Owner: Life Wordsmith URL:http://lifewordsmith.blogspot.com Join Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:15:35 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A blog about books. Book reviews. Latest best-sellers to unknown classics. Poems, and thoughts. Site statistics:Click here
Miss Chopsticks 2008-09-01 00:15:00 After having read Xinran Xue's three other books, including The Good Women of China, and the haunting Sky Burial, I didn't have to think twice when I saw her latest offering, Miss Chopsticks
, in the bookshop. Xinran writes with a lyrical style - and Miss Chopsticks, a feel-good novel, is engrossing to the end. Translated by Esther Tyldesley, the book traces the journey of three peasant girls, Thre
Spring 2008-08-27 04:24:00 I felt like I needed a poem today. Just a short one. One to just whisper a little sweetness against the harsh sun of todays, to remind us that this day is not lost when there are those who write magic, even as everyone else in this world seem to be writing with guns. O what purpose, April, do you return again? Beauty is not enough. You can no longer quiet me with the redness Read more:Spring
Lust for Life 2008-08-26 00:08:00 Strangely, one doesn’t have to be necessarily in love with art and painting to appreciate this classic fictional biography of Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), the Dutch painter par excellence. If you ever have been passionate about anything in life, which may not be even remotely connected with art and artists, you will find this book inspiring, spellbinding, and poignant.It takes you through the l
Embers 2008-08-25 22:31:00 Profound. Wise. Immensely beautiful. Embers by Sandor Marai, originally written in Hungarian, and translated by Carol Brown Janeway, is literature that curls its words around your heart, winds its way through your soul, and leaves a breathtaking imprint in your mind - a memory that gasps at the sheer weight of its carry - at the sheer beauty of the thoughts, the words, the lines that frame this im
What Is the What 2008-08-21 23:32:00 "A moving, frightening, improbably beautiful book." - Lev Grossman, Time." A testament to the triumph of hope over experience, human resilience over tragedy and disaster." - Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times."A sweet and sometimes very funny story of one boy's coming of age...Strange, beautiful and unforgettable." - John Freeman, San Francisco Chronicle."Dave Eggers's triumphant act of witness.
Beasts of No Nation 2008-08-20 02:25:00 This has to be one of the most shattering books I have read. Am still reeling under its images. Don't be fooled by its slim appearance, for this book packs a punch. Literally. Detailing the evolution of a boy soldier, "Beasts of No Nation" by Uzodinma Iweala is meant only for those with strong stomachs and unaffected sound sleepers. Iweala's debut book is about little, charming Agu's induction int
Sadness and Joy 2008-08-19 04:48:00 For poor Vandy, who is all blue and lost today:I pray you, Sadness
, leave me soon,In sweet invention thou art poor!Thy sister, Joy can make ten songsWhile thou art making four.One hour with thee is sweet enough;But when we find the whole day goneAnd no created thing is left --We mourn the evil done.Thou art too slow to shape thy thoughtsIn stone, on canvas, or in song;But Joy, being full of active
Where the Heart Is 2008-08-17 23:05:00 If quirky names, photography, social issues and families intrigue you then this the perfect book. Where the Heart
Is by Billie Letts takes you to rural America in Oklahoma where Novalee Nation finds herself pregnant, penniless and dumped at a Walmart store. She lives in Walmart for two months where she gives birth to her baby and then becomes something of a celebrity for that. She meets Sister Hus
The Bad Dog's Diary: A Year in the Life of Blake: Lover... Fighter... Dog 2008-08-14 00:08:00 Mocha, a regular contributor to this blog, gifted me this book two weeks back, after I generally spent that week moping around with the saddest "nothing can melt me" look in my eyes. "Hopefully, this will make you smile," she said. I took it woefully. Smile? Optimistic, indeed!The Bad Dog's Diary
: A Year in the Life of Blake: Lover... Fighter... Dog by Martin Howard is not likely to be a classic e
The Lover 2008-08-06 21:54:00 It's funny how some books appear to us when we least expect it. Like clouds in the blue, like whispers in the chaos, or simply like an echo across memories. Last year, I had seen a movie called The Lover - set in Saigon, it spun the tale of a passionate affair between a French schoolgirl and a Chinese man. I found the movie at that time, "strange." I didn't have the background to the book as I do
Things to Make and Mend 2008-08-03 08:31:00 Sigh, this one was a disaster. I was in the mood, for something non-serious, a light read, something to while the sunny hours by, and the dark clouds off. Ruth Thomas' Things to Make and Mend seemed just about right for that - looked promising, and I thought it would fit the bill. It is chick flick alright. But really, apart from expanding my vocabulary with the word haberdashery, I scarce remembe
The Secret Life of Bees 2008-08-01 00:45:00 I had heard of this book a while now. So, when I saw it at my favorite bookshop last week, I just didn't think twice. Sue Monk Kidd's 2002 bestseller is being made into a movie, to be released in fall 2008, and I hope that the movie would be just as delightful as the book was!In a way The Secret Life of Bees reminded me of the classic A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It had the same 1960s old-world char
Cathedral of the Sea 2008-07-27 23:13:00 There are periods in a book lover's life where we yearn for the different, for the pause beyond the space, for the realm beyond the real. I had been reading virtually non-stop - I was reading on the bus, I was reading at home, and I was reading through every minute that work didn't snatch away. Then I discovered - I need to read something different. Move beyond the known that I have grown accustom Read more:Cathedral
Possession 2008-07-25 00:32:00 You are gripped. Tense. And you are completely immersed. Its not a thriller on the big screen but A.S. Byatt’s Possession
. It all starts with postdoctoral research assistant Roland Mitchell discovering a few letters that the poet Randolph Henry Ash had written to a woman who was not his wife. The ball is set rolling and thus begins the search for the rest of the letters. The book delightfully in
Letters to Sam:A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life 2008-07-17 04:54:00 Well, that's one long title!! Letters
to Sam, I picked up a few weeks ago. There were days when I was relatively young, and in dire need of self-help, pick-me-up and give-me-life books. So, my bookshelf would be packed with such uplifting books that strangely all seemed to resonate with the power of positive thinking, the influencing of friends, and delving into layers of my subconscious. I read. Read more:Gifts
, Grandfather
, Lessons
No title 2008-07-11 10:11:00 Phew! I had missed reading this book for so long!! Nada or Nothingness ranks as one of the finest novels to have emerged from Europe in the past century - and I add my own little vote to that ranking. Indeed, it is one of the best novels from Europe, one of the best from Spain, and one of the best that I have read this year.Now, I am not a fan of much-hyped books for a simple reason - I don't unde
Unaccustomed Earth 2008-07-03 08:19:00 I read Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth
a while back. And then slipped into my usual procrastinating "I shall write about this book later" mode. That is not to say the book was anything but outstanding. I had loved both of Lahiri's earlier books, her Pulitzer-prize winning Interpreter of Maladies, and the more recent The Namesake.As with both those books, Unaccustomed Earth too deals with the In
A Thousand Acres 2008-06-29 06:09:00 I was given A ThousandAcres
as a birthday present. For a book that was published in 1991, and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992, AND which was adapted into a movie, I knew nothing about its existence. But oh, how I thank the friend who gave me this book! The friend didn't know much about this book either, just saw that it had won a Pulitzer, and assumed that I might like it.Like it? Understatement of
Arranged Marriage 2008-06-23 23:15:00 Arranged Marriage begins with nothing dramatic. Perhaps that’s what I found dramatic. Categorically addressing issues in everyday life revolving around women, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, flows sedately through the pages in her lyrical words. My personal favorites are “Doors” and “Affair” in which she sketches two very different women. The first very independent, not too traditional and t Read more:Arranged
Away From Her/The Bear That Came Over The Mountain 2008-06-21 08:20:00 It was the movie by Sarah Polley that drew me to this book - Away From Her by Alice Munro. I hadn't read any of Munro's works before - and after reading this short story, I was left wondering why I hadn't.Written in a hauntingly lyrical style, Away From Her or The Bear Came Over The Mountain
has no ugly sentiment ripping its pages. No overt drama. Just real life. When Fiona, university professor
Buttertea At Sunrise 2008-06-01 08:10:00 Image via WikipediaAs the monsoon draws closer and closer to Bangalore, rain pounds the fragile streets of this city, rushing water floods each road, and with each power cut, it seems there is little left to do but read.Have a book by candlelight, if you please. A book by torchlight. But a book at all times. I have read faster than I have been able to post here - sheer laziness and the beautiful Read more:Sunrise
Gardens of Water 2008-05-29 08:48:00 This was a last-minute impulse buy from the bestsellers section at the bookstore. I wasn't sure why I picked it up except that the cover looked so familiar to Hosseini's The Kite Runner. Similar in size, at least.Anything Islamic seems to sell these days. Set in Istanbul, Turkey, first time writer Alan Drew's story traces the life of Sinan and his family as he struggles caused through the upheaval Read more:Gardens
Night 2008-05-29 00:41:00 There is a sense of foreboding as one opens the book. You know something that these happy people in the first pages don't. What makes it poignant is that they are unaware or choose to remain so. Initially, it seems like they are right. Then came the deportation. All of a sudden. Wiesel and his father are separated from the rest of the family. What follows is a heart rending narration of life at Au Read more:Night
Eva's Cousin 2008-09-21 09:45:00 "An intimate portrait of two women at the center of history and how innocence itself can be a crime against humanity. My book of the year." Linda Grant, Orange Prize-winning author of When I Lived in Modern Times."[A] strange, moving and disturbing book....In Anthea Bell's excellent translation, Eva's Cousin is a novel that feels like the truth." The New York Times."Sibylle Knauss's hallucinatory
Atonement 2008-09-17 00:18:00 I don't know how to begin describing this book. I finished it and yet I was still with Briony, standing at the window, thinking of Robbie and Cecilia. Ian McEwan's novel "Atonement" is unsettling and moving in its tale of love and guilt. In Part One the language is languid and fluid. Time hangs heavy with expectation and the hot summer is palpable. And then the ripe sweetness explodes. Briony, the
Red Strangers 2008-09-16 22:49:00 When Richard Dawkins calls a book "illuminating," and names it as one among the top ten books he has read in his life, then it means that that book would enter your own "must-read" list. Red Strangers
by Elspeth Huxley is indeed epic in its scale, spanning four generations of Kikuyu family from pre-colonization Africa to the advent of the Europeans. From Waseru to Matu to Muthengi to their sons,
Tears of the Desert 2008-09-14 03:14:00 Halima Bashir's Tears
of the Desert
is an absorbing memoir - for the first time, the horrors of Darfur, Sudan are written from a woman's perspective. Daoud Hari's The Translator was astounding in its depth, its portrayal of a stark and cruel world without sentiment. Tears of the Desert is much the same. The first hundred pages of the book are written with gentle nostalgia. In exquisite detail, Hal
Refusal 2008-09-10 02:29:00 Subdued power. Those are the two words that come to my mind when I think of "Refusal" by Soazig Aaron. The underlying tension literally tears the silence that Klara brings into the life of Angelika, her sister-in-law and best friend. Klara is deported to Auschwitz and manages to return unscathed to all who sees her. But her eminent disquiet and harsh, sarcastic, pithy responses to questions reveal
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