July 2008 - Page 3 of 3

book giveaway!

Win a Free Book!
This week\’s giveaway is a gently used paperback copy of Ken Follet\’s suspense thriller, The Key to Rebecca. What Amazon says about it:

\”His code name: \”The Sphinx.\” His mission: to send Rommel\’s advancing army the secrets that would unlock the doors to Cairo…and the ultimate Nazi triumph in the war. And in all of Cairo, only two people could stop this brilliant and ruthless Nazi master agent. One was a down-on-his-luck English officer no one would listen to. The other was a young Jewish girl…\”

If you would like to win this book, just leave a comment before tuesday 7/15 and tell me what you like best about this author. Blog about this giveaway with a link back to this post, and you\’ll get entered twice! Sorry, due to postal cost (my husband rolled his eyes at the stack I hauled to the post office last week: three books I gave away, plus four that went out to Paperback Swap requests!) this contest is only open to residents in the US or Canada.

Tags: giveaways

Faith and Betrayal

A Pioneer Woman\’s Passage in the American West
by Sally Denton

This is the story of the author\’s ancestor, Jane Rio Griffiths, a woman of English aristocracy who emigrated to the United States in the 1800\’s, joined the Mormons, and traveled across the country to Utah. Faith and Betrayal is an awe-inspiring story of one woman\’s courage, stamina and ability to acquire whatever new skills were necessary in her new life (including those of a midwife). Denton does a wonderful job of depicting her great-great grandmother\’s experiences of crossing the ocean in a ship and traveling in a wagon train, overcoming numerous hardships. Unfortunately, soon after arrival in Utah, the diary upon which this book is largely based falls silent for seventeen years. After that space of time, she left the church and moved to California. Denton filled in the gap with plenty of reasons why Jane may have become disillusioned with her new religion. You must read this book with a grain of salt, as it is heavily opinionated- by the author. A lot of emphasis is placed upon the incident of a piano which Denton says her great-grandmother brought across the ocean and plains, only to have it end up in Brigham Young\’s possession- either as an object of tithe or traded in exchange for grain during a time of hardship. She stated that the piano is \”now on display at the Mormon Temple Museum in Salt Lake City\” and included a photograph of it. Curious, I looked online for the museum, wanting to know more about the piano. But I could not find any more information.

Rating: 3/5 …….. 216 pages, 2005

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Bios / Memoirs, Nonfiction (general), Past Reads, Travel/Adventure

Birdman of Alcatraz

The Story of Robert Stroud
by Thomas E. Gaddis

Robert Stroud was sentenced for murder in 1912. His original term was for twelve years, but ended up being fifty-four, most of which were spent in solitary confinement. Despite only having a third-grade education, Stroud became an expert on bird behavior and diseases, from keeping and studying canaries in his prison cell. It all began when he picked up three baby sparrows which had fallen to the ground in the prison yard. He raised and trained his canaries, but was particularly interested in diseases, and how to cure them. He wrote books about the birds, too. I was absolutely astonished at all the things Stroud did while in a prison cell, and the things which he invented or made. And that he was allowed to keep the canaries at all. He raised hundreds of canaries during his time in prison. Although Birdman of Alcatraz is bound to have some inaccuracies (the most glaring being that Stroud never kept birds while at Alcatraz, but only when he was in the Leavenworth facility), it is an utterly fascinating read.

Rating: 4/5 223 pages, 1955

Tags: 4/5- Great Book, Nonfiction (general), Past Reads

The Devil\’s Storybook

by Natalie Babbitt

This charming little book is full of witty stories about the Devil- portrayed as a short-tempered trickster always trying to stir up trouble. Sometimes the Devil gets the results he wants, other times the people he\’s trying to deceive fool him instead. All the tales have a subtle moral- mostly about the consequence of choices or desires, and a lesson about human nature. The tales in The Devil\’s Storybook are titled:

\”Wishes\”- The Devil wants to trick people by granting them wishes in ways they don\’t expect. But the first two people he meets don\’t really want a wish. Then he meets the ideal victim- a foolish boy.

\”The Very Pretty Lady\”- A beautiful woman wants to be loved for more than just her looks. The Devil admires her beauty and tries to convince her to join him in Hell, but instead of getting what he wants, ends up granting her exactly what she\’s been looking for.

\”The Harps of Heaven\”- The Devil sends two brother who are thieves up to Heaven to steal a harp for him. But the brothers are always quarreling and fighting, so they keep messing up the job.

\”The Imp in the Basket\”- This story doesn\’t feature the Devil as a main character, but a good-hearted clergyman who tries to takes care of an imp- a baby devil- that\’s left on his doorstep.

\”Nuts\”- The Devil likes eating walnuts and hates cracking them. He tries to trick someone into cracking the nuts for him by hiding a pearl inside one.

\”A Palindrome\”- About an artist who is a good man beloved by all the people, but paints horrid pictures. The Devil admires his awful paintings, and wants them for himself. What happens to the artist when the Devil steals all his work is so strange and sad.

\”Ashes\”- An amusing story about an evil man who was cremated when he died. His ashes got mixed up with those of a pig, so when he showed up in Hell, there was this pig following him around everywhere. He tries to find a way to get rid of the pig.

\”Perfection\”- The Devil is annoyed by a girl who is always doing things right. He tries to get her to loose her temper so she won\’t be so perfect anymore.

\”The Roses and the Minor Demon\”- Features a minor demon who has a soft spot for roses. He wants to grow some, but of course the Devil objects to having roses in Hell.

\”The Power of Speech\”- The Devil wants an old woman\’s goat. But she knows he hates the sound of bells, so she\’s tied a bell on the goat\’s neck. Looking for a way to get the goat away from her, the Devil gives it the power of speech- with results no one was expecting! I think this is my favorite of all the stories.

Rating: 3/5 101 pages, 1974

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Juvenile Fic, Past Reads, Short Stories

Meme: Five Things

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Well, I haven’t done a meme for a while, so it\’s good that Susan who Can Never Have Too Many Books tagged me for this one!

What was I doing 10 years ago?

I can’t remember. Do I really need to pull out my old journals? I think this was one of my years at junior college as an illustration student. Living in a dorm with five other girls. Was that really ten years ago? Ugh, I feel old now!

Five snacks I enjoy in a perfect, non weight-gaining world:

Chocolate! in any form!
Salted, roasted peanuts
Ice cream
Ruffled potato chips
Trail mix- the kind that has peanuts, cashews, m&m\’s and sugared raisins

Five snacks I enjoy in the real world:

Um, chocolate
Apples
Raisins
Cheese and crackers
Goldfish crackers (we have lots!)

Five things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Set aside for my daughter to go to college
Travel- Europe, Japan and Tasmania are top on the list
Pay off all our debt
Build all the cool inventions my husband thinks up but has no way to make
Give to a good cause- there’s so many I’d have to do tons of research before choosing, so I can’t really say who I’d donate to

Five jobs that I have had:

Assistant/cashier in a bakery
Forklift driver in a warehouse
Receptionist in a doctor’s office (my dad’s!)
In-home care for an elderly woman (cleaning and errands)
Recruiter at a blood bank- I’d call people and ask them to come back to donate again

Three of my habits:

Read every night in bed before sleeping
Pay my bills the old-fashioned way, stamps and envelopes!
Put away utensils, ingredients and kitchen tools during the cooking process after I use each one, so when I’m done, there’s nothing left sitting out.

Five people I want to get to know better:

Bybee
Trish (of the Reading Nook)
Nymeth
Writer2b
Verbivore

If you care to participate, consider yourselves tagged!

Tags: memes

Parsival

or A Knight\’s Tale
by Richard Monaco

Parsival is one of the minor figures (at least, I never heard of him before) in the Arthurian legends. His mother kept him shut up in their castle in total ignorance. Then he set out into the world as a young man, totally clueless and gullible. He wanders around the countryside looking for Arthur\’s castle, getting himself mixed up into all kinds of things. He is awestruck by the first knight he sees and determines to become one himself. This seemed to happen a bit too easily. Maybe that was part of the legend, that Parsival had a natural knack for fighting? I\’m not sure. Anyway, he sets off originally to find the Grail, but ends up in the middle of a hideous war.

What I really liked about Parsival was the vividly depicted setting. Nature was a pervasive, almost towering presence. Trees loomed over the paths, forests were trackless unmapped expanses, human dwellings sat in small scraped clearings among the wild growth. The impact of the seasons, the dependence upon crops and game, the utter simplicity and squalor most of the people lived in. It felt so real. And the terrible brutality of warfare, total disregard of the noblemen for the lives of serfs, awful physical punishments, waste and horror of rape, plunder, destruction- all here in these pages. It gave me a very stark picture of how life might have been for people in medieval times.

But the story was awful to follow. In the first place, it jumps around between several different characters\’ views- sometimes as frequently as every paragraph or two! Several significant scenes never had an explanation. There are also many incidents which don\’t make sense if you\’re not familiar with details of the Arthurian legends. I missed some of the references. Some of the characters seemed to have no clear idea where they were going or why they were doing what they did- and neither did I. Parsival seemed to be always either fighting or tumbling women in the hay. It got rather disgusting after a while. The profanity bothered me too. It felt incongruous with the setting. I mean, how many medieval peasants or knights do you think had the f-word in their vocabularies?

Maybe if I read the complete series I\’d get a better sense of it all. But based on reading Parsival, I\’m not sure if I want to continue. In my experience, the first book in a series is usually the best one. However, the vivid descriptions in this book are such a strength I\’m still ambivalent about keeping it or putting it on the swap shelf, and I feel compelled to give it a 3, in spite of its flaws. Make of that what you will.

There is a very interesting interview with the author here.

Rating: 3/5 343 pages, 1977

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Current Reads, Fantasy / Sci Fi

more on Zoo Vet

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I was pleased to receive a copy of Zoo Vet in the mail from Paperback Swap today. It brought the number up to 477 in my library! And I was able to refresh my memory, so now I can tell you more about it. What I mostly liked reading about was the wide variety of wildlife Taylor treated, and the ingenious ways he did so. Many of the animals were dangerous and difficult to handle. Medical practices were not well developed for them yet, so Taylor had to improvise a lot with what was on hand. He performed the first cesarean section on a zebra mare- while suffering a severe allergic reaction to the animal itself!

Other patients included an orca with ulcers, a sick hippo, an overly affectionate gorilla, some orphaned mountain lions, ill dolphins, a rattlesnake that refused to eat, an elephant with an abscessed tooth, a tiger with an injured spine and a giraffe with a damaged hoof. Most interesting were his visits to foreign countries to treat valuable wildlife owned by other zoos and the wealthy. During one visit to China, he was invited to observe an operation performed on a horse. The horse was not put to sleep or given any pain medication- it was treated with acupuncture alone, and lay quietly throughout the surgery. I was a bit incredulous. Taylor himself writes that he could hardly believe it- but he saw it with his own eyes. Fascinating book, highly recommended.

Tags: Animals Nonfiction

Keep the Aspidistra Flying

by George Orwell

Is the lucrative return of employment worth the awful tedium of spending your days at something you hate? Gordon Comstock doesn\’t think so. He turns down decent jobs and good opportunities, because they go against his principles, chooses instead to take a low-paying job in a bookshop and lives in a squalid rented room. He wants to make a living writing, but he isn\’t very good at it, and discovers that the woes of poverty (mainly hunger) make it harder and harder to concentrate on his poetry and write well. Sticking to his ideals, Gordon repeatedly refuses assistance from friends and family, sinking slowly deeper and deeper into poverty until he has to make a choice to survive. A job he doesn\’t want? or sticking true to his principles and creeping closer to starvation?

Keep the Aspidistra Flying is terribly depressing- for someone like me- an artist who failed to make a living at art. But it\’s also very witty, full of satire, which I half-missed the first time I read it. I was too stuck on the unhappy circumstance of Gordon- trying to do what he believed in, and getting mired in a downward spiral to the point of no return. A second reading provided more humor. Especially in the contrast of Gordon\’s friends- few in number- such as Ravelston, wealthy (but not happy with it) and his long-suffering girlfriend. Both sober and funny, this is one novel that I will not forget easily. It is interesting to compare this book to Orwell\’s Down and Out in Paris and London, which is semi-autobiographical account of the experience of poverty in said cities.

Side note: It must be prolific in English households (at least in Orwell\’s time), the aspidistra plant. Having a significant place in the title and also being very symbolic in the story. But I didn\’t know what it was and kept stumbling over the unfamiliar word. So to give my readers an idea (at least of its appearance) here are two old and very tacky book covers which feature the stubborn aspidistra. I don\’t like them, but they are illustrative, and so have a place here.

Rating: 4/5 …….. 248 pages, 1936

Tags: 4/5- Great Book, General Fiction, Past Reads

Winners!

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With three books to give away and three entrants, I thought hey, everybody\’s a winner! But then I realized Trish didn\’t actually want a book. So my daughter helped out. I gave her the stack of fat Grishams and two slips of paper in my hand. She picked a name and a book. Then the nameslips went back in my hand for second and third draws. And the results are:

Kari (the redhead in the corner) won The Firm
~ and ~
KT of What KT Reads won The Pelican Brief and A Time to Kill.

Congrats, happy readers! Send an address to jeanenevarez at gmail dot com and I\’ll pop your books in the mail before the week\’s out. Enjoy!

Tags: giveaways

Month: July 2008

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