Recently Read, Vol. 1 - Jane's Picks
I'm calling this first edition 'Jane's Picks' because she recommended all the books in this post to me. This is sort of a two-fold post. The first thing I wanted to do was get in the habit of posting about books I read. I've acquired the habit (again) of going into a book store and just buying something that looks good or that the storekeeper recommends. I hit up the First Street Bookstore across from COM, next to the Pacific Cafe like 8 times last semester; and while the books aren't priced like amazon or even B&N in Corte Madera, there are only a couple of women who work there and all they do is read and sell books (by the looks of it...) so far everything I've picked up there has been interesting.
Additionally, I source books to read from friends. In that respect the second intention of this post is to (hopefully) start a dialogue about what good books are out there... and get the sharing process going. I think before now would have been too early as there were, like, maybe 2.5 people who even knew about this site but based on the stats, emails and comments I have been getting it looks like a few people tune in with some regularity... so let me please encourage you to leave any kind of comments you like, start your own blog (please send me the address so I can link to it...), and/or share your Good Book finds as comments and I'll include them in future posts.
The little images link to reviews of the books that are more complete (and probably more well written too), mostly NY Times book reviews.
Recently Read, Vol.1
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
Jane and I started trading books about 7 months ago and I've found she has literary tastes similar to mine. This was a great recommendation, especially since it was the first new piece of fiction I'd read in awhile. Amir, the son of a wealthy man, and Hassan, the son of Amir's father's serving man, are best friends, nearly the same age and who grew up together. The story tracks Amir's life as an Afghani immigrant to America after the Taliban have taken control of his home country. The characters are so well written and it reads so much like a memoir I forgot it was a novel at times. The subject matter is also timely considering current events.
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, Jung Chang
This fantastic, multi-generational memoir documents the history of a family in China. The perspective spans three generations of women and tracks the lives and destinies of family members living through the protean social and political upheaval of China from the invasion and occupation of Manchuria by Japan, to the battle for control between the Kuomintang and the Communists. Fascinating.
Bel Canto, Ann Patchett
An unidentified South American country invites Mr. Hosokawa, the head of a powerful Japanese manufacturing company, to celebrate his birthday at the Vice President's house. Having declined the invitation initially, Mr. Hosokawa finally accepts because the host government has arranged for the world-famous opera star, Roxane Coss, and Mr. Hosokawa's favorite voice, to sing several pieces at the party. Ms. Coss has just finished her performance when all the lights go out and the house and all the guests therein are taken hostage. The story tracks the weeks and months of a hostage situation in which relationships and perspectives are redefined by the bizarre nature of the circumstances everyone finds themselves sharing. A wonderful read that draws you in quickly.
Additionally, I source books to read from friends. In that respect the second intention of this post is to (hopefully) start a dialogue about what good books are out there... and get the sharing process going. I think before now would have been too early as there were, like, maybe 2.5 people who even knew about this site but based on the stats, emails and comments I have been getting it looks like a few people tune in with some regularity... so let me please encourage you to leave any kind of comments you like, start your own blog (please send me the address so I can link to it...), and/or share your Good Book finds as comments and I'll include them in future posts.
The little images link to reviews of the books that are more complete (and probably more well written too), mostly NY Times book reviews.
Recently Read, Vol.1
The Kite Runner, Khaled HosseiniJane and I started trading books about 7 months ago and I've found she has literary tastes similar to mine. This was a great recommendation, especially since it was the first new piece of fiction I'd read in awhile. Amir, the son of a wealthy man, and Hassan, the son of Amir's father's serving man, are best friends, nearly the same age and who grew up together. The story tracks Amir's life as an Afghani immigrant to America after the Taliban have taken control of his home country. The characters are so well written and it reads so much like a memoir I forgot it was a novel at times. The subject matter is also timely considering current events.
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, Jung ChangThis fantastic, multi-generational memoir documents the history of a family in China. The perspective spans three generations of women and tracks the lives and destinies of family members living through the protean social and political upheaval of China from the invasion and occupation of Manchuria by Japan, to the battle for control between the Kuomintang and the Communists. Fascinating.
Bel Canto, Ann PatchettAn unidentified South American country invites Mr. Hosokawa, the head of a powerful Japanese manufacturing company, to celebrate his birthday at the Vice President's house. Having declined the invitation initially, Mr. Hosokawa finally accepts because the host government has arranged for the world-famous opera star, Roxane Coss, and Mr. Hosokawa's favorite voice, to sing several pieces at the party. Ms. Coss has just finished her performance when all the lights go out and the house and all the guests therein are taken hostage. The story tracks the weeks and months of a hostage situation in which relationships and perspectives are redefined by the bizarre nature of the circumstances everyone finds themselves sharing. A wonderful read that draws you in quickly.
posted by Peter at
11:39 PM
1 Comments:
i loved The Kite Runner, and Bel Canto.... you should also read Peace Like a River... the quote on the cover from the SF Chron says "This book reminds us of why we read fiction." the best book i've read in years, and i didn't even know that the author is from two towns over from Alexandria MN until after i'd read it (Osakis, home the famous Trixie's).... here's what i shameless stole off of amazon.com:
"To the list of great American child narrators that includes Huck Finn and Scout Finch, let us now add Reuben "Rube" Land, the asthmatic 11-year-old boy at the center of Leif Enger's remarkable first novel, Peace Like a River. Rube recalls the events of his childhood, in small-town Minnesota circa 1962, in a voice that perfectly captures the poetic, verbal stoicism of the northern Great Plains. "Here's what I saw," Rube warns his readers. "Here's how it went. Make of it what you will." And Rube sees plenty.
In the winter of his 11th year, two schoolyard bullies break into the Lands' house, and Rube's big brother Davy guns them down with a Winchester. Shortly after his arrest, Davy breaks out of jail and goes on the lam. Swede is Rube's younger sister, a precocious writer who crafts rhymed epics of romantic Western outlawry. Shortly after Davy's escape, Rube, Swede, and their father, a widowed school custodian, hit the road too, swerving this way and that across Minnesota and North Dakota, determined to find their lost outlaw Davy. In the end it's not Rube who haunts the reader's imagination, it's his father, torn between love for his outlaw son and the duty to do the right, honest thing. Enger finds something quietly heroic in the bred-in-the-bone Minnesota decency of America's heartland. Peace Like a River opens up a new chapter in Midwestern literature."
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andrea, at 6:54 PM
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