historical fiction

“One Gorgeous Read”

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“Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.”

In 2001, long before many recent books about magical libraries, Carlos Ruiz Zafón had published this book, #1 in the series, The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. It was one of my Annual Library Sale picks. It’s a long read, nearly 500 pages, and I’m just past mid-way, but it’s so beautiful in the language and the writing, I thought to share a few quotes.

“In the shop we buy and sell them, but in truth books have no owner. Every book you see here has been somebody’s best friend.”

“One of the pitfalls of childhood is that one doesn’t have to understand something to feel it. By the time the mind is able to comprehend what has happened, the wounds of the heart are already too deep.” 

“Bea says that the art of reading is slowly dying, that it’s an intimate ritual, that a book is a mirror that offers us only what we already carry inside us, that when we read, we do it with all our heart and mind, and great readers are becoming more scarce by the day.” 

“I was raised among books, making invisible friends in pages that seemed cast from dust and whose smell I carry on my hands to this day.” 

p.s. The title of this post, was part of a review by Stephen King.

p.p.s. (Yes, yes, I know … I should have chosen a different mug.)

A Book for You?

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Please check out the last six of my April book purchases. While I managed to find six from my list of “hopefuls” at the Annual Library Book Sale, there were still quite a few I wanted. So I headed over to Thrift Books.

See anything you like?

We have two Japanese women authors, recommended through Instagram if the viewer liked Haruki Murakami:

Before the Coffee Gets Cold – Toshikazu Kawaguchi – a Tokyo café offering its customers a chance to travel back in time.

The Memory Police – Yoko Ogawa – “A surreal, provocative fable about the power of memory and the trauma of loss.” (goodreads)

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio – A possible murderer released after ten years, revisits the circumstances of young Shakespearean actors that led to one’s death.

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen is a Pulitzer Prize Winner. “A gripping spy novel, an astute exploration of extreme politics, and a moving love story” (goodreads) – a young man’s story told now, in the chaos of 1975 Saigon.

And now … The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker is exquisite historical fiction, taking place on the Lower East Side in 1899. It is one of my top favorite books of all time, and I bought it for my “permanent” bookcase for books I would read again.

The Hidden Palace is the sequel Wecker wrote seven years later, with the golem and the jinni still the main characters as their intertwined tale evolves. I bought this to read, and cannot wait.

Anything for you? Check your library and/or visit Thrift Books – what will keep you up into the night is there.  

The Restless Reader

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Here are the three books that I just picked up from the library.

I am the first one to say that there’s nothing like settling down with a good book. But as of late, I have had a very hard time settling down with just one book that I really want to read. I pick one up, start it, and put it down. Endlessly, it seems. We all go through phases like this, right?

In part, at my end, the restlessness comes from the non-stop changes in my home, and recently, weeks of construction noise in an adjacent room. But I think the larger issue is that as we grow and evolve we want to read different things, and we don’t quite know what “fits” us now.

In this frame of mind, I was able to clear out one half of my collection of books waiting to be read (donated to my library’s little For Sale shelf.) But what to read? When in such a restless mood, I find that something with suspense, intrigue, mystery is a decent bet. And so, the three books above, all good choices. Which did I start? The book at left. The jacket flap … Never pray to the gods that answer after dark. OK, I’m in.

What do you look for when you’re restless and can’t settle on what to read?

Stories Change Us

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And stories make us grow. They add colors and textures and emotions and new perceptions to our personal library called `self’. Stories add depth and dimension to our being, and give us perspectives on things that we may never have considered, whether fiction or non-fiction.

That is, of course, if we choose good books.

Up until a couple days ago, I had several spots around the house with books that I had picked up here and there, books I’ve been waiting to read. Now they’re all in one place. And as I am just finishing the fabulous book I’ve been reading, I also find myself wondering … who do I want to meet next? Where do I want to go? What time period feels inviting right now? What do I want to know?

And which book, which story, will take me there? Is it here on my shelves, or will I take a trip to the library? Reading is just such an incredible gift.

Books Even When You’re Rushing Around

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Yes, I know everyone is rushing around like crazy getting ready for the holidays, but I still have two reading suggestions. One to start now, just to take your mind off the busy-ness, and another to get into when the final crunch is over.

The first is a crime thriller, Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger. The writing is taut, the pace brisk, and the subject matter all-too-current – online dating in today’s (2021) world of hook-ups and ghosting. Unger knows how to pull you in, build the suspense, and change direction without a misstep, always leaving you wanting more. Our main character, Wren, has dated a man she found on an online dating site. She believed they was falling in love, but he mysteriously disappears, leaving no trace of himself anywhere. A private detective contacts Wren also looking for the boyfriend, who may be involved in the disappearance of three other young women with a lot in common with her. I find myself jumping in every chance I get. I haven’t read Lisa Unger before, but I will again. More from goodreads.

The second is a book for when you want to get into a novel a little deeper, by the ever-amazing Barbara Kingsolver, called Unsheltered. This is the story of two families living in the same falling-apart house in Vineland, NJ, one in the 1860’s, and the other today. When I first started reading, I felt slightly puzzled – Kingsolver never writes about “nothing,” so I wasn’t sure where this story was going to go. Told in alternating chapters, we come to know Willa, in current day, at a loss as to how life is falling apart for her and her family despite always trying to do the right thing, and Thatcher Greenwood, a science teacher who wants to bring the wonders of the living world to his students, but is stymied in every attempt. When he comes to know the next door neighbor, Mary Treat, his devotion to science is finally recognized by a woman, a biologist, who is in communication with Charles Darwin. This part of the story evolves to a degree around the growing awareness of the theory of evolution, religion’s backlash against it, and how it affects Greenwood’s life. In Willa’s story, we ultimately find the connection of the two stories, but also how a family struggles and grows in spite of daunting circumstances. Unsheltered is just excellent, and Kingsolver an outstanding writer who crafts the most believable characters. More on goodreads.

Two very different reads, both terrific, and each for a different pace in your life.