My Thoughts: Goodbye Mr Chips by James Hilton

This has been my bath read for the last week: perfect for soaking after a 2 hour session in the gym as its short, has short chapters and is a good easy read.
Goodbye Mr Chips tells the quaint English tale of an old school teacher with a love and passion for the school he teaches in and the boys who board there. Despite being well past retirement age, Mr Chips still meets new pupils, lunches with the staff and at times gets called in in an emergency. The boys see him as a representative of the school.
If you fancy tackling a classic but want an easy read this is the one for you.
Challenges:
999 (tbr)
The Rescue Challenge
a-z (title)

My Thoughts: So Many Books by Gabriel Zaid

I'm trying to push my non-fiction reading by reading stuff which isn't just memoirs, my comfort zone. However I have been pretty unsuccessful as they seem to get pushed to the bottom of the pile, then get returned to the library.
This book is the first of the books I borrowed that are about books or words - I'm studying an English Language course at the moment so this is fairly safe ground for me.
So Many Books is a tiny book with just 146 pages, the premise of the book is based on the fact there is a surplus of books which far exceed demand. Zaid discusses whether publishers should print more titles a year than there are babies born, and what the effect is.
The book discusses supply and demand, publishing costs verses losses and whether a book can be seen as a piece of media, all of which seem quite heavy but you are never lost. The book also touches briefly on the history of printing, which is interesting as my next book is about the publication and printing of the first dictionary.
An easy and interesting little read.
Challenges:
Non-fiction 5
999 (non-fiction)

The Sunday Salon: The Absolutely True Diaries of a Part-Time Indian by Alexie Sherman

If you haven't read it grab a copy! Or even better download the audio version!

This YA novel deals with some pretty tough issues: death, racism, alcoholism and even masturbation. You shouldn't let you put you off.
The narrator grows up with a dysfunctional family on an Indian Reservation, despite having brain damage as a child he is determined not to follow the same path as his parents so he travels 25 miles a day (often having to hitch-hike) to attend a better funded state school. His life is cmplicated by his race, what others see as the 'abandonment' of the 'rez and all the normal teenage boy/girl stuff.

The audio book is read by the author and is fantastically done, I was hooked immediately and loved every minute of it. Apparently the novel is has loads of cool pictures so I'll have to grab a copy to look at at some point.
I'll be searching out more of his books in the future.

Challenges:
YA 2009
999
My Year of reading dangerously (banned in Oregan)

My Thoughts: The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant

This book continues my reads of last years Booker Nominee list, so far I have read four: one ok (The Sea of Poppies), one good (Northern Clemency) and one I abandoned early on (The Lost Dog). So I wasn't sure what I was going to get with this one.

The novel is told from the view point of Vivian Kovacs, a child of immigrant Polish parents. Her parents, thankful for their rescue from Poland during the war stay hidden away in the house, they go to work, come home and watch the tv. She grows up 'a mouse' told to respect England and never to do anything wrong so that England regrets the choice to house the family.
Hidden away in the closet is an uncle with a rather different view of England, he came to the country and exploited immigrants and women. Vivian is drawn to this man, a man who can reveal to her her parents past and a life she has never known.

The book was a good read, I finished in in just two sittings, it was an easy read with colourful characters. However, I never felt this was a Booker Nominee, it doesn't fit in with the other Bookers that I have read over the years. I'm starting to wonder what the next one shall be like - The White Tiger - the winner, lets hope it makes the grade.
Challenges:
999 (New Books)
Booker

Challenges: A Decision

The TBR stacks are growing. The library loans are ridiculous. And the books I don't own that I need to complete challenges are stupid. And the fund for travelling to India next year or teaching abroad for a year is still at zero.So something has to go.
I pondered all week over whether to just scrap all my challenge commitments, but couldn't actually bring myself to do it. So I've decided I will only read the books that I already have, no more library loans (on fiction)or purchases till the tbr stacks get down to a reasonable level. (I have over 400 unread books, most of them I barely even glance at as I know I need to read the next challenge book from the library). I'm also laying off signing up for bookrings.
I have tons of bookcrossing books at home that I have been sent by kind bookcrossers - some of which I've had for 2 years - these books make me feel bad. I love to see my books travelling around the world yet I'm hording the ones I've been given.

Some challenges will be completed easily from what I have at home, some will sag a little but I'll read for them what I have in the house, if I can't complete the challenge because of this thats the way it goes.

My Thoughts: Then by Morris Gleitzman

Then is the follow up to Once, a book I read a good year or so ago, a book that I thought was amazing. Then is a good read, but not as good as the first.
The Story: Felix and Zelda are on the run, they have escaped from a train taking them to a concentration camp. Running through the Polish countryside they meet Genia, they become new people with new identities and new pasts.
What I liked: Although its a kids book the war is not softened and the truth isn't locked away.
What I didn't like: In the opening of the book I was frustrated by the amount of scenarios they managed to wiggle out of. I had to keep reminding myself theis is a book for 9 year olds.

Challenges:
Orbis Terrarum
War Through The Generations

Orbis Terrarum 2009: Short Story Mini Challenge: Prague

I'm continuing my armchair travels and have moved on to the next country on my way Prague.
An Odd Story by Karel Tichy can be found here at the wonderful Words Without Borders.
This story focuses on the transformation of families due to the persecution of the Jewish in the Old Czech Republic.
Karl is brought up in his fathers shop, successful but with a wealth that is hidden and never spoken of. His German nanny and housekeeper secretly Christians him. When the war strikes his parents are forced onto trains destined for the concentration camps, but Karl stays, changing his name, to live with his German nanny.

Where else have I been:
France
Germany
Poland


visited 4 states (1.77%)
Create your own visited map of The World or jurisdische veraling duits?

Want to join me in this mini challenge? Look here