27 posts tagged “fiction”

THE BEST:
Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time
It seems trite to tell you that this book is inspirational, but it truly is. It is the reminder we all need that one passionate, committed person can set in motion significant positive change for many. When Greg Mortenson set out to build a school for the remote village in Pakistan that had sheltered and cared for him after his failed attempt to climb K2, he was no billionaire philanthropist, he was an avid climber and sometime trauma nurse living in San Francisco. He returned to the US, sold his belongings, typed out hundreds of fund solicitation letters on a rented typewriter, and lived in his car. As of 2007, the Central Asia Institute co-founded by Mortenson has established more than 50 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, providing education and opportunities to thousands of children. It's an amazing story.

March
This well researched novel presents a poignant account of the Civil War travails of Mr. March, the absent father from the classic Little Women. The idealistic March volunteers to serve as a chaplain in the Union forces. His naivete and convictions are sorely tested by his experience of the horrors of war.

THE REST:
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Klein makes a credible assertion that crisis and upheaval are often used (and sometimes orchestrated) to obscure or advance the imposition of radical free market economic policies, often with devastating long-term results.

Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism
The Nobel Peace Prize winner proposes the creation of 'social businesses', organizations specifically designed to address social and humanitarian needs.

The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth
The natural world, its habitats and ecosystems, and the biodiversity of life on Earth are in peril. Wilson suggests that whatever your beliefs about the origins of life, it is time for all of us to work together to preserve and care for the 'Creation' before it's too late.

The View from Castle Rock: Stories
This fine collection of fictional short stories from Alice Munro is largely inspired by her ancestors and family history, and from personal experiences. "We are beguiled. It happens mostly in our old age, when our personal futures close down and we cannot imagine -- sometimes cannot believe in -- the future of our children's children. We can't resist this rifling around in the past, sifting the untrustworthy evidence, linking stray names and questionable dates and anecdotes together, hanging on to threads, insisting on being joined to dead people and therefore to life."

Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West
From the pages of this book, Bhutto passionately speaks out for moderation, understanding, and reconciliation. She asserts that the peaceful, pluralistic message of Islam has been exploited by extremist factions, and denies that a clash between Islam and the West is inevitable. She offers hope and concrete suggestions for reconciliation and peace. She was a courageous, extraordinary woman and her death is a great loss.

All Quiet on the Western Front
Often cited as the greatest war novel ever written, this book recounts the inhumanity and bleak horror of WWI though the eyes of young Paul Baumer and his German classmates. They enlist and soon find themselves in an all-out struggle for survival in the hellish trenches of a brutal war they can't comprehend, forever altered and alienated from their pre-war life and dreams.

Armageddon in Retrospect
A posthumous collection of previously unpublished writings, both fiction and nonfiction, on war, peace, and the darker tendencies of humanity. "If television refuses to look at something, it is as though it never happened. It can erase anything, even whole continents, such as Africa, one big desert now, where millions upon millions of babies, with a brand-new thousand years of history looming before them, starve to death."

Singer from the Sea
A mystical sci-fi tale centered on a dark secret kept and fueled by greed. The book features complex characters and confident storytelling with environmental and feminist threads.

THE BEST:
The Monsters of Templeton
Willie Upton returns to her hometown of Templeton, NY in a state of upheaval and soon finds herself unexpectedly wrapped up in solving the mystery of her paternity and unearthing the long-buried secrets of several generations of her eccentric family. Clues are followed to surprising ends and a host of endearing characters are introduced along the way. The novel is witty and creative, and the writing is wonderful.

Made to Stick
What makes an idea or story unforgettable? That's the focus of this engaging book about getting your ideas through to people and making them 'stick'. The authors propose the cornerstones of simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions, and stories. The research studies behind the principles are fascinating, and the authors put their storytelling techniques to work, creating a book that is as entertaining as it is informative.

The Best American Short Stories 2007
The 2007 anthology, edited by Stephen King, consists of a particularly strong collection of twenty selections culled from a year of published short stories. I loved every piece in this year's edition, and consider it the best of the series to date. (Coincidentally, one of the stories is by Lauren Groff, the author of The Monsters of Templeton.)

THE REST:
Slaughterhouse-Five
Vonnegut's classic "...fashions the author's experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority." (quote from Amazon.com) Throughout the novel, Billy Pilgrim randomly time travels through his life experiences, including a visit to an alien planet and the 1945 firebombing of Dresden, Germany.

Caspian Rain
This is the poignant story of loneliness and class struggle centered on an Iranian Jewish family in Tehran during the years preceding the Islamic revolution.

Daughter of York
A work of historical fiction featuring Margaret of York, sister to the War of the Roses kings Edward IV and Richard III, and wife of Charles, duke of Burgundy.

Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids
Near the end of WWII, a group of Japanese reform-school boys are evacuated to a remote village where the villagers subject them to cruelty and abandon them to plague. Reminiscent of Lord of the Flies.

Bad Monkeys
The twists and turns are fast and wild in this imaginative sci-fi thriller. You never know what to expect as Jane relates the story of her involvement with the Bad Monkeys, an organization devoted to fighting evil.

Night Train to Lisbon
A brief encounter in Bern with a Portuguese woman sets Raimund Gregorius on a journey to Lisbon and to self-discovery through the study of the life and writings of a resistance-era poet and doctor.

Joy in the Morning
Satirical humor from P.G. Wodehouse, featuring Bertram Wooster and the incomparable Jeeves.

"So she lived in a state of perpetual loss--the runner who gives her all to the race and always comes short. She couldn't give up the fight and couldn't quite win and so she was caught between the pride of battle and the shame of defeat. And in that state, in that place where rest was impossible and wanting led only to more sorrow, she bore me expecting that I, at least, would not fail.

What if you bet your whole life on a single wish, and lost?"

Yaas describes her mother in
Caspian Rain by Gina Nahai

This is a beautifully written but terribly sad story of class struggle, familial dysfunction, and crushing loneliness set in Tehran during the decade preceding the Islamic Revolution.

THE BEST:

The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story
This nonfiction account of heroism in Nazi-occupied Poland is my top pick of the month. I am deeply moved and inspired by individuals who match their wit and courage against tyranny in order to save their fellow man from injustice, injury, and death. While the majority is silently swept along with the tide, these few brave souls stand apart and risk everything. Diane Ackerman has a unique gift for bringing a story to life with robust and pictorial language.

The Hummingbird’s Daughter
My favorite Feb. fiction. This sweeping novel recounts the life of Urrea's famous relative Teresita, the "Saint of Cabora", a girl renowned for healing powers, unshakable faith, and revolutionary ideas that attracted a following of thousands and the enmity of Mexico's Diaz government in the late 1800s. Extensively researched, and written with a buoyant, irresistible style.

THE REST:

On Chesil Beach
As the book jacket states, "...a story of lives transformed by a gesture not made or a word not spoken." McEwan excels at portrayals of complex relationships and consequence.

New Moon and Eclipse (books 2 & 3)
The Twilight series is accurately classified as YA fiction, but offers a light and fast-paced reading escape for all ages.

Running in the Family
Ondaatje's dream-like memoir of life in Ceylon provides a peek into an exotic time and place far removed from the average reader's experience.

The Boleyn Inheritance
If you have an interest in stories of Tudor England, you'll likely find this enjoyable, although, in my opinion, it doesn't quite measure up to The Other Boleyn Girl. My, that Henry was a tyrant!

The Nature of Monsters
A bit slow at times, but it provides an intriguing look at social structure, superstitions, and the state of science and medicine in the early 1700s.

The Gathering
This unflinching story of an Irish clan in the aftermath of a death is the 2007 winner of the Man Booker Prize. The writing is, of course, top-notch, but I found it a rather depressing read.

The Cleft
My first taste of the work of prolific writer and Nobel Laureate, Doris Lessing. The novel tells an alternate human origin story centered around an ancient community of women, the advent of men, and the resulting challenge of gender relations. Perhaps it wasn't the best introduction to Lessing's work. I'll have to give her another try one of these days.

Has the action or motivation of a character ever really nagged at you after you finished a book?

At times, a fictional character will make a choice, or voice an opinion, or take a course of action that serves the story or furthers the plot, but just does not seem logical. And when this happens, it bothers me. A lot. Why? I'm not sure.

In real life, it's not unusual for people do things that don't really make sense. They act on emotion; they fail to carefully consider all sides of an issue; they fall hostage to a particular idiosyncrasy or hang up; they make ill-informed decisions that may even cause their life to careen off in an unanticipated direction. I accept this (although not always without complaint) in 'real' people. So why does it distress me so much in a fictional character? I think perhaps it's because I want the author to skillfully weave a tale without resorting to 'easy' solutions to plot challenges. I'm not really sure. At any rate, I need to get over my annoyance at this purely fictional incident. There are plenty of disturbing and nonsensical things going on in the real world right now. 

If "books are for squares" as Antic so loves to tell me, I guess my angularity is off the charts this month.

I've already posted separately about a few of these books. Some brief thoughts and comments:

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Oskar Schell is unforgettable and breaks my heart "...into more pieces than my heart was made of..." JSF is an original among writers.

Duma Key
I'm adding this one to my Stephen King favorites, right up there with The Stand and Lisey's Story.

Nineteen Minutes
Hands down the most unsettling. Thought-provoking, immensely sad from every angle.

The End of America
A compelling eye opener and call to action to safeguard our Constitution and civil rights.

(Not That You Asked)
Humorous and insightful. The Oprah piece (among others) is not to be missed.

Twilight
January's guilty pleasure. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. I burned through it in a day.

People of the Book and Year of Wonders
Geraldine Brooks has a new fan.

"Maple thought optimistically that human beings, on their good days, weren't much dimmer than sheep. Or at least, not much dimmer than dim sheep. But would the humans believe them? And if so, then what would happen? Miss Maple looked forward to seeing what justice looked like. She stepped up onto the wooden boards and blinked fearlessly down at the spectators."

from Three Bags Full
by Leonie Swann

In Swann's whimsical and humorous first novel, a most unlikely cast of characters works together to solve the mystery of their beloved shepherd's death. It's a witty and endearing story.

I just have to put in a quick plug for this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it highly.

The Sarajevo Haggadah is a medieval illuminated Hebrew manuscript believed to have been created in Spain in the mid-1300s. It has survived, remarkably, the exile of the Jews from Spain, the Inquisition, book burnings, two world wars, and the war in Bosnia. Over the centuries it has been spared or rescued time and again: in 1942 it was spirited to safety when a feared Nazi general came to the Sarajevo museum to confiscate it; during the Bosnian war it was rescued by a librarian as shells exploded around the museum.

Using the known facts about the Haggadah as a framework, Brooks expertly weaves a fictional account of the book's creation, its journey from Spain to Venice, and eventually to Bosnia, and the people whose hands it passes through along the way. It's fascinating and very well done.

"In youth we believe what the young believe, that life is all choice. We stand before a hundred doors, choose to enter one, where we're faced with a hundred more and then choose again. We choose not just what we'll do, but who we'll be. Perhaps the sound of all those doors swinging shut behind us each time we select this one or that one should trouble us, but it doesn't. Nor does the fact that the doors often are identical and even lead in some cases to the exact same place. Occasionally a door is locked, but no matter, since so many others remain available. The distinct possibility that choice itself may be an illusion is something we disregard, because we're curious to know what's behind that next door, the one we hope will lead us to the very heart of the mystery. Even in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary we remain confident that when we emerge, with all our choosing done, we'll have found not just our true destination but also its meaning."

from Bridge of Sighs
by Richard Russo