Lagging

I still haven't read Suite Francaise!

However I have started it. I read about 2 pages about a month ago.

Hester was reading it on the plane and forgot her copy here, which I need to send back to her. I also have the copy Mom sent me (thanks Mom!).

Now I just need to sit down and read it!

Atonement

So, I'm waiting for Suite Francaise to be available at any library in Utah County (seriously, is it that popular?), and in the meantime picked up Atonement off of my roommate's bookshelf. (She's an English major... TONS of books that I haven't read, and I'm looking forward to it!)

So far I like the book a lot. It's very descriptive (although at one point the descriptive gets a little graphic), and a very compelling read.

Has anyone read it or watched the trailer for the movie?

While we are waiting . . .

So while we are waiting for everyone to be in a position to comment on the German occupation of Paris - and France - I have been reading this book:We were in the Burbank airport and I noticed it at one of the many book stalls there - decided I would order it from Amazon - which I did at Phoebe's.

My book group chose to read GWTW for January - and so I dug out Scarlett too - and have been thoroughly enjoying transporting myself back in time in these very historical - but very readable - novels about the ante bellum South.

I need to visit the South some time - I have read about it so often - I really need to see it.

I have loved GWTW for lo these many years - and maybe because I have read it so often, I love the fact that Margaret Mitchell's estate has commissioned sequels to the book. I'm sure they are in it for the money, and they are not great art - or even great literature - but the original has "stood the test of time" and that is good enough for me.

Besides, I enjoy curling up with a book that transports me!!

Talk about a "theme!"

I finished Suite Francaise - as well written as Sarah's Key is not - and was so moved by not only the novel, but by Irene N.'s story too.

I'm excited for all of you to get through it.

And I'm half way through Resistance by Anita Shreve - about the French underground in Belgium in the same time period - actually 1944 - but a gripping story too.

I also started Rhett Butlter's People - it's my new SSR (Sustained Silent Reading) book. The glory that is GWTW just goes on and on!!

Sarah's Key

Bonny hasn't read Sarah's Key yet - I will take it to her tomorrow - since we are going there after the temple - we have a wedding to attend in Ojai at 11 a.m. so we thought we'd try to avoid all the extra driving.

Anyway, if you'd like to get a head start - I think we should read Suite Francaise to compare the two. The above photo is of the author - her story is fascinating.

So happy reading - we'll start discussing soon!!

Getting going

Since I'm leading a "book discussion," I thought a "school pix" of me might be apropos. (Actually couldn't think of any other image - and it's nice to have images on a blog now and then!)

I confess that as I started reading this book, I figured out some of what was going to be happening. And in my own impatient style, I skimmed through the book to the end - and my suspicions were confirmed.

But as always happens when I skim that way, I do find out some major details that I suspected - and then realize that the ending has some minor details that I don't understand.

And in addition to being impatient, I am also very curious. So I have to go back and read for the details.

Which is why I love Gone With the Wind - I read it the first time when I was young - and didn't know about "skipping ahead" so I read all the details and wasn't impatient. Now I can just read the "good parts!"

Which leads to my next question - that I want everyone to consider as they read - why does the author "set us up" so blatantly? Or do you even think that she does? (I do.) And many books do this - is it just "bad writing?" Or am I expecting great literature when the author was just intending fiction?

Your thoughts??

Sarah's Key

To answer Mom's question, I sent invites to everyone and Mom and Phoebe have not yet responded. I will send you a second invite and you can join when you have time.

So the first book will be Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. From Publishers Weekly: "De Rosnay's U.S. debut fictionalizes the 1942 Paris roundups and deportations, in which thousands of Jewish families were arrested, held at the Vélodrome d'Hiver outside the city, then transported to Auschwitz." An American reporter living in Paris and working for an American magazine is assigned to write about the anniversary of the Vél' d'Hiv' roundups. She discovers that the former occupants of the apartment she is moving into were Jews kicked out at the time of the roundups (at which time the apartment was acquired by her husband's family).

My last question is, is a month enough time for you to read it, or would you rather have more time since we also need time to post/comment? If a month is good, then we can start in November and Mom can review it (I am volunteering you, Mom) at the end of November or beginning of December and we can discuss.


By the way, if you don't want to lead the discussion then I can do it. I just figured I'd let The Matriarch start and we can go from there.


Phoebe, I also want to read Finn; maybe that can be our second book. Matt recently re-read Huck Finn and sparked my interest.