The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I almost didn't read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I am a little bit of a book snob and have some reservations about reading fiction that is classified as young adult. After all, I am not a young adult. I am an adult and should read adult fiction, right?

I changed my mind after the New Year, when all the book bloggers posted lists of their favorites from 2008. The Book Thief was on many of those lists. Plus, I had already committed to reading it for the BangBang challenge. So, I went ahead and read it.

I am quite happy I did. Markus Zusak's tale of a young girl growing up in a small German town in the midst of Nazis and World War II is something special. Funny and heart-breaking at the same time, this novel definitely deserves all the praise I have seen it receive from my fellow book bloggers. This book is so good, I feel that I will be forced to rethink my snobbishness about reading young adult fiction. So, if you haven't already read it, please go pick up a copy from your local bookstore and library and do so with all haste!

4.75/5

BangBang Challenge Completed!

This evening I finished Mark Zusak's The Book Thief to complete the BangBang Book Challenge:

1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (WW II) review


2. War Trash by Ha Jin (Korean War) review


3. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters (WW II) review


4. The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell (Sepoy Rebellion) review


5. The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh (Vietnam War) review

I Am Feeling Chunky!

I am going to participate in the 2009 Chunkster Challenge. I am trying to complete the Mor-book-ly Obese level by reading 6 or more books over 450 pages in length before November 15, 2009. I am also going to go for the Too Big To Ignore Anymore award by listing the books from my TBR list that I will read, each of which overlaps with another challenge:

1. The Nightwatch by Sarah Waters, 524pp (Overlaps the BangBang Challenge)


2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, 521pp (Overlaps the BangBang Challenge)


3. The Noonday Demon by Andrew Solomon, 571pp (Overlaps the Book Awards II & What's In A Name II Challenges)


4. Darwin's Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennet, 586pp (Overlaps Seconds Challenge)


5. Doubt by Jennifer Michael Hecht, 551pp (Overlaps Seconds Challenge)


6. Who's Been Sleeping In Your Head by B. Kahr, 493pp (Overlaps What's In A Name II Challenge)

It's Tuesday, Where Are You?

I am on Himmel Street in Molching, Germany at the start of the Second World War. (The Book Theif by Markus Zuzak)

Senselessness by Horacio Castellanos Moya

Wow! I am not really sure what to say about the short novel Senselessness by Horacio Castellanos Moya. The novel is about a man who, fleeing his own country due to political persecution, is hired to edit a report on the atrocities committed against the native peoples by the army of a neighboring country. The entire book is a crazy, ranting stream of consciousness constructed out of pages of run-on sentences. And yet, it is magnificent. The horror of what was done and the narrator's reaction is made darkly humorous in a deeply disturbing way. I enjoyed this little novel and would recommend it to any serious reader.

4.5/5

The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson

Dr. Niall Ferguson, an historian at Harvard University, believes that you cannot understand our current financial crisis unless you have a solid grounding in financial history. In The Ascent of Money he tries to provide just such a grounding. He starts by tracing the development of money itself. But, it is only after money is developed that things really get interesting. Ferguson goes on to cover what he believes are the cornerstones of modern finance: credit, bonds, stocks, and real estate. He traces the development of each, regaling the reader with fascinating historical anecdotes. My favorite is how John Law ruined the finances of France by inflating the first stock market bubble. The penultimate chapter of the book covers modern financial history, with a look at such things economic empires and hedge funds. Finally, in the Afterword, Dr. Ferguson points out the evolutionary character of financial markets, as well as the irrational behavior of its participants.

I found this book to be quite entertaining. It is full of interesting historical anecdotes. But, there is much scholarship to learn from as well. However, I am not entirely in agreement with Dr. Ferguson that understanding financial history will help you understand our current economic straits. Having finished his book, I am still a little baffled about how exactly we have reached our current point of crisis.

4.5/5

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

The novel The Night Watch by Sarah Waters follows several Londoners during WWII and shortly afterward. The sections of the novel move backward from 1947, 1944, and 1941. The novel tells the story of clandestine lovers, Julia and Helen, and their circle of friends. Also the story of Vivien and her brother Duncan, both harboring painful secrets. As the novel retrogresses through 1944 and 1941, these secrets are revealed. We also learn how Julia & Helen met and fell in love.

I was underwhelmed by this novel. The prose is fantastic, but overall the story left me flat. It took about half of the more than 500 pages of the novel before I could recognize the characters. I did not like the way the story moved backwards. I will admit that it added some dramatic tension to the secrets carried by Vivien and Duncan, but not very much tension. Those secrets, especially Vivien's, were quite easy to divine beforehand. I am resolved to try another of Waters' novels, most likely Fingersmith, but I was definitely disappointed with this one.

2.5/5

It's Tuesday Where Are You?

I am in London during World War II, screeching through the streets at night in an ambulance. (The Nightwatch by S. Waters)

Premios Darda Award

Wow! I am shocked. Claire over at Kiss A Cloud gave me a Premios Darda award. I am sort of new to this book blogging thing, so I am surprised to receive this award from Claire. I am very grateful.

Now, the rules of the award say:

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link.


2. Pass the award to 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment.

I would love to pass this award on to fifteen other bloggers, but I have a feeling that the award giving is becoming a little bit of an echo chamber. I started making a list, but when I started poking around I found that many of the bloggers that I follow had already received one or more of these awards. So, instead, I am just going to say thank you!

Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris

The winner of a PEN/Hemingway prize in 2007, Then We Came To The End is a pretty good book, if a very quirky one. I enjoyed the book, which consists of a series of tenuously connected anecdotes about life as employees of an ad agency in Chicago during the early part of this decade. The anecdotes are told from the point of view of the employees, that's right, a rare book told in the first person plural voice. Many of the anecdotes are uproariously funny, but my overall impression of the book was mediocre. The author, Joshua Ferris, does eventually develop a plot, but for most of the book I couldn't really find it. The narration moves forward and backward in time and I got lost more than once. Given this criticism, I would still recommend the book to anyone looking for a good dose of office humor.

3.5/5

Booking Through Thursday: Favorite Books of 2008

It’s a week or two later than you’d expect, and it may be almost a trite question, but … what were your favorite books from 2008?

I misread the question at first. I thought I was being asked to choose one favorite. One!?! Just One?!? Fortunately, I reread the question and, much to my relief, I can pick more than one favorite book from 2008. So, without further ado:

Fiction

• The Sea by John Banville


• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell


• The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell

Non-fiction

I didn't really read that much non-fiction in 2008. Certainly less that I did in previous years. I wonder if it might have something to do with discovering all these book challenges ...

• Personality: What Makes You The Way You Are by Daniel Nettle

Read to My Six Year Old Son

• UnLunDun by China Mieville


• The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum

It's Tuesday, Where Are You?

I am still at the ad agency, although I have since found out that the office is in Chicago. (Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris)

I am also in the United States Scotland, Holland, Japan, and the United States learning about the development of insurance. (The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson)

It's Tuesday, Where Are You?

I am in Paris, France in 1720 watching the stock bubble created by John Law collapse. (The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson)

I am also in the offices of an ad agency, waiting for it all to end. (Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris)

Finally, I am at home, hanging out with my six year old son, who is out of school on winter break.

Being Dead by Jim Crace

I was not overly impressed with Being Dead by Jim Crace. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2000, this book, like my last, begins with a murder. Joseph and Celice, husband and wife, are murdered brutally on the beach at Baritone Bay. The narrative then moves back and forth between the decomposing bodies and, first the story of how the two victims fell in love and then later of how their daughter Syl deals with their deaths.

The prose in this book is quite good, but the story itself did not really grab me. I think I will try another of Crace's books, perhaps Quarantine, both a Booker finalist and a Whitbread winner. But, Being Dead really left me flat.

1.5/5

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

The Tenderness of Wolves begins with a murder. The scalped body of a trapper, Laurent Jammet, is discovered in his cabin in the backwoods of Dove River, in the Canadian Northern Territories. The woman that discovers the body, Mrs. Ross, soon finds that her son, Francis, is missing and that the authorities investigating suspect that Francis is the murderer. However, conflicting motives swirl around the case. The authorities are actually representatives of the Hudson Bay Company and Jammet was in the process of setting up a competing company. Soon, Mrs. Ross, Donald Moody, a Hudson Bay Company man, and Parker, a local guide and also a suspect in the murder, all set off across the snowy wilderness in pursuit of Francis and, Mrs. Ross hopes, the real killer.

The author, Stef Penney, beautifully evokes the blustery, snowy, frigid Canadian wilderness. This is an especially impressive feat given that Penney, an agoraphobe, has never visited Canada, and wrote to book on the strength of research done in the libraries of London. Well plotted and engaging, the only weakness is that several plot lines are left completely unresolved at the close of the book. However, if you can stand the lack of closure, I would highly recommend reading The Tenderness of Wolves for its evocation of the frigid Canadian winter alone.

4.75/5

On Beauty is out!

I started reading Zadie Smith's On Beauty and I must say I was most disappointed. I did not like the prose, I was not interested in the story, it just plain left me flat. So, after starting it I am going to chuck it. I have removed it from my Book Awards II Challenge list. On Beauty has been replaced by Andrew Solomon's The Noonday Demon which won a National Book Award in 2001.

Some of you might ask, "Really, you are going to give up on a book, just like that?" And I have to say that it has taken some effort to stop finishing books that I started but did not like. Steve Leveen writes about the 50 Page Rule in his wonderful The Little Guide To Your Well-Read Life. I probably did not make it to the 50 page mark, but as all you other readers know, there are too many good books out their to waste your time on books you don't enjoy. As the third of Daniel Pennac's Readers Bill of Rights says, I have the right to not finish a book!

New Books: Special Christmas Edition

Merry Christmas Everyone! As a serious reader, most of the gifts I get for Christmas are books. Now, my family has for years tried to limit the numbers of gifts we receive, so I don't get quite as many gifts as some. But this year, I got two books from relatives and two books for myself. From my mother in law I received the long awaited 2666 by Bolano. From my sister in law I received The Sacred Book of the Werewolf by Victor Pelevin. This one was recommended by Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution. Finally, I purchased The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens for myself. Well, actually, I purchased A Christmas Carol to read to my six year old son, but that didn't work out real well, so he watched the movie and I finished the book on my own. As far as The Ascent of Money, I have another book by Ferguson, The War of the World unread on my bookshelf, but I couldn't wait to get this one after hearing several talks he gave on the book. Now, that should probably be it for the month, as I am trying to read more of the books I own ... but then again, Half Price Books is having an after Christmas sale, so perhaps there will be a special New Year's edition.

Booking Through Thursday

What I want to know today is … what are the most “wintery” books you can think of? The ones that almost embody Winter?

This year I read few books that were quite "wintery." First, The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney. It takes place in the Canadian wilderness, full of snow and ice. I was reading it during several cold spells here in Texas and the book made it seem even chillier than it actually was. The second "wintery" book I read recently was A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. It is appropriate to the winter season for all the obvious reasons: christmas, ghosts, and snowy streets. Finally, earlier this year I read Cold Skin by Albert Sanchez Pinol, a very strange tale that takes place in an Antarctic island.

The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell

The Siege of Krishnapur is a fantastic novel about the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857. Sepoys were native Indian soldiers in the service of the British. The rebellion was sparked by new cartridges that the soldiers had to bite open in order to load into their rifles. The problem was that these cartridges were greased with pork fat, which offended Muslims, or with beef fat, angering the Hindus. And so, the Sepoys rebelled against their British overseers. The Siege of Krishnapur tells the story of the British inhabitants of a small cantonment at Krishnapur that come under siege by the rebelling Sepoys.

This novel is one of the best I have read in my life. Mary McCarthy says in a blurb on the back It has everything you could expect to find in a big old-fashioned novel or several of them -- characters, suspense, military action, romantic attachments, satire, with tenderness, philosophy. This is an apt summary. At times the story is hilariously funny, and at others it is heart achingly sad. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a good read.

5.0/5

Booking Through Thursday -- Bonus Question

What is the best book you ever bought for yourself?
And, why? What made it the best? What made it so special?

I would have to say that the best book that I ever bought for myself was the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. I had coveted a good OED for years. The full 20 volume OED would have been ideal, but a little too expensive. Not to mention the question of where in my crowded bookshelves I could put the 20 large volumes. I agonized between the Compact OED, which is all 20 volumes printed in one volume using really print, and the two volume Shorter OED. Many of the reviews on Amazon said the print in the Compact OED was too small to read, even with the included magnifying glass. That plus an extra $200 for the Compact OED convinced me to get the Shorter OED.

This purchase was special for several reasons. First, I had wanted to own an OED for so long that finally purchasing it for myself was reason enough for it to be special. Second, I had gone through a uncomfortable time in my life and felt that I was finally making some progress toward a better life. Purchasing a version of the OED was, silly enough, part of that progress. It was a symbol of the possibilities that were now open to me as I left the rough patch behind. Thirdly, it is special because it is the most expensive book I have purchased.