What does it mean to live in a hyperliterate world? This note by Tim Carmody published in the Atlantic gives us a glimpse.
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The Shattering Peace Now Out in Trade Paperback
10 hours ago
Friday, August 20, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
This is truly a most amazing book. If you are a fan of Yann Martel's after reading "Life of Pi", his fantasy adventure novel that was a huge success a few years back, then this is a natural follow up. If you have not read "Life of Pi" yet, I highly recommend that you do this first. Then read "Beatrice and Virgil". You will be exactly in the right frame of mind.
What's the book about? Well...it's about a donkey called Beatrice and a howler monkey called Virgil. They are characters in a play that a very creepy taxidermist has written. This taxidermist approaches the main character in the book, Henry, a famous novelist, for advice and help. This is the bare bones skeleton of the story. But Martel hangs so many psychological layers upon this framework to shape his story that by the end of the book your head is spinning and your heart is breaking.
This book is being put forward as a satire of the holocaust, and some have said it's not worth the emotional toll...but I highly disagree. This book represents writing at its most powerful. A writer who can manage to speak volumes between the lines of a simple basic story structure and who can work your emotions like a concert violinist playing a stradivarius is one who is a master storyteller and magician.
I think the best I can do to convey the nature of this book is to quote the author himself. In an interview, Yann Martel says this about Beatrice and Virgil:
"I often get asked the question why I use animals in my stories. Life of Pi was set in a zoo and featured a number of animals, and animals once again play a prominent role in my new novel, Beatrice and Virgil. Am I a great animal lover? Well, I suppose I am; nature is indeed beautiful. But the actual reason I like to use animals is because they help me tell my tale. People are cynical about people, but less so about wild animals. A rhinoceros dentist elicits less skepticism, in some ways, than a German dentist. I also use animals in my fiction because people rarely see animals as they truly are, biologically. Rather, they tend to project human traits onto them, seeing nobility in one species, cowardice in another, and so on. This is biological nonsense, of course; every species is and behaves as it needs to in order to survive. But this animal-as-canvas quality is useful for a storyteller. It means that an animal that people feel kindly towards becomes a character that readers feel kindly towards.
Why did I choose to write a novel about the Holocaust? There’s nothing personal to this interest; I’m neither Jewish, nor of German or eastern European extraction. I’m a complete outsider who’s been staring at this monstrous massacre of innocents since I first learned about it as a child living in France. It’s as an artist that I’ve kept coming back to the subject. What can I do as an artist about the Holocaust? I believe that if history does not express itself as art, it will not survive in common human memory. And so I took what I knew of the Holocaust, the cumulative knowledge of my reading and viewing and visiting (both to camps in Poland and Germany and to Yad Vashem in Israel and to various museums), and I set it next to that part of me that wants to understand through the imagination. Then I sat down and wrote Beatrice and Virgil."
Now, I strongly urge you to read this most amazing and powerful book. At the end I weeped for humanity, for the holocaust that took place emphasizing man's inhumanity to man, and for the animal holocaust that is currently raging. And I, like Henry, missed Beatrice and Virgil.
What's the book about? Well...it's about a donkey called Beatrice and a howler monkey called Virgil. They are characters in a play that a very creepy taxidermist has written. This taxidermist approaches the main character in the book, Henry, a famous novelist, for advice and help. This is the bare bones skeleton of the story. But Martel hangs so many psychological layers upon this framework to shape his story that by the end of the book your head is spinning and your heart is breaking.
This book is being put forward as a satire of the holocaust, and some have said it's not worth the emotional toll...but I highly disagree. This book represents writing at its most powerful. A writer who can manage to speak volumes between the lines of a simple basic story structure and who can work your emotions like a concert violinist playing a stradivarius is one who is a master storyteller and magician.
I think the best I can do to convey the nature of this book is to quote the author himself. In an interview, Yann Martel says this about Beatrice and Virgil:
"I often get asked the question why I use animals in my stories. Life of Pi was set in a zoo and featured a number of animals, and animals once again play a prominent role in my new novel, Beatrice and Virgil. Am I a great animal lover? Well, I suppose I am; nature is indeed beautiful. But the actual reason I like to use animals is because they help me tell my tale. People are cynical about people, but less so about wild animals. A rhinoceros dentist elicits less skepticism, in some ways, than a German dentist. I also use animals in my fiction because people rarely see animals as they truly are, biologically. Rather, they tend to project human traits onto them, seeing nobility in one species, cowardice in another, and so on. This is biological nonsense, of course; every species is and behaves as it needs to in order to survive. But this animal-as-canvas quality is useful for a storyteller. It means that an animal that people feel kindly towards becomes a character that readers feel kindly towards.
Why did I choose to write a novel about the Holocaust? There’s nothing personal to this interest; I’m neither Jewish, nor of German or eastern European extraction. I’m a complete outsider who’s been staring at this monstrous massacre of innocents since I first learned about it as a child living in France. It’s as an artist that I’ve kept coming back to the subject. What can I do as an artist about the Holocaust? I believe that if history does not express itself as art, it will not survive in common human memory. And so I took what I knew of the Holocaust, the cumulative knowledge of my reading and viewing and visiting (both to camps in Poland and Germany and to Yad Vashem in Israel and to various museums), and I set it next to that part of me that wants to understand through the imagination. Then I sat down and wrote Beatrice and Virgil."
Now, I strongly urge you to read this most amazing and powerful book. At the end I weeped for humanity, for the holocaust that took place emphasizing man's inhumanity to man, and for the animal holocaust that is currently raging. And I, like Henry, missed Beatrice and Virgil.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber
Anne Marie Roche is a widow and lives alone in an apartment over a book shop she owns. Her life has certainly not turned out the way she had expected it to. On Valentine's day, she and several other widows get together and decide to make a list of twenty wishes...not really a bucket list per se, but just things they always wanted to do but just hadn't gotten around to yet. Anne Marie's list starts with "Find one good thing about life", then she adds "learn to knit", etc. When she volunteers at a local school to be a "lunch buddy", she crosses paths with eight-year-old Ellen. As Anne Marie becomes more and more involved in Ellen's life (due to a life threatening illness concerning Ellen's grandmother, her primary caretaker) she finds that this isn't the casual relationship she thought it was going to be going in. In the meantime, we see how the twenty wishes lists of some of the other women play out in their lives.
This is the first Debbie Macomber book I've read, though she checks out very well at our library; after all, she has 60 million books in print and is a New York Times best selling author, as well as a leading voice in women's fiction. Now this quote comes directly from her website, but I find it really tells you all you need to know about the style of her books: "Debbie is best known for her ability to create compelling characters and bring their stories to life in her books. Drawing on her own experiences and those of her family and friends, she demonstrates an almost uncanny ability to see into the souls of women and to express their emotions, values and concerns. In every book her sense of humor enlivens her writing."
I must say I found the book very heartwarming and funny. I think I laughed out loud several times in just the early pages, so I was pretty well drawn into the story and characters from the beginning. Macomber writes a whole series of these Blossom Street books and based on my reading of this one I would definitely pick up another volume from the series, if not another one of her other books in general.
This is the first Debbie Macomber book I've read, though she checks out very well at our library; after all, she has 60 million books in print and is a New York Times best selling author, as well as a leading voice in women's fiction. Now this quote comes directly from her website, but I find it really tells you all you need to know about the style of her books: "Debbie is best known for her ability to create compelling characters and bring their stories to life in her books. Drawing on her own experiences and those of her family and friends, she demonstrates an almost uncanny ability to see into the souls of women and to express their emotions, values and concerns. In every book her sense of humor enlivens her writing."
I must say I found the book very heartwarming and funny. I think I laughed out loud several times in just the early pages, so I was pretty well drawn into the story and characters from the beginning. Macomber writes a whole series of these Blossom Street books and based on my reading of this one I would definitely pick up another volume from the series, if not another one of her other books in general.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Top 100 Killer Thrillers
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
On my Wish List
This one caught my attention because of the mini review from A. J. Jacobs...
"This wonderful memoir is about a prison library, but it’s also about love, religion, Shakespeare, murder, the human condition and Ali G. This is a book for everybody who loves books—felons and non-felons alike."
—A. J. Jacobs, bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically and The Guinea Pig Diaries
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
I like Nicholas Sparks. And I like his writing. I know some people consider him a bit treacly, but I have read most of his books and enjoyed them. He has a very big following in our library and a huge fan base. This book is one of my favorites of his.
Seventeen year old Ronnie Miller's life is in turmoil after her parents divorce. She and her brother Jonah are spending the summer with their father in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina where he moved from New York after the divorce. Ronnie is resentful and hateful towards her father, whom she blames for leaving them. Ronnie is scornful of all her father's attempts to reach out to her, but she does meet and fall in love with Will, a local boy who on the surface seemed not her type at all.
Her father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living quietly and working on a stained glass window for a local church. Over the course of the summer, their relationships will change and their lives will change dramatically. The feature film that was made starring Miley Cyrus as Ronnie and Greg Kinnear as her father has of course brought people to the library to check out the book.
This is a book all about love. It simply resonates on every page. Love can break our hearts and yet heal us at the same time. This book definitely drives that lesson home. It is an emotional book that will appeal to teens as well as other age groups. I suggest you keep a box of kleenex handy. You will need it for the last part of the book.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Neil Gaiman's Acceptance Speech for the Carnegie Medal
Listening to Neil's speech, made me feel like I was (in a weird way) looking through some sort of strange prism, watching myself. He so embodies my thoughts and feelings about books and reading and the importance of libraries. If you haven't read "The Graveyard Book" yet, what are you waiting for?
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
I know I should have finished this series a long time ago, but I have been reading them slowly, leisurely...just as each movie comes out--so I can read the book, then see the movie. I've got my tickets to the midnight premier of the movie, and just finished the book, so I'm ready.
This book continues the story of Bella Swan and her vampire lover Edward Cullen. In this book Bella is anxious to become a vampire, but Edward wants to marry Bella first, and to complicate matters, Jacob Black (her werewolf friend), declares his love for her too. Thrown into the mix is Victoria, a vampire who is hunting Bella for revenge, and Seattle murders that are being committed by an army of newborn vampires. The Cullens and the wolves join forces to combat this threat and Jacob and Edward manage to become allies. They defeat the newborns, but not before Jacob is hurt and Bella comes to the realization that her friendship with Jacob Black is more than just friendship. She is forced to confront the fact that she loves Jacob too...just not as much as Edward.
The touching scene where Bella has to confront Jacob after leading him on and ultimately rejecting him, is done better than I thought it would be. But I'm sure lots of Jacob fans will be angry with Meyer and disappointed with Bella by the end of this book. And if you were angry with Edward for leaving Bella in New Moon, you'll be much more sympathetic to him after Eclipse. His motivations are more completely explained and he really does seem to have Bella's best interests at heart--always.
An interesting twist is that when Jacob receives a wedding invitation in the last pages of the book, it is not from Bella it is from Edward. He then transforms into a wolf, and runs away to escape the heartache.
I do like this one the best so far, but one thing I really do have to remedy. I have to read "Wuthering Heights". There are many references to the book in Eclipse and it's got me really interested in finally reading it.
This book continues the story of Bella Swan and her vampire lover Edward Cullen. In this book Bella is anxious to become a vampire, but Edward wants to marry Bella first, and to complicate matters, Jacob Black (her werewolf friend), declares his love for her too. Thrown into the mix is Victoria, a vampire who is hunting Bella for revenge, and Seattle murders that are being committed by an army of newborn vampires. The Cullens and the wolves join forces to combat this threat and Jacob and Edward manage to become allies. They defeat the newborns, but not before Jacob is hurt and Bella comes to the realization that her friendship with Jacob Black is more than just friendship. She is forced to confront the fact that she loves Jacob too...just not as much as Edward.
The touching scene where Bella has to confront Jacob after leading him on and ultimately rejecting him, is done better than I thought it would be. But I'm sure lots of Jacob fans will be angry with Meyer and disappointed with Bella by the end of this book. And if you were angry with Edward for leaving Bella in New Moon, you'll be much more sympathetic to him after Eclipse. His motivations are more completely explained and he really does seem to have Bella's best interests at heart--always.
An interesting twist is that when Jacob receives a wedding invitation in the last pages of the book, it is not from Bella it is from Edward. He then transforms into a wolf, and runs away to escape the heartache.
I do like this one the best so far, but one thing I really do have to remedy. I have to read "Wuthering Heights". There are many references to the book in Eclipse and it's got me really interested in finally reading it.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
In the Wizard of Oz, we got only Dorothy's side of the story. In this highly imaginative book, Maguire tells us a bit more about the life and background of her arch-nemesis, the Wicked Witch of the West, and how she became so "wicked".
The book is broken into several sections. In "Munchkinlanders", we learn about Elphaba's early life. "Gillikin" takes us through her young adult years. "City of Emeralds" (one of my favorite sections) takes us through her first love affair and its tragic outcome. "In the Vinkus" concentrates on her life immediately prior to Dorothy's house falling out of the sky onto her sister, and the last section "The Murder and its Afterlife" tells the rest of the story.
What I liked about the book was the philosophical underpinning to the writing that was constantly challenging notions I had about good and evil. Surprisingly, Elphaba came off as a very sympathetic character at times, and the motives of others seemed to be questionable. I did think the book bogged down a little bit in the middle, but finished strong. I found it an interesting book and overall I'm glad I read it.
I haven't seen the stage play that is based on this book, but I understand it is very different from the book.
The book is broken into several sections. In "Munchkinlanders", we learn about Elphaba's early life. "Gillikin" takes us through her young adult years. "City of Emeralds" (one of my favorite sections) takes us through her first love affair and its tragic outcome. "In the Vinkus" concentrates on her life immediately prior to Dorothy's house falling out of the sky onto her sister, and the last section "The Murder and its Afterlife" tells the rest of the story.
What I liked about the book was the philosophical underpinning to the writing that was constantly challenging notions I had about good and evil. Surprisingly, Elphaba came off as a very sympathetic character at times, and the motives of others seemed to be questionable. I did think the book bogged down a little bit in the middle, but finished strong. I found it an interesting book and overall I'm glad I read it.
I haven't seen the stage play that is based on this book, but I understand it is very different from the book.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Message from Kate DiCamillo
Ms. DiCamillo won the Indie Choice Award for "Most Engaging Author". Here is her Acceptance Speech from the ABA's Celebration of Bookselling Luncheon at BEA.
Do yourself a favor a pick up any of DiCamillo's books. You won't be sorry.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
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