5 Best Books: (Recovering from) Tragedy

The 5 Best Books is a meme hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston.

  To coincide with the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, this week's topic is the 5 Best Books on Recovering from Tragedy. 

1. The Submission by Amy Waldman.  Ok, I've only just started this book but I think its subject matter is directly related to the healing process surrounding such a massive tragic event. 
2. Far to Go by Alison Pick.  I've just finished this novel (review to come) and it shows a different perspective of recovery from the tragedy that was the Holocaust.
3. The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill.  I don't know that the tragedy of slavery is something from which one can recover, but Hill's Aminata is an amazing strong woman despite what she endured.
4. Night by Elie Wiesel.  Just the fact that Wiesel lived to tell this tale is a testament to some sort of recovery of his experiences
5. Season to Taste:  How I Lost My Sense of Smell and Found My Way by Molly Birnbaum.  A wonderful memoir by an aspiring chef who lost her sense of smell (and almost her life) after a major car accident.  Inspirational story of making lemonade when life gives you some lemons.

5 Best Re-Reads

The 5 Best Books meme is hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston.

This week:  The 5 Best Re-Reads

  If it wasn't for the fact that my to-read shelves are literally overflowing with books I haven't even read once, I would do a lot more re-reading.  I have several books that I would love to read again.  Maybe I need to add one of these into the rotation now and again.

  Anyways, these  5 books are ones I have read more than once.  In almost all of these cases I read the book first on my own, then a second time when one of my book groups selected it.

1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  Loved. This. Book.  Can't wait to read it again, and to see the movie.
2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.  Such a delightful book.  It simply warms my heart to read this.
3. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.  I have to admit when I first read this novel several years ago I wasn't that impressed.  However when I re-read it for my book group's discussion (where we also saw the movie), I was blown away by its language and its story. 
4. The Reservoir by John Milliken Thompson.  I still can't say if the murder has been properly solved after reading this twice in two months.  The mystery in this book is so well-written.
5. Agatha Christie mysteries, specifically The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Murder on the Orient Express.  I devoured Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels as a teenager, but was never able to figure out "whodunit".  That said, perhaps I enjoyed the re-reads because I knew the outcome; I certainly was better able to pick up on all the clues hidden in the narrative.  And her writing is a lot wittier than I remember.



5 Best Real People in Fiction

The 5 Best Books meme is hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston.

  This week's topic:  The 5 Best Real People in Fiction

1.   John Singer Sargent  and Virginie Gautreau in I am Madame X by Gioia Diliberto.  This is an interesting novel about the creation of a painting that, in its day, created quite a scandal at the Paris Salon.  I had the opportunity of seeing the real work on a visit to London several years ago and I think I appreciated it more because I read about its (fictionalized) creation.
2. Leo and Sofya Tolstoy in The Last Station by Jay Parini.  I admit, I have a girl crush on Helen Mirren, so I may have enjoyed the movie more than the book, but the novel is definitely worth reading.
3. Ernest and Hadley Hemingway in The Paris Wife.  I frankly had no interest in reading Hemingway until I read this novel.  The Sun Also Rises ended up not being my cup of tea, but I loved A Moveable Feast, his memoir of his time in Paris.  And I would love to learn more about Hadley.
4. Captain Alfred Dreyfus in A Man in Uniform by Kate Taylor.  He's not a true character in this novel, per se, but his imprisonment under questionable circumstances is the crux of the plot.
5. Pablo Picasso in Guernica by Dave Boling.  Again he is not a true character, but the novel does describe the creation of his masterpiece based on the destruction of the Basque city during the Spanish Civil War.

Hmmm -- and I thought I couldn't come up with a list for this topic!

5 Best Books about Patriotism

The 5 Best Books is a meme hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston

  To coincide with the celebration of Independence Day in the United States on July 4, this week's topic is to list our 5 Best Books about patriotism.

  

  July 4th is a significant day in my own personal history.  I am a born and bred Canadian girl, but on this day in 1999, I moved to the United States to be with my now-husband (a long story in itself).  I became an American citizen in April, 2008, and while I feel privileged to live here and especially to have the right to vote, I am still a proud Canadian.  So my list reflects my dual citizenship:

1. Band of Brothers:  E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest by Steven Ambrose.  I did read this after I saw the amazing HBO miniseries, but I loved its story of this group of men from all over the United States coming together for a common goal.
2. The Greater Journey:  Americans in Paris 1830-1900 by David McCullough.  Yes, this book is primarily set in Paris, but it highlights how that city contributed to the accomplishments of many Americans in a variety of arenas.
3. How to Be a Canadian (Even if You Already are One) by Will & Ian Ferguson.  We Canadians have a great ability to laugh at ourselves.  Despite the title, the book might only be fully appreciated by those of us already Canadian, but anyone reading it will get a fun look into life in the Great White North (eh?)
4. The Best Laid Plans and The High Road by Terry Fallis.  Two wonderfully entertaining novels about Canadian politics featuring reluctant MP Angus McClintock.  I am eagerly awaiting (hoping for) a third installment in this series.
5. Oh Canada!Oh Quebec!:  Requiem for a Divided Country by Mordecai Richler.  In 1995, Canada came dangerously close to losing the province of Quebec.  This book was written in 1992 in the heat of the separation debate and likely helped intensify the situation.

5 Best Books of 2011 (so far)

The 5 Best Books meme is hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston.

  This week we are asked to list our 5 Best Books so far in 2011.  I have read some great books so far this year, so it is rough to only come up with five, but here goes -- in no particular order (links are to my reviews):

1. The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis.  This one might be hard to appreciate if you aren't Canadian, but even though I've been out of the country for 12 years I still loved its humorous look at politics. 
2. Paris Was Ours, edited by Penelope Rowlands.   This is the kind of book that makes you want to visit Paris right away, whether its your first or tenth time.
3. Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe.  A celebrity memoir that is actually well-written (and the audiobook is well-narrated by the author).
4. A Kind of Intimacy by Jenn Ashworth.  This is a page-turning thriller that dresses up like a work of literary fiction and it totally works.
5. Something Missing by Matthew Dicks.  A fun novel about a quirky thief that you can't help but like.

  Two other books that I loved so far this year, The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady and The Bee-Loud Glade, could be yours by entering The Literary Blog Hop Giveaway! 

5 Best Books About Travel

The 5 Best Books meme is hosted by Indie Reader Houston. 

  This week's list is for our 5 best books about travel.  One of my favorite genres is travel narratives, so I have had no trouble coming up with five books, in no particular order:

1. The Great Typo Hunt:  Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time by Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson.  A fun story about guys correcting spelling and grammar errors on signs and other public displays across the country. 
2. Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo.  A novel about two unlikely companions on a cross-country road trip.
3. Walking Israel:  A Personal Search for the Soul of a Nation by Martin Fletcher.  An unusual yet thoughtful trip along the length of Israel
4. The Geography of Bliss:  One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner.  This is one of my all-time favorites - a great book about how one's environment can contribute to ( or detract from) one's happiness.
5. Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman.  A story of two friends travelling through China.

  What are your favorite books about travel?

5 Best Books .... That Take Place During a War

  The 5 Best Books meme is hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston.

  This week's 5 Best is the 5 best books that take place during a war.  I am bizarrely fascinated with anything set in World War II so this one is an easy one for me, though I am focusing only on novels:

1. Hitler's Canary by Sandi Toksvig.  A wonderful story about how the war affected the citizens of Denmark  (link is to my review)
2. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne.  I mention this in almost every "best of" list I've made.  Just read it. 
3. City of Thieves by David Benioff.  If one could describe a WWII novel as "comic", this one would be it, but still the horrors of the war in the Soviet Union are not ignored.
4. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.  The war is not a direct part of the plot in this novel, but its effects on Japanese-American citizens (and other Asian-Americans) is prevalent.
5. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.  This is not set in WWII, but partially in the Soviet/Afghan war of the 1980s.  A wonderful wonderful novel.

  What do you think are the best books that take place during a war?

5 Best Books..... made into a movie

The 5 Best Books meme is hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston

  This week we are asked to list the 5 best books made into a movie.

  I have to admit that when I first saw this topic I came up blank; but as I let the topic sit and stew in my brain for the day I managed to come up with a fairly good list (if I do say so myself).  There are some on this list I read the book first, others I saw the movie first;  but for all of these both the book and the movie were excellent:

The Green Mile  This might be the only Stephen King novel I've read (I'm too much of a scaredy-cat for his other work) but I loved it and the movie was just wonderful.

Atonement The movie did a great job of capturing the mischieviousness of Briony and the heartache of Cecelia and Robbie.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas  I'm so glad I read the book before I saw the movie, because that ending just tore my heart out and I would have embarassed myself if I reacted in the theater as I did in my house after finishing the book.


Schindler's List I read this after I saw the movie and loved the additional background the book provided.



The Pianist  Another one that I read after the movie.  Both are great, but I think in this case I may have preferred the movie.  Adrian Brody is absolutely fantastic.
 

What are your favorite book to movie adaptations?

5 Best Books ... with a female protagonist

  The 5 Best Books meme is hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston.

 
  This week's list:  the 5 Best Books with a Female Protagonist

  My choices are, in no particular order:

1. The Millennium Trilogy (especially The Girl Who Played With Fire)  by Stieg Larsson.  Lisbeth Salander is one girl who you don't want to upset.
2. The Book of Negroes (Someone Knows My Name) by Lawrence Hill.  I still cannot believe how well Hill created such a fabulous female character in Aminata Diallo
3. The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny are three of the strongest women I've ever read about. 
4. Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen by Susan Gregg Gilmore.  Catherine Grace Cline is a young girl forced to be wise beyond her years.
5. A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka.  The stories of Anielica and her granddaughter Beata are at times hard to read but exemplify their strength in the changing atmosphere of Krakow.

5 Books I Did Not Want to End

The 5 Best Books meme is hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston.

 This week's topic:  5 books that you did not want to end

  For some reason I had trouble thinking of books that I didn't want to end.   I think part of it has to do with my reading habits; I always have another book (or two, or three....) waiting in the wings and so I find myself eagerly waiting for a book to end -- even though I might love it -- so that I can move on to the next one.  Yeah, I know, I have issues.

  But I did come up with a few books that I would have liked to read a few more pages:

1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett -- I absolutely loved this book and the ending left things wide open for at the very least an epilogue. 
2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows -- each time I read this book I felt like I was one of the group. 
3. Room by Emma Donoghue -- don't we all want to see how Jack grows up?
4. Something Missing by Matthew Dicks -- another book where I would have loved to see a few more chapters.  I'm hoping for a sequel, because this story definitely lends itself into becoming a series.
5. Small Island by Andrea Levy  -- What happens to Hortense and Gilbert?  And Queenie?  I would have read on about them for pages and pages.

 After thinking about it, these books really were ones that I did not want to see end because there were so much to the characters and what happened to them that I wanted more of them.

  What books did you not want to end?

Five Best Books

There is a great new meme I discovered thanks to Judith at leeswammes:  Cassandra of Indie Reader Houston has started “5 Best Books” - a different topic is suggested each week and participants list what they think are the 5 best book for that topic.

This week's topic is 5 Books Set in a Foreign Country

This is a great topic for me because I LOVE reading books set in foreign countries and in history.  I read both fiction and non-fiction, but I will limit this list to fiction because that is what usually inspires me to travel:

1. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (India).  This is one of my all-time favorite books that I need to re-read.  It provides a glimpse into both the good and not-so-good sides of India in the years after achieving independence.
2. A Long Long Time Ago and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka (Poland).  This novel shows the city of Krakow at two different times of rebirth - at the beginning of Communism in Poland and after its fall.
3. A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse (France).  Anything set in Paris and about a bookstore will get my attention every time.
4. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa (Japan).  A simple novel that to me embodied what I consider Japanese life to be.
5. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (England).  I absolutely love this book and its story of postwar life on the island of Guernsey.

What are some of your favorite books set in a foreign country?