My Thoughts: The Unabridged Pocket Book of Lightning by Jonathan Safran Foer

With such a gorgeous title I expected to be struck by a marvelous story.. sadly that was not quite the case. The book is one of the Penguin pocketbooks that they released to celebrate their 70th birthday, it had only 52 pages, the vast majority of these are the opening chapter of his novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly close, a novel I've had sitting upstairs for a long time, I haven't been moved to push the book closer to the top. I have read his other novel Everything's Illuminated, and struggled to read it but enjoyed it so I was never expecting an easy read.

The other story in this book is 11 pages long, A Primer for the Punctuation of Heart Disease. This random story is simply the punctuation marks he has invented or manipulated to represent the lack of communication in a family.

Challenge:

July Book Blowout: Book 9

The New Classics Challenge Aug '08 - January '09

The New Classics Challenge, the rulesDeb from the A Novel Challenge yahoo group posted a link to this list of Entertainment Weekly's list of new classics, what they call the best reads from 1983 to 2008. I loved the list - many of my recent favorites are on it so I'm intrigued to see what some of the ones I haven't read yet will be like.
So the challenge rules are:
1) Copy the list (which I have pasted here, just in case that link ever disappears) and bold the titles that you have already read.
2) Choose at least 6 other books from the list , read and review them between 1 August 2008 and 31 January 2009.
2) Come back here and post links to your reviews.
3) In January 2009, cast your vote for which one of the 100 books on the list is your favorite (and write a post on why). The winning book will be sent to a lucky winner chosen by the scientific method favored here in the blogosphere, i.e. names in a hat. Other contests are very probable too, I have some ideas, but they need planning.
1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars' Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997) - Currently Reading
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)3
1. The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World's Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004) - Abandoned half way through, I don't get all the fuss!
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)98. The Predators' Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

Hmmm... I've read 20, well that's not too bad as this seems a very American list, I hope that it's not in order of importance!

I'm thinking of reading:
Beloved, Toni Morrison
Maus, Art Spiegelman
Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates
Eva Luna, Isabel Allende
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
Gilead, Marilynne Robinson

That gives me an extra one if I hate one of them

My Thoughts: Persepolis: The Return by Marjane Satrapi

I read the first Persepolis book a week ago and was blown away by the way a graphic novel could depict so well the life of a young Iranian girl. In the second instalment we see Marji in Austria at first struggling to fit in with the lives of those around her, and then fitting in a little too well. She experiments with drugs and politics, and numerous other strange things (like trying to pee like a man!), eventually her life spins out of control and she returns to Iran where she again struggles to fit in, having lived with freedom for years the rules she has to follow seem even more constricting.


In my first review of Persepolis I gave it a rave review, see here, this follow up is good but I didn't feel that it held the power of the first. This was principally because it was dealing much more with Marji's life rather than the events in the country, but also because I found her teenage self so extreme.

This weeks Weekly Geeks asks other bloggers to ask us questions about the books we are reviewing this week. Here are the questions, and there answers in regard to this book:

Bookzombie: I have not read "Persepolis" but I have seen good reviews of it everywhere. My question for you is how would you convince someone to read this (using 25 words or less)?
Amazing. A must read for anyone who needs to be enlightened about life in Iran. The form makes it all the more powerful.
book chronicle: Perseoplis: I'm assuming you also read the first one and if so how does it compare? I have not read either though always mean to pick up the collection. Are you a long time fan of graphic novels or is this your first time with one? Either way, how do you feel Persepolis acts as an introduction to the graphic novel world?
As I have said above, I feel that the first one is far more powerful, perhaps because it is seen through the eyes of such a young girl. However I am glad I read the second so I was able to have a look a the way that her life turned out. I have read a few graphic novels now, the first Persepolis has so far been the best. I am enjoying this format despite thinking I wouldn't, I'll definately be searching out more in the library. I feel these books would be a great introduction to graphic novels as they didn't seem too comic book like and they dealt with the type of topic which I would read a novel about.

Challenges:
Graphic Novel Challenge: Book 3 of 3! Depite completing this challenge that I took on halfway through the year I plan on continuing to read graphic novels, I'm glad I participated in this challenge as it encouraged me to read a format I may never have picked up.
July Book Blowout: Book 8

Other Reviews:
Bethany's Review: The review which made me go out and buy the book!
Marg's Thoughts

If anyone has reviewed this or the first book please leave a link in the comments and I'll add a link to your review.

My Thoughts: Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters

I'm not sure if this book made it across the pond, or if it would have the same affect outside of the UK, but I guess everywhere has homeless people. Staurt: A Life Backwards is about the like of Stuart, a part time homeless person, part-time prisoner, part-time drug taker.

The book starts startingly with the knowledge that Stuart died before the book was published, hit by a late night train. The book then goes on to describe Stuart's life from this point back to his childhood, plus the 4 years that the author spent with Stuart. Stuart's life is all over the place, he seems intelligent, on the ball, he takes offence at other peoples violent nature yet he cannot control or understand his life. He sometimes speaks with a clearness that explains exactly how he feels and at other times he struggles to form a sentence.

I read this as part of a bookring, other people who had read the book said that they thought the author was patronising, I just thought his tone perfectly summed up the experience of knowing someone like Stuart, someone who no matter how hard you tried you were never going to be able to rescue of fix. I had also seen the BBC's televised adaptation of the book and it had perfectly caught this feeling of frustration so I wasn't surprised.

The book is set in and around Cambridge, somewhere I have either lived near or in for the first 24 years of my life. I always find it strange to read about a place that I know so well. This book was written at the time I was at University in Cambridge, a university set right next to one of the homeless shelters. At that time Cambrigde was full of homeless people, I passed the same homeless people on a day-to-day basis and became hardened to seeing them. At this time I had seen all the newspaper articles about the Homeless man who owned a 5 bedroomed house and a nice car, I had watched people who I had given money to the day before sell drugs right in front of the same people she had begged from the day before. I remember my brother coming home digusted after giving a homeless person a pizza from Pizza Hut and being told by the guy 'what would I want that for'. Homelessness was a huge issue in Cambridge then. It's strange to think that I could have walked past this guy in te streets. Thankfully Cambridge now seems to have very few homeless people, but now I live miles away from it, if I see a homeless person I feel guilty and ashamed to just walk past. (That's a huge essay, kinda off tangent -sorry!)

I expected this book to make me feel like that but it actually doesn't, it's honest and brutal, but doesn't try and make you feel bad. The language is true to speech, the swearing brutally honest and imbedded in the everyday speech of Stuart, startling against the educated speech of Alexander, the author.

Challenges:

July Book Blowout: Book 7

Sunday Salon and Weekly Geeks

Last week I sais that it was unlikely that I would be reading many books this week as a result of a last stressful week at work, a night a the theatre and a wedding (which I didn't go to as I was full of a cold). I actually finished 4 books! That sounds impressive but two of them were graphic novels: Persepolis and Mirrormask, and the other two were both under 150 pages: Breakfast at Tiffany's and Siddartha. I've also read half of Staurt: A Life Backwards which I should finish tonight or tomorrow. This week I shall have plenty of time to read as I'm now officially on holiday from work for 6 weeks! Yay! Which takes me on to this weeks Weekly Geeks.

Weekly Geeks, see here to participate, is asking other bloggers to ask us questions about books that we have to blog. Now I'm up-to-date with my blogging so I'm going to leave a list of the books I hope to read this week. If you have a question about any of these books please leave it in the comments here and I'll try and answer it in my review of the book.

The list:

Stuart: A Life Backwards

Persepolis 2

Tomaree

The Unabridged Pocketbook of Lightning

The Awakening

Cold Mountain

Bellefleur
and possibly start The Famished Road

My Thoughts: Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

Of course I've seen the film, hasn't everyone? But I always meant to read the book, it's one of those classics that you just feel you should have read, and when the Classics Challenge came along I pushed my butt to finally get around to reading it, and boy I wasn't disappointed.

For anyone that's been living on another planet, Breakfast at Tiffany's is about Holly Golightly, a stunning New York girl who has men falling at her feet. As well as being beautiful Holly has a way of charming all the men around her, they know that there are others but they just feel drawn to her. Even the reader falls in love with Holly, we can see all the things she does wrong but as she is not malicious, we like the men forgive her.

The novella, at only 100 pages, is a real quick and easy read, its light tone and humour were just what I needed after a tiring last week at school bogged down with a cold, and spending my Friday night in.

Challenges:

The Classics Challenge: Book 3 of 6

What's in a Name? Challenge Book 4 0f 6

July Book Blowout: Book 6

20th Century Project: 1958

If you have reviewed this book please add a link in the comments and I'll place it into this page.

Booking Through Thursday: Holiday Book Buying

Do you buy books while on vacation/holiday?
Do you have favorite bookstores that you only get to visit while away on a trip?
What/Where are they?

I haven't been on holiday for ages, if I go away I always take plenty of reading material. I think I have only run out of books once, I went to Vietnam for 2 weeks, I took 9 books at least 4 of them were over 500 pages long, yet I still run out. I didn't realise that the majority of places in Vietnam shut at 9 at night, there were a few places that stayed open but as a female alone on holiday I didn't want to be halfway across Hanoi on my own when the majority of places were closed. I had one American channel which showed old American sitcoms and an Ipod which I couldn't charge properly, needless to say I got through a lot of books. I went and brought The Quiet American off a street stall and some holiday trash reading from a second hand stall to get me through.
When I go to my mums in Cambridge for a couple of days I always take 2 or 3 books, I never get through them because the house is rarely quiet and we're out a lot but I like to have them near. If we go into Cambridge on a Sunday there is a second hand book stall with good quality books and a shop called Galloway and Porter, they sell books which are supposedly slightly damaged. I used to go there to look for text books as they sell loads, most fiction in there is £1 but you do have to search. I also love Heffers in Cambrigde, there are several of them in the town but the one opposite Trinity college is fantastic, it has a huge selection but is very pricy.