At long last

It was a bit of a slog to get through but I finally finished Shadow of the Wind. Yes, there were twists and turns, and surprise identities, but for me, it is a completely forgettable book. I want more substance -- richer characters, more depth, more...

But it's always try to read new authors and be open to new experiences.

The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

This book was recommended to me at a recent Christmas party. The individual, Susan, who I had never met before, was well read and enjoyed the books that I enjoyed, so when she kept coming back to this title, I had to check it out.

It's different, but I'm enjoying it. It reminds me a bit of Her Fearful Symmetry by Niffenegger with the dark characters and old city landscape. It's a bit of historical fiction, a bit of a mystery. I'm on page 130 so I had better pick up the pace. Vacation will be over before I know it!

The Reinvention of Love, by Helen Humphries

I like this author, so when I got my hands of this book, I was anticipating a beautiful and rich read. By page 79, I gave up. I read through the open months/ years of the affair, and I just wasn't interested in the years to come... Maybe I should have committed to 100 pages, but there are too many other books waiting for me.

Summary:

When Charles Sainte-Beuve, an ambitious French journalist, meets Victor Hugo, a young writer on the verge of fame, he finds himself helplessly attracted to Hugo's long -suffering wife, Adele. The two lover begin an affair that lasts over thirty years and sparks a scandal in Paris.

Clara and Mr. Tiffany, by Susan Vreeland

This book was recommended to me by a colleague. I don't often venture into historical romance but this was a nice easy read, albeit, a bit long. I read it while I was sick with a cold, and it was a perfect read for those days when I wasn't 100%. I was glad when it ended -- both the book and the cold.

Although some people may have enjoyed the detail on how the glass panels were made and assembled, I would have been satisfied with less. I was also reading The Sisters Brothers at the same time, and it was like mixing whiskey with saccharine. The whiskey will be remembered, but this book will be quietly forgotten.

Here is the summary:

Against the unforgettable backdrop of New York near the turn of the twentieth century, from the Gilded Age world of formal balls and opera to the immigrant poverty of the Lower East Side, bestselling author Susan Vreeland again breathes life into a work of art in this extraordinary novel, which brings a woman once lost in the shadows into vivid color. It's 1893, and at the Chicago World's Fair, Louis Comfort Tiffany makes his debut with a luminous exhibition of innovative stained-glass windows, which he hopes will honor his family business and earn him a place on the international artistic stage. But behind the scenes in his New York studio is the freethinking Clara Driscoll, head of his women's division. Publicly unrecognized by Tiffany, Clara conceives of and designs nearly all of the iconic leaded-glass lamps for which he is long remembered. Clara struggles with her desire for artistic recognition and the seemingly insurmountable challenges that she faces as a professional woman, which ultimately force her to protest against the company she has worked so hard to cultivate. She also yearns for love and companionship, and is devoted in different ways to five men, including Tiffany, who enforces to a strict policy: he does not hire married women, and any who do marry while under his employ must resign immediately. Eventually, like many women, Clara must decide what makes her happiest-the professional world of her hands or the personal world of her heart

The Tiger, by John Vaillant

A wonderful and enlightening read by Canadian author, John Vaillant. Well written, artfully paced, it was a joy to read. I love they way other topics are so deftly woven into the fabric of the story. Yes, you get a suspenseful story of a Siberia or Amor Tiger stalking human prey, but you also get a better understanding of the former Soviet Union, anthropology, hunting mentality, travel literature and so much more.

Along with the Tiger, and its victim, Markov, one of the most compelling characters is Yuri Trush. The book allows him to develop wonderfully as a character. You come to know him and like him. I can believe that Brad Pitt would indeed want to play this character in the movie version of this book. The suspense builds like some kind of Stephen King novel, but this is a true story!

Award Winners

I'm so excited to hear that Patrick deWitt's novel, The Sisters Brothers was awarded the GG for fiction. I'm currently reading Half Blood Blues, by Esi Edugyan -- the Booker Prize winner -- and with this announcement, I now have two award winning titles to read in the near future. All is well in my world. Good thing too, because I've had a dearth of good books lately.

The Cellist of Sarajevo, by Steven Galloway

I finished this book last night and I'm still absorbing it. It struck me particularly hard, because I remember the siege and contemplating what I could do to help. I wasn't sure I could be a relief worker, or a volunteer. It was so inconceivable that such a modern city to be reduced to such a degree. It still is...

This book, like the music I imagined in the book, moved me greatly. Each character seemed to represent a different musical refrain or movement. The characters were ordinary people trying to survive in extraordinary times as they struggles to maintain their dignity and their humanity.

I don't even know what book to read next because how can I give a new book a chance with this one still echoing in my mind.

Here is the summary:

This brilliant novel with universal resonance tells the story of three people trying to survive in a city rife with the extreme fear of desperate times, and of the sorrowing cellist who plays undaunted in their midst. One day a shell lands in a bread line and kills twenty-two people as the cellist watches from a window in his flat. He vows to sit in the hollow where the mortar fell and play Albinoni's Adagio once a day for each of the twenty-two victims. The Adagio had been re-created from a fragment after the only extant score was firebombed in the Dresden Music Library, but the fact that it had been rebuilt by a different composer into something new and worthwhile gives the cellist hope. Meanwhile, Kenan steels himself for his weekly walk through the dangerous streets to collect water for his family on the other side of town, and Dragan, a man Kenan doesn't know, tries to make his way towards the source of the free meal he knows is waiting. Both men are almost paralyzed with fear, uncertain when the next shot will land on the bridges or streets they must cross, unwilling to talk to their old friends of what life was once like before divisions were unleashed on their city. Then there is "Arrow," the pseudonymous name of a gifted female sniper, who is asked to protect the cellist from a hidden shooter who is out to kill him as he plays his memorial to the victims. In this beautiful and unforgettable novel, Steven Galloway has taken an extraordinary, imaginative leap to create a story that speaks powerfully to the dignity and generosity of the human spirit under extraordinary duress.