everydayxangels

ISRAEL Light Fell by Evan Fallenberg A heartbreaking story about a man who fell in love with his rabbi - with his rabbi falling back. The two are torn between what they feel and what they know and ultimately the secret of their relationship drives the rabbi to commit suicide. They're relationship dies as a secret with only the families aware of it. The rest 150 pages is about the surviving lovers decision to leave his family and his oppressive orthodox community. It revolves around a dinner party he is throwing for his 50th birthday and his three sons are invited - the first time in decades they will all be together. I enjoyed it, but I thought the love story was incredibly under-developed. They meet and then next week they're in love. Fallenberg pushes hard that it's an emotional and intellectual affair too, but perhaps a little too hard. It was slightly unbelievable. JAMAICA Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys Our heroine, Antoinette, grows up on the rotting Coulibri estate in Jamaica with her slightly crazy mother and her mentally disabled brother. She spends a lot of time away from the house, wishing to be accepted by the former slaves who see her only as a "white nigger". Her mother re-marries and he ever-absent and shortly after the estate burns to the ground. Because her mother despises her, Antoinette is sent to a covenant and her mother his institutionalized. Many years later her step-father returns to arrange a marriage with a wealthy Englishman who is only marrying her for the wealth he will acquire - and makes not attempts at loving Antionette. Their relationship is taxing on Antionette. He hates the island, begins to hate Antionette and starts sleeping with one of her servants, and he is perfectly comfortable knowing that Antionette is one room over and hears all of it. Eventually he removes her from the island she loves, to England where she is locked in the attic and roams the house ghost-like for the rest of her life. This book was not unlike a dream. RUSSIA First Love by Turgenev A lovely little novella about a dinner party that ends with one of the guests sharing the tale of his first love. He is sixteen and his in love with the vain Princess Zinaida who lives one house over. A coming of age story that revolves around first loves and the loss of innocence. And like all first loves, it's tragic and dramatic. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz Diaz is one hell of a writer and I felt I learned so much about Trujillo and life culture of the Dominican Republic. And even after all that I don't know how much I LOVED the book the way everyone has raved about it. I kept waiting for something to happen. It felt like the plot was going to unfold and I was going to be in for a big shock, but there wasn't. Not that I need a shocking plot, I prefer character over plot actually, but for some reason I felt that's what I was going to get and then it wasn't given. Still excellent writing and a good book. EGYPT Woman at Point Zero by El Saadawi I absolutely loved it. It's about Firdaus, a woman who is one death-row in Egypt and is going to die in a week for killing a pimp. She was born to parents who didn't love her and given to her uncle who sexually abused her. Then married off to an old widow who abused her more. Each relationship started out with her trusting them and in the end they treated her awfully. After her husband rapes her she decides to own her body and decide who she's going to give it to. So, she becomes a prostitute. She denies men she wants to deny and gets great satisfaction from it, as no woman is ever supposed to tell a man "no." She becomes very sucessful, owns her own apartment and nice things. After a few years, she decides to work at a factory and she hated the job, thought it incredibly oppressive and went back to being a prostitute. She said, "these women are more afraid of losing their job than a prostitute is of losing her life." How can someone be free with that kind of fear. and I came to the conclusion that all the women in the book are prostitutes in some way. They all belonged to a man; their father, their husband, their boss, etc. Except Firdaus, the real prostitute, who is incredibly liberated and owns herself and demands a high price for her body. Other women are doing what she does for free and getting beaten for it, can't ever say no, can't own anything for themselves, can't own their own bodies. And I don't know how I feel about it. Obviously it's a militant feminist message, obviously man-hating, but I thought the idea was interesting. The book was incredibly cynical and felt like **** after I read it, there was no hope about it, but it was a great book. 12.4% of the world complete

APRIL BOOKS A Leap by Anna Enquist A really beautiful collection of short drama monologues. The first one is my favorite, a story of Alma who is a talented musician is given the ultimatum: her lover or her music / herself. She chooses her lover and starts her life as "her husbands wife" then "her child's mother" and after introspection she begins to doubt her decision. However, at the end she is given another chance to choose and her decision is heart-breaking. I strongly recommend this. The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Adichie (released June 16th) I enjoyed this short story collection almost as much as Half of a Yellow Sun. In most of the stories, it's about Nigerian-Americans, each told with a fresh perspective and about a different subject-matter. Adichie writes beautifully and certainly doesn't disappoint with her latest. Vast Fields of Orindary By Nick Burd A very touching coming of age YA novel about a miserable closeted gay boy in suburban America. Dade is in a purely physical relationship with the most popular boy at school, who won't acknowledge his existence in public. It's the summer before Dade leaves for college and he meets two people that will be pivotal in his life. Nothing extremely remarkable, but enjoyable. The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta Set in Nigeria, Nnu Ego, the daughter of a fiercely independent woman and a powerful man, makes the transition of a rural family-oriented society to an urban "white" city. She deals with the vast heart-breaking differences between the two cultures. Her husband now serves a white woman younger than he, who refers to him as "boy" and she endures the loss of her first-born. I thought it very well written and a beautiful piece of work.

Oh god, I'm so sorry. I don't check this very often and must have skipped over your post. I apologize. I really appreciate you offering it, but I have been re-thinking that book all together. thank you though! and again, I'm sorry that I ignored you.

I'm adding The Last Time I saw My Mother. thanks for the recommendation.

NETHERLANDS A Leap by Anna Enquist A really beautiful collection of short drama monologues. The first one is my favorite, a story of Alma who is a talented musician is given the ultimatum: her lover or her music / herself. She chooses her lover and starts her life as "her husbands wife" then "her child's mother" and after introspection she begins to doubt her decision. However, at the end she is given another chance to choose and her decision is heart-breaking. I strongly recommend this. NIGERIA The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Adichie (released June 16th) I enjoyed this short story collection almost as much as Half of a Yellow Sun. In most of the stories, it's about Nigerian-Americans, each told with a fresh perspective and about a different subject-matter. Adichie writes beautifully and certainly doesn't disappoint with her latest. NIGERIA The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta Nnu Ego, the daughter of a fiercely independent woman and a powerful man, makes the transition of a rural family-oriented society to an urban "white" city. She deals with the vast heart-breaking differences between the two cultures. Her husband now serves a white woman younger than he, who refers to him as "boy" and she endures the loss of her first-born. I thought it very well written and a beautiful piece of work.

MARCH books The Seasons of Beento Blackbird By Akosua Busia A children's author, Solomon loves his women and loves love. One of his wives lives on a lush island in the Carribbean. She is an easy-going and sensitive soul, a very likable character though very little is said of her. His other, younger and shy wife lives in Ghana. He also has a potential love interest, his agent/publicist in America. The women are the seasons of Solomon. The writing was beautiful at times with the scenic depiction and the description of the culture, but the dialogue was painfully improbable at times. Personally, I think she could have done without Solomon's girlfriend/publicist in America. Though his trips to America were very interesting, with the racism that he experiences, I just don't think it was entirely necessary. Complete Persepolis Marjane Satrapi I was at first apprehensive about reading a graphic novel, but as it was for school, I saw very little choice. I loved it whole very much. Very interesting looking at the revolution through a child's eyes and in the end I was very thankful for the sketches. The writing as well as the pictures were incredibly witty and humorous. The little girls running about with the veils, making them out to be toys. Highly recommended. The River Between by Ngugi wa Thiong'o (quite a mouthful) I had read Achebe's depiction of colonization and then the most toxic aspect was the religion, that was the case for this novel as well, except in Kenya. The daughter of a Christian fanatic wishes to be circumcised, which is frowned vehemently upon by her fathers new-found religion. She decides to disobey the person she fears most and runs away to be circumcised and live with her aunt. The young woman dies from being circumcised, which people believe to be their ancestors/gods frowning upon the new religion. Where people used to be grey about their faith, the legend of the daughter is now the catalyst for the war between Christianity and the indigenous faith. I thoroughly enjoyed book.

GHANA The Seasons of Beento Blackbird By Akosua Busia A children's author, Solomon loves his women and loves love. One of his wives lives on a lush island in the Carribbean. She is an easy-going and sensitive soul, a very likable character though very little is said of her. His other, younger and shy wife lives in Ghana. He also has a potential love interest, his agent/publicist in America. The women are the seasons of Solomon. The writing was beautiful at times with the scenic depiction and the description of the culture, but the dialogue was painfully improbable at times. Personally, I think she could have done without Solomon's girlfriend/publicist in America. Though his trips to America were very interesting, with the racism that he experiences, I just don't think it was entirely necessary. IRAN Complete Persepolis Marjane Satrapi I was at first apprehensive about reading a graphic novel, but as it was for school, I saw very little choice. I loved it whole very much. Very interesting looking at the revolution through a child's eyes and in the end I was very thankful for the sketches. The writing as well as the pictures were incredibly witty and humorous. The little girls running about with the veils, making them out to be toys. Highly recommended. KENYA The River Between by Ngugi wa Thiong'o (quite a mouthful) I had read Achebe's depiction of colonization and then the most toxic aspect was the religion, that was the case for this novel as well. The daughter of a Christian fanatic wishes to be circumcised, which is frowned vehemently upon by her fathers new-found religion. She decides to disobey the person she fears most and runs away to be circumcised and live with her aunt. The young woman dies from being circumcised, which people believe to be their ancestors/gods frowning upon the new religion. Where people used to be grey about their faith, the legend of the daughter is now the catalyst for the war between Christianity and the indigenous faith. I thoroughly enjoyed book. 10.2% completed

My February Books: Butterfly Burning by Yvonne Vera This slim read that packs a punch takes place in Zimbabwe. It was incredibly dense and literary, but incredibly beautiful and lyrical. Fumbatha, a construction worker meets the heroine, Phephelaphi and wishes her to be his and "wants her like the land beneath his feet." Phephali is not satisfied with the cage he provides her and her desire for freedom and exploration ends their relationship. It was so beautiful and provided immense insight to Zimbabwe, Vera oftentimes plugging her beliefs into the plot. However, it was so dense hat I am going to have to re-read it simply to comprehend it fully. Balzac & the Little Chinese Seamstress - Sijie It takes place in China. A pleasant read about censorship and "re-education" during the Chinese cultural revolution. Two city youths are sent to the rural hill of china to be re-educated by the peasants. In the surrounding town, they form a reserved friendship with Four-Eyes, whose mysterious suitcase catches the attention of the nameless narrator. The uncover the suitcase to discover a case full of banned western novels. The two boys devour the works and in time change their own circumstances. This book highlights the irony of the re-education that was done and presents insight into present / western censorship. Ancestor Stones by Aminatta Forna I can compare it to The Red Tent for Sierra Leone. Abbie, living in present day London, is called back to her home country Sierra Leone by guilt. Four of her 11 aunts, who all shared the same husband tell the stories of their lives. A very interesting look at the globalization / colonization. It spanned from 1920's to the 1990's told through stories by the aunts. The Igbo faith, the coming of "the white man" and with him their Muslim faith (different from the Christian faith) and modernization. I thought it most interesting that although women were still incredibly oppressed, some still were able to leave their husbands if their circumstances became unbearable. A little unknown fact, Sierra Leone created the self-adhesive stamp. -- I am currently reading The Seasons of Beento Blackbird, which takes place in Ghana, Jamaica and NYC which is quite fast paced and enjoyable.

No, of course not! I got the idea from someone else as well. the site that I use is more for traveling, not really book reading, but it works just as well. the site is: http://www.world66.com Good luck! let me know how yours is going and what good global reads I should pick up.

Ugh. I have been meaning to update my challenge, and I did. However, I hit the backspace on the computer and took me back a page and when I came back, all of my writing was deleted! Twice this happened. So frustrating. ZIMBABWE Butterfly Burning by Yvonne Vera A slim read that packs a punch. It was incredibly dense and literary, but incredibly beautiful and lyrical. Fumbatha, a construction worker meets the heroine, Phephelaphi and wishes her to be his and "wants her like the land beneath his feet." Phephali is not satisfied with the cage he provides her and her desire for freedom and exploration ends their relationship. It was so beautiful and provided immense insight to Zimbabwe, Vera oftentimes plugging her beliefs into the plot. However, it was so dense hat I am going to have to re-read it simply to comprehend it fully. CHINA Balzac & The Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie A pleasant read about censorship and "re-education" during the Chinese cultural revolution. Two city youths are sent to the rural hill of china to be re-educated by the peasants. In the surrounding town, they form a reserved friendship with Four-Eyes, whose mysterious suitcase catches the attention of the nameless narrator. The uncover the suitcase to discover a case full of banned western novels. The two boys devour the works and in time change their own circumstances. This book highlights the irony of the re-education that was done and presents insight into present / western censorship. SIERRA LEONE Ancestor Stones by Aminatta Forna I can compare it to The Red Tent for Africa. Abbie, living in present day London, is called back to her home country Sierra Leone by guilt. Four of her 11 aunts, who all shared the same husband tell the stories of their lives. A very interesting look at the globalization / colonization. It spanned from 1920's to the 1990's told through stories by the aunts. The Igbo faith, the coming of "the white man" and with him their Muslim faith (different from the Christian faith) and modernization. I thought it most interesting that although women were still incredibly oppressed, some still were able to leave their husbands if their circumstances became unbearable. A little unknown fact, Sierra Leone created the self-adhesive stamp. 8% of the world completed.

None, really. I would prefer it if the author was from the country, or at least from the region, but that isn't always the case. And most of those books are fiction, but I'm open to biographies. I guess I don't want a guide book or the history of the area as I am more interested in the society/humanitarian perspective.

I'm excited to see what you think of The God Delusion. I have been wanting to read this for the longest time. It just seems very daunting and scholarly. Good luck with all of your challenges.

good luck with your depleting your TBR pile. I think we all have that problem. For One More Day was very comparable to his Five People You Meet In Heaven, and a very fast read. It only took me a couple hours. Good luck!

I have heard of a few of your books, but I know I LOVED The Bell Jar and somewhere in far future, I will read Sylvia Plath's unabridged journals. She is one of the those, not only talented but fascinating authors. I'm excited to hear what you think of it.

3.31.09 10.2% completed 7.3.09 12.4% completed

I'm not limiting this challenge to just 2009, though I hope to get a huge chunk completed. Please, please, PLEASE comment on books if you have read any, or if you think that I would like to read a certain book. I tend to read fiction, though occasionally read biographies and non-fiction if the are really good. I like off-the-beaten-path books, and am currently in a "non-western" fiction reading spree. I need help choosing what to read next, as the list is overwhelming, so 'nudging' a book helps a lot for me. I'm not noting American fiction. It is organized by Continent/Area of the world: NORTH AMERICA Canada [Crow Lake - Mary Lawson] CENTRAL AMERICA / CARIBBEAN Cuba: [Waiting for snow in Havana - Eire] Dominica: [Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys] Dominican Republic: [The Color of My Words - Lynn Joseph] [The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Diaz] [in the Time of Butterflies - Alvarez] Haiti [The Dew Breaker - Danticat] SOUTH AMERICA Argentina [The Aleph and Other Stories - Borges] Brazil [Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon - Amado] Chile [2666 - Bolano] [Portrait in Sepia - Allende] [Two Women - Marianne Fredrikkson] Peru [The Bridge of San Luis Rey - Wilder] Uruguay [The House of Paper - Dominguez] Venezuela [Nostromo - Joseph Conrad] AFRICA Algeria [The Last Summer of Reason - Tahar Djaout] [The Sheltering Sky - Paul Bowles] Angola [The Book of Chameleons - Agualusa] Benin [The Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin] Botswana [A Question of Power- Bessie Head] [Mating - Norman Rush] [A Story Like The Wind - van der Post] [Maru - Bessie Head] Brundi [The True Sources of the Nile by Sarah Stone] Burkina Faso [Of Water and the Spirit by Amidoma Patrice Some] Egypt [Woman at Point Zero - Saadawi] [The Yacoubian Building - Aswany] [in The Eye of the Sun - Ahdaf Soueif] Eritrea [Towards Asmara - Thomas Keneally] Gabon [Mema - Mengara] Ghana [The seasons of Beento Blackbird - Busia] [Changes - Aidoo] Ivory Coast [Whiteman - D'Souza] Kenya [The River Between - Thiong'o] [A Grain of Wheat - Thiong'o] [The In-Between World of Vikram Lall - Vassanji] [A Guide to the Birds of East Africa - Drayson] Lesotho [she Plays With The Darkness - Zakes Mda] [under African Skies - Charles Larson] [Chaka - Mofolo] Libya [in The Country of Men - Matar] Mali [segu - Maryse Conde] [Getting Rid of it - Collen] Mauritius [Getting Rid of It - Collen] Morocco [Let It Come Down - Bowles] [The Sheltering Sky - Bowles] [This Blinding Absence of Light - Jelloun] [Last Chapter - Leila Abouzeid] Mozambique [sleepwalking Land - Mia Couto] [The last flight of the flamingo - Couto] [under the Frangipani - Mia Cuota] Nigeria [Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe] [The Thing Around Your Neck - Andichie] [The Joys of Motherhood - Emechetta] [Everything Good Will Come - Atta] Niger [Water Music - Boyle] Nigeria [Graceland - Chris Abani] [Half of a Yellow Sun - Adichie] Senegal [Belly of the Atlantic - Diome] [So Long A Letter - Ba] [God's Bits of Wood - Ousmane] [Ambiguous Adventure - Kane] Sierra Leone [Ancestor stones - Forna] Somolia [infidel - Ali] [Desert Flower - Dirie] South Africa [The Smell of Apples - Behr] [The Whale Caller - Zakes Mda] [Cry, The Beloved Country - Paton] [The Grass is Singing - Doris Lessing] Sudan [Minaret - Aboulela] [season of the Migration to the North - Tayeb Salih] Tanzania[Desertion - Abdulrazak Gurnah] Uganda [The Gravity of Sunlight - Shand] [Abyssinian Chronicles - Isegawa] Zanzibar [by The Sea - Gurnah] Zimbabwe [Zimbabwe - Maraire] [Butterfly Burning - Yvonne Vera] [Nervous Conditions - Tsitsi Dangarembga] [The Grass Is Singing - Lessing] [stone Virgins - Yvonne Vera] EUROPE France [Bonjour Tristess - Sagan] Italy [The enchantress of Florence - Rushdie] [invisible Cities - Italo Calvino] Netherlands [A Leap - Enquist] Norway [Out Stealing Horses - Petterson] Portugal [Alentejo Blue - Monica Ali] Sweden [Astrid and Veronika - Olsson] UK [Atonement - McEwan] MIDDLE EAST Afghanistan [A Thousand Splendid Suns - Hosseini] [Kite Runner - Hosseini] [Wasted Vigil - Aslam] Bangladesh [The Golden Age - Anam] Iran [Blood of Flowers - Amirrezvani] [Persepolis I & II - Marjane Satrapi] [Caspian Rain - Nahai] [saffron Kitchen - Crowther] Lebanon [The Hakawati - Rabin Alameddine] Pakistan [What the Body Remembers - Baldwin] [The Assassin's Song - Vassanji] Turkey [Gardens of Water - Drew] ['person of dubious parentage' of Istanbul - Shafak] [My Name Is Red - Pamuk] Yemen [Like Nowhere else - Denyse Woods] ASIA Bengladesh [The Hungry Tide - Amitav Ghosh] Bhutan [The Circle of Karma - Kunzang Choden] Burma [The Glass Palace - Amitav Ghosh] China [Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - See] [Peony in Love - See] [The Ginseng Hunter - Talarigo] [The Red Azalea - Minn] [Balzac & The Little Chinese Seamstress - Dai Sijie] [Drink and Dream Teahouse - Justin Hill] [Everything Under the Sky - Asensi] [Painter of Shanghai - Jennifer Epstein] East Timor [The Redundancy of Courage - Timothy Mo] India [Palace of Illusion - Divakaruni] [In Times of Seige- Hariharan] [Across The Lakes - Chatterjee] [beneath A Marble Sky - John Shors] [The Circle of Reason - Ghosh] [Death of Vishnu - Suri] [The Hero's Walk - Anita Rau Badami] [Point of Return - Siddhartha Deb] [sea of Poppies - Ghosh] [The White Tiger - Adiga] [The Inheritance of Loss - Desai] [Animal's People - Sinha] Indonesia [All That is Gone - Toer] [House of Glass - Toer] Japan [The Samurai's Garden - Tsukiyama] [The Diving Pool - Ogawa] Malaysia [The Harmony Silk Factory - Tash Aw] Mongolia [Wolk Totem - Rong] Siberia [The Necessary Grace to Fall - Oschner] Sri Lanka [The Match - Gunesekera] [Mosquito - Roma Tearne] [Reef - Gunesekera] Taiwan [The Foreigner - Lin] Vietnam [The Book of Salt - Monique Truong] PACIFIC Australia [Looking For Alibrandi - Marchetta] [Saving Francesca - Marchetta] [breath - Winton] New Zealand [Mister Pip - Jones] [Dogside Story - Patricia Graces] [The Bone People - Hulme] -------- Black = it is my "TBR" book for that country Red = Have read that book

January Books The Belly of the Atlantic- Fatou Diome I participate in the Global Challenge, and at the moment Africa has my attention, and this book takes place in Senegal. I had read another Senegalese book (So Long A Letter) and didn't think that highly of it, but this book was just incredible. The stories and folklore that surround this island community are beatific and very imaginative. I am enamored with Fatou and her writing. Zami - Audre Lorde I read a lot of LGBT books and this autobiography of a major gay rights pioneer dazzled me. I find it fascinating to see peoples roots and find where they got their strength. I will be reading much more by Audre. The Bluest Eye - Morisson Everyone has raved about Morisson and all of her books, I didn't know which to read first. This was a great choice. I braced myself for the sadness and the abrasiveness of the subject matter - and loved it. A necessary read. The Samurai's Garden - Tsukiyama I am always one for subtleties in fiction, I find them to have much more value to me. And this was one that fell right into that. A man recovers from tuberculosis on the seaside of Japan and finds incredible peace, friendships, a lover and heartache, all of it beautiful.

Such organization! I'm just going to comment on a few books my eyes fell over: I had to read Things Fall Apart for my humanities class, and I was so enthralled with it. It really is one of those that shakes you at the similarities between two things but how they are treated so differently. I also have The Sea in my TBR pile as well. I loved Dandelion Wine and plan on reading more things by Bradbury this year. I absolutely loved Saving Francesca and Looking for Alibrandi. Marchetta is a phenomenal YA author. I didn't even know she had a new book (Jellicoe Road) until I read this post. I'm making a trip to the library very soon! My life's ambition is to find time to read Atlas Shrugged. It will probably happen over the summer, it just requires a huge amount of time and dedication. Good luck!

I loved Girl, Interrupted, I'm sorry to hear it wasn't what you expected. I loved the film as well. I loved Before I Die; I think it was a very phenomenal YA book, as those are so far and few between. Same with Speak. Makes me happy to see others reading a lot of the same books that I have.

Red = Read Purple = Added 2666 - Bolano Abyssinian Chronicles - Isegawa Across The Lakes - Amal Chatterjee Alentejo Blue - Monica Ali The Aleph and Other Stories - Borges Ambiguous Adventure - Kane Ancestor stones - Forna The Anchor book of modern Arabic fiction - Johnson-Davies Animal's People - Sinha Beyond The Curve - Kobo Abe The Black Unicorn - Lorde This Blinding Absence of Light - Jelloun The Bone People - Hulme The Book of Salt - Monique Truong Borderlands - Anzaldua Breath - Winton The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Diaz Burst of Light - Lorde Butterfly Burning - Yvonne Vera By The Sea - Gurnah Caspian Rain - Nahai Chamber Music - Doris Grumbach Changes - Aidoo Circle of Karma - Kunzang Choden The Circle of Reason - Ghosh The Conference of Birds - Farid al-Din Attar Death of Vishnu - Suri The Descendants - Kaui Hart Hemmings Desert Flower - Dirie Desertion - Abdulrazak Gurnah The Dew Breaker - Danticat Diving Pool - Ogawa Dogside Story - Patricia Graces Don Juan in the Village - Jane DeLynn Drown - Diaz Enchantress of Florence - Rushdie Everything Under the Sky - Asensi Everything Good Will Come - Atta The Foreigner - Lin Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon - Amado Gates of the Sun - Khoury Getting Rid of It - Collen The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins The God in Flight - Argiri God's Bits of Wood - Ousmane Graceland - Chris Abani A Grain of Wheat - Thiong'o The Grass Is Singing - Lessing The Gravity of Sunlight - Shand A Guide to the Birds of East Africa - Drayson Gut Symmetries - Winterson The Hakawati - Rabin Alameddine Half of a Yellow Sun - Adichie Harmony Silk Factory - Tash Aw The Hero's Walk - Anita Rau Badami Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits - Lalami The House of Paper - Dominquez The Hungry Tide - Amitav Ghosh The Icarus Girl - Oyeyemi The Inbetween World of Vikram lall - Vassanji Infidel - Ali The Inheritance of Loss - Desai In The Country of Men - Matar In The Eye of the Sun - Ahdaf Soueif In The Time of Butterflies - Alvarez Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino Jellicoe Road - Melina Marchetta The Joys of Motherhood - Buchi Emecheta (*) The Last Chapter - Leila Abouzeid The last flight of the flamingo - Couto The Last Summer of Reason - Tahar Djaou Let It Come Down - Bowles Letter to a Christian Nation - Harris Little Boys Come from the Stars - Dongala Like Nowhere Else - Denyse Woods The Lost Dog - Michelle De Kretser Loving In The War Years - Moraga The Match - Gunesekera Measuring Time - Habila Mema - Mengara Minaret - Leila Aboulela A Mind of Her Own - Anne Campbell Mosquito - Roma Tearne My Name Is Red - Pamuk Nervous Conditions - Tsitsi Dangarembga Of Water and the Spirit by Amidoma Patrice Some Onitsha - Le Clezio Oranges Are Not Only Fruit - Jeanette Winterson Out Stealing Horses - Petterson Painter of Shanghai - Jennifer Epstein People I Wanted To Be - Ochsner Point of Return - Siddhartha Deb Portrait of Sepia - Allende Purple Hibiscus - Adichie A Question of Power - Bessie Head Red Poppies - Alai Redundancy of Courage - Timothy Mo Reef - Gunesekera Saffron Kitchen - Crowther Sea of Poppies - Ghosh Seasons of Migration to the North - Tayeb Salih Second-class Citizen - Buchi Emecheta Segu - Maryse Conde She Plays With The Darkness - Zakes Mda The Sheltering Sky - Bowles Sister Outsider - Audre Lorde Sky Burial - Xinran Sleepwalking Land - Mia Couto Stone Virgins - Yvonne Vera A Story Like the Wind - Laurens van der Post A Sunday at the Pool in the Kigali - Couremanche Sweet Dreams - Daniel C. Dennett Tales of Murasaki - Liza Dably This Blinding Absence of Light - Jelloun This Bridge Called My Back - Cherrie Moraga A Thousand Years of Good Prayers - Yiyun Li Two Women - Marianne Fredriksson Under African Skies - Charles Larson The Underpainter - Urquhart Under the Frangipani - Mia Cuota The Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin Waiting for Snow in Havana - Eire Walk The Blue Fields - Keegan War by Candlelight - Daniel Alarcon Wasted Vigil - Aslam The Whale Caller - Zakes Mda The White Tiger - Adiga What the Body Remembers - Baldwin Whiteman - D'Souza Wide Sargasso Sea - Rhys Wolf Totem - Jiang Rong Women at Point Zero - Saadawi (*) Women of the Left Bank - Benstock The Yacoubian Building - Aswany Starting Count: 111 I always find it interesting to see what books I had intentions of reading at the beginning of the year and which ones I actually end up reading. My reading habits change faster than I can read the books.

June 23. Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Diaz 22. First Love - Ivan Turgenev 21. Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys May 20. Light Fell - Fallenberg 19. Davita's Harp - Chaim Potok 18. Love Invents us - Amy Bloom 17. How I Learned to Snap - Mark Read April 16. The Joys of Motherhood - Emechetta 15. The Vast Fields of Ordinary - Burd 14. The Thing Around Your Neck - Adichi 13. A Leap - Enquist March 12. River Between - Thiong'o 11. Persepolis II - Satrapi 10. Persepolis - Satrapi 9. The Seasons of Beento Blackbird - Busia February 8. Ancestor Stones by Aminatta Forna 7. Balzac & the Little Chinese Seamstress - Sijie 6. Butterfly Burning - Yvonne Vera January 5. The Samurai's Garden - Tsukiyama 4. The Bluest Eye - Morrison 3. Zami - Audre Lorde 2. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - See 1. The Belly of the Atlantic - Fatou Diome reading now: --

Been out of the loop around here. Still reading though! 'person of dubious parentage' of Istanbul - Elif Shafak Two families spanning two generations and two continents are connected in a plot twist I didn't expect. I am going through a serious Eastern culture novel-fest. Just so good. All That is Gone - Pramoedya Ananta Toer Continuing on that Eastern culture note, I read this short story collection and I enjoyed it very very much. It might have been that the translator did such a good job, but I loved the prose demeanor to the book. So fantastic. My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolt Taylor I only read the first half of this book, as the scientific part of this book interested me. It was about Jill Taylor, a brain scientist, who awoke one morning to find out that she was having a stroke. It was fantastic having that kind of knowledge about the way the brain works as hers was deteriorating. The science and the asymmetry between the right side of the brain vs. the left was incredibly interesting. I saw her TEDtalk on her experience (highly recommended, by the way) and I was so excited when I found out there was a book too. Half in Love - Maile Meloy Ten short stories that take place for the most part in the South/rural areas. I'm halfway through the collection and I am finding all of them to be incredibly interesting and fast paced.

Ah! I am so happy someone else has read it. I was really worried for a while it was one everyone was going to miss. It was one of my favorite reads of 2007.

Wow, it's been a while. I guess I'll give a re-cap: Fifty Days of Solitude by Doris Gumbrich: It's a slim little thing about Doris' intentional solitude to write, self-actualize and think without influence form the outside world. I loved it, as it is something I would love. The Palace of Illusions by Divakaruni I know that Divakaruni had written another spectacular book Sister of my Heart, though I have not read it, I love her writing style. This was more about Indian folklore and myths. Not my usual read, but I enjoyed it. And the cover was beautiful. Red Azalea - Anchee Min I had heard about this book for quite a while and I got around to reading it. It tells Anchee's surreal experience in Communist China where people are treated more as machines than humans. In Times of Siege - Githa Hariharan Tells the story of a fiesty young woman and her caregiver older professor who confront censorship in New Delhi. Gardens of Water - Alan Drew A horrible earthquake hits Turkey and it tells the specific story of one man and his family. His son was crushed under the rubble and was saved only because of an Americans wifes self-sacrifice to save him. He despises the American but he owes him everything for having is only son saved. Very political but also very personal. One Thousand White Women - Jim Fergus I wasn't that effected. Am I Blue? - Ed. Marion Dan Bauer A YA novel about coming out gay. The Ginseng Hunter - Jeff Talarigo This book is easily going to make my top 15 books of 2008. I can't even explain it's complexity. It was so delicate and real. Completely literary and lovely. It tells the story of a single secluded ginseng hunter. His precious solitude is imposed upon by the war and poverty going on. The Vagina Monologues - Eve Ensler It is such a necessary read for women. I've read better feminist books, but I love what Eve stands for and I loved the mainstream and realistic approach of it. How to Breathe Underwater - Julie Orringer I have never read such perfect depiction of the human condition before. Kids and teenagers just falling between the cracks. Loved it.

Mister Pip is such a gem. I am so fond of that book, and while it was not luminous or very climatic there was something honestly breath taking about that book. And I agree with the main context of your post. I have been needing to read a general history book for a while now. Just to know the main idea of some event that took place makes the book more enjoyable.