Feather Man
I started this last night, with every intention of reading it the whole way through. I have actually been looking forward to getting to it and thought that I could skim over the sexual abuse scene. I won't. I didn't make any new year's resolutions, but I have decided that I just can't handle certain things, child sexual abuse is the biggest one for me. I just can't read about it. I think it is because I now have children and it just is wrong for me to seed fear in my life.
I will say that this book is really well written, really so well written that I so longed to just be able to skim the abuse, but I can't it is too much for me. I would love to send this book on to someone who would read and review it. As I feel that it does serve a purpose, and a good purpose. I do want a review though, so if you are going to just put this on your shelf, please don't contact me about it. I got this from LiteraryVenturesFund and really do believe in what they are doing and want to have this book reviewed somewhere.
If you are interested in my proposal, comment below and I will select one of you to send this book to. I will not do a random selection on this drawing, I will choose one of you to do it.
Edited to include some book information (thanks ramya!!)
Book Description (from Literary Ventures Fund):
Set in Brisbane, Australia, during the stultifying 1950s, and moving to the grubby London of the 1970s, Feather Man is about Sooky, who, ignored by her parents, is encouraged to make herself scarce and visit Lionel, the farmer next door—there, an incident will take place that will impact the rest of her life.
Against the backdrop of rural Australia and the London art world, McMaster meticulously paints the landscapes of Sooky's internal and external worlds through a narrator that brings to mind Scout of To Kill a Mockingbird.
Following Sooky from her neglected childhood to womanhood and her entry into the art world, the book combines comedy with emotional intensity. When Sooky's attraction to Redmond leads her to London, her past follows her into the future in a deadly confrontation.
Awards:
- A Pick of the week at Boston.com (The Boston Globe)
- A September Indie Next List pick from the American Booksellers Association
- Winner, the Barbara Jefferis Literary Award
- Winner, University of Technology, Sydney, Glenda Adams Award for New Writing
- Short-listed for the Australian Literary Society's Gold Medal Award
Love and Other Natural Disasters
Title: Love and Other Natural Disasters
Author: Holly Shumas
Pages: 352
Genre: fiction, family relationships
Yearly Count: 4
Eve, a pregnant wife and mother. She never sees that her life could change from its suburbia, soccer mom state to what she grew up with, father figures who weren't right, a mom who wavered and a family that was being torn apart.
Her husband's emotional affair bubbled to the surface on Thanksgiving day during their afternoon dinner. From then on it was all downhill. She questions every motive and feeling that Jon (her cheat husband) has ever displayed towards her. Has he ever really loved her at all?
Seriously, what did I think? Well...it was kinda like reading a bad dream or a nightmare. I think that may be what the author was aiming for, but it was too much for me. I read it late into the night and then had those scary dreams that start after you have done something horrible and you know it is horrible, but you can't go back and change it. Most of the night I had dreams like that.
To me it seemed that the point Holly Shumas was getting at is that emotional affairs do come with just as many consequences as physical affairs and that our society needs to understand and recognize that. For me though, I believed that already and more than anything now I just get to go though and clear my mind out of all the negativity from Eve and Jon's constant fighting and chaos.
I did find the book interesting, I did. It was almost like that TV show that you know you should just quit but you can't because you want to know how they end up. It was too much emotional trauma for me to handle. I live the books I read and because of that I need to be careful with what I read, this was not a great choice for me. All that said, it was intriguing, interesting and suspenseful. I thought that it was well written and insightful as well, now I know more than ever before....that I don't want to ever go there, and that it is much easier than you think to make some poor choices that will impact your whole family.
What about you, are you like me? Do you live the books that you read, feel the pains the hurts deeply or do you just read? I am sure there is a wide range of people out there...I am very empathetic and I literally feel it. Are there some books that you try to stay away from because they are too hard for you?
Author blog: Holly Shumas Musings
My Antonia
My Antonia
by Willa Cather
250 pages
Fiction
Told through the voice of her childhood friend Jim Burden, Antonia becomes a beloved character for what she endures, what she gives out and mostly how she inspires. Antonia is an immigrant girl who moves with her family to the plains of Nebraska. There is so much in this book, people learning to accept immigrants and their customs, people getting along, childhood memories, and yet My Antonia is mostly about a woman, her choices, her value and the endurance of love.
This book has been sitting on my shelf for about a year or so. I needed a change of pace and picked it up, I could smack myself for not doing so sooner. I loved My Antonia. It is hard for me to explain all the reasons, but I know that the most significant was the value of unending love and friendship. Jim holds his love for Antonia for years and years, if not in his day to day life in his memory. The unyielding life that the main characters show and just the nitty-gritty of growing up as pioneers is extremely enchanting.
Technically I read this this year (2009) but I can still say that it is in my top 5 books ever. I tried and failed to find even one imperfection with My Antonia, I am stunned by Willa Cather's ability, she did win the Pulitzer prize and know for sure I will have to grab another of her books soon. My Antonia was simple, beautiful and I enjoyed reading every word.
My Antonia easily earned a Stellar Five Chicken Book Award from me!
Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe
Title: Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe
Author: Jennie Shortridge
Pages: 400
Yearly Count b: 86
Mira in her attempt to create a perfect life, alienates those around her when her only wish is that the family would actually be a unit, a bonded whole. Her daughter acts like she hates her and she soon finds out that her husband is just not feelin' the love either. Her world is shattered and in her attempt to cope she heads for Seattle, a land of coffee and rain sheds light on where she is at in her life.
Jennie Shortridge's writing is so down to earth, so beautiful and yet so captivating. The whole book I felt captivated by her characters and moved and stirred with them. I love the cover, coffee art is incredible. Take a look at one amazing cup of hot chocolate I got while at the Bipartisan Cafe...on stark, or something (in Portland). It is an amazing leaf! I wish I had been watching them, I had no idea to expect something so beautiful, and the flavour was just as good.
I found myself so interested in the plot that it was what I thought about. When you want your life to be perfect, those in it to be perfect, will all the people involved be able to hold up under the pressure? Will you? I am not entirely sure she craved perfection though. But she did feel a need to control her surroundings. I know I do that, I like to have things be the way I like them. I could really relate to Mira, in her thoughts, desires and her desire to have things under her control. And I think most people, if not everyone have that fear that if someone really knows you, I mean really knows you that they would run as fast as they could. I really enjoyed reading this, as I said the writing is spectacular for its relatability and personal feel, Jennie does an exceptional job with character development. And the plot, is really good....I guess you'll just have to find out! A must read for sure!
I am the last stop on the TLC Tour, Hope you enjoyed the journey with us :) Happy reading!
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Off the Menu
Title: Off the Menu
Author: Christine Son
Pages: 368
Yearly Count b: 82
Initially I was really excited to read Off the Menu, then while reading the first chapter I wondered what I had gotten myself into, but from then on I was forever captivated. Off the Menu is a deep and satisfying read that was really hard to put down! I thought that I would have to try to work myself into a positive mood to enjoy the book, but it was so much better than that! I love Christine Son's writing, it is endearing, gentle and beautiful. She picks up and leaves off in each chapter with another one of the three valedictorian friends Hercules, Audrey and Whitney that have known each other since high school, and I found myself along for the whole thing. Once I hopped on, Christine did not ever disappoint.
I figured that Off the Menu would be a feminine book about being in love or finding love or something of the sort. I am a stickler for covers, sorry. I it really seems to put Off the Menu under a stereotype that I don't think it belongs in. It is so much more than a romance/ women's novel! It is filled with relationships, endurance, and high expectations placed by the oneself, or the parents, it is so much more than the cover would suggest.So beware that if you have avoided this book because of the cover...you are really missing out.
I will steer clear of generalizations, but the most of the Asian students and youth that I have known growing up do really have to battle between what the expectations their parents place on them, and their own fulfilled or unfulfilled dreams. Even in junior high in Korea kids get up ever earlier than school starts to go to tutoring, and then from that to school, from school they go to a different tutor. I had a roommate in high school that told me that she would get home at 11 pm from studying and then have to be there at 5 am again! I don't know about you, but my junior high days were no where near that complicated. Yes, I know that Americans do have expectations for their children as well, and that is obvious to me too, but not in the same way, to the level of intensity that I have seen it in the Asian and Asian American families that I know. The stakes somehow seem higher, like impossibility is expected, and respect for their parents wishes is the norm (where here it is certainly not). I enjoyed the character portrayals of the different types of women, and how they coped with these pressures in life, the busyness, the side jobs or side dreams, the reality that they were getting old and needed to marry. Each character was equally enticing to me, however I did enjoy Hercules the most but that was because somehow I related to her more than to anyone else.
I am in awe of Christine Son because Off the Menu was so much more than I had ever expected. I really enjoyed all of it (except somehow the first chapter??) and I would recommend it, highly. So it gets my funky award: The Happy Chicken :) enjoy!
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and remember to:
Off the Menu TLC reviews and interviews:
Estella’s Revenge e-zine (author interview)
Literarily (author guest post and giveaway!)
Beastmomma (author interview)
Book Nut
Ramya’s Bookshelf
Ramya’s Bookshelf (author interview)
Pop Culture Junkie
8Asians
Savvy Verse and Wit
In The Pages
She is Too Fond of Books
Planet Books
B&b ex Libris
The remaining TLC stops:
Wednesday, November 19th: DISGRASIAN
Thursday, November 20th: Booking Mama
Monday, November 24th: The Literate Housewife Review
Tuesday, November 25th: Feminist Review
Wednesday, November 26th: Diary of an Eccentric
Inhearitance of Loss
Title: Inheritance of Loss
Author: Kiran Desai
Pages: 357
Yearly Count: 60
Awards: Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2006
I have been searching for this book and didn't even know it was this book I searched for. I wanted a book of daily details, of life of the people of India, a book that would be not so much filled with Indians who live outside of India, but of those who are there. I know this is a novel, and that it is not fact. I also know that I fell in love with the small details of India, the way tea is prepared, the way the pastries and food are rambled about, the words used to display affection, desire, and hate. I loved the storytelling qualities of Desai, working little every day Indian details and descriptions up into a stunning form of art. I was interested in the story, the plot, the characters and in a dream-like way immersed in a culture so far away.
The Inheritance of Loss is a book that follows several different people, their thoughts and dreams laid bare to the reader, they are vulnerable and real. The silliness of the wealthy is shown, placed in obvious display of ridicule...which I found endearing, and at the same time sad in many ways. Desai filled her novel with current (when it was written) details, of uprisings, protests, violence and how the general joe lives. I haven't found a better glimpse into the society of India.
I have read several books about India, or mostly about Indians, I have read Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake, Karma and Other Stories by Rishi Reddi I am not sure this is my favourite, because I really did like The Interpreter of Maladies, but it is about equal with that read for me. I enjoyed it because it was different, a deeper portrayal, a darker glimpse, and one of those who stayed in India. It filled in answers, explained rivalries, and political issues...I really did enjoy it. I will say that sometimes I found it a little hard to follow, or at times slow. It is certainly worth a read though :) enjoy.
Other blogger reviews:
Wendy at Caribou's Mom
Gentle Reader at Shelf Life
Have you reviewed this too??? Let me know and I will link to you :)
Run
Title: Run
Author: Ann Patchett
Pages: 304
Yearly Count: 58
Run, Ann Patchett's latest bestseller. The story of a family, and the process they go through when their mother dies, and leaves her mamma shaped hole, that is to be filled and not to be filled. The storyline is much more complex than that though, Doyle's young wife dies after recently adopting two children. Doyle will be the mayor, the kids will grow up, but what impact will the loss of their wife/mother have on them?
I enjoyed this book, it was fun to read. The language was so pretty and fluid and I found it new and refreshing. I haven't read anything else by Ann Patchett before, even though I do own Bel Canto. This book really stirred in me emotions, and feelings and I loved it enough to allow myself the vulnerability. Twists and turns made the story less predictable, and kept my interest really well. Run made me realize I should get on top of things and read Bel Canto for sure.
The characters felt real, deep and worth knowing, their situations intense and intriguing, and there was for sure a strong connection that I felt toward it all. A great read. Go for it!
Thank you Gayle ( from Everyday I Write the Book )for the opportunity to read this!!!
have you read it? give me your link!!
Other blogger views:
Softdrink at Fizzy Beverage
Anna at Diary of an Eccentric
Serena at Savy Verse and Wit
Dar at Peeking Between the Pages
Mary at Bookfan-Mary
Gayle at Everyday I Write the Book Blog
Katherine at A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore
Jessica at Bluestocking Society
Marcia at Printed Page
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