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

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.

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 her 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.

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.

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 added.

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!

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

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.

The Second Unread Authors Challenge Aug 1st 2008 - January 31st 2009

Sycorax Pine is hosting this challenge over at her site:
Almost all of us have authors who we have long meant to read, but somehow never gotten around to (you can see a long list of mine at the bottom right of the blog). Perhaps you have always been intrigued but intimidated by their work. Perhaps "required reading" and your favorite authors have taken up most of your time. Perhaps they have been sitting on your shelves for years, continually trumped by new fascinations. Well, now is their time.The rules:
The challenge will run from August 1, 2008 to January 31, 2009. You may join at any time before or during those six months.
During those six months, read at least SIX books by an author whose work you have never read before.
You may choose six different "unread" authors to introduce yourself to, or you may choose just one or two and explore their work in greater depth.
Authors may be drawn from any genre of literature. The only requirement is that they be authors whose work you substantially regret not having read yet.
Your choices may overlap with other challenges you have underway.To join the challenge or to get ideas from the posts of last year's participants, go to the Challenge Blog. You will find instructions on how to join in the post at the top of the blog.

Here's my possibles:
Maus, Art Spiegelman
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
Gilead, Marilynne Robinson
Out by Kirino
Gatty's Tale, Kevin Crossley Holland
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Moshin Hamid
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto
Saul Bellow- Humboldt’s Gift
The Sea by John Banville
The Gathering by Anne Enright
Wild Swans - Chang

My reads for this challenge

1. Apache, Landman - a really good read, most of her books are for little kids but I will be checking out her YA book, Aztec: The Goldsmith's Daughter in the future

2. Gone with the Wind, Mitchell

3. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor Table Talk, has recommended her other books 'Let the Circle Be Unbroken' and 'Road to Memphis' so I'll be checking them out at some point

4. Gods Behaving Badly, Marie Phillips A new author

5. Ruby Red, Linzi Glass
6. The Changeling, Jenkins

7. Meet Me Under the Ombu Tree, Montefiore
Some of these are books I've been meaning to read for ages, others are books I have read about on other blogs. Maybe I'll discover a favorite author somewhere amongst these.

8. Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto, I've been meaning to read her stuff for ages and it didn't disappoint