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)

My Thoughts: Silk, Baricco

I first read about this book earlier this year when Eva reviewed it, gorgeously as usual - it is certainly well worth going and checking out her post.
I sat down to read it this afternoon and wasn't expecting to be blown away by it quite as much as I was.
The novella is only 104 pages in length, with 65 chapters many of which barely fill a page this can be read in about an hour. Despite its shortness every page holds tons of tiny images, the sparse language is almost poetic in its ability to create a picture in the reader's mind.
The book tells of a French silkworm trader. In the 1880s the silkworms across Europe have developed a bug and keep dying. Herve Joncour is sent to Japan, a country, at the time, which was kept unopened to foreigners and reportedly killed any man trying to export products from its shores. While there Herve meets a young women, of unknown origin. They never speak and barely touch, yet she transforms his life.
This was one of those books I wish I had studied at university, I have a ton of questions about individuals interpretations of the events that happened swarming my head and the langauge would be beautiful to look at in close detail.
I will have to check out his other work soon.
Challenges:
A-Z (Author)
Lost in Translation
The Decades Challenge (1990s)
999 (1001)

Decades Challenge 2009

3M is hosting this challenge again

Did you participate in the By the Decade Challenge last year? Would you like to
again? Or, if you didn’t take part in 2008, are you interested in doing so in
2009? We’d love to have you join us!
Decades ‘09 Rules:
1. Read a minimum
of 9 books in 9 consecutive decades in ‘08.
2. Books published in the 2000’s
do not count.
3. Titles may be cross-posted with any other challenge.
4.
You may change your list at any time.
5. Peruse the eligible book lists and
reviews from 2008 or 2007. Any book from that decade is eligible; it doesn’t
have to be on the list to qualify. A good source to find out when books were
published is wikipedia. For example if you follow this link, you will
see how easy it is to search books by a particular decade. Another resource is fantasticfiction.co.uk.
7. Sign up through Mr. Linky below.
Please use the url of your specific post for this challenge rather than just
your blog url.
8. 6. After about January 12, come back and post the links to
your reviews into Mr. Linky for the appropriate decade. Please don’t post
‘09 reviews in the Mr. Linky before January 12. I’ll need some time to
switch over the ‘08 reviews and set up the new ‘09 Linkys. You don’t have to,
but you are encouraged to post all the books you’ve read for that decade if
you’re participating in Decades ‘09.
9. Have fun reading your Decades ‘09
books, and have a great year!

Here is my potential list, I've picked 2 for each year so I have more freedom to chose according to my mood.

1990: A Suitable Boy, Seth or Alias Grace, Atwood

1980: Love in a Time of Cholera,Marquez or The House of Spirits, Allende

1970: The Sea, The Sea, Murdoch or In A Free State, Naipaul

1960: Big Sur, Kerouac or The Arrow of God, Achebe

1950: Naked Lunch, Burroughs or The Go Between, Hartley

1940: Canary Row, Steinbeck or A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Smith

1930: Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald or The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck

1920: The Sound and The Fury, Faulkner or The Trial, Kafka

1910: Of Human Bondage, William Somerset Maugham or The Secret Garden, Burnett