French Book Wishlist Part 1

Here begins what I hope to be a weekly or biweekly feature on my blog, that is: French books that I really want to read and might even pay a lot of money to have them shipped to me in the USA!  I do plan on ordering at least a handful at the end of the year sometime.  Shipping will probably kill my wallet though..  Just a heads up, the little plot summaries I have with each book are not exact translations.  I just skimmed what they are about and put whatever caught my attention into my own words.

1. Les nuits de froides by Olivier Vigna

Okay I'm a bit brain dead this morning so pardon my uninterest in translating this book blurb right now. It's about 2 men, one in New York and one in Paris. I've read on a few French sites that the writing style of this book is really exquisite. It better be, because it's expensive but I still want this book! Basically I'm super excited and hope I can afford to have it shipped to the states. Otherwise the twin sis in France is bringing me home a copy! Do you hear me Heather?!

2. Alzabane l’oiseau de la lune by Jean-Sébastien Blanck

According to a little blurb I read on another blog, this book is about a bird and it's journey through the primitive world. The world is only a ball of gas inhabited by many beautiful birds. Alzabane, the bird, flies to the moon and becomes "the bird of the moon". He encounters other creatures and has quite an adventure. That sums it up I think. I could go to amazon.fr for a longer, more thorough synopsis, but I also don't feel like translating, LOL.

3. En attendant la montée des eaux by Maryse Condé

The first thing that drew me to this book was the cover. It looks like a beautiful watercolor painting that's kind of blurry, and there's the grass and the house. I heart covers like this. Plus, there's an Anais, and ever since reading Gouverneurs de la rosee, I've loved that name. At a quick glance, looks like the book takes place in Gaudeloupe and at least one of the characters is actually Haitian and in exile in Gaudeloupe. My kind of book.

Review/Gush of Reckless by Cornelia Funke

You all knew this gushing/drooling over Cornelia Funke's latest novel was coming :)

I can never ever EVER say it enough: I LOVE Cornelia Funke and there's a reason she's my favorite author!  Her latest book Reckless, was no exception to the awesome book rule.  It's a bit hard to write this review because I loved the book so much and am still really excited about it!

Funke's books are magical.  They transport you to new worlds.  And I mean they really transport you.  You get sucked into her world, in this case, the Mirrorworld, and you lose yourself in it for days.  When I wasn't reading Reckless, I was daydreaming about the world it takes place in, wondering (and yes, actually trying..) if I could also disappear through a mirror. 

Reckless is the story of Jacob Reckless and his adventures in the Mirrorworld.  Right away, we're introduced to the fact that his brother, who has followed him into the Mirrorworld from their home in the "regular" world, is in trouble.  He's been attacked and is now turning into a Goyl-a man-like creature made of stone.  Time is running out for Will.  If Jacob doesn't find a cure soon, his brother will lose all memory of his family and girlfriend (Clara) and become a scary, coldhearted, and mean stone creature.  Jacob will risk everything to help his brother.

As I've already stated a few times already, I loved this book!  It is so magical.  I love all the creatures mentioned in it.  There are dwarfs and foxes that shapeshift into humans.  There are scary things like the Tailor, which will probably make me think twice about walking alone in woods.

One of the funnest things about this book was the fairytale aspect.  It refers to some of the fairytales that Disney made into movies.  But in the Mirrorworld, they don't always have a happy ending.  For example, snow white doesn't not end up with her prince *wink wink*.  It's all so well told, and I love the fairies in it too.  They aren't as sweet as you'd think.  In fact, they are quite evil.

Here are some quotes from some of my favorite passages:
Opening line: "The night breathed through the apartment like a dark animal.." 

Description on pg. 49 of some of the scary creatures in the forest: "Barkbiters, Mushroom-Wights, Trappers, Crow-Men.  The Hungry Forest had many unpleasant inhabitants, though the Empress had been trying for years to clear it of its terrors."

Pg. 336: "The Fairy was standing by the shore, the light of the stars on her hair.  The two moons caressed her skin, and Jacob felt his hatred drown in her beauty, but the memory of Will's stone face quickly brought it back." 

I cannot wait for the next book about Jacob Reckless and his adventures in the Mirrorworld!  The ending of this one makes me want book 2 sooooo badly!

Okay I'm done acting like a giddy 13 year old!  Just go out and read this book!

Oh, and have a mentioned that I'm totally in love with Jacob Reckless now??!

Weekend Reads

Another week has gone by, and as I sit here I'm starting to think maybe I'm coming down with a cold.  I never get sick.  Ever.  So this is just great (note the sarcasm..).  I'll be spending the rest of my weekend finishing up homework, drinking lots of tea and coffee, reading, and spending time with Boyfriend and Dog at the p-a-r-k.  I finished Cornelia Funke's newest book, Reckless, which was amazing and will be reviewed this week.  I also (finally) found my copy of The Time Traveler's Wife, which I misplaced a while ago and could not find. 

This afternoon the Little One (nickname for little sis, who's actually 17 now!), my mom, and I took a drive down to the Boston (NY) Hills to one of our favorite Autumn haunts-Red Barrel Cider Mill.  We bought apples, cider, and of course, apple butter.  And what goes best with apple butter on the perfect Fall day?!  Homemade bread!  Which I made promptly after returning home.

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a bearable week at work/school/or whatever it is you do ;)

The Book Blogger Hop

Let me first say that things are finally starting to get back to "normal" since school started!  I'm almost back into my old reading habits :)
And now for the Hop!

The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly hop hosted by Crazy-for-Books and is a way for bloggers to find other great blogs to read and make new friends in the blogging world.

This week's question is:
When you write reviews, do you write them as you are reading or wait until you have read the entire book?

My answer:
I always take notes while I'm reading, or underline certain parts/lines that I like or want to talk about.  As I read, I think about the book and my feelings of it, especially my thoughts towards certain events.  If I think the book starts slowly, I take note of that so I can mention it in the review.  But the actual review writing doesn't come until I've finished the book.  I usually wait a few days to write the review too, because I always like to have time to think about the book and really let it all sink in.

What about everyone else?  Do you write your review as you go or wait until you've finished it?

Happy Hopping!

Weekend Reads, Or When A Book Ends With a Bang, a BAD Bang

So I just finished reading a book that will be reviewed a few weeks.  I loved it, really loved it.  I've tried reading other books by this same author but couldn't get into them.  And then this one came along and, well, captured my heart.  I grew to know and love the characters, and I cared about what they were trying to do.  And then came the ending.

"Something big" is going down and most of the characters are laying in wait for it.  They have no plan whatsoever if this "something big" doesn't work out.  And then BAM.  Something totally unexpected happens to the people doing this "something big" and then the book just ends.  It ends!  Just like that.  No speculation as to what the other characters might do.  No afterword.  No nothing.  It's driving me crazy.  I had to sit down and read Cosmo for an hour to try to forget about this ending. 

I've been trying to console myself by making up what I think would have happened to the remaining characters based on their personalities and the predicament they were in, which helps a bit.  But not much.

So my question to you is, what do you do when a book ends so abruptly that you can't stand it and have no idea what happens to the main characters??

Book Blogger Hop

The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly hop hosted by Crazy-for-Books and is a way for bloggers to find other great blogs to read and make new friends in the blogging world.

This week's question is not really a question at all, but here it is:
In Honor of Book Blogger Appreciation Week (which I did not partake in, though I LOVED reading everyone's BBAW posts all week!), let's take time this week to honor our favorite book bloggers and why we love them.

My response:
This is such a great topic :)  I love so many blogs, and it would take forever to list them all (and I can't list them all right now because I'm supposed to be leaving for class!).  I follow some really awesome blogs that I didn't realize I'd love so much when I discovered them, and now I can't wait to log into my Google Reader everyday to read what they have to say!  Instead of listing all of them, I'll just say that if I comment on your blog, I love it.  If I don't comment, I still love it but I am very guilty of lurking on blogs when I don't have time to make comments.
A do want to give a special shoutout to a few blogs, though.
The Book Lady's Blog was the first book blog I ever discovered.  I was living in France at the time and missing my bookshelves back home, and it was so much fun to go to Rebecca's blog and read all the funny and interesting things she had to say.  I still read it everyday :)
The Book On the Hill I love because I get to see some great book in French.  Plus Charlotte has a great personality and always has something interesting to say.
Readerbuzz was one of the first blogs I discovered on this Hop, and it was great reading about her time in France and how it transformed her (I totally get what you mean!).  She is funny and I love the books she writes about.
And recently discovered was Pink Sheep Cafe.  The layout is adorable!!!  (hello-pink sheep!!)  And I find myself adding everything reviewed there to my TBR list! 

I appreciate you all checking out my blog :)  And I also appreciate you all for having such awesome and fun blogs and having so much to say about books <3

It's Out Today!!!! Reckless by Cornelia Funke!

And I am so running to the store after class with my little sister so we can both buy our copies!!  I'm really excited for this!!!!  I adore everything I've read by her and this book looks amazing (plus, as I said last time I wrote about it, the main character is named Jacob, just like Boyfriend!).  I probably won't have a ton of time to read it just yet but will write up a review once I've finished it :)

Go to the store or library and get your copy of Reckless today!! 

For more information on the author or to join the web community, visit corneliafunkefans.com !!

Review: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

I'm not going to lie to you and say "OMG this book was amazing and surprisingly easy to read and changed my life!", because, frankly, it isn't really any of those things.  I did really like the book, but it wasn't so good I couldn't put it down.  And honestly, it was so depressing that I could only read a few chapters at a time, which is probably why it took me a surprisingly long time to read it!  As far as "reading ability", I have to say, I was sort of scared to read this because I've heard that it's pretty intimidating.  I read Jane Austen all the time and really love classics, so I'm no stranger to "intimidating old-fashioned writing", but I was nervous.  The Jungle, though, while it wasn't super easy, it also wasn't so fluffed up with old-fashionedness that I couldn't understand it.  I actually thought the writing was really good.  And as for "changing my life", the book was really good and took away my chicken wing cravings for a few days because of some graphic pig and cow slaughtering scenes, but it's not like I'm going to sit here and say "everyone should read this book at least once!".  Read it if you are truly interested in reading things that made an impact in the world, or if you are really interested to see what life in big cities was like at the turn of the 1900s. 

On to the plot summary.

Here's the down and dirty (or really quick actually) synopsis:  Family moves from Europe to America and ends up in Chicago.  No jobs.  No money.  Family gets jobs and buys house and things start looking up.  Someone loses job.  Someone dies.  Things go downhill.  Then someone gets new job and starts making money again.  Things start looking up.  Then someone dies.  Then things go downhill again and there is no money.  Then they get new jobs.  Then someone else dies.  And so on.  Now do you see what I mean when I say "depressing"?!

While this book is well known for its intense descriptions of the meat packing industry, there is so much more to it.  We get to see all about the scandals within city government.  We see what life was like for the poor working class at the turn of the century.  We see how votes for elections were bought and sold. 

Basically we get to see a comprehensive look at what life was all about for poor immigrant families back in the day.  And it's pretty grim.  I'm sure not all families suffered like this one did, but I'm also sure that this book isn't a total exageration. 

Oh yeah, just a side note:  I don't know how many people still read Emile Zola nowadays, but I took a class last semester where we read two Zola novels.  One of them, L'Assommoir, has a REALLY long and boring wedding scene.  This book has pretty much the exact same long and boring wedding scene.  Though I was probably so unhappy to read it in The Jungle because I'm still a bit scared from reading SO much Zola in one semester (in French!).  I do wonder a bit if Sinclair read any of Zola's stuff. 

As I said above, if you're interested in life back in the day, or in the meat packing industry, or anything at all related to corruption, then read this book.  But maybe don't read it if you have a weak stomach!

Here are some memorable quotes:
Pg. 126: "The men who worked on the killing beds would come to reak with foulness, so that you could smell one of them from fifty feet away.."  Oh yeah, doesn't life look awesome for these people?!  (Not!)

Pg. 236: "She had to bury one of her children-but then she had done it three times before, and each time risen up and gone back to take up the battle for the rest.  Elzbieta was one of the primitive creatures: like the angleworm, which goes on living though cut in half: like a hen, which, deprived of her chickens one by one, will mother the last that is left her.  She did this because it was her nature-she asked no questions about the justice of it, nor the worthwhileness of life in which destruction and death ran riot." 

Pg. 375: "And Jurgis was a man who's soul had been murdered, who had ceased to hope and to struggle.."

Book Blogger Hop

The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly hop hosted by Crazy-for-Books and is a way for bloggers to find other great blogs to read and make new friends in the blogging world.

This week's question is:
Post a link to a favorite post or book review that you have written in the last 3 months.

My response:
I have two favorites I think.  I really loved reading The Gendarme, and I think I did a pretty good job describing its greatness in my review, which is here.  But I also really like my review of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (if nothing else but for the awesome SAAB quotes I was able to supply at the end!).  I'm excited to start hopping to all the blogs I follow and seeing what you've all posted!  I also can't wait to get out there and discover some new blogs!

I realize also that I have posted pretty much nothing all week!  I am so sorry and I feel like a failure.  I have a review done of The Jungle which I'll probably end up posting later today.  School has just been getting most of my time, and I've been exhausted and feeling a bit under the weather (which is, ya know, what happens when it's in the 90s one week and then the next it's in the 50s and 60s!), and I was barely on the Internet this whole week.  I did get quite a bit of reading and knitting done though :) 

Hope everyone has a really awesome weekend!  Have any plans??  I'm taking Gramma to dialysis tomorrow, which I've learned to love, not only because Gramma feels way better because of it, and I get to spend time in the car with her, but I also use the 3 to 4 hours in between dropping her off and picking her up to just catch up on my reading and blogging and blog visiting.  Sunday is probably going to be lazy!  I'm so tired right now that I'm wondering if maybe I'm anemic.  (I'm not....but I always do wonder when I get this exhausted!)

Bon weekend!

Weekend Reads + American Girl is Archiving Felicity?!????

This weekend's reading post has been hijacked by me ranting about American Girl.  Every American woman who was a little girl over the last 25ish years probably knows what I'm talking about.  You know, the adorable American Girl Dolls-historical dolls that come with stories about life back in the day, and outfits, furniture, and accessories that are authentic to the time period the doll lives in.  I grew up collecting these dolls.  While I love the modern girls, my favorites have always been the historicals.  It was these dolls really that sparked my love of both history and reading.  Their stories are fascinating.  And being able to read with your doll and dress her in the same clothes she wears in the books is so much fun.

For the last few years, Mattel (who bought the company quite a few years ago from Pleasant Company) has been slowly "archiving" historical dolls.  This is really just a nice way of saying "retiring".  Because once a doll is archived, you cannot buy the doll or her clothes or her accessories or her furniture from the American Girl Doll website or stores.  First, it was Samantha, which shocked collectors everywhere, because she has always been the company's best selling historical doll.  Next, Kirsten.  I thought this was kind of funny, seeing as Samantha was my little sis's favorite growing up, and Kirsten was my twin sis's favorite doll growing up.  What came next though, I never saw coming.

Felicity, my all-time favorite dolly in the whole wide world, is being archived.  WTF?! (excuse my French....).  I found out about this yesterday, and it broke my heart.  I've been collecting for Felicity since I was 5 years old.  I got her for Christmas in 1995.  She was my first American Girl doll, and I remember begging and begging "Santa" to bring her.  He did, and I was the happiest person alive.  Lissie and I grew up together, and I've slowly added to her collection over the last 15 years.  I don't have it all, but I always thought I'd be able to keep collecting pieces as I got older. 

Well that dream is over, now isn't it?! 

If you're still reading my little rant, thank you, and here's where I get to the point of this whole post.  These dolls were created by Pleasant Rowland because she wanted young girls to have good role models that taught them invaluable life lessons, and got them into history and reading!  It definitely worked, because I owe my love of reading and history (and also my awesomely strong and sweet personality *wink wink*) to these dolls.  When Rowland sold her company to Mattel, it was under the promise that they would never ever retire a historical doll.  The word "archival" is their way of skirting around the issue.  I don't care if they say "Oh we need to make shelf space for new historicals blah blah blah".  They are taking away a part of history and a part of childhood that every girl should be able to have.  Instead of introducing so many new dolls, why not focus more on the collections already out??  Or write more books for the dolls?  Or perhaps STOP making so many "modern dolls" with mini iPods and cell phones.  Girls don't need little clones of themselves, they need something to teach them about what girlhood used to be about.  Taking away the historical dolls is basically like saying "fuck it" to the American Girl mission statement.

With that being said, I now have decided to start rereading all of the historical American Girl books.  I read most of them as a little girl, and they are so great and adorable and thought provoking and emotional.  I'll be sharing my journey of America's history through the eyes of these young girls with you all on my blog as I read the books :)

Here is a photo of my Felicity and her best friend Erin as they look at the page in the current catalog about Lissie's archival.

A Demain tout le monde!  And happy Labor Day celebrations to all you Americans :)

Book Blogger Hop

The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly hop hosted by Crazy-for-Books and is a way for bloggers to find other great blogs to read and make new friends in the blogging world.

This week's question is:

Do you judge a book by it's cover?

My answer:

Yes, I sometimes do.  I really don't care that much about book covers, but if I'm just browsing a book store for random books, it's always the pretty covers that catch my attention.  I don't really like covers with photos on them..  However, if I hear about a book online or through word of mouth, I don't care at all about the cover, and it doesn't effect my decision to buy and read the book.  Of course, titles catch my attention more than anything, so if the cover of a book is absolutely hideous but I love the book's name, I'll pick it up and read the back blurb, and sometimes end of buying it that way.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Review: The Gendarme by Mark T. Mustian

I am really picky when it comes to accepting/requesting review books, so when I saw this book in the LibraryThing.com monthly giveaway section, I was intrigued and wanted it badly.  I was insanely excited when I got the message saying I had won it!  Yay!

Fast foward a few weeks from that, and I had the book in my hands.  I devoured this book.  Here is a little plot summary:

The main character, Emmett Con, is a 92 year old man who has a brain tumor.  He starts having weird dreams, almost like memories, of his life as a child and young adult in Turkey.  The only problem, Emmett lost his memory when sustained a head wound as a soldier for the Turkish Army during WWI.  Fate, however, brought him to an English hospital, where he met a lovely nurse who eventually married him and took him home to the USA.  Emmett has changed his old name (Ahmet) to an American one and has not practiced religion (he was a Muslim as a child) for many, many years.  In fact, he is completely Americanized.  So when he starts dreaming about being a Turkish gendarme leading Armenians out of Turkey, he is a bit perplexed.  In his dreams, he and his fellow gendarmes act like monsters towards the Armenian refugees.  Then he starts dreaming about a young Armenian girl who is among the refugees.  The dreams unveil their love for one another, and then Emmett sets out the find the woman he loved and discover the truth about what happened so many years ago.

I really loved how Mustian's main character is a 92 year old man.  I mean come on-how many books have you read with a narrator that old??  I also love how it's all told in the present tense, as if you are right there with Emmett as he's making all these discoveries.  Emmett is a very intriguing narrator.  He is still a strong older man, yet he is almost submissive in his old age, like so many elderly people I see everyday at my grandmother's retirement home.  Their children never visit, but they learn to not really care.  Their children make them move into nursing homes, and instead of protesting, they figure "what good will arguing do??", and then they go along with whatever their kids or doctors want.  I think Mustian captures perfectly the mindset of a lot of older people.  (Of course I'm not elderly myself, but I spend a lot of time with older people, so this is based solely on my observations.)

The events that Mustian (of Armenian descent himself) chooses to place this story around were another thing that I loved.  The Armenian "genocide" (as many call it, though we never learn a thing about this horrific event in school) is a topic that has always fascinated me.  As I just stated though, many schools (at leasts mine) don't teach about this event.  I learned about it years ago through a song by a really awesome band who's lead singer's family is from Armenia.  I don't know any other fiction books that use this very real event as a backdrop.  Mustian did this all perfectly, and he also awakened in my history buff brain a hunger for more information on what happened in Turkey just before and during The Great War. 

I highly recommend you read this book.  It is extremely well written and different from so many other books I've read.  The book is out TODAY!!  So go get your copy!

Here is a little bit about the author, taken from his website at markmustian.com:
"Mark T. Mustian is an author, attorney and city commissioner. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida, with his wife, three children and dog. He also serves as the current chair of the Lutheran Readers Project, a nationwide effort to connect readers and writers associated with the Lutheran faith.


Mustian's fiction has been published or is forthcoming in Stand Magazine, The Green Hills Literary Lantern, Opium Magazine, Parting Gifts and other publications."

This book was released September 2nd, 2010.  It is now in stores!


Title: The Gendarme
Author: Mark T. Mustian
Date of Publication: September 2nd, 2010
Number of Pages: 288
Genre: Fiction
Source: Review copy from publisher (won from Librarything.com)