My Thoughts: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, An American Slave

I've been listening to this audiobook on my iPod for the last month, this is my first full length audiobook, I'm finally catching up with technology! I'll have a Kindle in about 20years time.

The title of Narrative ...... speaks for itself. The book starts from Frederick's young life when he explains how slave owners separated children from their mothers in order to stop bonding among slaves. As he grows older and is placed in different slave owners homes, he chances to have a mistress who had never owned a slave before. She teaches him the rudiments of reading, before being discovered and being informed that slaves should be left illiterate. However her lessons had stuck and Fredrick teaches himself gradually how to become a more accomplished reader and then how to write.
As he moves to different slave ownerd he is mistreated and whipped untill one day he holds his own, this event then changes the whole off his life and his views on his oppressors until he finally finds a way to escape and live the life of a free man in New York.

Challenges:
999 (Non-fiction)
A-Z (Title)
The Well Seasoned Reader
In Their Shoes

Sunday Salon: The End of the World Challenge

Becky is hosting The End of the World Reading Challenge II over at her site, the challenge started on March 10th and runs till October 9th.
The Rules - copied from her page:

Read at least four books about "the end of the world." This includes both apocalyptic fiction and post-apocalyptic fiction. There is quite a bit of overlap with dystopic fiction as well. The point being something--be it coming from within or without, natural or unnatural--has changed civilization, society, humanity to such a degree that it radically differs from "life as we now know it." (Aliens, evil governments, war, plague, natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, hurricanes, depletion of resources, genetic manipulation, etc.) Here is a wikipedia article on the subject. Also see here. These changes can be small-but-still-significant or huge-and-life-threatening.

Books can be classified as children's, young adult, and adult. (Not many children's books go there. But many teen books do. And they're great.)

Graphic novels can count for this challenge.

Audio books allowed.

Crossovers with other challenges are allowed.

You may have one reread that counts toward the challenge. But most should be new-to-you. (Exception: If you read it several years ago, and you can honestly swear that you don't remember anything about it...then I won't stop you from counting it towards the challenge. I know I've forgotten books I read a decade ago.)

I tried resisting this one, but realsied that a lot of books I'm already needing to read could be incorporated - I tend to find if books overlap I get there much faster.
I come up with 6 books, not sure if I'll read them all:
Z for Zachariah (I've been meaning to read this for ages).
On the Road, McCarthy
Do Androids Dream of Sheep? A 1001 book
Uglies, Scott Westerfield - will be reading for Becky's mini-challenge
Cat's Cradle, Vonnegut - A 1001 book
We, Zamyatin - 1001 book

My Thoughts: Sky Burial by Xinran

At just 168 pages I didn't expect this book to include as much as it did. The novel is a story the author tells about the life of a wonderful woman she once met briefly. The Chinese women Shu Wen falls madly in love with another doctor, they marry as he is off to help the Chinese army in their trip into Tibet. Going along as the medical aid rather than a fighter doesn't seem all that dangerous, yet 100 days into her marriage and Wen's husband is dead. What is worse, the army have no body to send back to be buried or any details of how her husband died.
Wen decides to join the army herself as a medical aid, in order to be able to travel to Tibet and try to discover just what happened to her husband. Just a few days into her travels in Tibet Wen is seperated from the army and with a rich Tibetan woman she finds herself in the wilderness of Tibet, staying with a Tibetan family who survive from the land and move from place to place according to the season and their needs.
I loved the insight that was given into this society and culture, Tibet is one of those countries that I caould name on a map and know that there are problems with China but that is about it. Since reading this book I have an urge to discover more about the history, people and culture of Tibet - through both novels and non-fiction. If anyone has any recommendations share them here.

Challenges:
A-Z (Author)
Orbis Terrarum
Lost in Translation (from Chinese)

My Thoughts: The Hive by Camilo Jose Cela

This was my second Orbis Terrarum read. The chain so far = House of Spirits -> The Hive (as they are both homes)


This is one of those books were I'm not really sure what to say. The book centers around a busy cafe in Madrid, with a rather bossy owner, she is domineering, unapproachable to both staff and customers and is so frightening that the staff makes tons of mistakes out of fear. I'm assuming that she is a metaphor for the Spanish dictator during the Spanish civil war, as the book is set just after the war.
The novel is hundreds of short segments each featuring glimpses into customers and employees of the cafe and their relatives. As over 100 characters are introduced it is often hard to follow a story through, so I'll give you a few ideas of the types of common themes. Many of the young girls turn to prostitution or are having affairs, the men are ofte immoral, sleeping with prostitutes or weaklings afraid of the matriarch. There are also a lot of comments on the dysfunctional family, who appear happy on the surface but has much going on below the water.

I read this fairly quickly and thought it was ok, but as there were so many characters (in just 250 pages),I wasn't ever that gripped or particuarly drawn in.

Challenges:
Orbis Terrarum 2/10
Banned and Challenged 1/4
A-Z (Title)
The Decades Challenge (1950s)
My Year of Reading Dangerously 2/12
Lost in Translation (from Spanish)

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This is a test post as I seem to have lost my front page

My Thoughts: The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende

I feel like I haven't posted a book review in ages, this book is that reason - 2 weeks it has taken me to read it, something that never happens. I like to finish books quickly because it gives me a sense of acheivement but also because I have so many other books waiting to be read, so this was a slog BUT worth it.

This is my first read for Exploration: Latin American Reading Challenge, my own reading challenge so I'm really behind! I've got till April 30th to read 3 more books.

The House of Spirits is a family saga set in an unnamed country in South America. The family is full of characters will spiritual abilities, some (apparently) gorgeous women with green hair, and many love affairs.
The novel focuses primarily on one man and his wife, daughter and granddaughter. The women are all stubbon and rebelious in their own ways, often failling to speak to their family for months on end.
As the years pass the patriach is faced with the creeping interest in socialism all around him, what starts as a whispered dream gradually comes to rule the country creating disruption and poverty for many.

I enjoyed reading about the characters and their strong love affairs that defied social expectations, in particular Alba the granddaughter out of the the women she was the strongest, her rebellion was open and for the help of those weaker people around her. Her grandmother Clara's spiritual communications also meant that we always had a hint as to what would hapen in the future.
However, I struggled with the paragraphs, my copy had tiny text and despite this a paragraph often spanned over a page. The detail was very intricate and often took a lot of concentration, I have to say that I prefered Daughter of Fortune and Portrait in Sepia.

Challenges:
Exploration: Latin America 1/4
A-Z (Author)
1% Well Read Challenge 1/10
Orbis Terraum 1/10
Decades Challenge 2/10 (1980s)
999 (Always been meaning to read)
What's in a Name (Building)

The Sunday Salon: Challenge Update

I have a fairly busy week, the inspectors are coming to school so I should be busy panicking at the moment, but just not in the mood. Not likely to get much reading done either, I started The House of Spirits early last week and still have tons to go, hopefully I will have finished it by next Sunday.

I thought I should do a challenege update as we're at the end of the month.

A-Z Challenge (Authors) 4/27
A-Z Challenge (Titles) 9/27
In Their Shoes 2/4
The Dream King 2/12
1% Well Read Challenge 0/13 (Starts today)
Orbis Terrarum 0/10 (Starts today)
The Genre Challenge 6/10
The Decades Challenge 2/10
The Carribean Challenge 0/6
My Year of Reading Dangerously 1/12
The World Citizen Challenge 0/3
Y.A Challenge 2/12
Deweys Book Reading Challenge 0/6
100 Shots of Short 49/100
The 2009 Pub Challenge 0/9
Themed Challenge 2/4
999 Challenge 12/81
Book Awards 2 4/10
2nd Canadian Challenge 1/13
Latin American Challenge 0/4 (One book underway)
The Rescue Challenge 0/6
The Graphic Novel Challenge 4/12
Manga Challenge 1/4
War Through the Generations: WWII 1/5
Lost in Translation 2/6
Notable Challenge 1/6
What's in a Name? 1/6
The Well Seasoned Reader 1/3
The Chunkster Challenge 3/6
The Guardian 100 novels 0/10
Banned Book Challege 0/4

A few challenges I need to do a lot of work on, particually The Well Seasoned Reader which finishes this month and The Canadian Challenge, I need to read 12 books by 1st of July.