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The Storyteller's Daughter by Saira Shah

Two summers ago a friend and I both read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. After completing the book I was pretty fired up about not knowing anything about Afghanistan. I found a few possible books to read, but then the desire faded away in the wake of other shiny books, and I didn't follow up. When I finished A Thousand Splendid Suns (review here) a few weeks ago I had the same feelings, only stronger. Determined that for once I would do the right thing (like my reading books is a moral choice to be made) I actually followed through. Someone had recommended that I start with The Storyteller's Daughter: One Woman's Return to Her Lost Homeland by Saira Shah. I found it at the library and started right in.

Here is the Publisher's Weekly summary, via Amazon:

Born in England and raised on her father's fantastic stories of an Afghanistan she had never known, Shah spends her adult life searching for a mythic place of beauty. "Any Western adult might have told me that this was an exile's tale of a lost Eden: the place you dream about, to which you can never return. But even then, I wasn't going to accept that." What she finds is a place ravaged by decades of war, poverty and, later, religious puritanism. Shah first visits Afghanistan in 1986 as a war correspondent at the remarkable age of 21 and later returns as the documentary producer of Beneath the Veil, an expos‚ of life under the Taliban that predated the national interest in the embattled country. Her journey forces her to reconcile the vast disparities between fact and fiction, the world she has pieced together from her father's tales and the reality she glimpses from behind the grille of the Taliban-imposed burqa. Shah weaves legends and traditional sayings into her text, lending a greater context to her expectations and experiences. She also offers a piecemeal history of Afghanistan to accompany the accounts of her travels, but for readers unfamiliar with the many years of political tumult Afghanistan has suffered, the history may not be thorough enough. Most compelling are the characters she encounters and their indomitable spirit, including a woman with 10 children who asks her about a "magic" pill to prevent pregnancy, and her husband, whose intense machismo is not enough to save him from the war.

I found the book to be mostly overly romantic yearnings for a mythical place with a little smattering of horrific detail. Shah wants very very badly to belong to this place that her father has always told her about. She embarks on foolish missions into the hills to find it. At 21 she bluffs her way into the country as a journalist, but it is clear that her primary mission is to find a place that accepts her as it's own. All of this seems like a great book, and perhaps if you're looking for that type of memoir, it is. I really wanted more about how the people lived, not how Shah romanticizes them. Here's an example, from page170:

I had been ready to blame everyone- the West, the Arabs, the Islamic extremists- but I could not let go of my noble mujahidin. Because they belonged to my myth and, in a sense, they were a part of me.

At page 201 (out of 251) the book takes an abrupt turn into realism. At that point, it turns into more of what I was really looking for. The change in the narrative happened in 1992, about when the Soviets withdrew. I marked a point on that page as I was reading it where she says:

Every gun in the city was firing for joy. The spent bullets tumbled down and bounced off the pavement with little pinging noises. At night, great arcs of red tracer bullets flew above our heads like welding sparks. If I'd been looking more carefully, I might have seen the friction of worlds colliding. But I thought they were just sparks of happiness, pulsing into the sky.

From this point on Shah talks about what it's like to live in Afghanistan today. What it's really like to live in a war zone. It's still written as a memoir, not a history book, but it's there. Part of Afghanistan have no electricity or running water and probably never will. The ground is littered with landmines. The drought is so severe that nothing will ever grow again. She doesn't hold out much hope for there ever being peace, and honestly I don't either. This paragraph from near the end (page 233) sums it up really well. She is talking to a 12 year old soldier.

I asked what he would do when the war ended and he said, in the singsong voice of a child reciting a lesson, that when peace came each person would go back to kar i khud- his own work. What was his work? He didn't know. Had he been to school? No. Could he read? No. Did he remember how to farm? No, and his family's farm was destroyed anyway.

Usman led us out of his commander's earshot and said: "This country is full of men who know nothing except how to fight. They have no other way to earn a living. They have plenty of weapons and they will try to keep on fighting in any way they can."

Pretty bleak.

One last quote from the book to sum up why I am reading these:

When I proposed that we should cover the civil war in Afghanistan, the honest, good eyes of one of my editors said silently what he put into words a few seconds later: "Is any of this our fault? Can you convince me that we should care?"

The next book on the Afghanistan list is Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson. This one is about both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

(sorry about the multicolored quotes, I can't seem to fix it. Grrr)

TBR want-to-read list

I am nearing the end of the book I am reading and, as always, I am plotting what to read next. I am weighing my options, debating the choices, rearraigning lists. I talked to a friend about the pros and cons of various choices. Should I read things that will get me guarunteed credits at paperbackswap? Should I be a good girl and read things off my challenge lists? Should I read what is interesting me right now (which is Afghanistan) ?

After much internal debate, here are the top choices, in no real order.

• The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. I'm reading this for a discussion group, discussion starts on the 1st. I have not read one page.
• Lean Mean 13 by Janet Evanovich. If I read this one, I'll be completely caught up on a series! Plus, fast easy credit at PBS.
• Innocent in Death or Born in Death (whichever comes next) by JD Robb. Quick read, quick credit.
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Two of my favorite bloggers strongly recommended it to me today. Plus, it's wishlisted at PBS.
• Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot. Again, fast read, fast credit.
• The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn. I haven't read a romance in forever, I'm kinda in the mood. Plus, JQ delivers every time. Plus plus, brand new book, so again with the quick credit.

I still need to finish Glass Houses by Rachel Caine, but it's a library book, and I'm not attached to it yet, so it can wait. Ditto Anne of Green Gables, except, uh, not a library book. And it's actually on a challenge list.

I just read my list. It's awfully light and fluffy. Think this says something about the last few things I read?

No, I didn't make those links for you. I figure if you can't work Amazon.com then not knowing what my books are about is not your greatest problem.

Oh hey, and COMPLETELY not about books- check out my Etsy store! I have THREE WHOLE ITEMS for sale! Got a t-shirt you want made into a bag, leave a comment, we'll talk.

Thursday Thirteen #25

Once again, I frantically trying to catch up. I have bookmarked roughly 837 blog posts that I want to mention here, I want to talk about what I'm reading, I have a monkey story to relate... SO you're getting it in a freeform sort of Thursday Thirteen. It's kinda cheating, I know, but it's my blog I can do what I want!

1. I just saw this post over at Elle Fredrix's blog. Freaky cool, huh? They move very slowly for me.


2. Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Dragon posted the BEST review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that I have seen yet. Very insightful. (Note: there are spoilers in the review, bookmark it and come back if you haven't finished yet.)


3. Etsy Love! A journey of 1000 stitches had the brilliant idea to post about etsy and collect some links into Mr. Linky. Go check it out. My own etsy shop (still tiny!) is listed there as well.


4. This review of The Time Traveler's Wife (again at Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Dragon) makes me want to move it up my list- fast! I own the book, what am I waiting for? (oh yeah, all those OTHER books I own...)


5. Erin at The Paperback Stash nominated me for the Rockin' Girl Blogger award. I LOVE that picture at the top of her blog, no, not that one, the one on the right.

1. Trish nominated me too! Does this one cancel out the other? Thanks ladies.


2. Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Dragon (can you tell I just discovered this blog? and that I love it?) posted the Best. Ever. Story about used book shopping. Go read it.


3. I am reading The Storyteller's Daughter by Saira Shah. It is about Afghanistan, and I had hoped it to be an enlightening follow up to A Thousand Splendid Suns. It's a memoir, and so far I'm finding it to be much less serious that I had hoped. The author is clearly enchanted with Afghanistan, and it is coloring her writing. This is good for most memoirs, but not really what I'd hoped for this one.


4. I am also reading Glass Houses by Rachel Caine. This is the author of the Weather Warden series, which I love. (Ok, I've only read the first one. I love it though!) I've read about half of Glass Houses, and the jury is still out. It is only just now getting interesting. Fortunately, it is also short.


5. We are going camping for real this weekend. Like, in a tent and everything. I can't wait to see what the Monkey thinks.


6. And speaking of His Monkeyness- yesterday he told me he wanted to wear a specific shirt. I said, "this one? the one with the Brontosaurus on it?" and he said, " No Mommy! APATOSAURUS." Gee thanks kid. Correcting me ALREADY??? and he's not even 2 1/2 yet!


7. Dewey created a blog where we can discuss Harry Potter with full spoilers. Go check it out.


8. There is a necklace on Etsy that I really really want. Like really. Badly. WANT. I visit it every day to make sure it is still there. Because I want it. A lot. Only now I am nervous about posting the link, cause what if you want it too?? So just imagine it, k?

(for whatever reason, blogger doesn't want me to put that picture there without renumbering my list. 5+8=13)

Blogging Tips Meme

Bonnie at Bonnie's Books has tagged me with the Blogging Tips Meme. I love being tagged for things, but have such a hard time thinking of people to tag back.

I also have to admit, I don't really "get" this one. Do I just add my tip to the end? Delete my least favorite? Every list I've seen has had ten on it.

Anyway, here we go!

-Start Copy-

It’s very simple. When this is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.)

Add the next number (1. 2. 3. 4. 5., etc.) and write your own blogging tip for other bloggers. Try to make your tip general.

After that, tag 10 other people. Link love some friends!

Just think - if 10 people start this and the 10 people pass it on to another 10 people, you have 100 links already!

1. Look, read, and learn. *** http://www.neonscent.com/

2. Be EXCELLENT to each other. ** http://www.bushmackel.com/

3. Don’t let money change ya! * http://www.therandomforest.info/

4. Always reply to your comments. ***** http://chattiekat.com/

5. Link liberally — it keeps you and your friends afloat in the Sea of Technorati. ** http://chipsquips.com/

6. Don’t give up - persistence is fertile. * http://www.velcro-city.co.uk/

7. Give link credit where credit is due. *** http://www.sfsignal.com/

8. Pictures say a thousand words and can usually add to any post. ** http://scifichick.com/

9. Visit all the bloggers that leave comments for you - it's nice to know who is reading! ** http://stephaniesbooks.blogspot.com/

10. Thrown in something humorous occasionally, to keep things fun. http://bonniesbooks.blogspot.com/

11. When picking the URL for your blog, think short and easy. You'll be typing it a million times. http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com/

-End Copy-

And my tags (I am NOT visiting to see if you've already been tagged, so if you get it twice just think of how loved you must be!)

1. B at A journey of 1000 stitches
2. Bibliolatrist at Bibliolatry
3. Neila at Blog That Mommy!
4. Leila Roy at Bookshelves of Doom
5. Janssen at Everyday Reading
6. Jill at The Magic Lasso
7. Trish at Trish's Reading Nook
8. Susan (or whoever is talking today :) ) at West of Mars
9. Amanda at A Patchwork of Books
10. Maggie at Maggie Reads

Whew. There's ten! Have at 'er!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

THIS POST CONTAINS NO SPOILERS

I can't believe it's over. I read the first Harry Potter in 1999. I was 24 years old. Now it's 8 years later and finally the adventure is over.

On Friday night we met most of my in-laws in Pierre, SD for a fishing/boating trip. My husband went to Wal-mart (the only place open and selling HP at midnight) and bought our copies. We bought one for each of us, as neither of us were willing to be the second one to read it. He read 100 pages or so that night, I read some Saturday morning while he was out fishing, but neither of us got very far until we got home on Sunday. From that point on we pretty much just sat on our respective couches reading. (What about the Monkey, you might ask? Well the Monkey had a grand time eating whatever he wanted, watching whatever he wanted on tv, and making huge messes of his toys. It was a vacation for him too!) We sped through the books only looking up to say "What page are you on? What about NOW? Now? What about now?" Fortunately we read at about the same rate. We finished within a few minutes of each other, and it could not have been a more perfect way to read The End.

How do I feel about the book? I loved it. I thought it was a great ending to a long adventure. I can't think of any loose ends that weren't addressed. I was able to predict a few things, but got some others completely wrong (thankfully!) Harry, Ron and Hermione have come a long way since 1999, and I thought they had finally grown up and proved themselves.

In interest of spoilers (because I do NOT want to be the person who spoils it for you) I am posting my spoiler thoughts here. If you wish to comment on them, please do so there.

I don't know what could possibly followup Harry Potter. I can't imagine any other series every being as a well loved as to have such a release. I hope to see another, but Harry will always be the standard, I think.

Done!

NO SPOILERS IN THIS POST!

Review to come!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Warning, this post contains spoilers for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Last night I finished my re-read of all the Harry Potter books, just in time for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to come out at midnight tonight. It's been a lot of Harry, all at once (I also saw the new movie.) I'm glad I did it, it seems appropriate for the ending of something so big, but I'm glad it's almost over. I am very nervous about using the internet, watching tv, turning on the radio, anything that might spoil the ending for me.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is probably my 2nd favorite. Harry is growing up, his whiny-ness from book 5 is mostly gone. His irrational focus on Malfoy and Snape turn out to be warranted. There is more Dumbledore... until there isn't. I love the conflict over his feeling for Ginny and his friendship with Ron, and Ron's reaction. I love that it is shorter than Order of the Phoenix.

On this reading I notice stuff that I didn't pay so much attention on the first round. Dumbledore was so cheerful leading them to their downfall, and that bothered me. I am unsure about Harry's return to Hogwarts. In fact, I can't really decide the setting for book 7 at all- good thing it isn't up to me to decide!

I made some Deathly Hallows predictions are over here, if anyone is interesting in talking about it. I am very very carefully avoiding spoilers so please don't come talk about what you've read about it, other than the books.

A very tired Thursday Thirteen #24

Thirteen Random thoughts.

1. I forgot to do Monday Math. Again. I'm at 97 books in (last one being a JD Robb), 39 books read, for a deficit of 58 books. I don't stand a chance at ever catching up.
2. The number of books I have at home that are NOT on challenge lists that I really want to read are starting to outnumber the ones that ARE on challenge lists. I am starting to worry that I will not complete any challenges due to lack of willpower.
3. I am less than 100 pages away from finishing the 40th book- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
4. I will make a post some time tomorrow that links to my predictions for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Please, come discuss it with me! (It will NOT be on this page, no fear of spoilers from visiting here.)
5. I am deathly (heh) afraid of the Internets right now. I do not want to see a spoiler for Deathly Hallows. Because of this, I am only visiting sites and blogs I trust until I have finished The Book. This means I will not be visiting very many Thursday Thirteens this week. I will not be watching tv.
6. I do not understand why people take such pleasure out of spoiling things for others.
7. We are taking the Monkey "camping" this weekend.
8. No, not in a tent. In a hotel room. We will be spending time at a campground and at the lake though, and there will be a tent for him to play in.
9. Even though we will be "camping" with 15 members of our family, at least 3 of us (and probably 5 of us) will be reading Harry Potter instead, having gone to Wal-mart at midnight to buy our copies. (Wal-mart being the only store open at midnight in Pierre, SD.)
10. I have almost completed my next tote bag for my etsy store. My bobbin ran out of thread SIX INCHES from finishing and I did not have time to reload. SIX INCHES.
11. Yes, there is only one bag up for sale at this time. I bought several more tshirts yesterday (including one with a monkey dressed as Elvis, I can't wait to get to that one) and plan to have several more up next week.
12. Have a t-shirt you'd like to see made into a bag? Leave me a comment!
13. I have Half-Blood Prince in my bag. Do you think my boss would notice if I whipped it out to read it?

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

A Thousand Splendid Suns is possibly the best book I'll read this year. (The Book Thief was also excellent, it's a close race between them at this point.) ATSS is the story of Mariam and Laila, two women who live in Afghanistan from the early 70s or so until almost present times. Laila was born in 1977, making her two years younger than I am, which figured heavily in my reaction to the story. Their story is set against the very real political actions of the times- Soviet invasion, Mujahideens, the Taliban. I admit, this is not an area of politics that I know much about. My husband was nice enough to give me mini history lessons as the need arose.

This book was so emotionally hard for me. It took me something like three weeks to read it. I kept reaching points where I had to stop for days to recover my equilibrium. I finally emailed someone who had read it and forced her to tell me that it ended well. (That would be Trish, of Trish's Reading Nook. Her review is here.) The book, though it is fiction, seemed so very real to me. Mariam and Laila are so well done, so different and so believable. I kept saying to myself, "this can't be happening, it can't, it can't!" My mind could not comprehend that in 1994 when the Taliban invaded and women had to be covered in burqas, and couldn't leave home without a man, that I was 19 years old and in college. I had my own apartment. I was wearing swimsuits in mixed company! It was fiction, but it was so real. I cried so many times. Two points were worse than others (spoilers here. PLEASE come talk to me about it if you've read it! Shawna, if you're reading this DO NOT go read them!)

A Thousand Splendid Suns was beautiful and horrifying. It affected me more than any book ever has, I think. I felt sick while reading it. It was the first time that I have ever wanted very very badly to read the ending first. I didn't, but I really wanted to.

Trish recommended that I read The Storyteller's Daughter by Saira Shah and I picked that up at the library today. That one is non-fiction, also about Afghanistan. I also have two books to follow up The Faith Club with that deal with Christianity, Judaism and Islam (Peace Be Upon You by Zachary Karabell and The History of God by Karen Armstrong.) Holy Blood, Holy Grail has come up in conversation lately. I realize I am combining two topics- religion and oppression, but it all blends together for me. I am not at all sure when I'll get to these, what with all the challenges I'm in for and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows being less than a week away, but I am certainly all fired up for it. You can bet I'll be paying closer attention to the news now, and trying to imagine myself in their shoes. This was a very good book, I'll be recommending that everyone I know read it.

(This is my first book for the Saturday Review of Books Challenge.)

Book Around the States

THIS IS NOT A CHALLENGE! Bonnie is compiling a list of books for each state in the US (ok, for Bonnie, it is a challenge. It is not for me. I will not be on the lookout for books to fill spots.) Other people are tracking Canadian provinces, and there is one challenge for Around the World in 80 books. I am not doing those. Or even keeping an informal list. There is no time limit, no amount to be read, just a little list to keep up with. Who am I to deny the fun in this? I'll just keep my list over here.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix- the movie

Find out your Harry Potter personality at LiquidGeneration!

(really, is anyone who knows me at ALL surprised by this? Following the rules? Me?)

As I might have mentioned, I was off work on Thursday afternoon and went to see the new Harry Potter movie. The theater was full, but not sold out, and I got a great seat slightly off center. This is the first movie I've been to in 2.5 years and I went ALL BY MYSELF.

I liked it, a lot. I had just reread the book a week or so ago, so the comparisons are fresh in mind. They left out a lot of the fun stuff and condensed a lot of stuff down, but in interest of time I thought they'd do well. I wrote a long spoiler post here if you're interested, but be warned it spoils both the book and the movie.

Now I have 8 days to read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince before the last one. I might actually make it!

Thursday Thirteen #23- Phone-tag.com Edition!

This week's Thursday Thirteen is all about Phone-tag.com



What is Phone-tag.com, you ask? Well, Phone-tag is a fun way to win prizes using your cellphone or digital camera. Each week an email/text message is sent out with instructions, you take a picture, submit it, vote, and the winner gets a cool prize! The more people who play, the better the prize. I'm all for better prizes, so go sign up!

Here are 13 reasons you should play:

1. It's a lot of fun.
2. It lets you be creative or silly or sneaky with your camera.
3. Hey, you're paying for that cell phone camera, might as well get some use out of it.
4. You don't have a cellphone? Well clearly you have the Internet. Use your digital camera! (But you can't photoshop, so no three headed dogs.)
5. I've won 2 Amazon.com gift certificates. I used them to buy BOOKS.
6. I won a Victoria's Secret gift certificate. I bought *two* bras. (Hi dear, aren't you glad I told the internet that?)
7. I won a gift card to socks.com.
8. I won movie tickets from Fandango. (We were supposed to go see Transformers, but we cheated and are going to see HARRY POTTER tomorrow instead! Woo, first movie since the monkey was born 2.5 years ago!)
9. I've managed to take most of my pictures WHILE AT WORK. What better use of company hours?
10. Really, are you gonna get another chance to dress up as a pirate. AT WORK? And then post it on the internets? (Sorry, I can't link to photos on phone-tag, but trust me, it's there!)
11. Got a lot of friends? The more friends who come vote for your picture, the better your chance of winning. (Why do you think I'm posting this to my blog, anyway?)
12. This week's tag is all about Harry Potter. It hasn't started yet, there's still time to sign up, and the prizes are cool (Free books!)
13. Did I mention that it's fun?

PS. I'm lisah over there, give me some credit for sending ya, will ya? Go now, sign up, have fun.

PPS. You should be able to play, even if you're overseas- all it takes is an email account and a digital camera or cellphone camera that you can email to yourself. So sign up!

Monday Math. On Wednesday.

Yeah yeah. I'm behind.

Monday's Math- 93 books in (this is the last one), 38 books read, 55 books behind. I'm not reading so much this week, because I have a new obsession. Remember a few days ago when I posted about my lovely tote bags? Well I've made a few more since then. And then I SOLD one. (this one) For actual real cash money. They kind you can SPEND ON BOOKS. Suddenly, visions of retirement swam through my head, and it became an obsession. So I opened a shop on Etsy. Ok, so there's only one bag up for sale right now, but you should see my sewing room! There will be more, soon. I even added it to my side bar, see?

I returned two books to the library UNREAD yesterday. The first was Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth- the next Simon R Green Nightside book for me. I just didn't ever get to it and couldn't renew it again. I'll definately go back for it later this summer.

The second was Wisdom Walk: Nine Practices for Creating Peace and Balance from the World's Spiritual Traditions by Sage Bennet. Here's the summary:

For ordained minister Bennett, familiarity breeds wisdom. She examines eight of
the world's great faith traditions, mining them for transcendent practices and
forms applicable to any spiritual discipline. Prior to a culminating multifaith
chapter on service, Bennett explores Hinduism's home altars; Buddhism's
meditation practices; Islam's rewards of surrendering in a daily cascade of
prayers; Judaism's observance of the Sabbath to keep relationships with friends
and family intact; Christianity's rich legacy of forgiveness; Native American
spirituality's nature insights; Taoism's trust in the processes of life; and New
Thought's application of "visioning" to discern calling and course. Each chapter
uses broad brush strokes to cover the elements of each tradition, as well as the
author's running personal narrative to reveal how this approach has unfolded in
her own life and teaching. Bennett's thrust is always on seeing how other
traditions can support, not erode or supplant, an existing faith.

Sounds like something I'd like! But something about the author's writing style kept putting me off, and I never got it read. I finally couldn't renew it any longer and so took it back. I'll probably try it again in the future.

Still reading A Thousand Splendid Suns at home, and have Anne of Green Gables in my bag. I hope to actually READ something at some point soon.

Weekend progress

What did you read this weekend?

I finished reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix yesterday, and made a little more progress on A Thousand Splendid Suns tonight. While I probably won't finish ATSS this weekend, I'm getting pretty close.

Order of the Phoenix is my least favorite Harry Potter. Harry is whiny and stubborn and I just don't like to listen to him complain about how unfairly he's being treated. I don't like the resolution with Umbridge. I don't like Dumbledore's reasons for ignoring Harry the whole year. Now just one more to re-read and almost two weeks left to do it.

Last weekend, when I sewed all day, I made this tote bag. It ended up being a little larger than I had hoped, and while it will be great for picnics, overnights, the beach (if we HAD a beach here) and maybe even grocery shopping, it's not great for everyday use.


So then this weekend I made this bag: It's fully lined, and has a little pocket for my phone, keys, library card, etc. I only wish I'd made the pocket in a contrasting color. I'm thinking about making more and selling them for cheap on Etsy. Bad idea?

And last, I made this very quick cape for the monkey. It's not very well made, but he's two, and he doesn't know the difference. He can't decide if he's a Superhero or Little Red Riding Hood. In this picture, he's "FLYING! Very high!"

I won! I won! and other stuff

I won a book! (Because CLEARLY I need more books!) Lisa over at Bluestalking Reader hosted a quick little book giveaway yesterday and I was lucky enough to be a winner. The book I won was End In Tears by Ruth Rendell. Rendell is a new author to me, so I am looking forward to the book. Thanks, Lisa!

I am currently reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, and wow, it's good. But... I'm at a point where Things Happen. I read a page at lunch yesterday and my hopes went from very hopeful to Oh no oh no oh no! in one page. I was unable to finish reading the scene and don't know how it turns out yet. Now I have to mentally build myself up to read it again.

I am also reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in preparation of the movie next week (did I mention that I am taking half the day off to go see it?) As with ATSS, I have reached a point where Things Happen and even though I have already read it, I had to put the book down for a moment. Ok, I put the book down and went to bed. I'm sure you all have reading quirks too, fess up.

It's supposed to be 100 out all weekend. Hopefully that will lead to plenty of air-conditioned reading time!

I need a new site counter/tracker/stat-thingy. Any suggestions? I'd like to be able to see where people are coming from.

Saturday Review Challenge

Well. I just said, not even a week ago, that I wasn't going to join any other challenges until I finished one. I clearly remember myself saying that. But what's a goal for if not to be broken?

Semicolon is hosting a challenge for her Saturday Review of Books blog. The goal is to read 6 books that have been reviewed for the Saturday Review by the end of 2007. As you review each book you should go back and link it at the Review. Sounds easy enough? I went and reviewed the list to choose from, and wouldn't you know it, there are tons of books on there that are already on my TBR list! In fact, enough of them are on my other challenge lists that I'm really not adding many books at all to my challenges. How can I not sign up?

Here's my six:

1. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (Also on my Dystopian list)
2. Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro (ditto)
3. Wicked by Maguire (Also on my TBR Challenge list)
4. A Wrinkle in Time by L'Engle (on my Newbery list)
5. Sense and Sensibility by Austen (not on any list, but coming to my Inbox daily courtesy of http://www.dailylit.com/)
6. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Hosseni (also not on any list, but a recent gift)

Alternates:

1. Ella Minnow Pea by Dunn (TBR challenge alternative)
2. Lean Mean Thirteen by Evanovich (I already have this one, I can't imagine I won't get it read before the end of the year. It's the one series I'm actually current on.)
3. Shakespeare's Landlord by Harris (in the TBR)
4. My Sister's Keeper by Picoult (Not on any list, but my best friend Gina recently sent it to me with glowing reviews)
5. The Road by McCarthy (on my Book Awards Challenge list)
6. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by See (in the TBR)

Thursday Thirteen #22

Last week I listed 13 books that I hoped to read soon. This week will be the last 13 books I noted in my notebook and why. These are usually books I do not own and might want to read, but sometimes I write it down for other reasons. I"m too lazy to link them all to Amazon, ya'll know how to do it yourself.

1. The Next Thing on My List by Jill Smolinski- read a review of it on Trashionista.
2. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly- reviewed by Kailana's Written World
3. If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name by Heather Lende- reviewed by Bookfoolery and Babble.
4. Five Quarters of an Orange by Joanne Harris- chosen for the Something About Me Challenge by The Magic Lasso
5. The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani- also reviewed by Kailana's Written World. I thought this would be a nice follow up to A Thousand Splendid Suns.
   
6. Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by LaFevers- reveiwed by A Patchwork of Books.
7. The Other Side of the River by Alex Kotlowitz- reviewed by Caribousmom.
8. The Faith Club- reviewed by A Journey of 1000 Stitches- I wrote it down to remind myself who else had read it so I could compare when I was done.
9. A Wrinkle in Time by L'Engle- reviewed by 3M- this one is on my Newbery list.
10. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Houssini- reviewed by This is the Life ( and at least half a dozen others, this is the first one I saw)- I'm reading it now.
11. Dedication by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus- reviewed by Not Enough Books. I love stories that revisit high school relationships.
12. The Sword and Blossom by Dagnamenta & Williams- reviewed by A Work in Progress (and someone else later, but I failed to write it down.)
13. Wuthering High by Cara Lockwood- YA novel reviewed by Bookshelves of Doom.
    

Paths Not Taken by Simon R Green

Paths Not Taken by Simon R. Green is the 5th Nightside novel. Like the previous ones, the situation is getting more and more unrealistic and unbelievable. In this one, John Taylor is on a quest to find the origins of the Nightside. His powers are growing, as is his ego. This was not my favorite entry in the series plotwise, as it barely advances the story at all. The characters go on such amazing adventures on their way to one tiny clue to the overall story of the series. It's still fun reading, but much like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books, the story doesn't much go anywhere. In fact, I'd compare them in a lot of ways- quick easy reads, insanely unbelievable details, a very slowly advancing plot, and lots of fun.

I started reading A Thousand Splendid Suns last night and so far am loving it.

On the downward slide...

2007 is already half over? How did that happen??

Here's what I've read so far this year:
Links go to my review of the book, unless otherwise noted.

36. The Faith Club by Idliby, Oliver, and Warner
35. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
34. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
33. Hex and the City by Simon R. Green
32. The Second Coming of Lucy Hatch by Marsha Moyer
31. Real Murders by Charlaine Harris
30. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
29. The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
28. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
27. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
26. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
25. Nightingale's Lament by Simon R. Green
24. Carpe Demon by Julie Kenner
23. The Giver by Lois Lowry
22. What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
21. Shakespeare's Christmas by Charlaine Harris
20. Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn
19. Plum Lovin' by Janet Evanovich (Amazon.com link)
18. The Mediator 1: Shadowland by Meg Cabot
17. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
16. Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes
15. Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
14. Statements by Amy Borkowsky
13. Under the Duvet by Marian Keyes
12. Sufficient Grace by Darnell Arnoult
11. I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron
10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
9. The History Of Love by Nicole Krauss
8. Every Boy's Got One by Meg Cabot
7. Agents of Light and Darkness by Simon R. Green
6. Something From the Nightside by Simon R. Green
5. Try by Lily Burana (Amazon.com link)
4. Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris
3. Ill Wind by Rachel Caine
2. Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot
1. Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress by Debra Ginsberg (Amazon.com link)

What are my reading goals for the rest of the year, you ask? (Ok, so you didn't, but I'm telling you anyway.)

1. Finish my Harry Potter re-read, and the new one.
2. Successfully complete the challenges I've signed up for, and do not sign up for more until at least one is done. One in, One out is the new policy around here.
3. Try not to let the TBR pile get overwhelmingly worse. (See the flexibility built into that sentence? Who is gonna define "Overwhelming" for me?)
4. I'm well on my way to completely my personal goal of 52 books read this year, so that one should be easy to do.

Math for the first half of the year: 90 books in (the last one being Lean Mean Thirteen), 36 books read, 54 books behind. One better than last week!

I've been doing much better on reading since I grounded myself. Until yesterday, when I spent all day sewing.

We went to the circus on Saturday night. The Monkey rode an elephant. He's the teeny boy in the red shirt in the middle. I had to look away.