Thursday, June 12, 2008
BTT: Clubbing
Gotta love this week's Booking Through Thursday:
Have you ever been a member of a book club? How did your group choose (or, if you haven’t been, what do you think is the best way to choose) the next book and who would lead discussion?
Do you feel more or less likely to appreciate books if you are obliged to read them for book groups rather than choosing them of your own free will? Does knowing they are going to be read as part of a group affect the reading experience?
Nope, never been a book club member. Sorry. I OWN my book club.
No, I didn't buy them. I don't run roughshod over them. They just like me so much that the job of leader is mine until I don't want it any more. We've been together for almost eight years now. I love my group.
As to the reading experience, we all try harder to finish something we don't like. There was one that the whole group hated. They won't let me live down the fact that they managed to finish it and I couldn't. Believe me, I tried. It just wasn't meant to be.
Our most recent book was so poorly written that it made me gag. I've got another whole post about that, so stay tuned. One of the women described it as "Susan versus everyone else" and while I can't say that's not entirely true, it's not entirely false, either. I doubt I would have finished it if it weren't a book club choice, but the story was ... well-intentioned. The bones of it were there, and that part was ... okay. It was supposed to be about a woman, the title character. Instead, it was the story of her husband and his struggle to be a good husband. Okay, fine. I can deal. Just call it something else, will you? Of course, that ruins the theme of the series...
And yes, I'll shut up and smile when we read the third in this particular series. Hopefully, the author has taken more time and gotten the writing up to where it was in the first book. We'll see...
One note that the BTT question didn't address: Yes, I feel terrible when something I brought to the group is a total dog. But when I suggest something like Disobedience or A Day of Small Beginnings or A Thread of Grace (okay, a non-member suggested that one and I pushed for it), it's that much sweeter.
Have you ever been a member of a book club? How did your group choose (or, if you haven’t been, what do you think is the best way to choose) the next book and who would lead discussion?
Do you feel more or less likely to appreciate books if you are obliged to read them for book groups rather than choosing them of your own free will? Does knowing they are going to be read as part of a group affect the reading experience?
Nope, never been a book club member. Sorry. I OWN my book club.
No, I didn't buy them. I don't run roughshod over them. They just like me so much that the job of leader is mine until I don't want it any more. We've been together for almost eight years now. I love my group.
As to the reading experience, we all try harder to finish something we don't like. There was one that the whole group hated. They won't let me live down the fact that they managed to finish it and I couldn't. Believe me, I tried. It just wasn't meant to be.
Our most recent book was so poorly written that it made me gag. I've got another whole post about that, so stay tuned. One of the women described it as "Susan versus everyone else" and while I can't say that's not entirely true, it's not entirely false, either. I doubt I would have finished it if it weren't a book club choice, but the story was ... well-intentioned. The bones of it were there, and that part was ... okay. It was supposed to be about a woman, the title character. Instead, it was the story of her husband and his struggle to be a good husband. Okay, fine. I can deal. Just call it something else, will you? Of course, that ruins the theme of the series...
And yes, I'll shut up and smile when we read the third in this particular series. Hopefully, the author has taken more time and gotten the writing up to where it was in the first book. We'll see...
One note that the BTT question didn't address: Yes, I feel terrible when something I brought to the group is a total dog. But when I suggest something like Disobedience or A Day of Small Beginnings or A Thread of Grace (okay, a non-member suggested that one and I pushed for it), it's that much sweeter.
Labels: A Day of Small Beginnings, A Thread of Grace, Booking Through Thursday, books
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Thursday Thirteen -- The Jewish Literature Challenge
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With Passover ending on Saturday, it's time for the Jewish Literature Challenge to end. That means I need to bring you guys up to date on what I've read and all that. 1. I read a ton, but the Jewish Lit began with Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum's A Day of Small Beginnings. 2. It was a beautiful book. I can't recommend it enough. 3. Then it was on to one of my favorites: Linda Fairstein and Bad Blood. 4. She'd seen me mention how much I like her, and had sent me the book to say thanks. It did NOT disappoint. In fact, it might be one of my favorites in the series. 5. I loved learning about New York City. That's one of the trademarks of her books, in fact. 6. After many years of sitting on my night table, I read On Her Way Home, by Harriet Rochlin. This was the last in a trilogy about a woman who moves to the desert Southwest and helps found a town. 7. I still think my favorite was the middle book, The First Lady of Dos Cacahuates. 8. The problem with picking up a series midway through is that often, the author has improved with age. Such was the case with Daniel Silva and his The Mark of the Assassin. 9. On to the next, which was another book club choice: Getting Old is Murder, by Rita Lakin. What a fun read! I don't know if the series will grow long in the tooth for me before it does for Lakin or her core readership, but I'll definitely be finding out. 10. What Jewish Lit list would be complete without my hero, Joann Sfar? I finally finally got my mitts on a copy of The Professor's Daughter. I adore Sfar, and this collaboration with Emmanuel Gilbert didn't disappoint. 11. Another book that had been here forever (I hate to say it, but five years! In a book's life, that's an eternity) was Frances Sherwood's The Book of Splendor. 12. I liked her earlier book, Green, so much that it's still on my shelves. Sadly, I couldn't say the same for this one. 13. And to wrap up, I'm currently reading Naomi Alderman's Disobedience. Yet another book club pick, I'm really into it and can't wait to see what happens next. That's a total of eight books read for the challenge. If you've got any good suggestions for more books by Jews or featuring Jewish characters, leave 'em in the comments. I'm up to something (for a change)... Do you miss Trevor? He and the guys will be back for next week. Or go visit the link that's his name and read some of the fiction I've written featuring him. I miss him, too. |
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will try to link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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Labels: A Day of Small Beginnings, books, Jewish Literature challenge, Joann Sfar, Linda Fairstein, Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum, meme, Thursday Thirteen
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Sunday Best: A Day of Small Beginnings
So in this week's Booking Through Thursday post, I promised you talk about a great read I'd just finished.
Here it is, a definite Sunday Best.
The book is called A Day of Small Beginnings, and it's the debut novel by Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum, who seems very nice from the very small e-mail exchanges we've had. (Notice how we're back to the debut novel thing? I can't get away from them, can I?)
A Day... is the story of three generations of Liebers, a Jewish family from Poland whose history is changed by a single act of courage -- and stupidity, all rolled into one. We begin with Itzik and then spend some time with his son and finally, the family's redemption is at last complete through the acts of his granddaughter, Ellen. (Notice how it takes a woman for redemption to happen? Hmm?)
The tale's more subtle than this. It's also hard as hell to explain; there's a ghost involved, named Friedl. She's an interesting ghost, as she tells us many things but never really lets us, the reader, see for ourselves. Do we take her at face value? There's no reason not to, but ...
Now, I believe in the possibility of ghosts like this. While Friedl bothered some of the members of my book club last Thursday, she didn't bother me. In fact, I liked her. And she sings better than I do, too. Brownie points for that.
Okay, so we've got Itzik, his son, and his granddaughter. And a ghost. Time to throw in three more elements and you'll have the essence of this complex story: the country of Poland, which becomes a character in and of itself; anti-Semitism; and Raphael, the last Jew in the fictional town of Zokof.
(Have you ever heard of a Polish Jew named Raphael? Do you know how long it took me before I connected the idea of this fictional Raphael to the idea of the Angel Raphael? I am going to ask Rosenbaum if that's the proper leap. But back to my rave about the book.)
For me, what makes this book isn't that redemption is Ellen's to deliver. In fact, that might be the most obvious part of the book -- that the redemption happens at last and how, in fact, Ellen arrives at it. I figured it out very quickly, and groaned, "No, we're NOT going there." But we did. And it worked better than I'd hoped, too, which is a huge prop to Rosenbaum.
Rather, what made this book for me was the character of Raphael, Zokof's Jew. Yes, he was the town's own personal Jew. And he was the last one, having returned after the War and deciding to tend to Friedl the ghost. His mission is to find her eternal peace, and Itzik's family is the key to that (and the reason she's not at peace in the first place. She is, after all, dead, and the dead should rest in peace. Right?).
At once pious yet willing to question religion and its rules and dogma, at once serious and mischievous, Raphael is one of those characters we readers desire in our fiction: the kind who lives and breathes, the kind you wish you could sit down and have dinner with.
This book really makes you think about religions, about how we view people who are other than us. It makes you question God right along with Itzik, Nathan, and Ellen -- and some of the various other supporting cast, such as Ellen's love interest, who was also an interesting character. Rosenbaum bucks the trends and gives us some really great men in this book.
It's a huge book smooshed into a small package, but it doesn't feel squished. It's sort of like a clown car: you can't believe how much Rosenbaum packed in. And yet, unlike a clown car that never seems to end, you're never overwhelmed by what's happening. Things are moving and changing, yet we wind up exactly where we're supposed to, all the pieces fitting nicely.
Really. Don't miss this one. Use my link above and get your own copy; you won't regret it. (What? You want MY copy? Well, take that up with my Mom, okay? I gave it to her.)
Also, don't forget that there are only a few more days for Scribbit's February Write Away contest. Get your entries in and check back on Friday for the list of participants. Oh, yeah, and the winner. Can't forget about that; it's a contest, not a carnival. Still, I'm eager to read what others have written. Hope you'll visit some, too. And mine, of course. (although some of you may have done so already. Visit again, okay?)
Happy reading! May you all find such neat gems in your TBR pile as A Day of Small Beginnings.
Here it is, a definite Sunday Best.
The book is called A Day of Small Beginnings, and it's the debut novel by Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum, who seems very nice from the very small e-mail exchanges we've had. (Notice how we're back to the debut novel thing? I can't get away from them, can I?)
A Day... is the story of three generations of Liebers, a Jewish family from Poland whose history is changed by a single act of courage -- and stupidity, all rolled into one. We begin with Itzik and then spend some time with his son and finally, the family's redemption is at last complete through the acts of his granddaughter, Ellen. (Notice how it takes a woman for redemption to happen? Hmm?)
The tale's more subtle than this. It's also hard as hell to explain; there's a ghost involved, named Friedl. She's an interesting ghost, as she tells us many things but never really lets us, the reader, see for ourselves. Do we take her at face value? There's no reason not to, but ...
Now, I believe in the possibility of ghosts like this. While Friedl bothered some of the members of my book club last Thursday, she didn't bother me. In fact, I liked her. And she sings better than I do, too. Brownie points for that.
Okay, so we've got Itzik, his son, and his granddaughter. And a ghost. Time to throw in three more elements and you'll have the essence of this complex story: the country of Poland, which becomes a character in and of itself; anti-Semitism; and Raphael, the last Jew in the fictional town of Zokof.
(Have you ever heard of a Polish Jew named Raphael? Do you know how long it took me before I connected the idea of this fictional Raphael to the idea of the Angel Raphael? I am going to ask Rosenbaum if that's the proper leap. But back to my rave about the book.)
For me, what makes this book isn't that redemption is Ellen's to deliver. In fact, that might be the most obvious part of the book -- that the redemption happens at last and how, in fact, Ellen arrives at it. I figured it out very quickly, and groaned, "No, we're NOT going there." But we did. And it worked better than I'd hoped, too, which is a huge prop to Rosenbaum.
Rather, what made this book for me was the character of Raphael, Zokof's Jew. Yes, he was the town's own personal Jew. And he was the last one, having returned after the War and deciding to tend to Friedl the ghost. His mission is to find her eternal peace, and Itzik's family is the key to that (and the reason she's not at peace in the first place. She is, after all, dead, and the dead should rest in peace. Right?).
At once pious yet willing to question religion and its rules and dogma, at once serious and mischievous, Raphael is one of those characters we readers desire in our fiction: the kind who lives and breathes, the kind you wish you could sit down and have dinner with.
This book really makes you think about religions, about how we view people who are other than us. It makes you question God right along with Itzik, Nathan, and Ellen -- and some of the various other supporting cast, such as Ellen's love interest, who was also an interesting character. Rosenbaum bucks the trends and gives us some really great men in this book.
It's a huge book smooshed into a small package, but it doesn't feel squished. It's sort of like a clown car: you can't believe how much Rosenbaum packed in. And yet, unlike a clown car that never seems to end, you're never overwhelmed by what's happening. Things are moving and changing, yet we wind up exactly where we're supposed to, all the pieces fitting nicely.
Really. Don't miss this one. Use my link above and get your own copy; you won't regret it. (What? You want MY copy? Well, take that up with my Mom, okay? I gave it to her.)
Also, don't forget that there are only a few more days for Scribbit's February Write Away contest. Get your entries in and check back on Friday for the list of participants. Oh, yeah, and the winner. Can't forget about that; it's a contest, not a carnival. Still, I'm eager to read what others have written. Hope you'll visit some, too. And mine, of course. (although some of you may have done so already. Visit again, okay?)
Happy reading! May you all find such neat gems in your TBR pile as A Day of Small Beginnings.
Labels: A Day of Small Beginnings, books, Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum, Sunday Best
