Chimera

I wouldnt say you are nitpicking, I was bothered by the same things. I just felt that these points weighed down on the rest of the book which, as you said was really well written and explored in depth a very difficult theme. A very compelling book!

Sorry for reopening this thread after such a long time (I'm not sure wether book circle threads are meant to continue on once the month is finished) but I had a question about this book. I read it last WE and loved it and hated it at the same time. I thought it was great in many ways but in others it was just too much. But the fact is I cant quite get it out of my head since then... And I just realised something: whose voice do you think it is in the prologue? It is the only part which isnt labelled and I always assumed it was Anna, talking about how she sometimes dreamt of killing her sister. But at the end the person speaking says 'she' ended up killing herself on her own... Is this really Kate speaking? Saying she felt she only existed compared to her sister?? When you think about it, its the only explanation that makes sense, but it seems to put an entirely different perspective on her caracter and the way she saw things. If so, it is very cleverly done indeed!

Welcome Jayne!

Definitely a book that everyone should read... I do understand what you are saying literarisch: why would Anne Frank be honored and all the other victims forgotten? But she has become a symbol. By leaving us this authentic testimony, not a book written later for readers but a day to day account of her experience which wasnt meant to be read by anybody, she gives us the opportunity to better understand how life was for the victims at that time: not just her, but all those who faced similar situations Actually I read this book when I was a kid and loved it but I was even more fascinated by the autobiography of Miep Gies, one of the persons who risked their lives to help the Franks when they were hidden: she was the one who did their shopping for them and visited them every day, bringing food, news and a breath of fresh air from the outside. She was also the one who went back after they were arrested, found Anne's diary and kept it until her father came back and Anne was declared dead. Her account, Anne Frank remembered, is really interesting and complimentary to the diary because it shows the same story under her point of view, as an adult and as someone from the outside. Also, it tells about Miep's life, which is incredible in itself: she grew up during WW1, in germany I think, and after that was sent, like many other german kids between the two wars, to live with a host family in the netherlands because her own was too poor to take care of her. She never returned home. She then lived through WW2, and Otto Frank's (Anne's father) desperate search for the rest of his family after the war had ended and he was the only one to return. Unfortunately it isnt an easy book to find, as it is old and didnt have the success Anne's diary did. But you might find it second hand or in your local library. I am looking for it right now and will post a proper review once I get it.

Donatello, your anecdote made me laugh so hard because I had a very similar incident and can just imagine your face in the second you realised what he was doing... I was in Mexico once, staying with a mexican family, and they wanted to taste french food. So I decided to prepare french pancakes for them. Now I am no chef and I had never made pancakes before so it was quite a disaster. I made the dough but I couldnt manage to turn it into eadible pancakes... They all came out too thick, or burned, or torn... And then miracle, I got one right! It probably wasnt that good, but it looked wonderfull and perfect to me... So I gave it to my host father. And what did he do?? Went straight to the hot salsa bottle and sprayed it very generously on the pancake So beware, you might get nasty surprises with french food as well!

I'd add Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of Extremely loud and incredibly close.

lol. yes, that's what I was thinking... Actually I realised after coming home that nearly all the books I took from the library are serious, sad or connected to war So I guess I'll go with The accidental tourist by Anne Tyler, which is meant to be funny, for now. And I'll look for lighter reads on my next borrowing spree...

About anything with chocolate, and harry potter fanfiction (though I've given that up, but for how long remains to be seen...)

I googled for a book club and got just what I was looking for!

I just read My sister's keeper by Jodi Picoult, because I saw lots of great reviews on the forum and the theme seemed really interesting. But now that I have finished it, I actually can't decide what to make of it... I guess since I only took it out from my local library yesterday afternoon and I've barely set it down since then, you'd say I must have enjoyed it And you'd be right. I found it compelling and well written and fascinating in the way it showed all the different points of view, all of them fair in their own way, and made us empathise and criticize all the caracters at once. I thought it was really insightfull in the way it went in depth and showed us just how impossible Anna's position, and that of everyone else, is... And I certainly couldnt wait to know what would happen next... Bu at the same time I found it confusing, raw and sometimes over the top... The ending in particular, apart from being extremely sad , felt at the same time too easy and unnecessarily tragic. At some points I just wanted to put it down, 'escape' from it, and at the same time I couldnt, I had to go on... I guess it's just one of those books you hate and love at the same time, because the emotional charge is so heavy it hurts... I'll just have to choose something a bit funnier next!

*Books read in 2009* January Des Chr

*Books read in 2008* Prior to joining BCF and starting this journal (as I remember them): Changing Places - David Lodge The Brooklyn Follies - Paul Auster Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer Digging to America - Anne Tyler The Good Life - Jay McInerney (in french) Q&A - Vikas Swarup (in french) Le Serrurier Volant - Tonino Benaquista Survivre avec les Loups - Misha Defonseca October My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult (in french) The Accidental Tourist - Anne Tyler The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (in french) Anne Frank Remembered - Miep Gies A Noble Radiance - Donna Leon November The Stepmother - Carrie Adams Le Petit Prince - Antoine de St Exup

Thank you everyone for all these welcome! I am starting to know my way around the forum and already love it... I started by collecting reading ideas and just went on a borrowing spree in my local libraries. Unfortunately it's not so easy to find english/ american books in france so I didnt get all those I wanted... but I did get a few. I now have a nice big pile of books just waiting to be read See you all around the forum!

You could start with Digging to America. It is the only one I've read by her but it's definitely one of my very favourite books. It starts when two families, the Donaldsons (as american as you can get) and the Yazdans (of iranian origin), meet in an airport where they have come to meet their adopted korean daughters. They decide to meet again and the book then follows them through the years, as the girls grow up and the two families grow closer. I found it to be both fascinating in the way it explores the themes of family and most of all cultural identity (What culture would you say defines a korean born little girl who is being raised in america by a family still very much attached to its Iranian origins?), and extremely funny in some parts.

Thank you everyone, I'm sure I will have a great time

Hi everyone! I am a french student and stumbled across this forum whilst looking for reading ideas... It looked friendly so I decided to stop by I loved reading when I was a kid but somehow I have lost the habit along the way, in favor of the internet and television... Though I sometimes still get in a reading frenzie when a book catches my attention and I'll read 5 or 6 in a row... and then stop again. I like all kinds of books, often by periods: when I was a kid I was fascinated by true stories (my favorites were Helen Keller's story and Anne Franck remembered by Miep Gies), then crime stories (Agatha Christie...), books which depict imaginary future worlds (1984, Brave new world, The Ice people, The Immortals), and lots more. My most recent favourites are Extremely loud and Incredibly Close by J. Safran Foer and Digging to America by Ann Tyler. I hope this forum will get me frantically reading again and I'll be looking forward to meeting you all! Chimera