The Sunday Salon: Why I Read. And You?
I suppose it depends on what types of books you read, but since I read novels, mostly I read to live a life other than my own for a while. I read to get away, to dream of somewhere far away, or to understand where someone is coming from better. I love international fiction because I can travel somewhere I have never been, or walk the streets in a well known village 8,000 miles away. I am teleported through reading to a dream or a nightmare, depending on the book. I can live an exciting night, even though I don't have a million dollars for travel fees and a babysitter that night!!
I guess movies could be the same thing, but they really aren't, for me at least. Because they don't allow me to take my time, I am on their schedule and just working on keeping up most of the time with what is being said and the images that flash on screen. In reading, I live longer in the places I want to and skip-run-jump through those that freak me out. I like reading.
I have recently been transported to China while reading The Kitchen God's Wife (Amy Tan), to a Russian threatened Afghanistan in The Photographer (graphic novel), and through racial and spacial bounds in Zimbabwe in Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. Where have you been lately? Have your travels taken you pleasant places or nightmareish-ones? Do you read for the same reasons as me or different reasons?
A Love To Last Forever
A Love to Last Forever
Brides of Gallatin County Series Vol. 2
By Tracie Peterson
368 Pages
Pioneer Historical Fiction (Christian)
Bethany House Publishers
Published April 2009
Growing up Beth Gallatin has only been able to put down short roots in a community before she was moved along by her father. Just as she fell in love with a place their father would move them on to the next stop, he did have legitimate reasons, work, a house, a better town, a safer place for his daughters, still she resented it. She has made a secret vow to stay in one spot, with one man and raise a family in one community for the rest of her life. A Love to Last Forever is a story of roots, love, lasting promises and forgiveness, and learning the lesson that you really don't always know what is best for you.
I can relate to Beth in this book and it was fun to go through the process that Tracie Peterson took me on. Her writing was good, the characters worked for me, but it was slow for me and it didn't capture my attention until the mid-point. I don't mind a good Christan fiction book from the pioneer days, but this just wasn't it for me. It is the second in a series and I think I will pick up the third book sometime, but I make no promises. It was okay, just not spectacular. I had high hopes as last year I read two really good books from Bethany House. A Love to Last Forever just didn't do it for me.
55/100
Here are two Christian Fiction books that I really enjoyed:
From A Distance by Tamara Alexander
Deep in the Heart of Trouble by Deeanne Gist
What are some Christian Fiction books that you have loved? How did they win you over?
The Islands of Divine Music
The Islands of Divine Music
by John Addiego
256 pages
Unbridled Books
Fiction
A generational story of a little girl, Rosari, who has to flee with her family from Italy because of her collaboration in a crime. She wrote a kidnap note for some coins, a choice that would change her life forever. The Islands of Divine Music contains the history in her family from that day forward. Filled with deep character development, as each member of the family is a story by him/herself. The chapters are set up to narrate one individuals life, to share the choices they made, their thoughts and hopes. It is character development at its best! The Islands of Divine Music was truly a unique book. There are some minor twists and turns, but mostly it just isn't predictable enough to really even need them in order to keep the reader going.
John Addiego wrote a book in which the plot carries itself so well that it might as well be a non-fiction read. The story seams real, not made up. There is a family tree in the beginning, and as the chapters move through the reader can understand where each individual is being added in. I had no idea how much I was going to enjoy this John Addiego's novel. Each subject comes up out of the type and you think of them for days after the book is finished. John Addiego is an excellent writer. I highly recommend this read to people who like a good storyline, a great plot, with good detailing and history to back up the family and to those who enjoy superb character development, this is your read!
Have you read The Islands of Divine Music? What were your thoughts? Did you like how he did the chapters, having the reader get to know one family member at a time?
Some of my other recommendations for good books filled with character development and beautiful details, so make sure you check these out if you enjoyed The Islands of Divine Music:
The Vanishing Moon by Joseph Coulson
My Antonia by Willa Cather
The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
Paper Towns
Images courtesy of Penguin Young Readers Group
Paper Towns
by John Green
320 pages
YA Fiction
Dutton Books Publishing
Margo Roth Spiegelmen is the average hip girl at school who seemingly has all that she wants and then some, she has the cool friends, the designer jeans and a boyfriend. Late at night, a couple of months before prom and graduation of her senior year she barges into Quintin Jacobsen's life begging him to do some pranks together (probably because he has access to a car). He is the opposite of cool, he hangs out with geeks, is cautious and is bullied. He has loved her for years and any time spent in her company is a dream. He agrees, they go, it is fun and the Paper Towns goes on from there.
Filled with high school-esk relationships and issues, from parties to prom, this book is deeper than one would expect from the initial chapters. Yes, it still is about high schoolers, but the themes are deeper and more intense than other feel good YA books. I can't quite nail down why but I really didn't like it as much as I was hoping. I liked the beginning and the end chapters, there was a certain lul in the middle that almost made me give up the reading. I am glad I stuck it out because the nuggets are at the end, but it was a close call several times for me.
It was entertaining, but I just didn't come away feeling like it was that good. It was a Young Adult book that may be just that, designed so perfectly for Young Adults that the rest of us really should keep our noses out.
What did you think of Paper Towns? How did you like Margo?
60/100
If you want some Young Adult book recommendations, here are three of my favourites:
The Hunger Games
The Boy in Striped Pajamas
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
What did you think of Paper Towns? How did you like Margo?
Into the Beautiful North
Into the Beautiful North
by Luis Alberto Urrea
342 pages
Published by Little Brown and Company
Fiction
Luis Urrea is a master story teller at its best. He effortlessly interweaves mystery, intrigue, heartache, love and humor in a way that shows his true ingenuity as an author. In Into the Beautiful North he tells the story of Nayeli, and a group of her close friends and an adventure they are determined to live out. When they realize their town is lacking in male companions and defenders (after watching the Magnificent Seven) they take it into their own hands and head across the boarder to the US where so many of their men have gone for work with the intention of bringing some back. The town of Sinaloa is on the verge of being attacked by narcs and other such lawless men who have also been noticing the lack of men. Nayeli and her clan must be quick, but the boarder patrol has other plans for them.
Into the Beautiful North brought me from far away lands of wonder in little towns in Mexico to discovering even the country I live in under a new hue. The theme of illegal immigrants is a big one in this read, and I enjoyed that Luis Urrea refrained from putting himself on either side of the debate, mostly he just allows the reader to simply learn of details of illegals without feeling the need to defend ones stance. I like learning just through people, seeing the picture just a little better through someone elses' eyes, mostly the emotional side of it impacted me this time.
The plot and story are so fun and interesting to read but the characters are also very well developed, I enjoyed every second of Into the Beautiful North and I know I will be coming back to read more books by Luis Alberto Urrea very soon. I thought It was going to be a book of hardship and darkness, because so much international fiction seems to be used as a way to open the world's eyes to the deadliness of the world, this book was so far from gloomy while never neglecting reality. I applaud Urrea for this amazing novel, which shatters stereotypes of international fiction. Let me say though, that just because of the lightness of the book, that does not mean it is lacking in depth, the characters go through scary times.....but it is the overlying theme of endurance and purpose that strings the reader from page to page just to get to that very last drop. ENJOY!
90/100
Do you love international fiction too? Please share! Could you give me some other titles that are hopeful like Into the Beautiful North? I get the point of bringing up heaviness in novels, but after you have read a lot of them you either become jaded or you can't stop crying. Maybe that is just me, is it?
Oh, make sure you check back in for some author event photos of when I got to meet Luis Alberto Urrea in person! I'll give you the whole scoop on him, check back tomorrow.
The Secret Keeper
The Secret Keeper
by Paul Harris
321 Pages
Fiction/Mystery Thriller
Dutton Books
April 2009
To Danny Sierra Leone used to be a distant land, one filled with unknown plights and faceless bodies, but after his first trip there those bodies have faces, and the plights have a scene. He is a journalist and is sent on assignment to the war zone of Sierra Leone to be the eyes and ears of his newspaper for the world. While there Danny is captivated by an American woman, Maria. She lives in Sierra Leone working with the child soldiers from the RUF giving them what no one else dares, a second chance.
He fell hard for Maria while he was there, but that was four years ago. Life has taken him back to his homeland now, London. There he has a wonderful girlfriend, Rachel, he has a job, and while he has every intention of getting on with life and forgetting all the events of Sierra Leone. This resolve crumbles when he gets a distressed letter from Maria telling him that she needs him. What does it take to leave life behind in order to sort out ones past? A letter, a feeling, a desire?
Sierra Leone is far from being at peace. Upon his arrival Danny sees through the intentions of painted facades and slightly spruced up neighborhoods to the core of reality. While he searches for answers to his own questions, he uncovers dirt that was meant to hide. The Secret Keeper by Paul Harris is a mystery, a thriller, a murder mystery, but more than that it is about a nation of people who are learning to live together again and about one man who’s heart is stretched between two nations.
I completely enjoyed my time with The Secret Keeper. The mystery and thrill took me along for the ride easily and the descriptions and perspectives made the conflict in the book come alive completely to me. I have high expectations of international fiction since is that is what I read most often, and The Secret Keeper did not disappoint! Paul Harris captivated my heart and my mind in this great read, I enjoyed it all out. I found myself biting my nails and forgetting to stop to eat!
Dreadlock Girl rating: 89/100
Make sure you check back tomorrow! I will have a guest post by the author of The Secret Keeper, Paul Harris. He was a correspondent for four years in Africa where he covered the conflict of Sierra Leone. Paul is currently the US corespondent for The Observer and lives in New York City. He will be writing about child soldiers,worldwide. I can’t wait, but I will and I’ll post the guest post tomorrow.
For more information on this book, and the Paul Harris: The Secret Keeper
Secret Son
Secret Son
by Laila Lalami
291 pages
Fiction, International Fiction, Morocco
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
13, April 2009
An illegitimate son living in the slums comes to know that the story of his life is a lie, his father wasn’t killed, and his mother is not a widow, but he was shielded from the truth. Set in Morocco, there is a difference in class systems and Laila Lalami captures the heart of this barrier with great depth. Her writing is pretty, practical and always honest, even when it hurts. There is one specific part where the son, Youssef narrates a chapter and in the subsequent chapter his new found wealthy father narrates that same time from his perspective, I loved that!
As in so much of the world, whether seen and spoken or ignored classes exist and the reprocutions of these systems are brought to life in Secret Son. This is a battle of the classes at its best. A son who should have lived the life of absurd luxury that his father is living, dinning on $300 plates of seafood, but because his mother was a maid he lives in the slums and they attempt to make ends meet. Will the wealth of his father entice Youssef to leave the mother who stuck by his side and had to forsake her entire family in order to keep him?
This is a book of relationships, dreams and the desire to make something of oneself, however most importantly it is of family, and the ties and bonds that hold us tight even after years and years of separation.
I enjoyed this read, but not as much as I started out to. Somehow there was a downturn three fourths of the way through, the story seemed to switch gears and become more political, less personal and I was lost in the mix. I did like the book, I just thought when I started out that I was going to love it and that was not the case. However because there are so many aspects of the book that severely intrigued me I do feel it is a good read. I went to Morocco when I was in high school, I am interested in the different class systems around the world, I love reading internationally and I am all about relationships in books and plots that twist around and around. If those are subjects you feel a drawn towards, you should check out Secret Son by Laila Lalami.
Laila Lalami’s website
Blog filled with cool stuff and tour dates
Laila Lalami Author Book Event at Powell’s Books:
Laila Lalami, the author of Secret Son was at Powell’s and I was able to get up there with Alyce from At Home With Books to the author event. It was such fun, there were people asking weird questions during the Q&A (and I mean REALLY weird questions, that had nothing to do with the book!) and much more to laugh about. Laila Lalami was so sweet…even after I blurted that I had been to Morocco and didn’t really love it. What is my deal!? I can’t help but let the truth explode from my mouth. AHHH!
Of course, you know me by now, photos are a must!
If you haven’t seen the Powell’s Books podium…believe me it is the craziest podium ever. HUGE!
Laila was so sweet, very personable and just my size! (A big thank you to Alyce for these photos!!!)
Alyce got found some books to take home, she was a blast to hang with. Too fun.
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