A Fine Balance

I am evil. Sorry I didn't post in months--I have actually been reading (not at a very fast rate, but making my way through my list nonetheless). It's been crazy with college applications, schoolwork, karate, holidays, life. But I'll try to come back now!

I'm going to start with A Fine Balance. It's actually kind of amazing that I didn't start my review of this right away, because I am telling you--this book was utterly incredible. I cannot sing its praises enough. If you recall how much I loved The Last Brother, this one is a close second.
So evocative of its India setting, this novel put you in the story and environment in a way that none of the other books I've read for this challenge have. I cannot even begin to describe how beautifully real and complex and just plain eccentric (yet believably so) the characters were. Please read this book. With non-preachy life lessons scattered throughout the pages, characters who become friends, and a story that is so smooth you hardly feel you are reading at all, A Fine Balance is a work like no other.
As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago, I was just going about my regular everyday business, and suddenly, without even consciously thinking about it, I said to myself, "I miss them." I honestly was just all of a sudden caught literally missing these characters; they were that real. It sounds crazy, I know. And maybe I'm just insane. But I really miss them. I feel the need to go back and read this book again, live again with Dina and Ishvar and Omprakash and Maneck in their suicidal house. I want to keep playing chess with them. I want to keep sewing clothes with them. I want to keep doing all those normal, but beautiful, things that they did that so managed to captivate me, not because they were incredible things, but because they were incredible people. Really, I miss them.

The Last Brother

Wow, it's been awhile. I finished The Last Brother, by Nathacha Appanah, and it was easily the best book I've read all year. This is my second-favorite book, only beaten by The Chosen, by Chaim Potok. The Last Brother was set in Mauritius (which is right here, for those of you who didn't know [like me!]: 
This book was an absolutely beautiful, stunning story of a young Mauritian boy who befriended a Jewish boy kept in a concentration camp on the island. A book which depends on its characters more than on a plot, it nevertheless kept me intrigued every time I picked it up.
Please, if you only read one more book before you die, make it this one. This story was so tragic, haunting, bitter, beautiful, immediate, real- you won't forgot it. You will read it over and over again. You will wonder how you even managed to live without having read it. The kind of book that makes you want to weep simply for the sake of weeping, The Last Brother is a masterpiece like none other.

The Ten Thousand Things

I finished The Ten Thousand Things, by Maria Dermout, today. Only 244 pages, this book was a quick, easy, and utterly unforgettable read. "The ten thousand things" refers to the ten thousand things that make up each person's life. This was a story of the main character's (Felicia's) ten thousand things. This was a story of pearls, magic, waves, friends, murder, protection, trees, selling, buying, stealing, knives, houses, chairs, docks, grass, love, children, eyes, boats, fish, color, night, sky, sun, nightlights, lamps, clothes, locks, and ten thousand other things.
It was the kind of book that is one of a kind. Even if I could find another book just like this one, I would not want to read it; I wouldn't want to ruin the beautiful mystique of this little book. I highly recommend this book, because I have never read anything just like it, and I don't think that I ever will again.

Child of Dandelions

Finished up Uganda's book, Child of Dandelions, by Shenaaz Nanji. While the actual writing was not all that good, the story itself was intriguing. If you are interested in the forced expulsion of Indians from Uganda, this book could be interesting; otherwise, I would try to find a different book, as this one's writing made it a little hard to follow, keep track of who was who, and really immerse yourself in it. However, it was a pretty good, quick read.
I'm trying to get back on track now; finishing this would be an amazing feat for me! Wish me luck!

Summer!!

School is out as of last Friday, so the summer now stretches ahead of me as an opportunity to catch up!!! Except for the fact that I'm writing 2 novels (campnanowrimo.org), finishing one from November (nanowrimo.org), completing geometry and chemistry, getting through trigonometry, keeping up with Spanish, going to the beach, having company, working part-time, taking karate, finding another job, drawing (100sketches.proboards.com), and doing who knows what else, I'm pretty open this summer! :D
I started A Fine Balance, and it is very good and easy to read. But 603 pages. So, we shall see how quickly I can complete it!

The Glassblower of Murano

I finished Italy- The Glassblower of Murano, by Marina Fiorato. This was a fine book, but the writing seemed a little elementary to me. As compared to some of the others, where I knew I was in the hands of a master, this one was just mediocre. But, I did learn something about Venice and the intriguing art of blowing glass. And a little interesting connection: in The Lady and the Unicorn (Belgium), there was a guild for the weavers- making sure women didn't do the weaving, keeping all the work set to a certain standard- and in The Glassblower of Murano, there was The Ten, an equivalent organization, keeping Venice's glass secrets from leaving the city, etc. So that was an interesting little note. I'm glad I read this book, even though it wasn't my favorite: a little history, a little modern love story, a lot of the magic of Venice- a decent little read.

Behind

So I'm very behind. 52 books in year is one book a week. It's been 20 weeks, and I've read 7 books. I should have read 14 more!!
This summer is not promising a lot of free time for me to catch up either- I have a college-level writing course beginning Monday, nannying up to 3 days a week, completing trigonometry over the summer, finding colleges and scholarships, training my karate, working part-time, writing a novel each in June and August... What will I do??
So I'm posting here. Any tips? How to read faster? Whether to catch up in a crazy-busy short period of time or to just slowly get back on track? If I should just bail?
Thanks for your ideas- I need 'em!

Waiting for Snow in Havana- Update

So I only have a minute here, but I realized I hadn't posted anything in quite a while. So, a quick update seemed like a good idea. I am currently reading Waiting for Snow in Havana, by Carlos Eire.

And I am in love.

With the writing style. With the story. With the realness of it. With the culture. With the land. With the people. With everything.

Left to right: King Louis XVI, Carlos, Marie Antoinette, Tony
Read the book to understand the French royalty names!

Unfortunately, Cuba is one of those places that you really can't just vacation to, but if it were, I would be there right now. I love everything about this book and the land and the life it tells.

This is my first nonfiction book, an autobiography of a boy growing up in Cuba. When he was 11, he was sent to the United States by his parents. His mother planned to come as soon as she could get her exit permit, and his father planned to stay behind with their belongings and his adopted son, but Carlos was sent to the U.S. with his brother, 3 years older than him, to live alone. He still lives in the U.S. today, and has not visited Cuba, and has no desire to, for reasons far too complex for this post. For the majority of the book, it is a warm recollection of his Cuban childhood, but there are flashforwards to his U.S. life.

Breadfruit, used as ammunition by Carlos and his childhood friends in The Breadfruit War

I cannot get over how much I love everything about this. There are countless stories of his neighbors, his family, his hatred of the lizards, his house, the land, Fidel, his school, his friends, the food. The turquoise sea, as he fondly calls it. The sun. The heat. The life.

This is definitely one to get your hands on and to read over and over again. It is a recollection so honest, so longing, and so there for lack of a better term, that it pulls on your heart and makes you, too, long for this essence lost.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

I finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog last night, my book from France. This book was far different than I had expected. I was wanting to get some ideas about culture, geography, food, etc from the books I read, but since I didn't actually research any of these books before I picked them (beyond whether they looked interesting), that's really my fault. But I did really like this book- it was very philosophical, which is something that I really like. The two main characters both lived in a very elite sort of neighborhood. One was a 12-year old girl who lived in this expensive apartment, while the other main character was the concierge. They complemented each other very well, but they didn't even really meet until pretty far through the book.
Probably the most inspiring thing I read was a quote from it that was something like "The purpose of life is to find those moments that are dying." This took me some time to figure out, and I'm sure that many people would understand it differently. The way I read it, it meant that the purpose of life is to find the moments you can never have again. The moments that are happening just for a moment, the moments where something beautiful is ending. In the book specifically, it was a flower petal falling almost silently to the floor, a moment where beauty was ending, but ending beautifully.
And speaking of endings, the ending of this book was stunning. I'd never actually read a book where the ending was so surprising that I thought I had read it wrong. But this book was that- quite an ending. This book was enchanting, absorbing, and quite thought-provoking.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog- Update 1

I started The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery. This one is set in France, and I've just started it-about 50 pages through. It seems promising (and hopefully quick! I have lots of catching up to do) and I am looking forward to finishing it. The concierge, I must say, is kind of getting on my nerves... She is obsessed with the idea that she is at the very bottom of the social food chain, even though she is intelligent and reads lots of classics, etc. So she has pretty much given up on trying to convince anyone that she is as capable of intelligent discussion and such as anyone else. She finds great joy in acting like the dimwit everyone conceives her as being. So we'll see if she starts growing on me. The 12-year old, Paloma, who plans to commit suicide when she turns 13, is extraordinarily intellectual and philosophical. So far, her part in the story consists of "profound thoughts" and thoughts on movement. Very interesting, definitely something that gives you something to consider. I will let you know how this one goes- hoping to be done in a few days!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society a few days ago, but I haven't had time to update yet. This was a very charming book, something that I would love to read again. The characters were original from the start and their quirks became more and more enchanting as I read on. The plot was wonderfully undefined, a book without a definite direction- unpredictable and very good. It was overall a light and easy read, although it certainly had some darker moments. This is the kind of book that you can read more than once- because it is deep in an accessible way, the characters are mesmerizing in their eccentricities, and the storyline is spirited in its form. Highly recommended, Guernsey is a delightful book sure to captivate its readers.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I began this long-titled little book a couple days ago and am finding it quite enchanting! It is a short read- I decided to go ahead and get it done so that I could feel that I was making progress, as Pillars has not been moving as quickly as I had hoped. This small novel is set in Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands (between England and France) and London. It is written as a series of letters between the main character Juliet and various others- her agent, friends, and the members of this literary society. The society was created during World War II as a quickly-hatched way for the members to avoid arrest by their German occupiers, and it grew into an intriguing little book club. Juliet is writing an article on the philosophical benefits of reading and has chosen to include this society in it, which is how she becomes acquainted, through the writing of letters
(which I am beginning to see as quite an art), with the charming and often eccentric members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I am looking forward to finishing this lovely little tale- an easy read with a fascinating perspective and a highly enjoyable host of characters

The Pillars of the Earth- Update 1

So I started The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett. It is a BIG book (976 pages!!). Naturally, when I saw it, I promptly decided that I had been quite a fool to choose books for this project based merely on interest value and not at all on length or challenge level (still not the most wise choice, but oh well!). Upon starting to read it, though, I found that it is written in a very easy style, and it didn't take too long to get through a sizable chunk. My grandparents were here for the weekend, so that slowed me down a little bit, but I should be able to finish it in a reasonable amount of time.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
The thing that I am really trying to get my head around right now is how quickly Tom (the master-builder, so far the main character) marries Ellen. His wife died during the night and by morning/midday he has asked this other woman to marry him. He seems like an honorable, honest man, though, so we'll see how he progresses during the story.
*****END SPOILER*****
So, I have only gotten through a little less than 100 pages of this, but the time period is interesting (Middle Ages), the characters have background and personality, and the plot, while it seems to have been a tad slow-moving when I think about it, has been actually rather gripping when I've been reading it.
Hopefully I will have time to read some more later tonight. When I've read a bit more, I will post another update. Until then, happy travels!

Half of a Yellow Sun

Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, was my fourth book- and the most stunning. The title refers to the flag of Biafra- This was set in Nigeria, but really in Biafra, a country in southeastern Nigeria. Biafra was a short-lived republic, but this novel beautifully shows the strong intensity that was a part of this nation's short lifetime.

Half of a Yellow Sun had a glorious mix of people- 5 main characters, but a whole host of additional ones who added an incredible depth and diversity to the story. It was about so many things more than the history of Biafra, which I found quite interesting, and I will try to give a little bit of my thoughts on the various storylines without giving too much away for those who want to read this- something I highly suggest you do.

The most stirring was the great number of deaths and the horrible way many of those came about. This novel was graphic, the kind of thing that you find yourself thinking about and shuddering, unable to comprehend the bitterness and hatred that would drive anyone to do something like that.

On a kinder note, I found the story of Olanna and Kainene, twin sisters raised in Nigeria, beautiful. They had grown apart over the years, twisted away from each other because of certain events as well as the simple passage of time. Throughout the book, though their relationship swung wildly up and down at times, they grew closer again. The war and the horrors of the war and the realities of the war were what helped them get back to such sisterly terms again, but in the end, the war was also what finally tore them apart.

Adichie described the war and all the tragedies that came along with it with the skillful words of a true master of her art. She told of the high-speed intensity of moments of panic so well I felt I was there, of the horrible sights and smells and sounds that I felt it was happening again. Another thing that I found intriguing yet awful was the way that Baby, Olanna's child, was so used to the war going on around her. She would be rushed into a bunker to avoid the bombings and merely play quietly with the crickets. She collected pieces of shrapnel for fun. The other children, too, were made so numb to the war that they continued to play war games with each other. Though most children at some time or other are sure to use sticks and free time to fight pretend battles, it seemed that in the midst of an actual war, they would act differently. These children, as, I am sure, many other children growing up in war zones around the world, didn't think twice about what was happening around them, so much so that they were able to pretend and laugh about the vicious realities that were going on so terribly.

For this book, I have it sitting on the table in front of me, and I have pulled out a few lines that seem apt. So to prevent any potential problems, the following is not owned by me in any way, shape or form :)

On page 361, there is the phrase "a memorial to death." In a way, I think, this was the driving force of this book. I don't know why Adichie wrote this, but to me, it seems that it was a sort of "a memorial to death."

On page 375, there is a poem. I will not write the entire thing here, but a few lines may suffice. The poem is telling in no uncertain terms about the children of Biafra, hungry and emaciated, and of a reporter come to take pictures of them. The last two lines read: "Naked children laughing, as if the man Would not take photos and then leave, alone." This struck me as a call to action. We sit and look through magazines, see commercials, of children and people in need. The reporters go to tell of it, but can they take the children with them? Can they take the suffering away from the sufferers? Maybe they can, maybe they can't. Maybe they do, maybe they don't.

On page 411, there is the line, the title of a poem that one of the characters wrote. It says, "If the sun refuses to rise, we will make it rise." This, too, I found to be a central theme- even if nothing is working for you, even if you don't even have light to struggle by, you can find a way to get the light and a way to make what you want to happen, what you need to happen, happen.

Overall, more than a story of love, or a story of war, this was a story of hope. Though the Republic of Biafra lost her long fight, the people who fought it nurtured their hope throughout the years. Even when the war was over, their pain and fighting and losses had not been in vain- because they had been in hope. If anything is done in hope, surely the end result, whatever it may be, was not reached in vain. 

Hatchet

Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen, was my third book. Set in Canada's wilderness, this is a pure survival story. It's a classic of sorts, but I hadn't ever read it, so this seemed like a good enough time. This was a very easy and quick read, nothing too complicated- but powerful. It's about a 15-year old named Brian who was going to see his dad, stranded in the middle of Canada after the pilot of the airplane he was in dies and the plane crashes. Brian is left alone with nothing but a hatchet that his mom gave him before he left. He survives for *checks* 54 days- and only thinks to get into the plane's survival kit a day or two before the end. During those days, he encounters a bear, a porcupine, a tornado (which made me wonder, do they actually have tornadoes in Canada? *checks again* Apparently.), and a vicious moose (evidently, they can have some temper!). Although this book was really intended for a younger audience, I was glad I read it. Being a survival/nature story, of course, I had the opportunity to get a little familiar with the landscape and wildlife of at least a small part of Canada. This was really a book about courage and hope and struggles, and if you have a few hours, it would be worth it to give this one a shot.

Ali and Nino

Post 2-
The second book I read for this was Ali and Nino, by Kurban Said. This was set in Azerbaijan (Azerbeidshan, as it is written in the text) around the time of the Russian Revolution, on the brink of World War I. The setting did shift a lot, from Baku to Persia to Daghestan to Georgia. It is, quite simply, a love story. Ali has been raised by his father to love Asia, to love the desert. He is solidly Muslim, but he falls in love with the Christian girl Nino from Georgia (the country, not the state). As they go from place to place, Kurban Said paints a stunningly beautiful picture of the countryside and the land, the traditions and the long-held feelings of hatred and love between the various people groups. One thing that struck me particularly was a scene in which Ali takes part in a mad sort of Islamic parade down the streets, the only time in the book where he seemed to have entirely lost a sort of consciousness of what he was doing. Like yesterday, that was random, but for whatever reason the scene ground itself into my memory. I did not expect the ending at all, and after I had read it, it took me a minute to process what had actually happened- the finish was done beautifully and with a swift certainty that seemed the only proper way for it to have ended.

I had never heard of this book before I read it, and I knew very little about the place where it was set or the traditions of that area. Ali and Nino can be read as a tale of love or a tale of war, a tale of lands or a tale of religions, but it was intricately woven across years and miles through every page.

The Lady and the Unicorn

Finally, I'm going to actually post something on this blog! First, a little introduction: I am challenging myself to read 52 books from countries around the world in 2012. It's a crazy idea, and I am very far behind, but if/when I finish, I am sure that I will be glad to have done it.

So, the first book I read was The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier. The geographical setting of this book was twofold- back and forth between Paris, France and Brussels, Belgium. It is set in the late 1400s, and I found it to be both an entertaining and an enlightening read. The story centered around an artist, Nicolas des Innocents, and a tapestry-weaver, Georges de la Chapelle. The tapestries mentioned in the title are a set of 6 tapestries, and they are currently held in the Musée de Cluny in Paris. I know far more now than I did before I read this about tapestry weaving- and it was very labor-intensive work. Tapestries would take months or years to weave. First, a cartoonist would enlarge the original images so that they would fit well on the tapestry frame and would add millefleurs (tiny flower designs) all over the background so that there was not too much empty space. Then the tapestry loom would be set up and the tapestry woven, carefully, by hand. One of the characters in this book was blind, and the description of the way she sensed things without vision I found most intriguing- though I'm not sure how accurate it could have been. So, on that rather random little note, I'm signing off my first post to go eat pizza!