8 posts tagged “books”
I've been sitting on this book, waiting to review it, but not sure I could do it justice. Frankly, I have not read such a good satisfying book in a very long time. I'm almost afraid to write about it, as if that would ruin the "magic!"
It's been a while since I wrote about anything I am reading. I've been reading on and off. Last summer I read but nothing of quality. Through the winter, I have been mostly dealing with the exhaustion of the house sale, etc, so didn't seem to do much reading.
I thought I'd post a post about Book Crossing, which I think many Voxer's know about, but I am thinking about it recently, so I decided thats the best thing to write about, even though I think I have written about it before, it's been so long, I can not recall it. And perhaps I can get a few people started in the habit!!
Bookcrossing launched in April 2001. I joined last year after reading about it on 43 things. It''s a thriving international community of people who love reading books, and Surprises. There are many ways to use the site, and many people exchange books via book boxes, and defintiely get recomendatiosn for new reads. But what actually captured my imagination is the "Wild Release"
Wild Releasing of a book means that one labels it with a nice label such as this one:
it gets a BookCrossing ID number, so it can be identified.
Then the releaser chooses a spot and leaves the book. The idea of course is that some lucky soul will find it, pick it up, read it, and enter the number into the site and leave a journal entry, and THEN...re release it into the "wild"
I like this idea very much. Unfortunately so far, I have released 39 books and have had one "caught" and journaled. Since I read so many trade paperback mysteries over the summer, this week seemed a good time to go on a release spree. In addition, since I read so many Murder Mysteries, October seemed a good time to release them. So I have released books...all over North Carolina. I thought I chose good spots....resturaunts (of varying quality), rest stops on the way to the beach, diaper changing areas for children's books, bus stop benches, and coffee shops. I released 9 in all. Mostly mysteries, a children's book, and a few historical fiction dealios.
I will add, I signed up for alerts on releases, and actually went as far as visiting some of the places where a book was supposed to have been released, and could NEVER find the book, soooooo, perhaps I'm not quick enough!
I have about 10 more to release. Any suggestions as to where would be good? I hope as knowledge of the site grows, so will knowledge of the practice. Americans it seems as quite self concious, and never want to pick up something that isn't thiers, even if no one else is around...after all, it could be considered stealing (Despite the take me, I'm free...labels.)
I'm hoping some weekend beach goers found my books, and will journal when they arrive home.
Anyone iterested in Bookcrossing? Check it out at www.bookcrossing.com (My user name is Katiebell, duh, so you can find me there!)
I finished 'tis
by Frank McCourt this weekend. It's another NYT bestseller that lived up to it's reputation. It is the authors memoir of his own life. I found it absolutely fascinating, once I got used to the writing style. I have not read McCourt's other books, so I'm not sure this is his permanent style. In 'tis I often got the sensation of becoming out of breath. It seemed at times to be one long run on sentance! However, the run on sentance style carries the story along quite well.
As an "Irish-American" I had an interest immediately in the book. McCourt describes his struggles as he enters the U.S. as a man born in America, but raised in Ireland. He had no high school education, but worked his way up from a hotel lobby cleaner to an award winning writer. He describes in rich detail the atmosphere of NYC post WWII. I felt as if I could really see his various landladies and other people he encounters. I'm of course amaed at his ability to drink like a fish....
One thing I picked out that particularly struck me were his description of Americans who can't be just American.
He remarks a few times that it's very confusing...everyone in America is hyphenated. Italian-American, Irish-American,Mexican-American, African American. Many of my friends worry that their children won't know much about their culture. They mean their ancestral culture...If you ask children in Jr. High in the US about their heritage, often a mix of several ethnic groups comes out. It seems to never be enough to just be American. My ancestral heritage is pretty much Celtic, but I've never been to Ireland. In fact, I sort of prefer the family traditions that are more my culture than the Celtic culture. Mixed in with eating corned beef and cabbage is the celebration of St Lucia Day which came from a Sweedish neighbour my mother grew up near. I often wonder why long term Americans are so eager to identify with an ethnic group. McCourt expressed his frustration with this as he was discriminated against for being Irish. I on the other hand, just find the hypens curious and interesting. I do think it's important for Americans to know their ancestry,but I think some take it a bit far...I think in a lot of our minds, Americans think of Ireland as a country still involved in the potato blight, rather than the place it is now, with significant growth in the tech industry.
Anyway, excellent read. I enjoyed it and plan on sharing it with a few others....
for this year....
I finished this one today. I think Cotterill may be my new favorite murder mystery author. In this book, his humble hero, a 78 year old Communist insurgent/Surgeon, turned coroner, sets off on a new adventure. In this adventure, he encounters a myriad of seemingly unrelated people and things....a discoteque filled only with dead souls, small children possessed by old women, Haitian vodoo encountering Laotian Spirits...marriage proposals to his "girl friday" Dtui ( Fatty in Lao)...by the end,Dr. Siri has things cleared away neatly. A second story is told of Mr. Geung,the faithful morgue attendant, afflicted with Down's Syndrome.
While I have liked all of Cotterill's books, this one was the best so far. Apparently there is a new one coming in August. I'm tempted to pre order it from Amaon.com......
Being that this book was a New York Times best seller, I imagine lots of you have read this book. If not this is going to be a bit of a spoiler.
Essentially the book tells the story of a family started in 1964. In a hasty moment, the father in the story makes a decision that appears to forever alter the lives of his family and himself.
I found the book very interesting. Kim Anderson is a skilled writer. She writes in a style that is very familiar these days...and is able, as many contemporaries are, to paint sort of a picture of a scene... She does it well, however, without using too many superlatives. Still, this style is very pervasive and I sometimes feel like it's not distinct enough for a writer to really distinguish themselves. Anderson would do well to read Georges Simenon who was a Master. Admired by many more "serious" writers.
I was fascinated by the idea that one decision would cause such a drastic change in so many lives. I was also intrigued by character's tendency to dwell on the "What ifs" in life. I think we all do this to a certain extent...and it was interesting to be inside someone elses brain for a moment of two.
Overall an interesting book. Not sure I;d have it a Best Seller, but...I can see why it is.
Oh and Yes, the Cover Photograph is from Getty Images. It alone is so appealing and interesting...you may not judge the book by the cover, but that was an excellent choice for a cover.
I just finished this mystery this morning. Colin Cotterill may just be my favorite new author. I like the way this is a mystery that also reveals facts about communist Laos, and traditional Laos beliefs without insulting them. The main characters are all likeable and very interesting. Cotterill knows how to reveal facets of personality without digressing from the story. I love the team of Nurse Dtui, Dr. Siri and Mr Geung. I am eagerly awaiting the third in this series. Each novel has revealed more and more of Siri's mysterious past and mysterious present as a host of the great Shaman...
In addition, though this is a teeny portion of the story, I personally found it so revealing when Nurse Dtui's studies were revealed. Initially Dtui translated ehr Laos Nursing texts into English, hoping to come to the US and study....then the Communist revolution came, and she then learnt Russian, again hoping to go to Russia for further study. I had never thought about how a revolution would affect people in this way....
Yay Cotterill, an excellent follow up to The Coroners Lunch, which I also enjoyed immensley. Pleas don't let me down with #3....
I've been a Book crosser for about a year now. I love Wild releases. I like the idea of leaving a book somewhere and exposing someone to an entirely different point of view, expanding minds, inspiring lives. Unfortunately while I release a lot of books (lots of murder mysteries I love Georges Simenon) rarely does anyone journal them after I release them.
Finally, yesterday one of my releases was "caught" by an anonymous finder. So much for expanding minds or inspiring lives. It was a a "little golden Book" entitled Annabelles Wish about a little cow that wants to be a reindeer with Santa.....
I've released some excellent books, Georges Simenon, Ryszard Kapusinski's
The Soccer War , some books by Lisa Lee....and what gets journalled...the Little golden book.
But, I do feel good. The journaller explined they were on a long car trip, found it in the rest stop (where I left it) and that it had kept her son happily occupied for some time on the trip.
It's inspired me to keep releasing, apparently rest stops are the way to go. Anyone else have good success with wild releases?
