Nothing quite like a good book - especially on a school holiday!

Another good read - passed on to me by Phoebe and the Dequer girls one and all!

I confess I was a little put off by the title - thought it might be some Mitfordish concoction (I loved the Mitford books at first - but then they got tedious.)

But it's a wonderful book - a fast read, in fact, it's an epistolary novel and is set just after World War II. It delves into the aftermath of the war in England - and also deals with Hitler, the rise of Nazism, and the island of Guernsey.

I'm not sure how much of the story is based on fact, but it's all very believable. The prose is spare but revealing. The characters are well-drawn. The plot line is compelling.

I don't think you can ask for much more. The pity is that it's a first novel - and the author died before it was published - a niece helped her finish it before she died. It was a great collaboration too.

I guess we will just have to wonder what else she might have written.

Now I'm on to the Maisie Dobbs books - recommended by Phoebe too.

As I have said before, I'm slowly catching up with yesterday's news!!

This is a winner!

Maybe everyone has already read this book, but I just discovered it - in fact someone handed it to me at my book club and said, "Here, have you read this?" Didn't even want it back - I think I'm supposed to spread the wealth - but I'm planning to inspire Dad to read it before I send it on!

This book was written as a young adult novel, but captured a much wider audience than that - in fact, it was a New York Times #1 bestseller.

I think what impressed me the most was how well-wrought the story was. And the careful, effective use of figurative language made it all very lyrical. Sometimes I think modern writers have forgotten about how wonderful a great metaphor can be - "Above her, Rosa appeared to be smudged, but she soon clarified as her cardboard face loomed closer."

The most effective device is the use of Death as the narrator - it gives the story shape and meaning that it could get in no other way.

And the story keeps making wise, perceptive statements: "I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that's where they begin. Their great skill is their ability to escalate." There's a lot of "food for thought" there!

The story takes place in Germany in the late 1930's and early 40's. There are the requisite concentration camps and escaping Jews, but none of it seems tired or hackneyed. I suspect that it would be very difficult to make light of those details anyway. (Even though Life is Beautiful is somewhat comical, it is a tragic, but endearing comedy that only makes the tragedy more poignant.)

I recommend this highly - let's all read it and discuss it - I mean if you haven't already read it.

Let's put some life into this book blog!

Just finished . . .

The Reader. It was a strange story - but compelling. What is it about translated books? It's not like it's poorly done, but the words seems almost too carefully chosen. But it doesn't really spoil it - just gives it a certain foreign tone - which adds to the overall enjoyment I suspect.

Without giving away the plot - and even if I'd read the end first, I don't think I would have figured it out - I will just say that the part about the cassette tapes really struck a chord. If you've read it and remember that, let's have a conversation.

Another book finished -

I finished Love in the Time of Cholera. Go here for my somewhat extended comment on a part of the book that reallys struck me. (After I'd written that post, I thought, "Gee, that should have been a book blog post." But I don't know how to shift a post from one blog to another. A skill I should probably have someone show me.)

Some words of particular note

Found this quote in a book I was reading. I think it is apropos to a book blog:

"Books are the quietest and most constant friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient teachers."

Charles William Eliot

clever blog

Just in case you were curious about the origins of book titles, a writer for The Sunday Telegraph has a blog of how books got their titles. Kind of cool.

How books got their titles

The Reader

So, I just plowed through The Reader. It's only 218 pages long so it only took me a couple of hours to finish. Since a friend lent it to me I decided to work on this one before attacking the other books in the pile. And now I have one book adapted into a movie starring Kate Winslet down; maybe I'll start Revolutionary Road next.

Anyway, it's really powerful, and sad, and reads like a true story (to me, at any rate). And it's very conflicting. And it's not at all as graphic as I thought it would be--my friend who lent it to me said that she was a little shocked when she read it, but it's not very bad at all. (Although I can see why the movie is rated R.)

I especially think Mom might be interested in it, because it's about the Holocaust. It took me a while to figure out the time period of the book... I had to do some mental math to figure out when it took place.

Moving on. I think you'll all enjoy it. I wrote down a couple of phrases that I found interesting to the moral message of the novel. So, it's not super fluffy, but if you have a couple of hours to spare you could finish it rather easily, I'm sure. And Mom, promise me that you won't read the end before you finish the book. Thanks.