Books – Page 42 – …on the B.L.

The Little Paris Bookshop

April 1, 2017 RaeAnna

Read No
Length 392
Quick Review A quick easy read that will pull at your heartstrings while providing hope for the future in a formulaic way.

The Little Paris Bookshop is a quick read full of romance, sorrow, and hope. Falling in line with a Sparksian – Nicholas Sparks – formula of how romance transpires, Nina George does provide the reader with some highly poignant moments, quotable phrases, and a creative idea.

A middle-aged bookseller pines after a love lost for two decades. Ignoring the world around him, he is the owner and curator of the Book Apothecary or book barge where people in need go to have their souls cleansed through books they may not want but desperately need. The idea of a Book Apothecary or book barge was really the only interesting aspect to capture my attention in this novel.

The narrator waffles between feminist and woman blaming by saying men do not deserve women while also blaming women for stringing men on. I get it you’re heart broken, but make up your damn mind. Are we better than you? Or do we make a game out of breaking hearts?

The writing was adequate to fit the story. It lacked nuance or anything particularly special. There were moments of slight mystery and quick answers. If you’ve ever read a book with a basic storyline, the ending screams itself from page 15.

I doubt this book will last the tests of time, but it does suffice as a lovely beach read. It was a New York Times Bestseller and an International Best Seller, so it does have its appeal. I would never read it again, but, like I said, it is a great read if you don’t want to soul search, deep think. I would put this under the category of ‘mindless read.’

Memorable Quotes
“The bookseller could not imagine what might be more practical than a book.”
“It’s amazing how unimpressed people are by being loved when it doesn’t fit in with their plans”
“Damn church! Heaps misery on any who haven’t already given up hope.”
“Personally, I don’t believe that any question is too big; you simply have to tailor the answer.”

Title: The Little Paris Bookshop
Author: Nina George
Translator: Simon Pare
Publisher Broadway Books
Copyright: 2015
ISBN: 9780553418798

Books

The Vikings

March 21, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Meh
Length 324
Quick Review This is a comprehensive look into the geography, culture, trade, and all things Viking. It’s a great peek into what I think is an often overlooked region of European history.

Roesdahl writes a very detailed look into Scandinavian heritage by documenting all things so far discovered about the Vikings and the era in which they lived. Though, she admits, there are still many unknowns, Roesdahl covered a great many topics.

Roesdahl’s prose is quite dry; mostly conveying facts to the reader in the most direct way possible. Although, it’s hard to tell what her prose is like because this is a translation from her original. She gives as much information as possible, while admitting there is still much to learn.

Through archaeology, research, translation, and other ways there have been many advances in our knowledge about the Vikings in comparison to what was known just a few decades ago. It was believed the Vikings had been a primitive culture many equated as barbaric. However, it is now known they were a complex people, who achieved great accomplishments in trade, exploration, religion, traditions, language, etc. I learned quite a bit. I suggest it to anyone who has an interest in the Vikings.

Title: The Vikings; Revised Edition
Author: Else Roesdahl
Translators: Susan M. Margeson and Kirsten Williams
Publisher: Penguin Books
Copyright: 1987, 1998
ISBN: 9780140252828

Books

What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding

March 9, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 291
Quick Review I am in love with this book. It is the perfect story all wanderers will lust after whether single or coupled.

I am completely in love with What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding. The best way I can describe it is: If there were ever a book that could be a mirror of my soul’s desire, this would be it. (There are only two differences between Kristin Newman and I: 1) She saw herself getting married and having children, and I don’t. 2) She had a career at 26… Yeah, nope.)

Newman is hilarious. I don’t laugh out loud often while reading, but I did. She is able to give words to feelings I have had for a very long time. The biggest theme throughout this book is when things get rough, she takes a trip. Which, now that I think about it, sounds like running from her problems. Anyways, it did end up working out for her, and I am jealous.

The book follows her through a decade or so worth of trips around the world both solo and with girlfriends. Through telling her travel stories, she lets the reader into her life. Allowing the world to see her deepest fears, her desires, her heartbreaks, her aspirations, and her inadequacies. With an almost too honest narration, she shows the world it’s ok to be alone and be both happy and sad about it.

It is the narration of a woman who won’t settle for less than awesome. When awesome comes along, it’s ok to be sad when trading awesome for awesome. Her unique brand of feminism screams “This is who I am, and I’m not that ashamed of where I’ve been.”

Memorable Quotes
“I didn’t think being in a relationship with someone I didn’t want to marry was a problem, mostly because, as I’ve said before, I had never really wanted to get married, period.”
“…as tempted as I would be by the completeness of his love in the face of a new world surrounded by men who seemed to see me as some sort of little brother, something deep within me was screaming that I wasn’t ready to be half of a whole.”
“I realized they didn’t look at travel the way I looked at it, like medicine, like my chance to right all the wrongs that might exist in my life.”
“ I think that, generally, most of us have a total of about twenty thoughts. And we scroll through those thoughts, over and over again, in varying order, all day every day.”

Title: What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding; A Memoir
Author: Kristin Newman
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Copyright: 2014
ISBN: 9780804137607

Books

The Thing Around Your Neck

February 24, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 218
Quick Review Twelve short stories in one book exploring women’s lives in Nigeria and America. As always, I highly recommend it because Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is amazing.

Up until now, I have only read Adichie’s novels, so I was excited to read her short stories. She is renowned for her story teller’s expertise, and has been published in some of the best journals including The Iowa Review – a little home-state pride!

Her style, as always, is incredibly straightforward but incredibly nuanced. Her imagery paints a clear picture of the world her characters live in. Her endings are abrupt leaving the reader craving for more yet allowing each person to take away something different. Though the endings are always frustrating, I keep coming back to them wondering what happened.

Adichie explores the realities of womanhood. The meaning of being a black woman in Nigeria and the U.S., and how those meanings and realities differ. The trials and tribulations of being a woman, a black woman, and an immigrant are shown instead of explained. It’s a resonating exploration of how outsiders men, white women, non-immigrants/outsiders of a culture fail to understand the essence of what a black woman’s experience is. Though I share the identity of woman and can identify and understand those trials, I can only read, ask questions, research, but mostly listen to black women (really any woman of color) to understand the obstacles they must overcome, which I do not have to.

I recommend anything Adichie writes. Especially if you want to begin learning, empathizing, and hopefully empowering those different from yourself.

Memorable Quotes
“Then Chika feels a prick of guilt for wondering if this woman’s mind is large enough to grasp any of that.”
“But why do we say nothing?”
“It’s never quite like that in real life, is it? Women are never victims in that sort of crude way.”

Title : The Thing Around Your Neck
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi
Publisher: Anchor Books
Copyright: 2009
ISBN: 9780307455918

Books

1Q84

February 14, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 925
Quick Review Long but worth it. It’s a surreal, mystery, dystopian, fantastical love story. Technically it’s three books, but I read it in a volume of one.

Haruki Murakami wrote 1Q84 in three separately published books; however, the translated version appeared as a single volume with subsequent publications separating them again. I read it as one, and my only complaint is it’s awkward to finagle that large of a paperback.

1Q84 is a woven narrative of two characters finding their way through a world they happen into towards one another. The characters are rounded, real, and tangible to anyone who has feelings. Though the storyline is dystopian and the plot full of things no one on earth will ever experience, the characters are reachable. Their overwhelming sense of loneliness uniquely captures an aspect of humanity everyone feels in varying degrees of severity.

Murakami explores themes like religion, cult, politics, love, fate, and ultimately humanity by stepping away from the world we live in into a dystopian universe with two moons.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t read any of Murakami’s other works. If this is the standard, I need to read more. Though, I’m sad it’s only available to me in translation. Books always lose things in translation. Since I have experience in the field, I always read translations wondering what was changed, what was lost, are their cultural things I’m not getting, etc., and I am left to wonder how fabulous the original happens to be.

It’s odd. Less than 200 pages from the end of the third book, the narration style changes briefly. Throughout the book, up until this point, the narrative focuses on the perspective of one character per chapter. Here, the narration includes the happenings of the other significant characters implying the convergence of the storylines. Normally, the narrator is third person from whatever character is the action of the chapter. In this minor section, the narrator is different. The narrator becomes omniscient for the blippest of a moment. Though subtle, it stands out because it veers so drastically from the 976 pages of previously dominating narrative. Just as quickly, the new style evaporates into the original. As far as the last 50 pages, the narration style is thrown into the air as everything comes together.

Memorable Quotes
“If you belong to the majority, you can avoid thinking about lots of troubling things.”
“Feelings like that don’t give you any choice, do they?” Aomame said. “They come at you whenever they want to.”
“‘Massacre?’ ‘The ones who did it can always rationalize their action and even forget what they did. They can turn away from things they don’t want to see. But the surviving victims can never forget. They can’t turn away.’”
“But people can never fully divorce themselves from the images implanted during early childhood”
“There is always just a thin line separating deep faith from intolerance.”
“Somehow the world survived the Nazis, the atomic bomb, and modern music.”

Title: 1Q84

Author: Haruki Murakami
Translated By: Jay Rubin (Book 1 & 2) and Philip Gabriel (Book 3)
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Copyright: 2011

Books, Fiction

The Handmaid’s Tale

February 8, 2017 RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 311
Quick Review It’s a remarkable work of dystopian fiction, which has been talked about for decades. It’s a highly influential book in the world of contemporary fiction.

I have been hearing about The Handmaid’s Tale for a long time now. It’s been on my to read list for just as long. Amazon has created a TV show of the same name, and I wanted to read the novel before watching the show. So that was my shallow push to finally get around to reading it.

To be honest, it’s a book I read because it is so widely talked about, and not out of pure love for the genre. As a reader, I do not like Atwood’s style throughout. It’s odd and difficult to follow at times. Nor does it follow grammatical rules at all whatsoever. I majored in Literature in college, and have experience with textual analysis. From a scholarly standpoint, the style is incredibly compelling and fully supports the plot. More importantly the style gives credence to Offred, the protagonist, as well as help the reader understand where she starts and her evolution. The style changes throughout the story as Offred progresses taking steps to reclaim her previous self. I won’t say more, so I don’t ruin it for you. The style is intrinsic to the story. I do not think it would be such a compelling work of fiction if the style were more traditional.

It was a difficult book to read, at this point, for me. I live in a country which is experiences a lot of upheaval and frankly illegal/unconstitutional actions. These are the first steps towards societies depicted in dystopian fiction. For me it was difficult to read because there were points where the novel was not depicting a fictional world, but things I see happening right now today.

I was entirely uncomfortable reading The Handmaid’s Tale because of how women are treated. As a self-proclaimed feminist, I was uncomfortable and at times a bit queasy. Although, these are all intended by the author, I’m sure; no one writes dystopian fiction saying: yes this is the perfect world.

I had a hard time getting into the novel because of the style, but once I got used to it, I really enjoyed it. For me, the ending was both perfect yet entirely unsatisfying.

Read it. It’s fabulous and deserving of the hype surrounding it. It ranks high within my list of interesting dystopian novels.

Memorable Quotes
“It’s good to have small goals that can be easily attained.”
“They blamed it on the Islamic fanatics, at the time.”

Title: The Handmaid’s Tale
Author: Margaret Atwood
Publisher: Anchor Books
Copyright: 1986
ISBN: 9780385490818