Booking Through Thursday - Sticky

Today's question comes from Shelley and asks:

"This can be a quick one.  Don't take too long to think about it.  Fifteen books that you've read that will always stick with you.  First fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes"

My answer:

Though not necessarily my "favorite" fifteen,  these are books, both fiction and nonfiction, that have really stuck with me over  the years. They have opened my eyes to new places, cultures or time periods.  They have increased my understanding, or broadened my perspective of people or events. The writing may have been some of the best I'd ever read, or perhaps it was a book from childhood that I returned to over and over again.

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
   
2. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
   
3. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
   
4. Corelli's Mandolin by Louis deBernieres
   
5. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
   
6. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
   
7. The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz (Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street)
   
8. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
   
9. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
   
10. Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
    
11. The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim Defede
    
12. And The Band Played On by Randy Shilts
    
13. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
    
14. The Diary of Anne Frank
    
15. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Teaser Tuesdays - June 2

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.  Anyone can play along!  Here's how it works:

- Grab your current read 

- open to a random page

- share two teaser sentences from somewhere on that page (avoid spoilers!)

- be sure to include the title and author, so other TT participants can add the book to their tbr list if they like your teaser

My teaser is from The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry.  Since I just started reading last night, the teaser is from the beginning of the book, and I've included three sentences, instead of two:

"I am completely alone, there is no one in the world that knows me now outside of this place, all my own people, the few farthings of them that once were, my little wren of a mother I suppose in chief, they are all gone now.  And my persecutors are gone in the main, I believe, and the reason for all this is that I am an old, old woman now, I may be as much as a hundred, though I do not know and no one knows.  I am only a thing left over, a remnant woman, and I do not even look like a human being no more, but a scraggy stretch of skin and bone in a bleak skirt and blouse, and a canvas jacket, and I sit here in my niche like a songless robin - no, like a mouse that died under the hearthstone where it was warm, and lies now like a mummy in the pyramids."  (page 4)

I love this lyrical writing and can't wait to get back to the book this evening!

The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick

This is week's short story comes from Cynthia Ozick, an author who has been on my 'to read' list for far too long.  The Shawl, first published in The New Yorker in 1981,  is a harsh, brutal story set in a concentration camp during World War II.   It opens:

"Stella, cold, cold, the coldness of hell.  How they walked on the roads together, Rosa with Magda curled up between sore breasts, Magda wound up in the shawl."

Rosa, her infant daughter Magda, and 14 year old niece Stella are prisoners at a concentration camp.  Magda, silent and hidden in the shawl, is unknown to the German soldiers.  Food is scarce.  It is presumed that Magda will die.

"It was a magic shawl, it could nourish an infant for three days and three nights. ... Rosa knew Magda was going to die very soon; she should have been dead already, but she had been buried away deep inside the magic shawl, mistaken there for the shivering mound of Rosa's breasts; Rosa clung to the shawl as if it covered only herself.  No one took it away from her.  Madga was mute. She never cried."

Rosa's fears are realized when Madga is eventually discovered.  Written with spare prose, the ending of this story is truly horrifying. 

The story is paired with a novella entitled "Rosa" and published as The Shawl.  "Rosa" picks up thirty years later, as she has survived the Holocaust and is living in the United States. This short book may be a good choice for the next read-a-thon.

Teddy Rose is hosting Short Story Monday this week.  Check here to see who else has a story to share. 

TSS - The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

Good morning!  It's a cool, overcast morning here in the northeast.  The house is still quiet, my coffee is poured, and I'm ready to settle in with my laptop and compose a Sunday Salon post.  

It's been a productive week -  I finished two books and a short story.  The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home by George Howe Colt was finished well before Friday's book club meeting which, unfortunately, got cancelled at the last minute.  The plan is to discuss two books at the June meeting, but I'm a little skeptical. We'll see...

I spent Friday evening with Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader.  How is it that I missed this author and this little gem of a book?  Most commenters on my library loot post loved it, and a couple others plan to read it soon, yet it was barely on my radar until I saw several positive mentions last week.

The premise is simple.  The Queen of England happens to wander into a traveling library van as she chases her corgis outside Buckingham palace. Once inside, she feels it only polite to check out a book.  However, not being much of a reader, she has no idea what to choose. She settles on a book written by an author whose name is familiar.

'What a treat!' she hugged it unconvincingly before opening it.  'Oh.  The last time it was taken out was in 1989.'

'She's not a popular author, ma'am.'

'Why, I wonder? I made her a dame.'

Mr. Hutchings refrained from saying that this wasn't necessarily the road to the public's heart.    (page 8)

Guided by Norman, a kitchen boy, the Queen gradually begins to develop a passion for reading.  To the dismay of others (including the Prime Minister), this occurs at the expense of her official duties.

"...she was finding...how one book led to another, doors kept opening wherever she turned and the days weren't long enough for the reading she wanted to do."

(page 21)

This "dawn of sensibility" was mistaken for the onset of senility.  Efforts are made to curb the Queen's reading, as her growing self-discovery begins to steer her toward writing.

In addition to some very funny lines, there are wonderful lessons found within these 120 pages.  I can heartily recommend this book to nearly everyone I know, and will be on the lookout for more of Alan Bennett's work.  I've seen some very positive reviews for The Clothes They Stood up In!

This week I'm looking forward to reading The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry.  It is the last book on my list for the Spring Reading Thing.  What will you be reading this week?

One final thought to end this Sunday Salon post... Jackie at Farm Lane Books posted a request that we add search boxes to our blogs. This sounded like a very good idea, so I immediately added one.  However,  upon testing, it does not appear to work.  Does anyone know what I did wrong?

Library Loot - May 29

Library Loot is a weekly event hosted by Eva and Alessandra that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library.

My trip to the library, thankfully, yielded a number of slim, fast reads. This will hopefully allow me to stay on track with scheduled reads and enjoy a few diversions!

The Uncommon Reader 

by Alan Bennett

This book has been in my hands so many times at B&N, but a few mentions around the blogoshere this week prompted me to finally pick it up.  I read 20 of its 120 pages last night, and know I'll want to read the rest of this delightful book in a single sitting! 

At Large and At Small

Familiar Essays by Anne Fadiman

Her previous essay collection, Ex Libris, and her book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down were both wonderful.   I plan to read a couple essays from this book as part of the 2009 mini-challenges.  

Finally, a couple more graphic novels. Both of these were recommended by Claire at Kiss a Cloud. Reading these will complete my graphic novel experiment.

Aya

by Marguerite Abouet & Clement Oubrerie

This is Abouet's story of an Ivory Coast childhood set in the 1970's.

Kampung Boy

by LAT

Kamung Boy is about Mat, a Muslim boy growing up in rural Malaysia in the 1950's where traditional life in the village (kampung) is rapidly changing.

What did you bring home from the library this week?

Booking Through Thursday - Unread

In a perfect follow up to last weeks question, as suggested by C in DC:

Is there a book you wish you could "unread"?  One that you disliked so thoroughly you wish you could just forget that you ever read it?

My answer:

In one word, no.  If a book is really that bad, I will stop reading it...unless it is for my book club.  In that case,  I will persevere to the bitter end, share my opinion, and enjoy the discussion.  If the entire group dislikes the book (and that's only happened once with White Teeth), it becomes a part of group lore that we bring up and laugh about for years to come.

Visit Booking Through Thursday to see more answers or leave your own.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett - audio version

The Help

by Kathryn Stockett

Penguin Audiobooks, 2009

Narrated by:  Cassandra Campbell, Jenna Lamia, Octavia Spencer, Bahni Turpin

18 hours 4 minutes

From AudioFile
Jackson, Mississippi, 1962. White ladies playing bridge and sipping ice tea. Colored maids cooking, cleaning, and loving the white babies. The separate, intertwined paths of these worlds are going to collide. Audio is THE way to be inside this story, brilliantly cast with four voices. The separate casting of the three voices of Stockett's debut novel is astute. Jenna Lamia embodies Miss Skeeter, the young aspiring writer who starts a project that disrupts her privileged and predictable world. Lamia's genteel Southern tones can pass off ingrained prejudice with chilling comfort, screech with outrage, and subtly reflect Skeeter's growing resolve and self-discovery. Bahni Turpin and Octavia Spencer contrast the voices of hot-headed Minny and thoughtful, inspiring Aibileen. Their musical speech and emotional connection to the characters are riveting. Listeners are swept up in the story--shocked and reminded by the times; inspired and proud of these women. 

My thoughts:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett could easily end up being my favorite audiobook of the year.  The novel has already gotten rave reviews from many bloggers (check out Sandy's review from You've GOTTA Read This or Molly's review from My Cozy Book Nook).  I will just add my two cents by saying that the audio version was fabulous!

The readers' southern accents were perfect and added so much to my overall enjoyment.  Not a single minute of this eighteen hour book dragged.  As many of you know, I listen while I'm driving alone in my car...and while listening to The Help, I'll admit to to taking the long way home more than once.  Whether you're already a fan of audiobooks or are searching for the place to start, I highly recommend The Help!