Katrina's Reads: August 2008

Saturday, 30 August 2008

Sunday Salon: A Review of my Recent Readings

It's back to school for me tomorrow, I have two days of meetings to sit through (I'm like a kid with ADHD in meetings so this will be hell for me!), and then the kids are back on Wednesday. I look forward to seeing all my teacher friends again and seeing (most) of the kids again as well as gaining a lot of new classes. But also aprehensive as I'm teaching a lot of groups with high levels of learning and behavioural difficulties, and one top set who I will be with till their final exams in two years, they'll be challenging because of the high ability level and also as they have a few very naughty kids in there! I'm also starting a new position with more responsibility and a new course for my own brain cells.

Anyway, I thought I would look back at the books I have read over my 6 weeks holidays and do a mini round-up as next week I'll probably be back to one book a week.

Over the 6 weeks I have notched up 22 reads, which is fairly good, I've had a few big ole chunky books, a few graphic novels, and a handful of YA fiction as well as all my usual reads.

Ihave also completed 5 challenges: July Book Blowout, Graphic Novel Challenge, Unread Authors II (I've read 6 new authors but will add too till it finishes), What's in a Name Challenge, Southern Reading Challenge, which sounds fantastic, but as a seemingly challenge addict I've joined 4 challenges: RIP III, Short Story September, 2nds, , The New Classics Challenge.

My favourite read has to be Gone With The Wind, with Neverwhere coming in second jointly with the excellent graphic novel Blankets.

Now I'm looking forward to the autumn, reading with a blanket and a big cup of hot chocolate, and the huge tbr pile stacked up beside me next to the equally huge pile of marking. I need to aim to get through all the bookrings which keep falling through the letterbox so I can concentrate on my challenges, and setting up my first challenge for the new year (reading Latin American fiction).

Short Story Sunday

Ray Bradbury - Skeleton
I found the Mp3 of this story for free here, and it's well worth a listen.
Skeleton tells a story of a man whose bones ache and bother him terribly, as a hypercondriac nobody really listens to his complaints.
He goes to a bone specialist, who tells him he is not ready yet for the treatment. The aching in his bones becomes an internal struggle between the skeleton and the man, the more the man worries the more weight he loses so the more the skeleton wins. He believes the skeleton is trying to escape, to control him. As the pain gets more and more the struggle continues, until in a moment of desperation he calls in the bone specialist to fix up the problem.

Friday, 29 August 2008

My Thoughts: Blankets by Craig Thompson

I picked this up from the library the other day, the cover was too beautiful to leave it behind despite having to carry the big 500 odd pages home (a good 40min walk). I was a bit daunted by the size of it, but I read it in a couple of hours.

The graphic novel deals with two different parts of his life, his childhood and his relationship with his first love. As a child he feels he doesn't belong anywhere, at school he is bullied because of his appearance and his family life. At home he feels secluded, living so far away from town, his parents strive for an unmaterialistic life, leaving the shildren to share a bed in a room which is either freezing or roasting hot. The children, desperate for their own space fight over the bed and the blankets, but also forge a connection in this small space. His devoutly religious parents send him to a Sunday School which seems to work by scaring the beejezzers out of kids.

As he grows older we see him slip into the second stem of the novel, his friendship and later relationship with Raina. Raina is cool, knows her own mind and popular, but behind the facade she is trying to hold together her crumbling family, she has become the person who everyone relies on, and she is looking for someone to cling to.

These two come together in that intense first relationship that I'm sure the majority of people can identify with, romantic and draining. Again the image of the blanket and the shared bed come into play. Of a night their relationship, even before it is sexual is one of security and need, but also one which brings feeling of worry and frustration as he is struggling against the teachings of the church.

The images are stunning, I loved the use of the patterns and dreamlike scenes as well as the scenes with his brother and Raina's family. This would make a great read for older teens and adults alike.

Challenges:

YA Challenge

Around the World

Other Bloggers thoughts:
Athena
Jabberwock

Thursday, 28 August 2008

My Thoughts: Yossel: April 19 1943 by Joe Kubert

For some reason I seem in a bit of a concentration slump at the moment, I can't concentrate on reading, preparing lessons, studyi ng or even watching a film, which as I'm sure you can imagine is very frustrating, especially as I have so much stuff I have to get done this week. So I decided to pick up a few Graphic Novels from the library, as they are generally short they don't look as scary as the 300 pages I have left of Eldest. Hopefully my concentration will snap back into place sometime soon, but till then it'll be Graphic Novels for me.

Yossel is a graphic novel about a Jewish teenage boy, a keen illustrator who likes to escape from the world by drawing comic book heroes. And, his is a world in which he'd definately like to escape. Yossel and his family are moved to the Jewish Ghettos in Warsaw, the story and pictures illustrate how life was in these camps for Jewish people.

Yossel continues drawing throughout his time in the camp, it helps him as the German soldiers favour him, and give him extra food and supplies. It also helps him as he draws the terrble scenes which he imagines after being told about the atrocities in the Concentration Camps. The novel is about the lead up to the uprising in the Ghetto, in which the Jewish members fought back against their oppressors.

The illustrations are in pencil, and give the effect of Yossel drawing them through his time in the camp, a period when he didn't have the time to ink them in. The illustrations depicting what is happening with Yossel contrast sharply with the illustrations he make of comic book heroes to amuse the solidiers, pictures which in a normal life he would be sketching out to amuse his friends.

As with Persepolis, I think the pictures and the simplistic language used to tell the story give the reader a really powerful rendition of the horrors which were created at this time. This book deserves to be read alongside other works about this time in history.

Challenge:
Reading Around the World: Poland

Other Reviews

The Gypsy Librarian

If you have reviwed this book please leave a link here and I'll add it to this post.

Wednesday, 27 August 2008

Sunday Salon: My Thoughts: Skin and Other Stories by Roald Dahl

Having to go back to work this week after a lazy six weeks holiday has meant that I haven't had a great amount of time to read this week, I did finish Roald Dahl's Skin, (see below) Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende, a novel I really enjoyed and I have decided to do the Olympic Challenge in time for London 2012, a challenge which has been going on over at the BookCrossing forum for the last few years, this challenge will mean I'll be checking out authors from far fling places across the Globe.

As for reading today, I hope to get finished reading the graphic novel, Three Shadows by Cyril Pedrosa however, I have an essay to type up and about 50 essays to mark, plus housework so that maybe wishful thinking!

I read this collection of short stories for both the RIP III challenge and for Short Story September, several of the stories I had read before at some point, but I really enjoyed the collection, it was perfect for picking up whilst dinner was cooking or whilst in the bath. I had included a mini review of some, but not all, of the stories in the collection

WARNING: I have tried to avoid saying what the outcome of each story is, but with short stories this is hard and in some descriptions I come pretty close to the end of the tale.

Skin

"I want you to paint a picture on my skin, on my back. Then I want you to tattoo over what you have painted so that it will be there always."

As a young man Drioli admired and loved another man's art, so-much-so that he begged this artist, to tattoo a portrait of his wife on his back. He taught the artist to tattoo, and ended up with his whole back as a portrait of his wife's face.

Years passed, 2 World Wars have caused Drioli's tattooing business to fail, and he is left a poor old man. Walking through the streets of Paris he sees a picture by Soutine in the window of the gallery. Going in to admire the art he ends up revealing an early work by Soutine, his tattoo. A poor man he may be, but he is a walking talking masterpiece, the gallery owner wants a piece of him. Just how far will he go to get it?

The African Story

When the Second World War started a young man joined the RAF as he loved to fly. On his first mission his flight failed and he spent two nights at a lonely, desolate farm. There, lived alone an old man who relished the pilot's company. The old man shared a strange story with the pilot, which the pilot later recorded "not in the old man's words, but in his own words, painting it as a picture."

The old man's tale tells of a relationship with his employee, a man with who gets obsessed by repetitive noises, the noise of his masters dog chewing leads him to kill his masters beloved dog. The man's tale tells his story of revenge.

Galloping Foxely

A regular commuter, used to the routine of his daily commute is suddenly struck with horror when a stranger appears and spoils his daily commute, having the audacity to share his carriage. Not only does this stranger upset the daily commute but he also recognises that face as the school bully who tortured him through his days at (a very stereotypical) boarding school. How does he react?

The Wish

A lovely and very short story about the imagination of a small child trying to make his way across an immense carpet of red hot rocks and black child eating snakes.

The Surgeon

In the surgeon, one mans ordinary day as a surgeon ends up turning his life upside down as he saves the life of the Prince of Saudi Arabia. He is given a rare, rather large diamond as a gift of thanks. With no way to store the diamond safely it is locked away inside the freezer in a bock of ice. He returns to find his house destroyed and the diamond missing, yet it turns up again in a rather strange and unfortunate place.

The Champion of the World

When I saw this title my first thought was Danny, but this has nothing to do with that small boy. I'm sure I've read this story before somewhere, maybe when I was at school. The Champion of the world is about Pheasant poaching, all the ways and means of doing it, slyly without the park keepers catching on.

A pair of men believe they have found the ideal way to poach these birds, and having come up with this method they can't just leave it at poaching a few birds, they go to the extreme and get over a hundred birds. But, as we all know, sinners never win.

Lamb to the SlaughterThe husbands annoying you, home late, expecting dinner on the table, he's got quite boring in his old age, and you just want out. Most people would just walk away, but not this lady. A quick smack to the back of the head and she no longer has a husband to worry about anymore, but she does have the small matter of covering up the murder to deal with. What better way than to ensure the the poilce remove all trace of the crime themselves.

Monday, 25 August 2008

My Thoughts: Meet Me Under the Ombu Tree by Santa Montefiore

This was one of those bargains in the library sale, that I would never have picked up otherwise. I need to read a few Latin American book for a Bookcrossing book box, and this fit in nicely as a complete contrast to the other books from this area I'm going to read.

A Quick Synopsis: Meet Me Under the Ombu Tree is whopping 550 pages about the love of Sofia Solanas. Sofia starts the novel as a precocious teenager with a crush on her cousin Santi, she is rebellious, demanding and a troublemaker. They embark on an affair, amid the Argentine pampas, which leaves her pregnant and sent away to Europe in disgrace. She spends the next 20 odd years in England with her new family, before having to return to Argentina due to a family tragedy and to discover whether her love still survives.

This was a good read, with much more to it than I've expressed above, lots of family relationships at work and things lurking in the past. It certainly wasn't the best written novel or the most original by any means, but it was a typical summer read.

Challenges:

Unread Authors Book 7 of 6

A New Challenge: Short Story September

This challenge is held over at Ready When You Are, participants are asked to read short stories (as many or as few as they like) during the month of September. If they post their reviews or links to reviews over at the challege page they are instantly entered into a competition.

Hopefully this challenge will boast me along with the Short Story Challenge, which I'm doing terribly at at the moment.

I won't list what I am going to read, but I am in the process of reading Skin, a collection of short stories at the moment, by Roald Dahl.

My Reads:

Skin, Roald Dahl (A Collection of Short Stories)

Friday, 22 August 2008

My Thoughts: The Changeling by Robert Jenkins

I was having one of those afternoons today, there was no one around to go out with, I couldn't concentrate on my work or studying, and none of the books I'm currently reading matched my mood. So I decided there was only one thing for it - to start a completely new book. I not only started one but finished it as well.

The Changeling is apparently a British Classic, but it somehow must have passed me by because I had never heard of it, or of the author. This novel was written in 1958 and is set in Scotland. Tom is 13 years old, he lives in the Slums in Glasgow, with a alcoholic mum and step-father, younger brother and sister, in a flat which is grubby and filled with damp. On the estate everyone steals, drinks and isn't all that bright (the books depiction of the estate, not mine).

But Tom is bright, bright enough to go to a different school to the kids from the estate. At school he immediately stands out, very clever but not trusted, grubby and in second hand clothes. The teachers generally admire his intelligence but are extremely pejudiced against him because of his background, and his criminal record. Only Mr Forbes has any compassion. Mr Forbes decides that Tom should go on holiday with him and his family, to give the boy a chance in life, an opportunity to see life off of the estate.

Before the holiday even begins the Forbes have their doubts about the boy, in some ways he wins them over and in others he confirms their prejudices.

A good read, but relies heavily on stereotypes, and as with the family and his friends the reader feels they never get to 'know' Tom

Challenges:

Unread Authors: Book 6 of 6

Others Thoughts:

Bookeywookey

If you have read this book, feel free to put a link to your review in the comments and I'll add it to the post.

Thursday, 21 August 2008

My Thoughts: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

I know that I'm probably one of the few people never to have read Neverwhere, but it was worth the wait. I'm definately having a bit of a Neil Gaiman year, seeming to be reading his books all over the place.

For anyone in the dark, like I was, Neverwhere is a novel set in London Below. Richard is a typical middle class office worker in London, he gets up, goes to a boring job, and sees his boring girlfriend and then does exactly the same thing the next day. That is till one evening an injured girl literally falls at his feet. His life changes in moments, leaving him dumped, invisible to everyone arouund him and able to talk to rats.

The injured girl, Door, leads him to a life under the normal London, filled with the people who just 'fell through the gaps'. The train stations act like portals, and more than live up to their names and his life is at risk with every step he takes.

I absolutely loved this novel. The inverted world of London, the fantasy creatures and the pace with which the story unfolds. For years I shrugged away from fantasy literature, and I seem to have discovered it through children's literature and its opened up a new world of books. If anyone has any great recommendations for more books from this genre please share them with me :-)

Each of the Gaiman books I have read so far have been bookrings, so I'm planning on asking for some for Xmas, all with the gorgeous black and white covers.

Challenge:

20th Century Reads Project (1996)

Classics Challenge (Fantasy Classic) Book 6 of 6

Other Reviews

Eye on Everything

Raidergirl3

Bart's Books

Stephanie's Confessions of a book-a-holic

If you've reviewed this leave a link to your review and I'll add it in

Sunday, 17 August 2008

Sunday Salon: A Review - Ruby Red by Linzi Glass

Well, in my earlier post I claimed I would be spending the afternoon starting Gut Symmetries, I had a killer headache but attempted to start it and quickly put it down, it seemed very sci-fi and like it needed a lot of concentration, which wasn't something I could give it this afternoon. So I picked up the next Carnegie short-listed book that I had on the pile, Ruby Red.
I'd picked this book up from the library ages ago and had forgotten what it was supposed to be about, I took a quick glance at the cover and thought it would be something light-hearted. I was definately to be proven wrong. Ruby is a girl living in South Africa during apartheid, her parents are wealthy, white and opposed to the forced division and inequality between the races. Her father is a lawyer, who works to protect Black people who have been treated unfairly as well as a member of the underground political group looking to change the views of society. Her mother owns an art gallery, in which any art, if it is good, is displayed and sold, the colour of the artists skin is not judged just the work they produce.
Ruby, attends a private school and has to keep her home life and school life completely seperate, no friends can come over for tea, no sleep overs etc, it is far to dangerous to let people know about h

er parents politics.
Two boys enter Ruby's life who affect it forever. The young black artist Julian, who has to move from the black township to live secretly inside her house, and her new boyfriend an Affrikans white boy, whose family believe deeply in the segregation of the two races.
Ruby gains love, understanding and identity but loses friends, her education and a whole lot more.
This YA novel is very thoughtful and well written, the politics surrounding apartheid are shown clearly for a young audience who grew up after it had finished, and who probably have very little knowledge of it aside from Nelson Mandela. Ruby is believable, the only part I felt that could have been stronger was the depiction of her private school, it seemed too cliched.

Challenges:
Unread Authors 5 of 6
YA Challenge Book 8 of 12

If you have read this book please leave a link to your review here and I'll add it too my post.

Sunday Salon: A Review - Intimacy by Hanif Kureishi

A fairly good reading week for me, I managed to finish 4 books: A Woman of My Age by Nina Bawden, Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey, Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips and Intimacy by Hanif Kureishi - all of the good reads but nothing to rave about unfortunately. I only have two weeks left of the summer holidays and really need to start preparing for the classes I will be teaching when I get back, so I'm not sure I'll be reading so many books next week. I am hoping to finish Eldest, which I'm loving. I have Gut Symmetries by Jeanette Winterson to start this afternoon, and I hope to read In Cold Blood and possibly start Pawn of Prophecy if all goes well.

Intimacy by Hanif Kureishi

Years ago I read Kureishi's novels The Buddha of Suburbia and The Black Album, and earlier this year I read Gabriel's Gift all of which I really enjoyed. So I picked up Intimacy and expected to enjoy it, I guess I also expected to read a book written in a similar style as those books of his which I had read before, but this wasn't so.
Intimacy is a first person narrative of a man who is leaving his wife and two small children. The novella is based on his thoughts the evening before he leaves, we see him playing with his kids, remembering elements of his marriage, remembering the affairs he has had, in particular the mistress he fell in love with.
I'm not sure if we are meant to feel for him or not, personally I ended up hating him. He claims to love and adore his children, yet he is leaving without letting anyone know, let alone giving an explanation. He talks about his wife as if he never loved her, she is just someone he seems to leave fairly regularly. And he talks about his countless affairs as if he is entitled to them. He lives a very good life, working only in the mornings and obviously having a fair amount of money and luxury around him, yet he just whinges about everything. He seems pretentious, selfish and shallow, so I came to the end of the novel thinking it would be better for the wife if he did leave and she could meet a nice bloke instead.

Challenge:
1001 BYMRBYD

Other Reviews:
Over-exposed Image for a more positive impression.

If you have reviewed this book, please leave a link and I'll pop it in.

Saturday, 16 August 2008

My Thoughts: Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips

'What if God was one of us?' A famous line from a pop song, but it looks like Marie Phillips took this idea that Gods could live among us and transfered if into a funny, light-hearted novel. In Gods Behaving Badly, Greek gods are forced to live in London, in a cumbling terrace house, and forced to have jobs as well as perform their powers to keep Earth working. Aphrodite is a sex line worker, Artemis and dog walker, Appollo a T.V presenter and Dionysis runs a nightclub. The Gods power is fading, they are bored with their lives and live in a continual motion of repeating things they have already done again and again and again.

Then enter into their lives Alice, the timid cleaner and Neil, the equally timid engineer. The pair seem to belong to some quaint English soap opera, they are bright but lack much of a life. But once they have entered the lives of the Gods they are quickly thrown into a variety of strange situations, including death, conversations with Hades and a mass gathering on the streets of London.

The book is funny, very adult, and full of swearing. Its the type of book I can imagine many people won't like, especially really religious people, but its also a fun read.

Challenge:

Unread Authors Challenge 4 of 6

Other Reviews:

Becky's Book Reviews

Raidergirl3

Eclectic Closet

If you have reviewed this please leave a link here and I'll add it into this page.

Wednesday, 13 August 2008

My Thoughts: Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey

Peter Carey seems to be one of those authors I just never have got into, I read Oscar and Lucinda for a reading group and I thought it was great in parts but struggled to get through it. I have a few of his other novels, and once even started one but then something happened it got put to one side and never went back to. I got Theft: A Love Story as a bookring, and it still took me a few weeks to pick it up.

The book is set in the art world (something I know only a tine little bit about), on of the main characters is an modern artist, Micheal 'Butcher' Boone. Once Australia's top artist, things got a bit shakey with his career and his personal life. He moves to a small town to live with his brother, Hugh 'Slow Bones' Boone. Hugh has emotional and social difficulties, which require him to recieve constant care from his brother.

The novel tells the story of Butcher's struggle to deal with life out of the limelight, estranged from his wife and son and struggling to look after his brother. One flooded evening a gorgeous American turns up, an art dealer and relation of the artist whose work had inspired Butcher as a teenager. This woman turns his life upside down, getting his work presented in Japan and involving him in the murkier side of the arts world.

The novel is constructed through the voices of the brothers, in alternating chapters. Butcher is fully in love with the American, and fails to see and judge the things happening around him. Meanwhile, Hugh, has far more insight into people and the situations around him.

Carey plays with language and creates an individual voice for each of the brothers. Hugh's chapters are littered with words and phrases which are all capilatilised, I'm not sure if it's just my eyes but I find it harder to read capitalised words, especially when they just randomly appear, they slow me down slightly.

Have you reviewed this book? If so leave a link in the comments and I'll add them into the review

Tuesday, 12 August 2008

My Thoughts: A Woman of My Age by Nina Bawden (incl spoilers)

This is going to be a very short reveiw. I'm participating in an African Bookbox (I get sent a bunch of African books in a box, take out how many boxs I want, replace thm with that many books set in Africa, then post them to the next person), and I needed another book. This book is set in Morocco so this book got picked. Now this isn't a typical African novel, but I'm hoping that it will be a good thing to have something a little different from whats expected in the box.

This novel is about an English couple, in their early 40s, they take a holiday away to Morocco. They have a fairly loveless marriage, which the woman tries to sort out in her head whilst on this holiday. She thinks back over the past and the present situation (she catches her husband with another woman, then she sleeps with a much older man), she tries to work out whether she should stay with him or leave.

It's a fairly basic plot, and a very easy read. It was interesting to read a book about marriage in the 1960s, its shocking that it wasn't that long ago that women accepted being hit, or their husband having an affair.

Challenges:

Reading Around the World

20th Century Project (1967) Book 11 of 100

Sunday, 10 August 2008

Sunday Salon: My Thoughts on Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor and Challenge Round Up

This is one of those novels that I've always been aware of but somehow never got around to reading it. I picked it up in a second-hand sale the other day and realised that it would be perfect as the last book for the Southern Challenge.

The novel is about the Logan family, living in Mississippi in the 193o's. Times are hard because of the forthcoming depression, and because of the continuing tension between the black and white communities. The Logan families are one of the few black families with their own land, this is resented by both the black and white families.

The story is centred aroud the four Logan children, having being brought up by indepent parents, who believe evryone should be equal, they have a hard time understanding the unequal society that they are living in. As the novel progresses more and more problems arise between the two communities.

This novel deals with the racism alive in that society, as well as they way the law and politics was shaped to benefit white people.

Obviously as a kids book this was a fairly easy read, and a easy way to spend a windy Sunday afternoon. I'm now of for lasagne, a couple of episodes of 24 and maybe a film for the evening. This week I'm going to finish Theft: A Love Story, Bellefleur and hopefully start Frankie and Stankie. What have you be reading today?

Challenges:

Southern Reading Challenge Book 3 of 3!

Young Adult Reading Challenge Book 7 of 12

Classics Challenge (Kids classic) Book 5 of 6

Unread Authors Challenge Book 3 of 6

20th Century Project (1976) Book 10 of 100

Reading Around the World

If you have read this book, please leave a link to your review, or your comments, I will link in any reviews ad

ded.

The Southern Challenge Round-Up

I finished it with 5 days to go, which seemed unlikely this time last week. My intentions (Gone with the Wind, The Awakening, Cold Moutain and The Sound and the Fury), seemed to go amiss during the last few month, with me only managing to read one from the original list. I think I ended up with a good mix though, one classic, one contemporary fiction and a YA classic book (The Secrets We Keep, Gone With the Wind, and Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry). While I enjoyed all of them in their own way Gone With the Wind was by far the best, and a book I definately plan to go back and read again.

Looking forward to next years selection, Maggie!

Saturday, 9 August 2008

My Challenges Summer 2008

I'm going to be going back to school in a few weeks, starting some training for a new position in the school and starting an 'A' Level which I will have to make myself work at for 8-9 hours each week, so I'm going to be dead busy come September. This list is really for me to keep track of all my challenges so I can see what is happening and how far behind I'm falling in some of them!

Southern Reading Challenge (3/3) Finishes 15/08/08
Young Adult Challenge (12/12) Finishes 31/12/08
2nds Challenge (1/4) Sept 01 - Dec 31st 2008
2008 Booker Challenge (4/6) 31/12/08
Short Story Reading Challenge (1/5) Finishes 31/12/08
Japanese Literature Challenge (1/3) Finshes 30/12/08
The Classics Challenge (5/6) 31/12/08
New Classics Challenge (0/6) Finishes 31/01/09
Unread Authors Challenge (9/6) Finishes 31/01/09
The Canadian Book Challenge (0/13) Finishes 01/07/09
The Awards Challenge (o/10) Finishes 01/06/09
RIP III (3/4) Finishes 31/10/08

Thursday, 7 August 2008

My Thoughts: The Garbage King by Elizabeth Laird

After the mamouth task of getting Gone with the Wind finished I fancied something dead easy, that I would finish quickly and I would love. I picked this book up for just 10p in the library sale this week and just assumed I would love it because of the topic.

The book is about 2 little boys, whose lives would never had crossed if they had both not run away. Dani, comes from a rich family, his mother dotes on him, but his father is very demanding and Dani just can't live up to his fathers expectations. When Dani's mother travels to England for an operation Dani decides he can't face the punishment his father has given him so he decides to runaway. Having always been rich just one afternoon on the streets has him quacking in his boots.

Mamo, has grown up living in a shack, his mum bringing home just enough money to get by each week. She suddenly dies, and an 'uncle' appears telling Mamo he has a job for him to do. This 'uncle' is really someone who sells children. Faor a while Mamo lives in the coutryside with his new violent employer until he can face no more. He runs back to the city.

On his first night in the city he spends the night curled up next to Dani. While Mamo clearly understands what he needs to do to live on the street, Dani doesn't have a clue. To help them survive they join a gang, almost a little family, where they beg and work to get money to feed the group.

Now, I was expecting this to be one of those heart wrenching novels, I was expecting tears streaming down my face but the story just didn't grab me. The situation seemed to forced and the characters not fully formed. However, this book got 4 and a half stars on Amazon so it may just be me.

Challenge:

YA Challenge Book 6 of 12

Reading around the World: Ethiopia

Booking Through Thursday: Fantasy Worlds

Are there any particular worlds in books where you’d like to live?
I'm sure like other people I would like to disappear of into the fantasy worlds that authors create rather than the real thing. I think either the magical world of Harry Potter, I could be a teacher at Hogwarts, or much more fun a student. Unfortunately I'd probably the Hermione type as I always did my homework on time. Or, maybe off to Narnia, but when it was nice not when the witch was in control. I could have afternoon tea with Mr Tumnas and hot crumpets. Or the world of Faerie in Stardust. I could name loads, they all seem to include magical creatures and dragons.
Or where you certainly would NOT want to live?
Hmm, there are books about wars and the holocaust and things like that, I wouldn't want to live in that world at that time, though I'm sure that after the war it is a nice place to explore or live.
What about authors? If you were a character, who would you trust to write your life?
Not sure, someone with a vivid imagination who could make it really exciting!

My Thoughts: The Fragrance of Guava: Conversations with Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Mendoza (and a challange round up).

I saw this book in the library sale and picked it up out of curiosity, it's not the type I would buy in a bookshop, as I don't tend to get past the fiction section, but it was a really good read.

The book is an interview with Gabriel Garcia Marquez by an obviously close and personal friend Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza. It is clear to see the friendship in the questions Mendoza asks and the way he joins in or finishes Marquez's answers.

The interview covers a whole range of subjects, including Marquez's childhood, life as a struggling writer, politics, personal and literary influences, fame, superstition and obviously his thoughts of the books that he has written.

At only 120 pages this book was a quick read but filled with tons of information, and it has made me want to read more of Marquez's work.

Challenge:

Book 6 of 6 for the What's in a Name? Challenge

The 20th Century Project: Book 9 of 100 (1983)

What's in a Name Challenge

Another challenge completed! For this challenge you had to read 6 books, each books title must relate to a particular topic. Here is what I read:

1. Colour = The Red Queen
2. Animal = Moon Tiger

3. First Name = Elizabeth Costello
4. Place = Breakfast at Tiffany's
5. Weather = Gone with the Wind
6. Flower = The Fragrance of Guava

My favorite book by far was Gone with the Wind, with Breakfast at Tiffany's running up in second place. Moon Tiger was the only book I didn't think was a good read.

Wednesday, 6 August 2008

My Thoughts: Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

It has taken me a very, very long time to read this, but I have enjoyed every page. I have never seen the film or knew a great deal about the story except Rhett and Scarlett's name so everything was all new to me.

As I'm sure most people know this novel focuses on just 12years in the life of Scarlett O'Hara. In that 12 years she faces a lifetimes worth of events and emotions. From a flighty, flirty and selfish teenage with a spread of men laid at her feet for her choosing, she ends up in a loveless marriage because she couldn't have the one man she wanted. This marriage leaves her a mother and a widow by the age of 17. The war betweeen the Yankees in the north and the south rages, at first leaving Scarlett with a sence of freedom and then a series of burdens and worries. Scarltett's fierce soul helps here battle her way to safety, fight poverty and kill a man so she can keep the hous that she loves going and in her possession. For the safety of this house and those in it she enters yet another love less marriage and produces yet another unwanted child. She is yet again left a widow and marries the Scalleywag Rhett Butler, a marriage full of passion, hatred, lies and deciet.

As much as Scarlett should be a hated character I couldn't help but like her determination, her way of getting what she needed - yes she was spiteful, and self absorbed but the reader always seemed to be kept on her side, in the knowledge that deep down she wasn't as strong as she liked to show. Melly, took a while to capture me, but she was created with a weak body and a stong mind and soul. Yet the most captivating character in the novel was Rhett, we had to learn to read the expressions on his face, just as Scarlett had to try and decipher them. We never knew how he was going to react to any situation, or to Scarlett's scorn. I loved all the passages about him with Bonnie, a way to love Scarlett through another person.

I shall definately get my own copy of this book, as I'd love to read it again in the future, and I shall hire the film in the next few weeks to see how it compares. The best book I've read this year by far.

Challenges:

The Southern Challenge Book 2 of 3

The Classics Challenge Book 4 of 5

Unread Authors Challenge Book 2 of 6

What's in a Name Book 5 of 6 (Weather)

1001 Project

Around the World

20th Century Project 1936

Pulitzer Project Book 11 of 81

If anyone has reviewed this, please leave a link to your review in the comments and I'll add it in

Monday, 4 August 2008

My Thoughts: Apache by Tanya Landman

My second read of the Carnegie shortlist, and another fantastic read, another to be added to the recommended reads wall in my classroom.
Apache is a novel about a teenage girl living in an Apache tribe, having seen her young brother killed brutally by the Mexicans and having lost both of her parents, she seeks to avenge her brothers killers. Although female warriors are not the norm, there are no rules governing that a female annot become a warrior if she can pass the tests, so she takes the trials and does well fighting beside the men in bloody and violent battles.
Not everyone within her tribe is happy with her path as a warrior, seeing it as against the nature of women. As a result she comes up against battles whilst at home and away. Keste a local youth is enraged when she becomes a warrior, his battle against her causes rifts and violence, and the unravellings of the secret of her fathers death.
As the novel progresses the Apache tribes no longer have to fear just the Mexicans but with amore brutal degree the white men, who have come to claim the land, and who do not follow the rules when it comes to battles.

Landman tells the tale with a sparse language, she does not jumble the page with countless adjectives and poetic sentences, this created the voice of the character for me, giving her depth. I assume in America the tales and history of the Apache are taught in schools, and a lot of what is in this book about their lives and culture isn't new to an American readership. I, however, enjoyed reading about their culture, in particular their spiritual beliefs. The battles are described from a first person account so may be deemed by some as too violent for a childrens book, but I have read books about life in the treches to kids at school which are just as violent.

Challenges:
Young Adult Challenge Book 5 of 12
Unread Authors Challenge Book 1of 6

Other Reviews
Table Talk's excellent review here
If you have reviewed this book please leave a link to your review and I'll add it in.

Sunday, 3 August 2008

Sunday Salon and a Meme

I haven't been as great at reading this week, the weather has been grey and overcast for days with rain threatening so I haven't been sitting in the garden with a book like I was last week. I managed to get finished 2 books and two books are well on the go. The end of the week got taken up by planning for the next school year (I still have 4 weeks holiday, but I thought whilst I was in the mood I'd get on with it).

This week I need to finish Bellefleur by Joyce Carol Oates, Gone with the Wind and Apache plus try and start Theft by Peter Carey.

I've also been thinking about my reading plans for August, here is the huge list I'd like to get through:

Finish the Southern reading challenge, I need to finish Gone With the Wind and Cold Mountain.
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
The View from Africa, various authors
Blood River, Butcher
Frankie and Stankie, Trapido
A Woman of my Age, Bawden
Pawn of Prophecy,Eddings
Apache, Landman (from the Carnegie shortlist)
What I Loved, Hustvedt
The Valkynes, Coehlo

Theft, Peter Carey

The War of the Worlds, HG Wells

Gods Behaving Badly, Phillips

A Meme, gautami tripathy posted this for us Sunday Saloners to complete:

1. Who’s your all-time favorite author, and why?

I don't have one favorite author, but a few that I know I'll love their work: Sarah Waters, JK Rowling, Phillip Pullman, the Brontes, Jane Austen, A.S Bayatt - the list varies on a regular basis.
Marquez. Atwood. I name here only a miniscule. Amongst new authors, I liked Jay Asher and Mathias B. Freese.
2. Who was your first favorite author, and why? Do you still consider him or her among your favorites?
Either Enid Blyton or Roald Dahl. I haven't picked up an Enid Blyton book in years, but when I have kids I'll make sure I read her to them. As for Dahl, I'm teaching two of his books this year and I reguarly use his poetry in school, I think I enjoy it just as much if not more than the kids.
3. Who’s the most recent addition to your list of favorite authors, and why?

I loved the Neil Gaiman stuff and Will Self who I have read recently, I'd never tried any of this type of stuff before because I assumed I wouldn't like it, but I was gripped.

I've also discovered Paulo Coelho this year, both the books I read where thought provoking, and I definately plan to read more.
4. Tagged: All you Sunday Saloners, consider yourself tagged.