I promised book reviews, and you are going to get them   2009 has been a great year for my reading/listening pleasure.  I have come across some of the best books I have read in years – some of them already reviewed here.  Well, I have a few more to add to that list – some really good ones!

My little kick with fiction continues – specifically “speculative fiction” - a little bit sci-fi, a bit dystopian, but also rooted in some reality as it really just imagines a future world and asks “what if?”

I have read a couple of Margaret Atwood’s books and liked them well and good, but it was not until I read her two most recent novels that I understood the true genius of this author.  I say it in no small way – these two books absolutely blew me away.

Oryx and Crake / The Year of the Flood: A Novel

 After hearing a significant amount of buzz about Atwood’s newest book, and hearing that it was sort of a “companion” piece to the older novel, published in 2003, I decided to take the plunge, picking both audiobooks up at the library.  The books do not have to be read together, but I felt that reading them in succession helped me pick up each little reference, nuance, and passing observation.  So tightly interwoven and so elegant… it was perfect.

Oryx and Crake introduces an imagined future where we meet the main characters: childhood friends Jimmy and Glenn, and learn about their life growing up cloistered on a scientific compound.  The book is told from Jimmy’s perspective, switching back and forth in time; before and after an apocalyptic event that has dessimated the population.  

Year of the Flood is neither a prequel or a sequel to Oryx and Crake, but occurs at the same time. My GoodReads review of Year of the Flood follows:

Profoundly brilliant. Had I not read this directly after reading Oryx and Crake, I would have missed so many things – little nuances, passing comments made by the characters… it just enriched the earlier story and brought so much depth, context, and elegance. Like looking at the Rubin’s vase optical illusion and only seeing it one way for so long, and then someone points out the other image right before your eyes. Of course, it was Ms. Atwood herself who constructed the image and slowly sheds light on it with each chapter in her books – alas, I think she has one (possibly two!) more story to tell here.

Year of the Flood has two narrators – both survivors of an apocalyptic event (a “waterless flood”), and both linked from their associations with “God’s Gardeners”, a religious sect. The two women are of different generations but share the foundations of the Gardeners’ beliefs long after they have left the group’s compound. The story moves back and forth in time (before and after “The Flood”), describing the lives of the women as they move about, and how they eventually come back together after “The Flood” mentioned in the title of the book.

Atwood’s creation of the “Gardeners” is so fascinating – she has gathered the cult’s doctrine and principles from 19th-century transcendentalism, Jain and Hindu philosophies, post-modern environmental thought, the zeal of 1970’s “born-again” movement with a tad of Hare Krishna devotion, the apocalyptic asceticism of the Essenes, as well as the homesteading, return-to-the-land movement of post-Industrial North America. The hierarchy is based around a group of senior leaders, called the Adams and Eves. “Adam One” is the group’s leader and “pastor” of sorts, because he teaches the group and is featured in several chapters in the book with some of his sermons, followed by songs that are sung by the Gardeners. (The audiobook version had all of the composed songs with accompaniment, and the songs are also available on Atwood’s website.) The group canonizes scientists like Dian Fossey and Jacques Cousteau, and has feast days for St. Rachel Carson and so many other well-known luminaries in the fields of ecology, zoology, and life sciences. They also celebrate days like “Mole Day” and “Predator Day”, noting the importance of food chain, the smallest creatures and their contributions, etc.

I will admit, there were a few times that I just had to take a pause, Atwood “blew my mind” more than once.
  

The books were read in succession – perhaps as they were meant to be – so they fit together perfectly in my mind like a jigsaw.

Even a week after finishing the second book, I can’t get this story out of my mind. I think the two should definitely be read together, and I think that they are among the best books I have ever read.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

This book is getting a good amount of buzz as a possible 2010 Newbery Award winner.  It is a young adult novel for the 10 -16 set, but younger and older (like me!) readers will undoubtedly enjoy it.  The book was mentioned and excerpted on National Public Radio’s website - go read a bit of it!

A little gem of a book – a unique storyline that is wonderfully crafted and executed. Miranda’s character is this encapsulation of what it is to be 12 years old – going back and forth between this world of childhood and adulthood. I wouldn’t really characterize this as a coming-of-age story though… more like a day-in-the-life with a twinge of mystery and sci-fi thrown into the mix. I really liked the setting in 1979… it was a lot like my childhood, so there was a nostalgic element there… Loved the little bits of fantasty woven throughout, as well as the musings and the references to late 1970s/early 1980s pop culture.  Very enjoyable book ~ highly recommended.

Maybe even some time to pick this one up before Christmas?  Although the narrator is a 12-year old girl, I think that this book could be enjoyed by boys.  It has a science fiction element to it (sort of the undercurrent of the entire story) that will appeal to them.   I listened to the audiobook, which was also quite good.

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Another day… another dystopian!  This one was probably the most realistic of the speculative fiction because it really just seemed like this *could* happen. 

The story follows a family of four and how they survive through a catastrophic/apocalyptic event – a meteor hits the moon, knocking it off balance, eventually moving the moon closer to earth, thus shifting all of the tides and the gravitational pull – tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes… just about every disaster ensues. It is told in a diary format, written and narrated by 16-year old Miranda, who lives in small-town Pennsylvania.

In the end, the story was one of love, courage, strength, and endurance. The family of four (mother, two sons, and Miranda, the daughter) struggles to live through these terrible events as they watch the world crumble around them. It definitely had a very eerie element about it – so much so that as I was listening on the audiobook, it was almost like these things were actually happening. So, the author definitely set the tone and the landscape for the readers.  

I hesitate to fully recommend the book because it can be pretty depressing, sad, and annoying (see full review on GR), but in the end, I am really glad I read it. It made me think a lot about the things we all take for granted – running water, electricity, family bonds.  It inevitably leaves you with the question of “How would I handle this type of situation? would I make it?”

Pretty interesting premise, and like I said, major points for making it so believable – but I had some major criticisms of the book as well.  You can read my full review on GoodReads to find out what I didn’t like (and why I rated it 2.5 stars out of 5). 

…and now for something completely different… (and happier!)

A non-fiction book of essays by one of my favorite authors!

‘The Moon by Whale Light: And Other Adventures Among Bats, Penguins, Crocodilians, and Whales by Diane Ackerman

Ooh, Ackerman knows how to make you relish every word!  She is a naturalist, but also a poet, interweaving science and nature with the most delicate of language. 

Ackerman’s writing style is so lyrical and her descriptions are so vivid – reading her work is like biting into the juiciest of fruits. This particular collection highlights bats, crocodiles, penguins, and whales. Ackerman spends time with these animals, learning about their biology and psychology, talks with their keepers, trainers, and researchers.

While all of them were wonderful, the chapters on bats and crocodiles were my favorites of all – perhaps because I knew the least about these two creatures. The bat essay, in particular, sent me to my computer many times to see images and photos of these amazing animals. Just days after reading this essay, I had the experience of being in the open desert (Joshua Tree National Park in southern California) and witnessed the Mexican Free-Tailed bats coming out to feed at dusk… just me, my husband, and these beautiful bats. It was amazing, and is something that will stay with me for a long time. I am sure that I would have been amazed by this sight even if I had not read the book, but the experience was all the more enhanced by the knowledge I gained from this essay collection.

This is a book I will return to, I am sure, to remember these paragraphs filled to the brim with facts and stories… and will fall in love with the writing each and every time. 

I think Ackerman writes best when she writes about nature. I have enjoyed her other topics (like An Alchemy of Mind, about brain science) but they did not hold my attention quite like this collection and the book that “hooked” me on to her work over a decade ago, A Natural History of the Senses.  I have not yet read any of her poetry, but I am sure it is great, because I love her prose.

…onward and upward… I am already listening to and reading new books.  Makes for a great time while working on these sweaters!
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I have been lucky this summer to come upon some of the best fiction that I have read in years.  Like blow-me-away fiction.  Like “I had no idea what I was getting in to when I cracked that cover” fiction.  Here’s the two most recent additions, both read in August, but so worthy of mention here…

The Sparrow / Children of God by Mary Doria Russell

Since these books were published in the late 1990s, I had the opportunity to read them in succession without a long anticipating wait in between… for this reason, the books will undoubtedly be one story in my mind, with unclear lines where one stopped and the other started. 

My preface statement is – I have never read a “science fiction” genre book.  When I picked the first book up at the library, and it had the little yellow binding sticker with the “SCI-FI” and a little rocket ship, I marveled at it.  First time for everything, eh?  Especially when I hear such rave reviews from some friends over on GoodReads (particularly Mick and Stephanie), I wanted to try it out.  I have read my share of dystopian novels, but those are a sub-genre in and of itself. 

 One of the most profoundly moving books I have read in years – the only other one that comes to mind of this magnitude was As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg (yet, it was historical fiction, not sci-fi). This book was so well done; my first foray in to anything resembling science fiction, and it was so worth it. I am definitely glad I stuck with it – I usually give a book 50 pages, and it was around that time when I finally began to understand what was happening. I was impatient for the story to get moving, and once it did, I couldn’t put it down… when I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it. [My full GoodReads review]
 

The book has two time periods and two settings – the near future here on Earth, and the light years that pass as a small group travels to the newly discovered inhabitated planet of Rahkat. Reading the book, and experiencing this new genre brought on a realization: I like seeing and observing situations where a disparate group of people come together. Yeah, okay, that sounds a little funny, but I think it might be a common thread to some other literature I have read. I like it when an author brings people together in a book who might never otherwise meet… for instance, the primary character in this book is a Puerto Rican Jesuit priest/linguist. He is a genius with the spoken word and can learn new languages like *that*. Entering the mix: an older married couple – the husband is into aeronautics, and the wife is an ER trauma physician – an “indentured servant” intellectual, a hilarious and gawky physicist… see what I mean? Pour in to the mix a heavy dose of social contract and existential philosophy and religious duty… and lots of drama and human interest.

Well, early in the book, you learn what happens on their mission. And the remainder of the book, and the sequel are spent figuring out WHY it happened and how it will be remembered. At times it can be heartbreakingly sad, but a small glimmer of hope remains. The second book introduces a group of new characters, many of them inhabitants of Rahkat, and is full of religious allusions. It is intriguing and beautiful, and you can’t help but contemplate some of the major questions that the book raises. 

Reading a book like this, published 13 years ago and completely unknown to me before this summer, makes me wonder what other gems are out there…

***

…and now for something completely different… but no less amazing…

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

I was not prepared to be so blown away by this book. I hadn’t heard much about it, and the synopsis on the cover of the book does not accurately describe how *real* it is. Putting together a review is challenging, because so many of the words that come to my mind are hard to work in to comprehensive sentences: gut-wrenching, awe-inspiring, incredibly raw, heartbreaking, life-affirming, inspirational. It’s like a study in opposites.

The book is told from several perspectives and revolves around a Dominican family and their life in the DR and in New Jersey after immigration. The main characters are Oscar, his sister Lola, their mother Beli, their grandmother “La Inca”, and a friend Yunior.

Diaz’s narrative voice was so clear, so unique. I had not experienced writing like this before, and it really surprised me. Although it was a work of fiction, I felt like I learned so much about the DR, specifically the years in the first half of the 20th-century under Trujillo’s dictatorship. The story spans decades and interweaves these deep mystical themes (the curse on the family) with some very funny and light-hearted moments (exchanges between Oscar and Lola / Oscar and Yunior). [My full GoodReads review here]
 

Most of all, this book really made me want to learn Spanish. There *is* a lot of Spanish in this book (that is a common criticism of the book), and there are no translations, but it is not a hinderance. With context, it is pretty clear what many of the phrases mean, or at least the gist of them. One other note on the language: this is a harsh reality book – there is a lot of explicit language and quite a few violent and sexual situations. They undoubtedly add to the richness and the beautiful drama of the book, and I would not take any of them out. If you are particularly sensitive to these things, you may not have the same experience with this book.

This book prompted me to read more about Dominican history, and I came across a movie, based on true events, about life in the DR during the dictatorship of Trujillo, In the Time of Butterflies. The movie is in English, and the story that it tells – about the sisters – is even referenced in Oscar Wao, as it was a major event that lead to revolution in the country.

Díaz’s writing is brilliant. Lots of literary, historical, and pop culture references, seamlessly interwoven with this understanding of human relationships and their intricacies and complexities. His characters have such depth and emotions – you learn so much about them and their feelings, that they seem completely real.  And maybe they are… this amalgamation of people in the author’s mind.

…

The rapid/rabid reading pace is already beginning to slow down a bit.  I am still keeping up on some audiobooks, but with work, yoga, and the new fall television line-up starting, there are some things competing for my attention.  The good news about that is that more knitting will take place!

My reading continues at a pretty alarming rate;  I am reading regular books, but have also taken to listening to several audiobooks to fit in some more knitting time.   Some of my favorite moments lately have involved sitting at my table, knitting in hand, and the audiobook transporting me far away – both in space and in time…  other favorite moments are with book in hand, curled up in my living room chair…

In the interest of making this a readable post (and to keep your attention!) this is only a review of the recent FICTION books that I have read in recent weeks.  These reviews are the same review that I posted over on the Goodreads website, in case you are following me over there.  (I love that site!)  I plan to write more about my non-fiction books in an upcoming post.

• Waiting: A Novel by Ha Jin

A very poignant story set in Communist China from the 1960s-1980s. The main character, Lin, has an arranged marriage to simple and sweet Shuyu. She is extremely generous and a very hard worker, but the educated Lin is ashamed of her illiterate peasant status, and never brings her to the city where he is works as an army hospital doctor. Lin is a very passive character, and so incredibly rational, that he never lets emotions come to the surface… a nurse in the hospital, Manna, sets her sights on Lin, and over a period of years – eighteen years! – Lin and Manna carry on a non-sexual affair. He promises Manna every summer that he will divorce Shuyu on his visit home in order to marry her, but always comes back still married for one reason or another.

… the patience of Shuyu and Manna form the central themes of the book, while the rationality of Lin is the third part of the theme.

The style of writing is so simple – reminiscent of some of Hemingway’s work. After speaking with a co-worker about this book a few days later, she drew a parallel to the American novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. I read the book in high school so it was not so fresh in my mind, but I did remember that the basic plot was similar to this one.

Simple sentence constructions, and no inner monologues for the characters and no in-depth descriptions of the surroundings. It was refreshing, in a way, to read such a minimalist approach. I really appreciated the glimpse of the psyche of the Chinese mind and how the propaganda of the Party was SO prevalent in every act and deed.

• In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith

I so enjoyed books 1-5 of this series (No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Collection), so I decided to catch up on the series after a few years absence. I enjoy the audiobooks narrated by Lisette Lecat immensely, and put them all on hold at my library.

This was a delightful book to come back to – there were many things that happened in this volume of the series. I so enjoy how Mma Ramotswe can make the best out of situations – even ones that are so painful for her, and how the books are eternally optimistic. I so enjoy the simplicity of discussing pumpkins for ten minutes, and the mechanics of the little white van.  Botswana sounds like such a wonderful place.

• The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti

After reading several good reviews, likening this work to Dickens or Mark Twain, I picked it up at the library. The orphanage, the hopeful young protagonist with a propensity towards petty theft, the handsome rake claiming to be a relation, the “con” jobs… it really was an amalgamation of Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, and Huckleberry Finn. The young and hopeful orphan is Ren, who only has one hand, and the handsome conniving rake is Benjamin Nab. After an “adoption” from the orphanage under the pretenses of a long-lost uncle, they team up with another con man and travel around New England swindling and conning (the best scene for me was when they make an “elixir for misbehaving boys” and sell it at a town fair that essentially makes the kids high and strung out on opium) before settling in to their new occupation of “resurrection men” – grave robbers for the local doctor’s cadaver supply.

It was an entertaining read. I suppose I was expecting more from it, but it was enjoyable all the same.

• The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larsen

Five stars because this was one of the most unique books I have ever come across… the story itself is a first-person narrative by T.S. Spivet (Tecumseh Sparrow, the first name passed down four generations), a 12-year-old cartographer and illustrator. The story begins just before T.S. receives a phone call from the Smithsonian that he has been awarded the very prestigious Baird fellowship as “America’s Illustrator”, in residence at the Smithsonian. Being 12-years old, and too ashamed to mention this, he decides to set off on a cross-country hobo journey “riding the rails”. He lucks out when he finds a train car carrying Winnebagos, and he lives inside of one of them for several days. The journey across the country allows him to reflect even further on his fractured home life, and the recent tragedy of his brother’s accidental death. By the time he reaches his destination, the story is nearing the end, and even through his wünderkind genius, you see that T.S. is still a child, and really just longs for his family and his home.

The story itself garners about 3 out of five stars for me – much of the journal entries about his family history were completely unnecessary and superfluous, and I skipped over large sections; however, it was the illustrations and the book design, and the humor and emotions woven throughout that topped this rating to 5 stars for me. That, and I have never seen anything this unique. That alone deserves the highest marks. Nearly every single page of the 300+ page novel has intricate and detailed illustrations and maps, drawn by T.S., that correspond in one way or another, to the overall story. Some are ridiculously funny – one of my favorites was the drawing and measurements of the angle of his little brother’s fist pumps, and some are so advanced – demographic maps, sound waves, etc. The illustrations and maps make this book a true gem.

• The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Listened to the audiobook – not sure whether that had a true effect on my rating, although the narrator’s voice annoyed me at times…

The story had an interesting premise, but quickly devolved into banalities and stereotypes: grad student down on her luck in life and in relationships, discovers a family secret dating back 300 years, meets a guy, dramatic events unfold… it just seemed like there was nothing new and exciting here. Connie, the protagonist, seems to have a real chip on her shoulder regarding some people and groups… some of the things she said and did seemed immature, unethical, and generally unlikable.

On a personal note: for goodness sake, the whole notion of archivists and librarians as being annoyed by patrons and “shushing” all the time is SO overdone. Did this book really have to add to it with each archivist or librarian the protagonist met? Sure, I am sensitive to that as an archivist myself, but come on.

Not sure about the time of this story either – it was never clear why the modern side of the story took place in 1991. Was it to nearly coincide with the anniversary of the Salem witch trials in 1692? If so, that was never expressed. The date seemed random, and there were a few times when I thought to myself, “was that around in `91?”

However, I kept on listening, somewhat curious how it was all going to end up. Part 2 was better than Part 1, but I was left shaking my head on this one. There are better accounts and novels about the witch trials and/or colonial New England.

…more book reviews to come… I can’t help myself.  I think it is the schoolgirl mentality with my summer reading lists.  I am at my most rabid reading rate during the sweltering summer days! (and if you happen to be so very curious, you can check in with my multiple daily updates over on Goodreads!)   By the way:  anyone have a Kindle or a Sony Reader?  I am intrigued and would love to know more… let me know in the comments

The last two weeks have been a steady stream of cooking and baking experiments and voracious reading habits.  When discussing this with a friend over the weekend, she told me, “Well, this just means you have more time!”  And if that is indeed the case – longer daylight hours and less time parked in front of the television – well, then yes, I do have more time, and I am relishing every second of it!

Two books have completely inspired by cooking and baking of late.  I checked them both out at the library, and promptly purchased my own copies.  Once you make 11 things from a cookbook, it seems like a good time to buy your own, right? 

The Vegan Table pretty much blew my mind the minute I picked it up.  First off, it is a *beautiful book* with great photography - nearly every one of the 200 recipes in this book has a full length color photo, artfully arranged and lighted.  Eye-catching indeed.  Of course, that is purely the aesthetic.   Then you start to look at the recipes and your mouth just starts to water right then and there.  Give me a vegan cookbook and I am like Pavlov’s dog!    This cookbook came out this summer, and the timing could not be better.  It is just chocked full of recipes for the fresh fruits and vegetables that you find at the farmers’ markets and your local store.  Even if you are not a vegan, there is an endless supply of healthy and fresh recipes in this book to inspire you. 

In just over a week, I made nearly a dozen recipes from the book, including:  Berry Crisp, Herb-Infused Portabello Mushrooms, Lentil Mustard Salad, Quinoa Corn Salad, Beet Chocolate Bundt Cake, and Eggplant Caponara.  And now that I have my very own copy of the book, I am planning to make many many more.  There are all sorts of entertaining ideas for holidays and/or seasonal pairings.  This is such an amazing book that I think it may be perfect… or at least as close to perfect as anything I have ever seen.  [GoodReads review]

 The second book, had I not seen Vegan Table before it, would have been my #1 favorite.  It is also a wonderful cookbook in it’s own right with SO many ideas. Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook is written and arranged by the same woman who put together the fun Vegan Cupcakes book that I reviewed a few posts back.  With this book, she truly expands and covers the whole vegan gamut.  Amazing recipes for hundreds of foods.  Like the one above, it is a great resource for anyone who wants to introduce more fresh ingredients and vegetables into their meals, regardless of the vegan name.   I used it several times when I had an ingredient in hand, and wanted to find a recipe to use it in.  This was specifically the case with some pumpkin puree I had.  Last year, we had several large pumpkins in the garden.  We pureed the pumpkins and froze them into blocks in the freezer.  Needing to make more room for this year’s harvest, I pulled out one of the blocks and searched for a recipe.  I came to the delicious sounding “Pumpkin Crumb Cake with Pecan Streusel”.  YUM!  So, I set out and made 2 batches of the cake:  one for my friends at Yoga Teacher Training over the weekend, and one for Kris and I at home.  One block down and many more ideas to go!  (On the pumpkin crumb cake note:  It was truly an international cake!  The molasses used in the recipe was from a sugar cane farm in Peru -that we visited on our trip in 2007- and the pecans were from my uncle’s orchard in Alabama.  I love the memories that cooking can bring back!) [GoodReads Review]

Here is my friend Kath enjoying the Pumpkin cake this past weekend at YTT:

I also surprised my YTT friends with some zucchini bread that I made – with the zucchini fresh from my garden.  I used this recipe from the Vegan Street Kitchen and it was perfect!  A great way to use the zucchini too.  The thing I really liked about the recipe was the lack of refined sugars – maple syrup was the sweetener and it was just right.

Alecia seemed to enjoy it!

The cooking and baking fever continues around here, especially when I look out at my garden – growing so well as the Maryland humidity rises.  I am planning a series of posts about cooking/baking with herbs – especially herbs directly cut (or purchased fresh) from you garden:  I can’t wait to share some of the delicious recipes I have tried with you… in the meantime, here is one to whet your appetite.  A tried-and-true recipe from last year’s harvest that I am repeating this year…

Freshly cut basil from the garden to make the delectable vegan pesto!

* I looked up the word “relish” to get an idea of the etymology – and I came across this definition: to relish – to take zestful pleasure in   but I just love this definition.  ZESTful!  Yes!

PS - Yes, I am gung-ho about my veganism.  Yes, I realize that this is a huge topic that could take many posts to discuss and explain.  My veganism is very important to me, but I will never force my opinions on anyone.  I don’t like to be preached to, and I will not do this to others. Food and what we eat are sensitive matters that can be just as touchy and controversial as discussing politics and religion.  The one thing that I will say is that it is very important to know and understand where your food comes from and how it arrives on your plate;  for your health, your longevity, and your general happiness.  Veganism is a choice I have made, although I have family and good friends who continue to eat meat and dairy products.  I myself have not felt the complete conviction to eschew all of my animal fibers in my yarn stash, but I follow the same maxim here – I like to know where my products come from.  Thanks for reading, and if you would like to hear more about this, let me know by email or in the comments section… I am considering an addendum page to this blog about food politics and choices, as it is something that I deeply care about and would be happy to provide information about my path.

Something about summertime has always meant lots of reading… perhaps it is the leftover summer reading lists from school days or just the final *ahhh* of putting aside textbooks for pleasure reading.  I am no longer in school, but this is a habit that I have subconsciously held on to over the years.  No doubt the folks at the public library think that I hibernate and only come in for books at the beginning of June…

My reading list has probably quadrupled since I joined GoodReads last year.  It is just such a fun way to share reviews and to keep up with other readers.  If you haven’t checked it out, there is quite a fun community over there – lots of knitters! – and some really thoughtful reviews.  You can browse bookshelves, add books to your queue, add reviews, join book “clubs”, contribute to book lists, take quizzes… suffice to say, it is just really fun.  If you are interested, you can see my profile here – and feel free to “friend me” if you make an account too!  I will share some abbreviated book reviews here, but if you want to read more, please check out the reviews on the website!

• City of Thieves by David Benioff

A family history.  A winter in the depths of war.  A journey and task worthy of Odysseus.  All the makings for quite a story.  It’s no wonder that Benioff has screenwriting on his resume, because this book is just supposed to be a movie.  And not in the way that the book was pitched and written just to make it into one – it is just the writing style, and it is completely enjoyable.  Two young men, both accused of small crimes by the Leningrad police are given a seemingly impossible task in order to gain their freedom:  gather a dozen eggs for the army officer’s daughter’s wedding cake.  Of course, finding eggs in war-torn, poverty-stricken, starving Leningrad during the German siege is next to impossible.  It is a good story and I just couldn’t put it down. [Goodreads review]

• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Ann Barrows

This book is currently making the book club circuit, and enjoying a nice long run near the top of the bestseller list.  It isn’t surprising that the book would be so popular – it is a lovely heartwarming story about a group of people who live on the Channel island of Guernsey.  The novel is completely epistolary, taking everything from letters, diary entries, and a few “newspaper” accounts.  An English author takes interest in the small island and their experiences during occupation during World War II.  It is a light read on the surface, but with any novel relating to war, there are deep undercurrents.  It was an enjoyable book and a very pleasant way to spend the day at the beach.  [Goodreads review]

• Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson

This was one of the most lyrically beautiful books that I have read in a long time.  It was purely enchanting.  It is so hard to believe that it is translated from the original Norwegian when it just flows so naturally.  That being said, I felt so mesmerized by the beauty of the language that I felt a little confused with the events in the story… Trond moves deep into the Norwegian forest, seeking a solitary life in his old age.  The book centers around Trond’s memories from post-war Norway, specifically the summer of 1948, when he was a young teenager.  When he finds out that one of his neighbors in the woods is a person from his past, the memories flow back.  The prose is spare and minimalist, much like the setting of the book, but the words are so full of emotion and gravitas.   It was truly something to take in.  [Goodreads review]

• Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff

The structure of this book was so unique, and a little odd, honestly… but I just. kept. reading. Woke up in the morning and wondered how Willie was doing, like she was a real person…Willie returns to her home town on a very fortuitous day:  they day the locals retrieve a “Nessie”-like creature from her town’s well-known lake.  This little bit of fantasy has metaphorical meaning with the rest of the book, as Willie researches her family’s history in search of the identity of her father.  Quite an interesting debut.  The many references to archaeology and archives really hit close to home since I studied archaeology in school and I am now an archivist! [Goodreads review]

• A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World by Tony Horwitz

This was my third Horwitz book to read, so I guess I am an official fan now… the premise of the book is to fill in the gaps from our primary and secondary educations about how the “New World” or North America and the Caribbean were truly “discovered” and by whom.  Horwitz travels extensively and meets all sorts of people who share their anecdotes about the European explorers who came to their area.  Some of the books section were very familiar (learned from my recent trip to Jamestown, Virginia) or buried a little in the past (my New Mexico history class in middle school) oe things I never even knew about in the first place (De Soto’s travels throughout the southeast).  Other books may have covered the historical bits in a more comprehensive way, but Horwitz’s style and approach seem much more readable and fun!  [Goodreads review]

What are you reading this summer?