The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

About the Book (from Random House): Markus Zusak's unforgettable story is about the ability of books to feed the soul. It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement. In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

"Trust me, though, the words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain." (page 80)

My Thoughts

     The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is so creatively and beautifully written that for an instant, one forgets the weight of the subject matter and the darkness that surrounds and suffocates the characters. The story of Liesel and the community on Himmel Street is eloquently narrated by Death. The narration is captivating, and it is easy for the reader to sympathize with Death as a completely different perspective on storytelling unravels. While Death can be swift or lingering, in Zusak's crafting it is also compassionate and exhausted by the effects of war.

     Set during World War II, a young girl, Liesel, finds herself living with Hans and Rosa Hubermann, struggling to adapt in a broken world and find purpose when surrounded by devastation, evil, and loss. Her prized possessions become her books and she quickly learns that through reading she can briefly escape her bitter reality and envision a better world. When the Hubermann's begin to hide a young Jewish man in their basement, Max Vandenburg, Liesel discovers the beauty in sharing words, books, and ideas. Their friendship allows them to begin to accept the loss they have each encountered and to embrace the power words possess when shared.

     When Liesel takes her first book from the burial site of her brother, "The Grave Digger's Handbook," she has yet to learn to read. The book itself provides her with solace, a physical connector between the girl she is and her future self. Her bond with Hans Hubermann is solidified when he teaches her to read, giving her the gift of literacy which she unabashedly devours. It is when she begins to share this gift that Liesel finds her true strength. As residents gather together in a basement during air raids on Himmel Street, she reads aloud to them to quieten their fears and distract them from the horrors of war.

     The Book Thief is a story of survival but it is through friendship, family, and faith that Zusak's characters find their voice and share it with the reader. It is a compelling story as Liesel's tragic journey comes to a heart-breaking end. Yet one can't help but think that the sun will rise on her future and she will continue to find comfort through words, leaving us all better for having read her story.

Click here to learn more about author Markus Zusak. 

Who would we be without the gift of words? Have you read The Book Thief? Watched the film adaptation? I would love to read your thoughts.

Happy Reading,

Rebecca

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

"...I desperately want the insanity we're living through to end. I desperately want what has begun to finish. In a word, I desperately want this tragedy to be over and for us to try to survive it, that's all. What's important is to live: Premium vivere. One day at a time. To survive, to wait, to hope." (Maurice Michauds, page 179)

About the Book (from Vintage Books): Beginning in Paris on the eve of the Nazi occupation in 1940, Suite Francaise tells the remarkable story of men and women thrown together in circumstances beyond their control. As Parisians flee the city, human folly surfaces in every imaginable way: a wealthy mother searches for sweets in a town without food; a couple is terrified at the thought of losing their jobs, even as their world begins to fall apart. Moving on to a provincial village now occupied by German soldiers, the locals must learn to coexist with the enemy- in their town, their homes, even in their hearts. When Irene Nemirovsky began working on Suite Francaise, she was already a highly successful writer living in Paris. But she was also a Jew, and in 1942 she was arrested and deported to Auschwitz, where she died. For sixty-four years, this novel remained hidden and unknown.

My Thoughts:

     Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky (Vintage Books, 2004) examines the conflicts that arise between family, friends, and foe when forced to face one's greatest fears- the loss of life, love, and land. The title of the book was given to what Nemirovsky thought would be a collection of five novels but unfortunately only contains the completed two the author completed before being arrested in 1942 and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp where she was executed at the age of 39. The notebook containing the two novels was discovered by her daughter in 1998. It is extraordinary to conceptualize that Nemirovsky was writing about World War II as it was unfolding, weaving fiction and reality with such grace that one would presume she herself was writing history before it happened.

"Madame Angellier rang for the cook, who came in and closed the shutters. 

Everything withdrew back into the night: the songs, the murmur of kisses, the soft 

brightness of the stars, the footsteps of the conqueror on the pavement and the sigh of the

 thirsty frog praying to the heavens for rain, in vain." (page 266)

     Suite Francaise is a portrayal of life in France just prior to the German invasion followed by the German occupation. The author created several sets of characters, each with varying backgrounds, who cross paths in brief encounters, weaving all the pieces into one master work. A Russian-born novelist living in Paris at the start of the WWII, Nemirovsky explores the psychology of war and its impact on soldiers and citizens alike.

     Nemirovsky's prose is effortlessly elegant as she details the strength of the French people, their struggles to survive and their fight to hold strong to their culture and customs as they face their conquerors. The author easily conjures the emotions of each character, exploring the impact of war on both the classes and the sexes. She had amazing gift to create a story that sympathized with all involved and portrayed world events before they could be digested and examined. Suite Francaise is both disheartening and hopeful, leaving the reader both exhausted and entirely fulfilled. 

     The second novel ends as the Germans are ordered to Moscow, leaving the reader with open hands- hungrily awaiting more words, yet satisfied with the beauty Nemirovsky conveyed during one of the darkest periods of world history.

Suite Francaise is currently being developed as a major motion picture.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this novel.

Happy Reading!

Rebecca

An Unintended Sabbatical

Dear Readers: I had not intended to be away for so long but life is astute at throwing obstacles in our path. At the end of summer, I became ill which lingered for far too long. Then, once I began to feel better, I was reluctant to jump back into the world of blogging because what we often don't voice is that it is A LOT of work! Books have remained my refuge these past months and I am excited to share them again. I am also looking forward to discovering what you have been reading recently.

Here are some of the titles I will be reviewing in the upcoming month: Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky (Phenomenal!); Possession by A.S. Byatt (Classic Romance!); The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Excellent Creative Writing!); The Giver by Lois Lowry (Incredibly Thought Provoking!); and The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (Amazing!!!). I hope you will continue to follow and share your thoughts on all things literature.

Let's Continue to Share the Joy of Reading!

Rebecca

Thanksgiving by Ellen Cooney

"Hester sees they need God to look in the direction of this house and set in motion a mighty splash of light, sweeping through this room like a broom." (Thanksgiving, Ellen Cooney)

About the Book: One family. One table. One meal. 350 years. This dramatic, highly inventive novel presents the story of one family through many generations, as Thanksgiving dinner is prepared. The narrative moves swiftly and richly through time and changes as we experience the lives of the Morleys against the background of historical events. This is history that comes fully alive, for we become part of the family ourselves, sharing their fortunes and tragedies, knowing their truths from their lies, watching their possessions handed down or lost forever. All along, in the same house, in the same room, Morley women are getting dinner ready, one part at a time, in a room that begins with a hearth of Colonial times and ends as a present-day kitchen. Thanksgiving serves up history in a lively, entertaining way that offers an original viewpoint of the everyday concerns of one family across the generations.

My Thoughts: It's September, which means that Halloween decorations are showcasing store shelves and television is filled with all sorts of ghosts, goblins, and zombies to scare us. October is right around the corner and by its end, red, green, and gold-glittered everything will be on display for a shopping experience comprised of things we don't need and never knew we wanted until the flashy advertising entranced us into thinking our lives would be improved if only we owned this or that. And somewhere in the middle, slightly less prominent with each passing year lies Thanksgiving in her quiet gratitude.

     Did you ever have a book find its way to you when you were in most need of what it had to offer? Today our lives revolve around "post-worthy" events and activities to share on social media with our "friends." Do you remember when you only "shared" with those that were present? When family dinners were about creating dishes from recipes that had been passed down for generations to enjoy with those around the table and not about capturing a program-enhanced photo of a store-bought dessert?

     Thanksgiving by Ellen Cooney begins in a quiet descriptive of the life and times of early settlers in 1662 Massachusetts. As the years quickly progress in this saga of the Morley family, the characters and the lives they lead become much louder. While the early Morleys long for tools to make life more simple such as the modern technology that fills our homes today but were unimaginable in their time, the later Morleys find themselves somewhat nostalgic about the simplicity and hand-crafted ways of the past.

     Thanksgiving explores the bonds of family over many generations and the roots that ultimately tie them together even as they venture outward on their own. Home is much more than a house. For the Morleys, the house and land they have inhabited for centuries is both their beginning and end. "Pearl says the worst things her own ears ever heard was the sound the door never made, opening to reveal the first Roger, home from the war. The house is still holding that silence, Pearl says." 
     It is the mystery of what really happened within the walls of the old Morley house that keeps each generation intrigued, so many secrets never told, dreams never shared. "And of all those things, done and not-done, when you come right down to it, what have you actually got? You actually only have the things that someone was willing to pass along. And of the things passed along, you have to wonder, how many of them are the truth?"
     Throughout the book, it is the care of the dinner and food preparation that unites each story told up to 2012. The traditional food that remains the holiday staples today- pumpkins, squash, cranberries, turkey, yams, potatoes, rolls- are in many ways additional characters. When the parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme are dried hanging in the kitchen eaves, something magical seems to have taken place. The reader follows the Morleys through their struggles and achievements, love and heartbreaks, births and deaths. And while each of the characters come to life on the page with their own unique personality, it is the house that is at the center of the realm, waiting to open its doors to a new Morley seeking refuse from storm.
     In our ever changing world where each new day seems to process faster, Thanksgiving is the perfect reminder that sometimes all we need to do is slow down, then stop...and celebrate the blessings of family, food, and home sweet home.

 About the Publisher: Publerati specializes in fine fiction for e-books, donating all of its e-books and a portion of its sales to the Worldreader Organization's efforts to provide e-readers and e-books to teachers and children in developing nations for free to promote literacy. To purchase this book for your specific e-reader, visit www.publerati.com.

** Learn more about Author Ellen Cooney on my Book Beginnings post here.

Book Club Suggestions: For the discussion meeting, have each member bring their favorite Thanksgiving dinner dish and share the recipe with the group; Take turns allowing each member to share what they are thankful for this year; Discuss family rituals that take place on Thanksgiving or heirlooms that are brought out of storage for the special day; Have members research an ancestor before the meeting and share their discoveries with the group.

Happy Reading!
Rebecca

Book Beginnings: Thanksgiving by Ellen Cooney

 Today I am linking up to Book Beginnings hosted by Rose City Reader where readers share the first sentence of the current book they are reading.

1662
The Turkey

"The fire is nearly out. In her hurry to flame it, she rushes through the daydark and bumps herself hard on the cradle. She keeps forgetting it's there, planed smooth as skin, still tight in the rockers, still smelling new-woody."

I love the uncommon descriptive words Cooney creates to set the scene of this 1662 day and home- "daydark," "new-woody." The reader can instantly sense that the character's daily routines are very physical, from keeping a fire going to caring for a baby and all the other household chores that we know await her. I am looking forward to reading this novel as it seems to be the perfect book to digest before the start of the holiday season.

** You can read my review of Cooney's previous novel, Lambrusco, here.

About Thanksgiving:

One family. One table. One meal. 350 years. This dramatic, highly inventive novel presents the story of one family through many generations, as Thanksgiving dinner is prepared. The narrative moves swiftly and richly through time and changes as we experience the lives of the Morleys against the background of historical events. This is history that comes fully alive, for we become part of the family ourselves, sharing their fortunes and tragedies, knowing their truths from their lies, watching their possessions handed down or lost forever. All along, in the same house, in the same room, Morley women are getting dinner ready, one part at a time, in a room that begins with a hearth of Colonial times and ends as a present-day kitchen. Thanksgiving serves up history in a lively, entertaining way that offers an original viewpoint of the everyday concerns of one family across the generations.

** Thanksgiving is available on Sept. 15. Visit the author's website to order or learn more at www.ellencooney.com.

About the Author:
Ellen Cooney was born in 1952 in Clinton, Massachusetts. She is the author of eight novels and stories published in The New Yorker and many literary journals. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation, and taught creative writing for over twenty-five years, most recently in the writing program at MIT. She now lives in mid-coast Maine. Her next novel, The Mountaintop School For Dogs And Other Second Chances, will be published in the spring of 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.


Happy Reading,
Rebecca

A Woman of Rome: A Life of Elsa Morante by Lily Tuck

     Have you ever started reading a biography of someone that not only you did you know nothing about but you had not even heard the subject's name before?
     I found myself in this reading situation recently and was pleasantly surprised about how captivating it can be to discover a life unfolding.  
     Woman of Rome by Lily Tuck explores the life of Italian Writer Elsa Morante and the history of her time as she was writing during WWII. Tuck is the author of the National Book Award winning novel, The News from Paraguay. Having thoroughly researched Morante's personal and professional life, Tuck offers the reader an intimate glimpse into the writer's thought process and emotional state during heightened moments. I was initially drawn to this book merely from the book jacket which features a glamorous yet mysterious portrait of Morante. Best known for her novels History (1974), Arturo's Island (1957), and House of Liars (1948), Morante was a well-known literary figure in Italy and Tuck's characterization intrigued me to want to read each of Morante's novels as well as Tuck's literary works.

"All my thoughts, like flags beating against the wind, turned back to the burning season behind me which had cut short my childhood and transformed my destiny. Even today, in a sense, I live in that childhood summer around which my spirit wheels and beats carelessly, like an insect around a dazzling lamp." (House of Liars)

    Morante was a woman struggling to establish her own identity. A tumultuous marriage to Italian Writer Alberto Moravia created a continual competition to be recognized solely for her own work. She surrounded herself with artists, poets, writers, and creative contemporaries. Her work was often a product of her dreams which she documented regularly in journals. Tuck's vast knowledge of Italian language, culture and customs is translated into a beautiful telling of the behind-the-scenes life of Morante the writer as well as Morante the woman.

Happy Reading,
Rebecca

Book Beginnings: Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

 Today I am linking up to Book Beginnings hosted by Rose City Reader where readers share the first sentence of the current book they are reading.

 "Hot, thought the Parisians. The warm air of spring. It was night, they were at war and there was an air raid. But dawn was near and the war far away."

Suite Francaise has been on my To Read list for many years and I am excited to finally be delving into it. From the introduction, the reader can sense the heaviness not only of the subject matter but also the mental, physical and spiritual weight that will be placed upon the characters as they are staged within a war. I am still in the early pages of this novel but the writing is breathtaking. The scene is set with such elegance that one forgets the bleakness of the situation. I am looking forward to getting lost in this story.

About the Book: Beginning in Paris on the eve of the Nazi occupation in 1940, Suite Francaise tells the remarkable story of men and women thrown together in circumstances beyond their control. As Parisians flee the city, human folly surfaces in every imaginable way: a wealthy mother searches for sweets in a town without food; a couple is terrified at the thought of losing their jobs, even as their world begins to fall apart. Moving on to a provincial village now occupied by German soldiers, the locals must learn to coexist with the enemy- in their town, their homes, even in their hearts.
     When Irene Nemirovsky began working on Suite Francaise, she was already a highly successful writer living in Paris. But she was also a Jew, and in 1942 she was arrested and deported to Auschwitz, where she died. For sixty-four years, this novel remained hidden and unknown.

Happy Reading,
Rebecca 

Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery

"I'd like to add some beauty to life," said Anne dreamily. "I don't exactly want to make people know more...thought I know that is the noblest of ambition...but I'd love to make them have a pleasanter time because of me...to have some little joy or happy thought that would never have existed if I hadn't been born." (page 54)

About the book (from wikipedia.com): The book's title is fitting, as Anne is no longer simply "of Green Gables" as she was in the previous book, but now takes her place among the "important" people (and the "grown up" people) of Avonlea society, as its only schoolteacher. She is also a founding member of the A.V.I.S. (the Avonlea Village Improvement Society), which tries to improve (with questionable results) the Avonlea landscape.

"After all, Anne had said to Marilla once, "I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string." (page 161)

My Thoughts: Anne of Avonlea is the second book in the Anne of Green Gables series. My book club is currently reading the entire series, which has been a wonderful treat to revisit this classic young adult set. Anne of Avonlea details a more grown-up Anne. She is teaching at the local school and enjoying her time back at Green Gables with Marilla, after Matthew's passing.
     There are many new characters introduced in this story, including Davy and Dora, twins which find their way into Marilla and Anne's care and also their hearts. Throughout Avonlea, mischief continues to inadvertently find Anne, but most endearing is that she maintains her optimism and gratitude for the small things in life that one can easily overlook in the hustle and bustle of daily routine- the beauty of nature and the blessing of a simple day spent with family and friends.
     Love is the major theme of Avonlea with several of the characters rekindling past relationships and Anne contemplating her true feelings for Gilbert Blythe. In a world where everything changes and evolves so rapidly, reading Anne of Avonlea was a chance to enjoy the slowness of Victorian times, leaving the reader to sigh deeply when reaching the final page.

**  To read my review of Anne of Green Gables, click here.

About the Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery (November 30, 1874 – April 24, 1942), called "Maud" by family and friends and publicly known as L. M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908. Anne of Green Gables was an immediate success. The central character, Anne, an orphaned girl, made Montgomery famous in her lifetime and gave her an international following. The first novel was followed by a series of sequels with Anne as the central character. Montgomery went on to publish 20 novels as well as 500 short stories and poems. Many of the novels were set on Prince Edward Island, Canada and places in the Canadian province became literary landmarks. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1935. Montgomery's work, diaries and letters have been read and studied by scholars and readers worldwide.

 Book Club Idea: In Chapter 13 of Anne of Avonlea, Anne and her best girlfriends plan a picnic and spend the day exploring nature and sharing dreams. Take your book club meeting to the park for a picnic or stage a picnic in your back yard, complete with a Victorian themed menu of scones with jam and tea. Enjoy!

Happy Reading,

Rebecca

Book Beginnings: Anne of Avonlea

 Today I am linking up to Book Beginnings hosted by Rose City Reader where readers share the first sentence of the current book they are reading.

"A tall, slim girl, "half-past sixteen," with serious gray eyes and hair which her friends called auburn, had sat down on the broad red sandstone doorstep of a Prince Edward Island farmhouse one ripe afternoon in August, firmly resolved to construe so many lines of Virgil."

Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery (1909, Bantom Books) is the second book in the Anne of Green Gables series. From the introduction of Avonlea, the reader is informed that Anne is now sixteen, setting the stage for a coming-of-age story. Anne is an endearing character that has captured the attention of readers for over a century. My book group is currently reading the entire series together and I am excited that this novel begins in August, helping to instantly connect me to the storyline.

L.M. Montgomery

About the book (from wikipedia.com): The book's title is fitting, as Anne is no longer simply "of Green Gables" as she was in the previous book, but now takes her place among the "important" people (and the "grown up" people) of Avonlea society, as its only schoolteacher. She is also a founding member of the A.V.I.S. (the Avonlea Village Improvement Society), which tries to improve (with questionable results) the Avonlea landscape.

About the Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery (November 30, 1874 – April 24, 1942), called "Maud" by family and friends and publicly known as L. M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908. Anne of Green Gables was an immediate success. The central character, Anne, an orphaned girl, made Montgomery famous in her lifetime and gave her an international following. The first novel was followed by a series of sequels with Anne as the central character. Montgomery went on to publish 20 novels as well as 500 short stories and poems. Many of the novels were set on Prince Edward Island, Canada and places in the Canadian province became literary landmarks. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1935. Montgomery's work, diaries and letters have been read and studied by scholars and readers worldwide.

Happy Reading!
Rebecca

The Country Girls Trilogy by Edna O'Brien



"Upstairs in a bedroom two greyhounds moaned. It was the moan of death. Suddenly I knew that I had to accept the fact that my mother was dead. And I cried as I have never cried at any other time in my life." (Kate, Page 43)

About the Book (from wikipedia.com): Penguin Books, 1960; Kate and Baba are two young Irish country girls who have spent their childhood together. As they leave the safety of their convent school in search of life and love in the big city, they struggle to maintain their somewhat tumultuous relationship. Kate, dreamy and romantic, yearns for true love, while Baba just wants to experience the life of a single girl. Although they set out to conquer the world together, as their lives take unexpected turns, Kate and Baba must ultimately learn to find their own way.

"Lighthouses blinked and signaled on all sides and I loved watching the rhythm of their flashes, blinking to ships in the lonely sea. They made me think of all the people in the world waiting for all the other people to come to them. For once I was not lonely, because I was with someone that I wanted to be with." (Kate, Page 200)

     My Thoughts: The Country Girls Trilogy by Edna O'Brien (Plume Publishing, 1960) is a difficult book that you will heartily devour. Difficult because of the always looming tragedy that the reader can instantly sense, as though the characters have no hope of escaping their bleak destinies. This is a tale of a tumultuous friendship between Caithleen "Kate" Brady and Bridget "Baba" Brennan, and the role of women in 1950s Ireland. The Country Girls was originally banned in Ireland when first published due to what was considered, having at the time been considered scandalous as it addressed female sexuality. It is a coming-of-age tale that is processed through into adulthood with no questioning what becomes of these enigmatic characters.
     The first two books are told with Kate as the narrator and detail their beginnings, school years, and then life in Dublin as young women searching for independence while attempting to maintain social acceptance. Kate's life is deeply impacted by the death of her mother while she is a child and her father's alcoholism. She struggles to escape the fate that was dealt to her mother and discovers that she embodies many of the same weaknesses. After she and Baba plan a scheme to be expelled from the convent in which they were studying, Kate's dreams of a higher education are finished, withering her chance at a life different than the women before her.
     The third book is told via Baba, and the reader has the opportunity to view Kate with a new perspective. It is a realistic look at the relationship between husband and wife and the gradual unraveling of a marriage with glimpses at domestic violence, adultery, and controlling behaviors. In The Country Girls, O'Brien presents a sociological portrait of the plight of women and their struggles to not only have their voice heard but to find the voice they wish to project.

nytimes.com

About the Author (from wikipedia.com): Edna O'Brien (born 15 December 1930) is an Irish novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short story writer. She is considered the "doyenne" of Irish literature.O'Brien's works often revolve around the inner feelings of women, and their problems in relating to men, and to society as a whole. Her first novel, The Country Girls, is often credited with breaking silence on sexual matters and social issues during a repressive period in Ireland following World War II. The book was banned, burned and denounced from the pulpit, and O'Brien left Ireland behind. O'Brien now lives in London. She received the Irish PEN Award in 2001. Saints and Sinners won the 2011 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the world's richest prize for a short story collection. Faber and Faber published her memoir, Country Girl, in 2012. 

Happy Reading!

Rebecca

Book Beginnings: The Country Girls Trilogy

 Today I am linking up to Book Beginnings hosted by Rose City Reader where readers share the first sentence of the current book they are reading.

"I wakened quickly and sat up in bed abruptly. It is only when I am anxious that I waken easily and for a minute I did not know that my heart was beating faster than usual. Then I remembered. The old reason. He had not come home."

From the introduction, the reader grasps that the narrator is worried over the absence of a particular individual. She states that her quick wakening was from "the old reason," providing the reader with the background that she finds herself in a situation familiar to her. Whom is she referencing and what is the underlying problem?

About the Book (from wikipedia.com): Penguin Books, 1960; Kate and Baba are two young Irish country girls who have spent their childhood together. As they leave the safety of their convent school in search of life and love in the big city, they struggle to maintain their somewhat tumultuous relationship. Kate, dreamy and romantic, yearns for true love, while Baba just wants to experience the life of a single girl. Although they set out to conquer the world together, as their lives take unexpected turns, Kate and Baba must ultimately learn to find their own way.

nytimes.com

About the Author (from wikipedia.com): Edna O'Brien (born 15 December 1930) is an Irish novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short story writer. She is considered the "doyenne" of Irish literature.O'Brien's works often revolve around the inner feelings of women, and their problems in relating to men, and to society as a whole. Her first novel, The Country Girls, is often credited with breaking silence on sexual matters and social issues during a repressive period in Ireland following World War II. The book was banned, burned and denounced from the pulpit, and O'Brien left Ireland behind. O'Brien now lives in London. She received the Irish PEN Award in 2001. Saints and Sinners won the 2011 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the world's richest prize for a short story collection. Faber and Faber published her memoir, Country Girl, in 2012.

Happy Reading!
Rebecca

Summer....in poem

Summer

The sun defines the beacon of the seasons 

Southern breezes whistle dreams into one's path 

Notions once past return with strength and promise 

Summer whispers the ripening of future 

Cool grass beneath calloused soles speaks to spirit 

Spirit responds by soaking earth with her tears 

Those gone before seem nearer 

Days presented on extended fingers 

Mama wake me from sleep unslumbered 

Lest I linger in intoxicated bliss 

The fruits of a trifling journey 

Laid bare upon the robin's chest

Dreams once dreamt return vivid 

A spark reignited from a cold ember 

Hope emerging through the silent creeping 

The sweet, lingering scent of honeysuckle on the vine 

                                                       ~ R.L. Morgan

Sanctuary by William Faulkner

About the Book (from amazon.com): First published in 1931, this classic psychological melodrama has been viewed as more of a social document in his tragic legend of the South than mere story. From Popeye, a moonshining racketeer with no conscience and Temple Drake, beautiful, bored and vulnerable, to Harace Benbow, a lawyer of honor and decency wishing for more in his life, and Gowan Stevens, college student with a weakness for drink, Faulkner writes of changing social values and order. A sinister cast peppered with social outcasts and perverts perform abduction, murder, and mayhem in this harsh and brutal story of sensational and motiveless evil. Students of Faulkner have found an allegorical interpretation of "Sanctuary" as a comment on the degradation of old South's social order by progressive modernism and materialistic exploitation. Popeye and his co-horts represent this hurling change that is corrupting the historic traditions of the South.

"The house was a gutted ruin rising gaunt and stark out of a grove of unpruned cedar trees." Page 4

My Thoughts: Sanctuary by William Faulkner (Random House 1931) is described as Faulkner's breakout novel and its scandalous themes and seedy characters provide the reader with a quick moving plot that continues to surprise. Told as two storylines merging into one, Sanctuary introduces us to a slew of characters struggling to find their way in a changing culture and landscape of the South in the 30's.
     Temple Drake is a young, attractive socialite who finds herself in unfamiliar territory when a date with a "gentleman" goes sordidly wrong. Horace Benbow is an attorney searching hopelessly for purpose in his life. Together, these two characters direct the flow of the flow of the story although their interaction is brief and of little consequence to the outcome.
     Faulkner's writing is eloquent even when describing horrific events that alter Temple's future and wide variety of themes are tackled among the outcasts that pepper this story, including rape, murder, alcoholism, race, and society in a regressed environment. Faulkner addresses each with the ease of an author writing about what is familiar to him. For those who have never read Faulkner previously, Sanctuary is a great novel to start you on the path of discovering this classic American writer.

Have you read Sanctuary or other Faulkner novels? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Happy Reading,
Rebecca

Book Beginnings: Sanctuary by William Faulkner

 Today I am linking up to Book Beginnings hosted by Rose City Reader where readers share the first sentence of the current book they are reading.

Sanctuary by William Faulkner (Random House, 1931) begins with these words:

"From beyond the screen of bushes which surrounded the spring, Popeye watched the man drinking. A faint path led from the road to the spring. Popeye watched the man- a tall, thin man, hatless, in worn gray flannel trousers and carrying a tweed coat over his arm- emerge from the path and kneel to drink from the spring."

Faulkner exemplifies perfect summer reading to me. From the introduction in Sanctuary, the reader can instantly sense that this is going to be a character-driven novel. We become curious about not only Popeye but the man that he is observing and where their paths are going to lead them.

About the Book (from amazon.com): First published in 1931, this classic psychological melodrama has been viewed as more of a social document in his tragic legend of the South than mere story. From Popeye, a moonshining racketeer with no conscience and Temple Drake, beautiful, bored and vulnerable, to Harace Benbow, a lawyer of honor and decency wishing for more in his life, and Gowan Stevens, college student with a weakness for drink, Faulkner writes of changing social values and order. A sinister cast peppered with social outcasts and perverts perform abduction, murder, and mayhem in this harsh and brutal story of sensational and motiveless evil. Students of Faulkner have found an allegorical interpretation of "Sanctuary" as a comment on the degradation of old South's social order by progressive modernism and materialistic exploitation. Popeye and his co-horts represent this hurling change that is corrupting the historic traditions of the South.

About the Author: William Cuthbert Faulkner (born Falkner, September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962), also known as Will Faulkner, was an American writer and Nobel Prize laureate from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of written media, including novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays. He is primarily known and acclaimed for his novels and short stories, many of which are set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, a setting Faulkner created based on Lafayette County, where he spent most of his life, and Holly Springs/Marshall County. Faulkner is one of the most important writers in both American literature generally and Southern literature specifically. Though his work was published as early as 1919, and largely during the 1920s and 1930s, Faulkner was relatively unknown until receiving the 1949Nobel Prize in Literature. Two of his works, A Fable (1954) and his last novel The Reivers (1962), won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked his 1929 novel The Sound and the Fury sixth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century; also on the list were As I Lay Dying (1930) and Light in August (1932). Absalom, Absalom! (1936) is often included on similar lists.

Happy Reading!
Rebecca

My Top 10 Intimidating Books

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Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Today I am participating in Top Ten Tuesday

hosted by The Broke and the Bookish with a list of 10 books I think of as intimidating. Click on the link above to head over and visit other submissions and to find great books to add to your To Read list.

I broke this set into two segments: Books that I initially thought would be intimidating but I finished reading and Books that I still find too intimidating to dive in but are still on my To Read someday list.

Read: Each of these I discovered were not as an intimidating as my perceptions allowed me to believe.

   

This next set is still on my To Read list. Most I started at one point or another but never broke through to the point where I was interested in the material.

 

  

I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I complete a novel that I considered a challenge. I am looking forward to discovering more "intimidating" literature from fellow book bloggers!

Happy Reading,

Rebecca