SomeReads

I’ve only got 2 mini-reviews today.

Clara’s War: One Girl’s Story of Survival is Clara Kramer’s memoir of her experiences during WWII in Poland. Reminiscent of Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, the bulk of Clara’s story is of her time spent in a bunker beneath a home, hiding with her family, where she kept a diary. I read an ARC, which was full of copy-editing issues, but the story itself, full of hope, tragedy, many close calls, was incredible. This one is very highly recommended.

Good Things  I Wish You, by A. Manette Ansay, is a story within a story. The main character is an author, who is writing a book about the relationship between Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms. The secondary story (but really the main story) is Schumann’s and Brahms’ story. As the book progresses you realize the book you are reading is the book the main character is writing (if that makes any sense at all). It sounds convoluted, but it really isn’t. This book is a couple of hundred pages long, but it is a very quick read. Recommended.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I’m cheating today. I can’t just take 2 sentences out of this paragraph and post them. I need to post the whole thing. This quote is from an ARC copy of Clara’s War: One Girl’s Story of Survival by Clara Kramer. The pages aren’t numbered, but it is from the chapter titled “A Gift from Mr. Beck.”

Then came a knock on the door that silenced the conversation, brought the terror of the outside inside and sent us all through the bedroom and down through the hatch, one after the other. We listened to who it might be. It wasn’t the SS, the Gestapo or the Blue Coats (the Ukrainian police, who were vicious in their persecution of Jews). It was carol-singers, friends of the Becks who knocked on the door wanting to sing for them and wanting the Becks to join them in a song. Of course the Becks joined the carol-singers, and we listened to their voices in darkness. I sang along in my head until I fell asleep.

I am so bad about posting reviews. I’ve finished 4 books in the past couple of weeks that I haven’t reviewed, so I’ll play catch-up with mini-reviews.

Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson: I just love Bill Bryson. I started with A Walk in the Woods many years ago and have read 3 others since then (and all of them are on my t0-read list). In this book, Bryson travels through Britain before moving his family to the United States. The book is laugh-out-loud funny in many places. Highly recommended.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: This one has been on my to-read list since it came out. I have to admit that, despite all the good reviews I had read, I was wary going in. I am generally not a fan of dystopian literature. I had nothing to worry about, though. This book was excellent! Another highly recommended book.

Border Songs by Jim Lynch: I read this one because I am on the committee at work for nominating books for the Dublin Award, and this one is on our “long list” of books to read and rate. Had I read the back of the book, I probably never would have picked it up, but I happened to get a review copy at work, so I thought “what the heck.” I was very surprised how much I liked it. This book had the strangest combination of elements: drug trafficking, birding, immigration, terrorism, dairy farming, Alzheimer’s, art. But somehow they all managed to come together in a very enjoyable book. Recommended.

The Disappeared by Gloria Whelan: This one was an ARC I picked up at a library conference about a year ago. It was a quick read (took me less than a day), but overall I found it unsatisfying. The subject matter was quite mature – political unrest in Argentina in the 70s, torture, imprisonment. But the level of the writing seemed much younger than what I would consider the intended audience – I would guess 5th/6th grade level. The format of the book was strange, too – each chapter was written from the point of view of 1 of 2 main characters, either the older brother or the younger sister, in the form of a letter to the other character that would never be received. It seemed very disjointed. I don’t recommend this one.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Today’s teasers come from Border Songs by Jim Lynch. I’m posting two passages, because I think they show different aspects of the book.

Brandon cut off the loose plastic, wadded it into a ball, then folded the knife, handed it back and looked away from the deepening creases in his father’s splotched forehead. “Either you call Stremler or I will, ” he said, surprising himself. (p. 128 of ARC)

This passage is unusual, because it shows a different, more assertive side of the main character, Brandon, than we usually see in the book.

Brandon set up the birding scope he now carried everywhere, which Dionne touted as further evidence of his commitment to the job. He studied how amazingly comfortable the couples were with each other, then zoomed in on the largest female, her head a thousand miniature white feathers above a shimmering black vest and a bleached tail. (p. 129 of ARC)

This passage demonstrates Lynch’s beautiful writing style. Can’t you just picture the bald eagles?

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

This was a very boring week for me in terms of library loot. Only 1 new item made it home with me:

101 Designer One-Skein Wonders by Judith Durant

I have the 2 other One-Skein Wonders books already & thought I’d see what this one has to offer. I’m looking for quick gift ideas.

In other library book related news, I have been trying out the Easy Dinners book I mentioned last week. Nothing earth-shattering so far. I’ve got 2 more meals planned for this week from the book, at which point I feel like I can give it a proper review.

I’m finally playing along with Raidergirl3 again! I think about it every Tuesday, just about, but usually too late or when I’m not able to post.

Today I am in an arena in the Capitol city of what was once North America, fighting for my life. I’m a little more than halfway through The Hunger Games, and to tell any more could potentially contain spoilers. If you haven’t read this yet, I highly recommend it. In general, I am not a fan of dystopian literature, but this one is very, very good!

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

What I thought were blueberries have a slightly different shape, and when I break them open the insides are bloodred. I don’t recognize these berries, perhaps they are edible, but I’m guessing this is some evil trick on the part of the Gamemakers.

I’m writing this post from my iPod so my formatting may be a bit off…

I intended to post this yesterday, but life interfered. Working in a library, I always have books checked out. Today I’ll post everything I have out, but beginning next week it will only be new stuff.

1) Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by Bach – I stumbled upon the book 1001 Recordings You Must Here Before You Die one day at the reference desk & thought I would try to borrow as many as possible. Still haven’t listened to this one. It’s overdue, & there’s a hold on it. I’m a bad librarian.

2) Janes in Love – I read this ages ago and loved it. Passed it to Laura, who also liked it. Jimmy read The Plain Janes & about half of this one, & since it will take him less than an hour to finish, I’ve held onto it. I’s also overdue. But no holds.

3) The Big Book of Easy Suppers: 270 Delicious Recipes for Casual Everyday Cooking – This one looked promising, but I forgot I had it. Will try some recipes next week. It’s, ahem, also overdue.

4) Bee Season DVD – Keep meaning to watch this…

5) Atonement DVD – Keep meaning to watch this, too…

6) Must Love Dogs DVD – And repeat after me…Keep meaning to watch this…

7) Their Eyes Were Watching God – Actually have this one in my bag to return today. Review posted last week.

Sesame Street: Unpaved: Scripts, Stories, Secrets, and Songs – Have had this for a while. Will read it this week/weekend in honor of Sesame Street’s 40th anniversary.

9) Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles: A Manual of Elegant Knitting Techniques and Patterns – Despite having never completed one, I’m currently obsessed with sock patterns. I borrowed this one to get me through a sticky part of a sock I eventually abandoned. Will return this one…when I find it.

10) No-bake Cookies: More than 150 Fun, Easy, & Delicious Recipes for Cookies, Bars, and Other Cool Treats – Made a couple of things out of here. Think I prefer actually baking. This one is also in my bad to return today.

11) The Hunger Games – This is next on my stack, & I can’t wait! Less than 100 pages of current book to go…

12) Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman – I checked this one out for Laura, who is reading it for school. She says it is really good.

13) I haven’t officially checked this out yet, but I just picked up Mississippi Off the Beaten Path. We’re visiting my mom over Christmas break, & I thought it might be fun to see some unusual sights while we’re there.

Library Loot is a weekly meme hosted by Eva and Marg.

Using memes as another way to kickstart my blogging…

Upstairs the structure was half timbered and quietly glorious; downstairs, between outsized sheets of plate glass covered with handwritten notices of cheap flights to Tenerife and Malaga, the facade had been tiled – tiled – with a mosaic of little multi-toned squares that looked as if they had been salvaged from a King’s Cross toilet. It was just awful.

I hope it doesn’t matter that I have been inactive for many months. This was so much fun last year! I may have had more fun putting together my swap than I did receiving mine.