My Reading Challenges - January 2014

Apparently, I always start the New Year in full swing, with lots of reading time, but then, school starts and I am back to struggling to find some reading time... For this month, I am planning to read Murakami's latest novel, "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage" for the January in Japan Challenge, and also to celebrate his birthday, on the 12th of January :); Sarah Dunant's latest book about the Borgias, "Blood and Beauty", mainly because I love her previous historical novels and I am quite interested in the story of this famous family; Yehuda Berg's book "Satan - An Autobiography" on the Opponent and fighting the good fight; Jane Hawking's (yes, Stephen Hawking's former wife) "My Life with Stephen" because I have recently seen two documentaries and one BBC adaptation of the scientist's life and I am quite intrigued about the man behind the famous mind; last but not least, "an international sensation" which seems to be the story from "The Rosie Project", about a professor of genetics who embarks upon The Wife Project, hoping that there is someone out there for everyone...

Let the page turning begin! :)

I'm only Happy when it Rains...

If you don't like the rain, then you will love it after you read Martin Page's book "About the Rain". 

Martin Page is a young French writer born in 1975 and who debuted at 25 with his book "How I Became Stupid". The essay - and my first book written by him - "About the Rain" was written in French back in 2007 and so far it has been translated only into Romanian, Greek and Korean. It wonderfully describes the role of the rain in eroticism, music or sacred matters. It represents a beautiful praise, both poetical and philosophical and I found myself wanting to write down every other line so I could remember it later on. However, I stopped at the following lines, mainly because they may be the most mesmerizing ever written about my favorite place in Paris, the Sacre Coeur cathedral and the simple yet miraculous rain.

 "Under the rain I am effervescent from my entire being. I am just like the Sacre Coeur cathedral in Montmartre, built from Chateau - Landon stone, which oozes a white substance when it rains. A chemical process is set off. Like a tablet of aspirin I foam and I quiver. It is not at all unpleasant to mix with the air. Disappearing, my body gains a presence. I am tightly connected with Nature. The drops fall on my skin and, just as on the surface of a swamp, they trace wavy, passing circles that reach my heart."

You can pay Martin Page a visit here.  
P.S. Thank you, Alle, for lending me the book :) 

My Reading Challenges - April 2013

After a month of struggling with books and reading, April definitely looks better from where I stand. I am planning to finish "Moranthology", a wonderful book Birgit offered me and which will count for her Non Fiction Challenge and I will continue reading for my Japanese Reading Challenge and read another Ryu Murakami book which I hope to be as memorable as his previous ones. Also, "The Anatomist" seems quite an interesting book so I will give it a go for the New Authors Challenge. See you on the other side of these books :)

Night train to Lisbon - Six Word Sum Up

I heard about this book after Jeremy Irons accepted to play the leading role in the movie that is going to be released next year. Adding this to the fact that I have been planning for two years to visit Portugal, the book seemed like an interesting choice, and so it was. I recommend it to anyone who actually knows that there is more to life than our daily routine and it is never too late to decide to do whatever you feel like, no matter the social constraints.

You are more than your routine.

Read for the New Authors Challenge and the European Reading Challenge...

Fifty Shades of Grey - Six Word Sum Up

Whoever thought erotic literature cannot sell was completely mistaken. The hype that surrounded this book (actually, trilogy) made me read it because I was way too curious about it. Surely, it is quite erotic, in the sense that a 49 year old woman is writing about her fantasies and this made me wonder if I will be dreaming about that when I am 49 as well... Totally undemanding literature, which can be perfect for a few summer nights, depending on your mood!

Dark desires can never be boring.

Read for the New Authors Challenge...

The Summer Without Men - Six Word Sum Up

It has been my first encounter with Siri Hustvedt ( the surname has Norwegian origins) and I am sure I will be reading some of her other books in the near future, especially since she is so interested in psychoanalysis and she has included this aspect in her writing. Here's one of her interesting interviews on the topic.

A cheated woman goes beyond despair.

Read for the New Authors Challenge.

The Woman in Black - Six Word Sum Up

     Do you believe in haunting ghosts? 
 

This is quite a creepy book to read, and I stopped reading it a few times, probably because it somehow got to me. Susan Hill has also written a series of crime novels, which I might tackle, after I get rid of this awful feeling of being watched and followed by a woman in black...

Read for the New Authors Challenge. 

The Museum of Innocence - Six Word Sum Up

Every few years I stumble upon a book that turns out to be just... PERFECT! "The Museum of Innocence" is such a book, and I can't wait to read more of Pamuk's work!

Obsession - Love raging in the soul.

Read for Tea and Books Challenge, The European Reading Challenge and New Authors Challenge.

Here is a video of Pamuk talking about his book and the future museum inspired by it.
And here is my favorite quote, well... one of the dozens :)
"When two people love each other as we do, no one can come between them, no one," I said, amazed at the words I was uttering without preparation. "Lovers like us, because they know that nothing can destroy their love, even on the worst days, even when they are heedlessly hurting each other in the cruelest , most deceitful ways, still carry in their hearts a consolation that never abandons them." (p.191)"

Catherine Locandro - Clara la nuit

Ce soir-là, je ne redescendis pas sur le trottoir.
Je regagnai ma chambre habituelle et me livrai à une introspection minutieuse. La conclusion de cette plongée en moi-même tenait en deux questions-réponses très simples : avais-je eu peur ? Non. Allais-je recommencer Oui. Le lendemain, j'achetai des porte-jarretelles à ma taille. "

"Clara la nuit" is one of those novellas which you wish it had been longer, so you could discover more about the mysterious character.


During the day, Claire is an ordinary woman who reads and loves walking on the streets of Paris, but during the night she turns into Clara, a prostitute of Rue du Temple. One night, a man asks her not to have sex with him but to read a letter instead. She is moved by it and she seems she cannot forget him. When she finally finds him while being drawn to a portrait resembling herself, she also discovers the sadness in his heart. The relation between them changes when, in danger, she finds comfort in his house and his arms.
Besides Clara's story and her past, the writer also examines the human condition, struggling between loneliness, vice and the need to love and be loved.
There is still an unanswered question: why did she choose to become a prostitute? She tells the painter that it is what she does best, but can that be truly convincing?

Read for the New Authors Challenge.

Nos Separations - David Foenkinos

Most French authors write with a humour and charm that is so typical of them and David Foenkinos is no exception.


"Nos Separations" presents the story of Alice and Fritz and their other relation(ship)s with secondary characters such as Fritz's friend Paul and his lover Virginie, Fritz and his wife Iris or Alice and her husband. The book is more about the two lovers' sad separations rather than their relationship; it is about the constant need to be with the one you love even though you hurt that person and he/she hurt you as well.

"Encore une fois, nous étions dans une ambiance mi-prune mi-pêche (chacun ses expressions), et j'ai pensé que je serais peut-être heureux de passer ces moments sans elle. Depuis des mois, nous vivions collés, dans l'autarcie de notre révélation amoureuse, alors cette première séparation serait sûrement bénéfique."

The writer gives us the chance to see a few of the decisive moments in Alice and Fritz's liaison: we learn how they fell in love, how they quarrelled and how Fritz cheated on Alice. It is with so much ease that Foenkinos presents his lovers' story that you might think their situation is not serious. He even mentions at the beginning of the novel that we might all be cliches. Still, with delicate humour the final separation takes place and we are left with the character's struggles to avoid any place they walked together in Paris and with ironic dictionary definitions in which he as well becomes one.

“Il y a des personnes formidables qu’on rencontre au mauvais moment, et des personnes qui sont formidables parce qu’on les rencontre au bon moment.”

The end is still optimistic. A boy and a girl - Alice's and Fritz's children from different relationships) meet in Pere Lachaise cemetery (read the wonderful book to discover why) and we may think the story can begin once more. maybe with a different, better ending this time :)

Read for: New Authors Challenge and European Reading Challenge (France)

Rape: A Love Story, by Joyce Carol Oates

My first encounter with Joyce Carol Oates' work has been rather disturbing, since this novella is not something one would truly enjoy reading. As its provocative title suggests, it is about a rape and its effects on the people involved. Still, how can love find its place amidst all that?



The novella brutally starts with: “After she was gang-raped, kicked and beaten and left to die on the floor of the filthy boathouse at Rocky Point Park. After she was dragged into the boathouse by the five drunken guys – unless there were six, or seven – and her twelve-year-old daughter screaming Let us go! Don’t hurt us! Please don’t hurt us! After she had been chased by the guys like a pack of dogs jumping their prey, turning her ankle, losing both her high-heeled sandals on the path beside the lagoon" and we hardly find any time to breathe between pages, bound to go through the ordeals and struggles that the mother and daughter have to face. Teena Maguire together with her 12 year old Bethie chose the shorter way home, on the night of 4th of July, and being the victim of a gang rape, she is now left to regret that she has survived.
The dreadful trial, the shame and the blame that the community casts over them leave the two in the impossibility to move forward, until someone decides to take matters into his own hands. Out of love for Teena and to see justice being done. The book finally takes a positive turn when we see the two characters being avenged. Somehow.
Could things have been different? Was it their destiny? Bethie tries to find an answer:
“There was a final shake of the dice. Another time it might have been averted. When Casey said, ‘Teena, let me drive you two home. Wait a minute, I’ll get the car,’ and your mother thanked him and kissed him on the cheek, telling him not to bother – ‘We want to walk, don’t we, Bethie? It’s a perfect night.’”

It was not a perfect night, but there is hope at the end of the last page.

Read for: Orange in January Challenge and New Authors Challenge

A Friend with a Story

Birgit from The Book Garden has written a book and she has kindly sent me a copy. What a great surprise! I found the story quite uplifting and optimistic. It felt like a rendez-vous between Madonna's children stories and Coelho's "Like a River Flowing", with advice not to give up and never stop following your dreams. Is there something more important in life? We all have our secret garden inside us and it's up to us to rediscover it and its mysteries. Isn't that a simple, yet utterly true message? To have more smiles on your face, click here.



P.S. Dandelions are not just dandelions! :)

New Authors Challenge 2012

It seems I quite enjoy challenges, especially when that means (re)discovering new authors, as it happened with The Japanese Literature Challenge. For next year, besides the challenge I will be hosting together with Bellezza, and which will be announced very soon, I will be taking part in the New Authors Challenge, hosted by Literary Escapism and Seduced by the Book that will take place from January to December 2012 and my goal is to discover 10 new authors. Let's see if that will happen!
Do you plan on discovering new authors next year?