currently reading :: The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini 

The Kite Runner has been on my to-read list for a long time. I have heard some great things about this book. In particular, I wanted to sure I read it before I see the movie version. One of my friends from college recently started a book club on facebook and invited me to join. The Kite Runner is our selected book for the month of August--what great timing!

Summary: The Kite Runner follows the story of Amir, the privileged son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant. As children in the relatively stable Afghanistan of the early 1970s, the boys are inseparable. They spend idyllic days running kites and telling stories of mystical places and powerful warriors until an unspeakable event changes the nature of their relationship forever, and eventually cements their bond in ways neither boy could have ever predicted. Even after Amir and his father flee to America, Amir remains haunted by his cowardly actions and disloyalty. In part, it is these demons and the sometimes impossible quest for forgiveness that bring him back to his war-torn native land after it comes under Taliban rule. 

(Summary from www.amazon.com)

currently reading :: The Enchantress of Florence

The Enchantress of Florence

Salman Rushdie

I will admit, one of the main reasons I wanted to read this book is because it has Florence in the title. And I love Florence. The second main reason I wanted to read this book is because I am a big fan of the cover. Big fan. Someday I intend to decorate a room in my house inspired by it. The third reason I wanted to read this book is because I've heard wonderful things about Salman Rushdie. All good reasons!

Summary: The Enchantress of Florence is the story of a mysterious woman, a great beauty believed to possess the powers of enchantment and sorcery, attempting to command her own destiny in a man's world. It is the story of two cities at the height of their powers--the hedonistic Mughal capital, in which the brilliant emperor Akbar the Great wrestles daily with questions of belief, desire, and the treachery of his sons, and the equally sensual city of Florence during the High Renaissance, where Niccolò Machiavelli take a starring role as he learns, the hard way, about the true brutality of power. Profoundly moving and completely enchanting, The Enchantress of Florence is a dazzling book full of wonder by one of the world's most important living writers.

Summary from the book jacket.

Currently reading :: The Birth of Venus

The Birth of Venus

Sarah Dunant

 

Summary: Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family's Florence palazzo. A child of the Renaissance with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is intoxicated by the artist's abilities. But Alessandra's parents have made plans for their daughter, and she is soon married off to a wealthy, much older man. Meanwhile, the reign of the Medicis, with their love of luxury, learning, and dazzling art, is being threatened by the hellfire preaching and increasing brutality of the fundamentalist monk Savonarola and his reactionary followers. As the city shudders with violence and change, Alessandra must find her own way--and finally explore the passions she's kept so long at bay.

Summary from the book jacket.

I picked up this novel from a friend who was giving away books before a big move. I am fascinated with Renaissance Italy, especially Florence and the time of the Medicis! I was excited to begin reading this and, in fact, am already halfway through! Already there have been some surprises, and I am loving the quantity of art history included. Very enjoyable thus far, and I am looking forward to discovering how the tale plays out.

Currently Reading :: Kafka on the Shore

Kafka on the Shore

Haruki Murakami

Summary: Kafka on the Shore is powered by by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom. Their odyssey, as mysterious to them as it is to us, is enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerizing events.
[Summary from www.borders.com]

This book was lent to me by a co-worker. I have been warned that is is "different" and I need to be prepared to disengage from reality and the structure of time. I have only read two chapters so far, and they were normal--and written very well, I might add--but I can see in Chapter 3 that there is a talking cat...

Notes on Dracula

It is a bit of a quandary to be reading two novels simultaneously... and poor East of Eden is getting the shaft, as I am a bit antsy to finish reading Dracula on the Kindle so that I can pass on the device to a co-worker to test. I'm not sure exactly how long Dracula is, but the Kindle tells me that I have read 17% of it.

I am enjoying the writing and the perspective of the protagonist via his journal. I have to admit, it really is a bit scary! The night before last I was relieved to get a late night phone call from a friend after I had finished reading before going to bed, thus distancing my mind from the story before falling asleep. Last night, however, I dreamt that two of my brothers were vampires, and I had to kill them. I am usually not affected by things--particularly books--like this, and I am not a person who dreams often. I am beginning to think I should avoid reading Dracula directly before going to sleep...

This afternoon I was discussing the book with a co-worker (who has not read it) and we were pondering where Stoker was from, and if the novel had been translated into English from another language. Bram Stoker. Seems like an Eastern European name, right? And of course, it all takes place in Transylvania. Imagine our surprise when we looked it up online and found that Bram Stoker is from Ireland, and his real name is Abraham. Perhaps this is common knowledge to others, but it was news to me.

I'm done!

Last night I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! I probably stayed up too late, but the last few chapters simply must be read in immediate succession. You can't stop in the middle of the conclusion of a seven book series to go to sleep!

I will post my review later...for now, I just wanted to announce that I have finished.

By the by, the whole time I was reading this book, I was intrigued by the word "hallows." What truly is a hallow? All I could think of was, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name..."

I know it's not Monday (which is when I post the Word of the Day), but here's what I've found, courtesy of Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:

hallow
Pronunciation: ˈha-(ˌ)lō 
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English halowen, from Old English hālgian, from hālig holy

1: to make holy, or set apart for holy use
2: to respect greatly: VENERATE

Function: noun
obsolete: a saint, a shrine, or a relic

Interestingly enough, M-W notes in this entry that the use of hallow as a noun has been rare over the past several hundred years and is considered obsolete (other than in words like Halloween and Allhallows), and does not appear in most dictionaries anymore. M-W's Online Dictionary only added it to their database because of the "renewed interest" kindled by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I give three silent cheers to J. K. Rowling for resurrecting a nearly extinct word. The title makes perfect sense now if you have read the story and know what the deathly hallows are.

Currently reading...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

J. K. Rowling

Summary: Lord Voldemort is preparing for battle and so must Harry. With Ron and Hermione at his side, he's trying to hunt down Voldemort's Horcuxes, escape danger at every turn, and find a way to defeat evil once and for all. How does it all end?

(Summary from www. borders.com)

I don't know! But I am anxious to find out!

Still reading...

Mansfield Park!

In my defense...this is Austen's second-longest novel. (Emma is the longest.) And I was out of town for a week in November on a business trip, during which the only time I had free to read was on the plane.

Happily, I can report that I am over halfway through, and I only have 122 pages left to read. I am quite anxious to finish for two reasons: (1) I can't wait for the part where Edmund and Fanny finally realize they are simply perfect for each other. (2) The last installment of the Harry Potter series has been sitting by my desk for weeks now, and I refuse to open it until I have read the last word of Mansfield Park.

Currently reading...

Mansfield Park

Jane Austen

Summary: At the novel's center is Fanny Price, the classic "poor cousin," brought as a child to Mansfield Park by the rich Sir Thomas Bertram and his wife as an act of charity. Over time, Fanny comes to demonstrate forcibly those virtues Austen most admired: modesty, firm principles, and a loving heart. As Fanny watches her cousins Maria and Julia cast aside their scruples in dangerous flirtations (and worse), and as she herself resolutely resists the advantages of marriage to the fascinating but morally unsteady Henry Crawford, her seeming austerity grows in appeal and makes clear to us why she was Austen's own favorite among her heroines.

(Summary from the book jacket)

I love Jane Austen's wit and clever satire of her own time. This is my first time reading Mansfield Park, and I've been wanting to read it ever since I watched the BBC movie last year when they were doing a Jane Austen special.

Currently reading...

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

J. K. Rowling

Summary: Harry struggles to uncover the identity of the Half-Blood Prince, the past owner of a potions textbook he now possesses that is filled with ingenious, potentially deadly, spells. But Harry's life is suddenly changed forever when someone close to him is heinously murdered right before his eyes.

(Summary from www.borders.com)

I began reading the Harry Potter series a couple of months ago at the request of a friend. It had simply never been a priority of mine to read the series, when there were so many other books on my "To Read" list. While I knew the books would be fun and easy reads, I must admit I have been surprised at how much I have really enjoyed them, and seeing the transformation Rowling has made throughout from a "youth" genre to a more adult literary genre.

Thank you to my brother, Eric, for lending me his pretty, hardcover Harry Potter books so I do not have to buy them.

Currently reading...

People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks

Summary: An intricate, ambitious novel that traces the journey of a rare illuminated Hebrew manuscript from convivencia Spain to the ruins of Sarajevo, from the Silver Age of Venice to the sunburned rock faces of northern Australia.

Inspired by the true story of a mysterious codex known as the Sarajevo Haggadah, People of the Book is a sweeping adventure through five centuries of history. From its creation in Muslim-ruled, medieval Spain, the illuminated manuscript makes a series of perilous journeys: through Inquisition-era Venice, fin-de-siecle Vienna, and the Nazi sacking of Sarajevo.
(Summary from http://www.geraldinebrooks.com/people.html)

I heard Geraldine speak at Warwick's a couple of months ago, and have been wanting to read People of the Book ever since. Geraldine's quiet passion for this story was quite alluring. And it's a book...about a book!