My husband’s brother and his wife gave us gift certificates to Barnes and Noble for Christmas… they must know us well. The package didn’t come until after, but better late than never! We had fun ordering books (since there’s no B&N around here — our town is much too small for that — we used B&N.com) and half arrived yesterday. What fun!

My order came yesterday, and in it was: Inkheart, Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Eats, Shoots & Leaves (you can tell where my interests lie!)

What’s still to come (hubby’s order): Speaker for the Dead, Dooms Day Book, and What are People For? (that’s not exactly his interests; if left to his own wishes, there’d be some political and/or philosophy books there… granted, they’re also more expensive…)

The only one we haven’t previously read is the Wendell Berry book, and he’s got a decent enough track record with us that we felt comfortable buying that one new.

See, although I love books, I hate buying them unless I know I’m going to like the book. (Which is why we have more picture books than anything around the house; they’re so much easier to judge the worth of than a fiction or non-fiction book.) I just can’t justify spending money on a book, then not absolutely loving it. In my opinion, that’s what libraries are for: to weed out all the “bad” books. I feel much less guilty about not finishing a book I’ve checked out than one that I’ve bought. So, instead of buying new books, we focused on filling in the gaps to our little collection. No matter: I still can’t wait to re-read them!

My friend Amira finished and reviewed Tales of a Female Nomad, which I raved about, a couple days ago. While she didn’t hate the book, she didn’t particularly like it either. But, her review got me thinking. See, I’m the quintessential American non-tourist. The most exotic places I’ve been are the Caribbean (on a cruise), Canada and Germany. And even though we spent three months in Germany, we really didn’t get out and “experience” the local culture the way we could have. Amira, on the other hand, is currently living in Kyrgyzstan, and is having a totally wonderful and unique experience, something which (for many reasons, the first among them is that I would never even have considered going to Kyrgyzstan) I couldn’t have ever done. She’s well-traveled (or at least better traveled than I am) and has spent the time and energy to devote herself to the culture in which she is living.

So, Melissa, what does this have to do with Snow (which is by Orhan Pamuk, by the way)? Well, what I realized when I read Amira’s review, and what I’ve realized since finishing Snow (and have probably realized before), is that much of what we get out of books depends on what we bring to it. I got a different experience reading Nomad than Amira did, mostly because I’ve had different travel experiences than she has. I didn’t like Snow, but I think if I were a different person, I may have. Let me explain (no, that would take too long. Let me sum up…):

Strike one: This book was written in Turkish (translated, of course) for a Turkish audience and is about the struggle in Turkey between secularists and Muslim fundamentalists. I am, obviously, neither Turkish or Muslim. And I only have a passing interest, and no real knowlege, of Muslims or Islam.

Strike two: This book is very lyrical and poetical. The main character is a poet, and often talks about how poems come to him, almost like inspiration. The author spent pages and pages and pages setting the mood, and evoking images of cold, snowy, winter days in Turkey (and thereby lonliness, desperation, God?). Me: I was trained in college as a journalist, and I am a lover of children’s fiction. Excessive words usually don’t move me.

Strike three: Halfway through the book, the narrator tells about the main character’s murder. Huh? Okay, what’s the point in finishing the book? Why bother telling us that the main character dies (no foreshadowing here) halfway through? What’s the literary point? Why should I, as a reader, even bother to go on? I didn’t, really. I struggled through a bit more, then skimmed the rest. Enough to get the gist of what plot there was. And I still don’t get it.

Granted, it will make for good discussion at the book group (is a book worth reading only for the discussion it creates?): was Pamuk making fun of believers or non-believers? What was the whole deal with Ka’s obsessions about Kars and religiosity anyway? And why was Ka so confused and indecisive? …

Anyway. On to other things.

It was a good day…

My parents-in-law gave me cards with this on it:

It’s so totally perfect! The text on the back I’ve chosen to put in the sidebar.

My parents gave me a wonderful, beautiful bamboo cutting board, which I have longed for. YAY!

And my husband gave me time for a much-needed nap. We also got loads of books, though not as many as in past years. Still, any new reading material is great. And my oldest loves Dragon Rider so far. I guess it was a good choice. 🙂

Hope your holiays were happy!

Remember back a few weeks (or so) when I was looking for something light?? Well, this is pretty much what I was looking for. It was not deep, or particularly specatacular, but it was involving, diverting (I tend to think and talk in Victorian English after reading a book like this) and a whole lot of fun. I think part of what made it fun for me was the method in which it was written. The basic premise: two girls in early-19th Century England (with magic) are writing back and forth to each other and get into a series of adventures (and fall in love, of course). See? Nothing special. But, it was written by Patricia Wrede (writer of the Enchanted Forest, which my oldest loves) and Caroline Stevermer (of whom, I admit, I’ve never heard before). What they did (and it sounds like fun) is essentially become the two characters (Wrede was Cecelia; Stevermer was the cousin Kate) and let the plot develop by writing letters back and forth to each other. Then, of course, they got back together and did some revising and editing for the book. But still… to experience the development of the book in such a way… wow. And it showed in the writing. There were really two disctinct voices (which is hard to achieve if there’s only one writer), and you could tell that things were simoltaneously developing individually and in response to what the other writer had written. Makes me want to try it. Oh, and it makes me want to read the sequel, The Grand Tour: Being a Revelation of Matters of High Confidentiality and Greatest Importance, Including Extracts from the Intimate Diary of a Noblewoman and the Sworn Testimony of a Lady of Quality. How can you not want to read a book with a title like that?

I really tried to read this book. Honestly. But… I got 30 pages into this somewhat depressing tale of a boy who gets run over by a mail truck (I know there’s more to it than that) and how he came about, and it was really well written, but just not… engaging. Besides the temptation to read The Dark is Rising with Julie and Laura was much to great. And, as my husband commented, I’m just not a critically-acclaimed, New York Times Bestseller type of book lover. So, good bye meaty adult fiction; hello Midwinter kids fare. I’m much happier. (Maybe I’ll try Edgar Mint again someday… It would probably make a good book group book.)

I couldn’t put this one, by Rita Golden Gelman, down. At all. For one thing, she’s a completely captivating writer and story teller. For another, her stories are completely capitvating. She truly is a remarkable woman. In 1986, at the age of 48 and facing an impending divorce, she gave up all her posessions and decided to live in third world countries, experiencing what the natives experience. This is her story. I was completely in awe and amazed at the things she was willing to try, and succeded at; the people she met; and the lives she’s experienced. It’s way beyond a travel book; it’s a life book. And an amazing read. If you’re curious, she did eventually set up a permanent web “address“. Check it out.

The planets aligned and conspired to get me to read this one. First, Joey’s review on Bookworm impressed me enough to put it on my “to-read” list. But, the exact same day (see what I mean about planets aligning?) my daughter brought it home from the library. She never got to read it.

I absolutely loved this book. I had read Cornelia Funke’s first book, Thief Lord, and wasn’t all that impressed. It was good, but it just didn’t captivate me. So, while I was aware of Inkheart (and her most recent one Dragon Rider) I just wasn’t impressed enough to pick either one up. So, thanks Joey.

First and foremost, this is a book-lovers book. I think that’s what I enjoyed most about it. I loved the way the characters loved books. I loved the fact that there were little quotes at the beginning of each chapter from books that I’ve (mostly) read. (Though my husband spoiled this one for me — to a certain extent — by mentioning that Stephen King did that too. Ugh.) I loved that the whole premise of the book is that characters could be brought into this world from books. (There’s a great little bit near the end about Tinker Bell…) Probably, if I really thought about it, I would find plot holes and loose ends, and if I really wanted to be a spoil-sport, would complain that then ending was messy. But I didn’t care. This book had me captivated from the first page, and I couldn’t wait to pick it up again after I’ve put it down. If my daughter didn’t have to return it, I would have started it again right after finishing. And I never do that.

There wasn’t much to this book by Philip Pullman (I thought I’d give him another try, especially since other people have raved about His Dark Materials…). Great premise: a boy goes around saying he used to be a rat. Who believes him? What does he do? How did he get to be a boy? Not a lousy execution, but definately a minimalist one. I think Pullman was trying to satirize tabloids (and in some instances, I did “get” it), but along the way he forgot to have an engaging plot. Perhaps this book would be better read out loud. I did like the ending, however, which made up for a whole lot.