standard story (for example, according to wikipedia-which we all know is the great source of all things true ;-), the standard story of Sarah indicates that she was of the same family or at least tribe as Abraham, whereas this Sarah is nobility from a very different civilization) yet I was able to overlook that in the telling of the story. I couldn't put it down! Halter writes a very multi-dimensional Sarah who is her own leader and makes her own decisions. She is feisty, passionate, sometimes selfish, sometimes angry, but all together is makes for a very believable character. He focuses on the female experience of the time and, without being shy about it, discusses such issues as Sarah's experiences with menstration, marriage, surrogacy, and sex. This is all the more interesting to me, because throughout the book, you would never have believed it was a man writing this female perspective! Further, Halter somehow manages to describe a setting in the very, very distant past completely realistically. Bottom line: this book had the most important characteristic for me in a novel of any kind. It called for total submersion. I sank straight into the world of Sarai and Abram and only unwillingly could be dragged back out again. Put this on your must read list.
Ok, I am going to end it there for tonight.
Tomorrow (or maybe even tonight?) I start a new novel, Jamie Ford's debut novel, and one which takes place right here in sunny (haha, yeah, right) Seattle. Check back later to hear about On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.
Keep Reading!
Sarah
Author: Marek Halter
Publisher:Crown Publishers
Date: either 2003 or 2004, I believe this translation was 2004
Originally Published in France with Robert Lafont
My start date: 1-17-10
My finish date: 1-21-10
I began my discussion of this book yesterday by introducing the topic of taking holy figures from religion and creating fictionalized accounts of their lives, making them more realistic or ordinary, if those are the right words. So, I will think along those lines first. As I mentioned, I have read many of this kind of work in the past, some great, some not, but all very interesting to me. Halter's book is one that I will probably categorize in the former category. Although, to the research I can find, several of the details of this fictional Sarai's life do not coordinate with those of the standard story (for example, according to wikipedia-which we all know is the great source of all things true ;-), the standard story of Sarah indicates that she was of the same family or at least tribe as Abraham, whereas this Sarah is nobility from a very different civilization) yet I was able to overlook that in the telling of the story. I couldn't put it down! Halter writes a very multi-dimensional Sarah who is her own leader and makes her own decisions. She is feisty, passionate, sometimes selfish, sometimes angry, but all together is makes for a very believable character. He focuses on the female experience of the time and, without being shy about it, discusses such issues as Sarah's experiences with menstration, marriage, surrogacy, and sex. This is all the more interesting to me, because throughout the book, you would never have believed it was a man writing this female perspective! Further, Halter somehow manages to describe a setting in the very, very distant past completely realistically. Bottom line: this book had the most important characteristic for me in a novel of any kind. It called for total submersion. I sank straight into the world of Sarai and Abram and only unwillingly could be dragged back out again. Put this on your must read list.
Ok, I am going to end it there for tonight.
Tomorrow (or maybe even tonight?) I start a new novel, Jamie Ford's debut novel, and one which takes place right here in sunny (haha, yeah, right) Seattle. Check back later to hear about On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.
Keep Reading!
Sarah
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)