Showing posts with label
2011 Global Reading Challenge.
Show all posts
Showing posts with label
2011 Global Reading Challenge.
Show all posts
I had never heard of Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts until I posted my intention to participate in the Global Reading Challenge this year and Marion recommended it as a potential book. Based on its length (a whopping 933 pages), I was wavering until the title came up again in a review by Bragger. I decided to go ahead and put it on my list. Saving the longest two books chosen for this challenge for last, the time came to pick it up a few weeks ago. Yes, it took me more than two weeks to read it, but I'm really glad I did.
It's difficult to sum up this book in just a paragraph or two. Loosely based on the author's real-life experiences, Shantaram takes place in 1980s Bombay (Mumbai), India. As the book opens we are introduced to Lin, the central character, as he arrives in Bombay using a fake New Zealand passport, having escaped from an Australian prison a few years prior. We follow his story as he lives and operates a medical clinic in the slums, becomes involved with the Bombay mafia, fights his way through Afghanistan as a gunrunner, then returns to Bombay and the mafia.
Often when I finish a book that I've enjoyed, I like to go back and read some of the reviews at Amazon... in particular, the bad reviews to see what they disliked. I can relate a little to some of the complaints. The prose was a little flowery for my taste at times and some of the "philosopy" did seem a bit cliche. However, if I were one to underline or make notations in my books there were many things in this novel I would have marked. I loved the characters and especially loved the setting. From what I can gather, Roberts did a fine job of representing Bombay and the people of India.
I'm so glad I didn't let the length of this book and my short attention span deter me. It's a marvelous tale filled with love, hate, action, adventure, danger, horrors, sorrow and joy. If you enjoy lengthy, sweeping epics I highly recommend it. It was certainly worth my time.
This completes my Asia portion of the Global Reading Challenge. One more book to complete the entire challenge and it's another lengthy one!
Football, or soccer as it's known in the US, is big business worldwide, but especially in Brazil. As A Vine in the Blood begins, the mother of Brazil's most famous player, Tico "The Artist" Santos, has been kidnapped and held for ransom on the eve of the next World Cup. Was the motive really money or was it just an attempt to throw the national hero off his game, thereby diminishing Brazil's chances at winning the Cup? Everyone wants to help with the investigation, even the shadier elements of society.
As in Blood of the Wicked, I was quite drawn to Inspector Mario Silva. His likable personality meshes well with his co-workers and is a good counter to those in the novel who are meant to be disliked. (and oh, how I despised The Artist's girlfriend!!) The story was fast-paced and exciting, yet not nearly as violent as Gage's first novel. A winner all around!
Although A Vine in the Blood is the fifth book in the Silva series, it can easily be enjoyed as a stand-alone. I still plan to read the books that I've skipped since I enjoy the series so much.
A Vine in the Blood is already available in Australia and will be released in the US at the end of December.
How is it that I had never heard of this book or of this woman before Raven recommended I read it for the Africa portion of the Global Reading Challenge? I was missing out on a real jewel!!
Beryl Markham's memoir, West With the Night, tells of her childhood growing up in British East Africa (Kenya) during the early part of the twentieth century. Her younger years were spent raising and training thoroughbred racehorses, first with her father then on her own when he lost his farm and moved to South Africa. Always one for excitement, she later leaped at the opportunity to learn to fly and turned it into a second career as a bush pilot. Perhaps the crowning glory of her career was when she became the first person to fly solo from London to the U.S. (west to east).
I loved this entire book! It's filled with wonderful descriptions of life in Africa in the 1920s and 30s.... lions, elephants, Siafu ants, safaris, horse racing, and, of course, flying. It was actually the flying that first interested me in the book. Having gotten my own pilot's license when I was younger, I found it easy to relate to her descriptions of flying. The entire book is beautifully written and totally engrossing. I highly recommend it!
This completed the Africa portion of the Global Reading Challenge for me.
Blood of the Wicked by Leighton Gage has been a popular choice for those participating in the Global Reading Challenge. I'm the second to review it this year and it completes my requirement for South America (Brazil).
From everything I'd read about the book, I expected it to be fairly good. What I didn't expect was to enjoy it as much as I did. This debut in the "Mario Silva" series opens with the assassination of a Catholic Bishop. From there the action never lets up. Violence, corruption, politics, blood, very likable good guys and extremely despicable bad guys!
Despite the fact I normally prefer cozy mysteries, this novel impressed me enough that I may seek out others from the series in the future.
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton follows the lives of two families in Western Australia over a twenty year period. The Pickle family and the Lamb family have both seen their share of tragedy. Their lives become intertwined when the Pickles inherit a large house in a suburb of Perth and take in the Lambs as tenants.
I enjoyed this novel and the insight it gave into the working class life of Australia during the years following World War II. As one should with a good family saga, I connected with the two families, sharing in their joy and sorrow. With enough humor to keep the book from being depressing, there was also a touch of the supernatural to provide an additional twist to the storyline. Overall, a very satisfying experience.
This book was read for the Global Reading Challenge, completing the requirement for Australia.
The blurb on the dust cover of When the Ground Turns in its Sleep by Sylvia Sellers-García sounded interesting and mysterious. Nítido Amán knows only that he was born in Guatemala and that his parents left there when he was a small child. They stayed silent about their past throughout his life so after his father's death, Amán realizes he must seek out the truth on his own and travels to the small town of Río Roto.
If you'd asked me halfway through this book if I was enjoying it, I would have said no. To begin with, I found it confusing. Not only was I confused, the narrator of the book spoke often of double meanings and his own confusion. Then, in the midst of narrating the story, he would address his dead father (for example: "what did you think when you saw this?"). This always startled me into thinking the narrator was speaking to me personally. Finally, I just didn't care for the narrator. What I considered a lack of integrity on his part totally rubbed me the wrong way.
Never bad enough to give up on, I hung in there to the end and things fell into place as I read on. However, I never developed any fondness for the central character... or any of the characters, for that matter.
I read this book for the Global Reading Challenge. Central America (Guatemala) counts towards either North or South America so I've chosen to make this my second book for North America.
My newfound love for Donna Leon's "Commissario Guido Brunetti" made the next book in this series a "no-brainer" selection for the Global Reading Challenge (Europe, Italy).
Dressed for Death is Leon's third installment in this excellent series. It opens with Commissario Brunetti looking forward to a vacation. The summer heat in Venice is brutal and his family is planning an escape to the mountains. However, the heat is not the only brutality. A man with his face beaten beyond recognition is found behind an abattoir on the nearby island of Marghera. Brunetti must scrap his plans to join his family when, due to a lack of man-power, he is assigned to the case. On the surface, it appears to be a routine (?) crime - the body is dressed as a woman and found in an area frequented by prostitutes. Murder is seldom simple, though, and this case grows more complicated with each clue uncovered.
Donna Leon is a fine author and this book totally lived up to my expectations. For those who enjoy murder mysteries, I highly recommend the series.
For the Global Reading Challenge "seventh continent", I chose to read books from the realm of Arthurian legend.
My first encounter with King Arthur was Mary Stewart's series which includes The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment, and The Wicked Day. It sparked an interest and I continued on to read several other versions including Stephen R. Lawhead's five-book "Pendragon Cycle" and my favorite, T.H. White's Once and Future King. Although familiar with Tennyson and Malory's versions, both sit on my bookshelf unread.
Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff was recommended to me by my friend Raven as her favorite version of the Arthurian legend. I will agree that it is an excellent telling of the story. It approaches the legend from more of a historical perspective - the battle to save Britain from the Saxon invasion - rather than the romance of Camelot. Although Sutcliff retains a few of the well-known themes from tradition, she states in her forward to the book that "Sword at Sunset is an attempt to re-create from fragments of known facts, from likelihoods and deductions and guesswork pure and simple, the kind of man this war leader may have been, and the story of his long struggle."
Sword at Sunset is certainly a different telling of Arthur's story, but one that makes it seem entirely believable. I highly recommend it!
Jade Lady Burning by Martin Limón takes place in South Korea sometime in the 70s. As the story begins we are introduced to George Sueño and Ernie Bascom, two soldiers with the CID detachment of the Eighth United States Army. A local prostitute has been murdered in a horrific manner then burned in her hooch. Sueño and Bascom are thrust into the investigation in an effort to quickly find a suspect - or scapegoat - to satisfy all the "powers that be".
I really enjoyed this novel which had a gritty, almost noir ambiance to it. I found Sueño and Bascom to be quite likable despite, or maybe because of, their shortcomings. Not a part of the world that I'm familiar with (other than old episodes of M*A*S*H) I felt it probably offered a good representation of the time and place. I would recommend Jade Lady Burning to those who enjoy a good police procedural.
This was my first book read for the Asia portion of the Global Reading Challenge.
The Dragon Man by Garry Disher takes place in a coastal region of Victoria, Australia. The novel opens as the killer is stalking his victim, a young woman with car trouble on a desolate stretch of highway. We soon learn this isn't the first victim and more will follow.An interesting police procedural, I enjoyed the location and the overall story...although I wasn't particularly surprised by the ending. I felt a little overwhelmed by all the personal information given about each of the characters in the novel. This is the first in a series and I assume this was done to set the stage for development in future novels. I'm still not positive whether these should be referred to as the "Inspector Hal Challis" mysteries or the "Inspector Hal Challis & Sergeant Ellen Destry" mysteries (I've seen both descriptions at Amazon). Both characters stood out as central. I'll admit I liked the Challis character more than Ellen Destry.
This novel was read to fulfill half of the Australia portion of the Global Reading Challenge (Victoria, Australia) and I enjoyed it enough that I might read more in the series. After all, I now know so much about this group of law enforcement officers I might as well check out more of their cases!
I ended up with this book in a round about way. It all started when I saw something about Anthony Bourdain's new book, Medium Raw . I've commented several times here that I really enjoy watching the Food Network. I prefer the reality/challenge based shows at night to the daytime cooking shows, but I've grown quite fond of many of the chefs featured on the network. Bourdain devotes a part of Medium Raw to some of these chefs and the Food Network in general, and not in a good light, I'm sure.Anyway...all the reviews made reference to Bourdain's first non-fiction book (Kitchen Confidential) and suggested reading it first. The Kindle price was acceptable, so I took their advice.
I enjoyed Kitchen Confidential quite a bit, despite the fact Anthony Bourdain isn't the huggable, lovable person that many of the FN chefs are. I already knew this from watching this season of Top Chef on Bravo, on which he appears. Very different from most of my FN programs! The book, written ten years ago, covers a variety of aspects of the restaurant industry as well as personal reflections from Bourdain. I have enough culinary knowledge that I wasn't lost in the telling and actually learned quite a bit. I refuse to be so cynical as to believe that all the industry is filled with the drugs, alcohol, sex and decadence that Bourdain describes.
Not only did I enjoy Kitchen Confidential, but now I definitely want to read Medium Raw. However, I will wait until the Kindle price comes down some.
I am counting this book towards the North American part of the Global Reading Challenge since the majority of it takes place in New York City.
Every so often there comes along a novel that totally captivates me. Waiting for Columbus by Thomas Trofimuk is one of those novels.
As the story begins, a man believing himself to be Christopher Columbus is brought to an asylum in modern-day Spain after being found in the Strait of Gibraltar. His delusions are not so unusual. After all.... the asylum houses a few other well-known people from the past as well as the first female Pope! It's where the story goes from there that is so captivating. Over the next few months Columbus shares tales from his life in the 15th century with Nurse Consuela, who can't help but be drawn into the romance and adventure of his stories. Like Consuela, I found myself totally charmed by Columbus. His storytelling is so convincing it comes almost as a shock when the first inconsistency surfaces.
It's clear throughout the novel that something tragic has caused Columbus to break with reality and this weighs heavily on the reader. In addition to the storyline within the asylum, we also follow an agent from Interpol as he searches for a missing person.... knowing this ties into Columbus' story, yet not knowing how.
Love, romance, mystery, adventure, history, humor..... all a part of this outstanding novel I will not soon forget.
I counted this as a European book for the Global Reading Challenge since it takes place in Spain (both present day and the 15th century!).
Who Killed Palomino Molero? by Mario Vargas Llosa takes place in 1950s Peru and opens with the discovery of the body of a young airman from the local military base who has been murdered in a most gruesome manner.
Lieutenant Silva and Officer Lituma proceed to investigate the case, determined to get to the bottom of things - even if it means stepping on the toes of "the big guys" (who often seem to silence those who overstep their bounds). They must work hard for every clue they uncover as fear and corruption seem to thwart them at every turn.
In addition to being a well-crafted mystery, this short novel educated me on some of the racial aspects of this part of the world. I always enjoy a novel that piques my curiosity and has me looking up words and events to learn more. (in this case, for example, the word "cholo")
Overall, I enjoyed this novel despite a little more usage of the "F-bomb" than I normally like. It counts as my first South American novel for the Global Reading Challenge.
I always have a feeling of contentment when I finish a book in the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series by Alexander McCall Smith. The Double Comfort Safari Club was no exception.
I love the picture of Botswana that Smith paints with his storytelling. In many ways it seems a slower, kinder, gentler world than the one I live in. However, flaws in human nature are universal and this is evidenced by many of the situations that Mma Ramotswe finds herself in. This keeps the narrative from being too "sappy".
This eleventh book in the series contains a variety of storylines including a tragic accident involving Mma Makutsi's fiance and a trip to the Okavango Delta to locate the recipient of a final bequest.
Kindness. Hospitality. Decency. These are some of the traits found in the characters from this little part of Botswana. Traits that we all should all hope to possess.
This first book of 2011 counts towards both of my reading challenges. The author was born in what is now Zimbabwe and the novel takes place in Botswana, so it is my first "Africa" book for the Global Reading Challenge. It also meets the "book with a size in the title" requirement (double) for the What's In A Name Challenge.
Dorte at DJ's Krimiblog hosted a "Global Reading Challenge" this year that looked like a lot of fun. She's offering it again in 2011 with just a few minor changes (click on the image above or in the sidebar for all the details) and since I now have several reading challenges under my belt, I think I'm going to give it a try.
I've decided to sign up for the "medium" level in which I need to read two books from each of the seven continents. The seventh continent can either be Antarctica or a venue of my choice, such as outer space, the sea, a fantasy world, etc.
The challenge doesn't specifically state whether the author has to be from that continent or whether the novel just take place there. Either way, I think it will be a challenge for me to step out of my comfort zone of Britian and the US. I think my personal challenge will be to try and make sure at least one of the two novels is by an author from that continent since the location part will be easier.
I hate to speculate too heavily on what books I'll read at this point. For one, I need to do some research. Also, I'm bad about changing my mind. I feel sure one of my Africa books will be a "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" novel and perhaps a Europe selection will be a "Commissario Brunetti" mystery. Beyond that..... who knows?!
