Archive | June 2012

Book Tag: Journals and Diaries

According to this calendar of June activities, today is Diary Day. I really like reading a good diary or journal, either fictional or nonfiction.

Therefore, in honor of the day, the theme for this week’s Book Tag is Journals and Diaries. What do you recommend?

My first thought is Anne Lindbergh’s diaries, which are actually published in several volumes:

Bring Me a Unicorn: Diaries and Letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1922-1928
Hour Of Gold, Hour Of Lead: Diaries And Letters Of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1929-1932
Locked Rooms Open Doors:: Diaries And Letters Of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1933-1935
Flower And The Nettle:: Diaries And Letters Of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1936-1939
War Within & Without: Diaries And Letters Of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1939-1944

The Rules: â€œIn this game, readers suggest ONE good book in the category given, then let somebody else be â€˜itâ€™ before they offer another suggestion. There is no limit to the number of books a person may suggest, but they need to politely wait their turn with only one book suggestion per comment.â€

Sunday Salon: Books Read in May, 2012

Jun10

Children’s and Young Adult Fiction:
Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet. Semicolon review here.
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. Semicolon review here.
Someone Else’s Life by Katie Dale. Semicolon review here.
Robbie Forester and the Outlaws of Sherwood St. by Peter Abrahams. Semicolon review here.
The Always War by Margaret Peterson Haddix.
Where I Belong by Gillian Cross. Semicolon review here.

Adult Fiction:
The Bookshop by Penelope Lively. Semicolon review here.
The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. Semicolon review here.
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West. Semicolon review here.
Memento Mori by Muriel Spark.

Nonfiction:
Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis, with Beth Clark. Semicolon review here.

48-hour Book Challenge

Jun8

O.K. I’m in. I’m starting the 48 hour Book Challenge, sponsored this year for the seventh year by MotherReader. I’m doing this just for fun, and it’s not too late for you to join in, too.

I don’t know what I’m going to read, and I don’t know how long I’ll be able to read. But here goes nothin’! My lovely book stack/shelves/basket, here I come, diving in!

Where I Belong by Gillian Cross

Jun6

“There are guns and bandits in this story. And supermodels. And there’s drought and starvation, too.

Does that bother you? Are you wondering how they can all come together? Well, that’s how life is these days. Things don’t happen neatly, in separate little places. We’re all linked together by e-mails and phones and the great spider’s web of media that spans the world.

That’s where this story is set. The world. It’s the story of Abdi and Khadija and Freya (that’s me),and what happened to us because of Somalia . . . “

Gillian Cross is a prolific British children’s and young adult author. She won the 1990 Carnegie Medal for her book Wolf, and the 1992 Whitbread Children’s Book Award for her novel The Great Elephant Chase. And I had never heard of her nor of any of her books.

Her latest book, Where I Belong, is wonderful story about two Somalian immigrants in London and their encounter with the world of high fashion and supermodels. Khadija, a young Somali who has been sent to England to get and education and help her family, becomes Qarsoon the Hidden One, a model for the famous fashion designer Sandy Dexter, but Khadija, and her guardian the fourteen year old Abdi, are both unaware of how small the world has become and how events in London can impact events in Somalia almost overnight.

I like books that give me a window into other cultures and into communities that I don’t know much about, and this book does both. I got a glimpse of Somali culture and of the world of high fashion. The suspense and characterization were obviously written by a master author. I’m ready to find some more books by Ms. Cross and check this new-to-me juvenile fiction writer. Has anyone else read any of her books?

Oh, and isn’t that cover photograph fantastic?

Book Tag: The Great Outdoors

Jun5

Today is National Trails Day, a day that exists to “bring the next generation outside and into the wonder of the natural world.” Since I am what a friend once called a “hothouse plant” (you should hear what my enemies call me), I generally celebrate holidays of this nature, that is “nature holidays”, by reading a good book about getting outdoors.

So in today’s edition of Book Tag, please suggest your favorite book, fiction or nonfiction about The Great Outdoors, getting out and enjoying God’s creation, sunshine and open spaces.

Remember the rules: In this game, readers suggest ONE good book in the category given, then let somebody else be “it” before they offer another suggestion. There is no limit to the number of books a person may suggest, but they need to politely wait their turn with only one book suggestion per comment.

My kick-off suggestion is Peter Jenkins’ classic A Walk Across America, the true story of a young man who decided to walk across the country from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific in search of . . . himself? Meaning? Patriotism? It’s a great story, and I absolutely loved living vicariously through Mr. Jenkins’ journey through the United States of 1979. (Jenkins only made it to New Orleans in the first book, so there’s a sequel, The Walk West.)

Oh, and thanks for the summer reading suggestions from last week. I’ve already reserved a few of the books you all suggested at the library so that I can read them this summer, outdoors while watching someone else hike down a lovely woodland trail. From my lawn chair. Under a shade tree.

Ready, set, go!

May Check-In: North Africa Reading Challenge

Jun2

Did you read any books for the North Africa Reading Challenge in May? I didn’t, unfortunately, read anything this past month that was set in North Africa.

I (we) will be concentrating on reading about Northern Africa this year. It’s a good place to start because I think we could all afford to know a little more about this part of the world from which so much of our heritage comes and in which so much has been happening lately. In my template, there are eleven countries in Northern Africa: Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia, and Western Sahara. (South Sudan is a brand-new country in this region, and of course books set in South Sudan count, too.) The challenge is to read eleven books either set in this region or written by authors from this region in 2012. I hope to read read at least one adult book and one children’s book from each country. The children’s books may be more difficult to find.

You are welcome to try any one of the following challenges—or make up your own.

1. North Africa Tour: Read at least one book from each of the eleven countries in Northern Africa. Since the challenge runs for eleven months, this challenge would entail reading one book per month.

2. African Country Concentration: Read five books set in one of the countries of Northern Africa or five books by authors from one of the countries of Northern Africa. Example: Read five books by Egyptian authors.

3. Children’s Challenge: Read five to eleven children’s books set in Northern Africa. Adults are welcome to do this challenge either with a child or not.

The Northern Africa Challenge begins on January 1, 2012 and ends on December 1, 2012. If you choose to read eleven books for this challenge, that will be one book per month. You can still join. If you would like to join me in this challenge in 2012, please leave a comment. I will keep a list of challenge participants in the sidebar, and I will link to your reviews, if you write them and send me links, on my Africa pages. (If you already have book reviews on your blog related to Northern Africa, those books don’t count for the challenge. However, if you send me the links at sherryDOTearlyAtgmailDOTcom, I will add your reviews to my Northern Africa page.)

Did you read any books in May set in North Africa or written by North African authors? Have you reviewed those books on your blog? If so, please leave a link here so that we can share our journeys through the countries of northern Africa.