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.