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Saturday, January 04, 2003 ( 9:12 PM ) Jeanne The Divine Economy of Salvation by Priscilla Uppal This is Uppal's first novel and I will be sure to read the next thing she writes. The book is about a nun living in an Ottawa convent. She receives a package that reminds her of a terrible tragedy that occured many years ago at the girl's boarding school she was sent to because her mother was ill. We are told the story of her time there in flashbacks which finally lead to the terrible, and haunting, event. Uppal manages to weave the the past and present together seamlessly and the story is full of suspense. Finally, it is about personal forgiveness and the power the past has over the present. A wonderful story! # Thursday, January 02, 2003 ( 5:44 PM ) Jeanne The Territory of Men: A Memoir by Joelle Fraser Just finished this tonight. I read the whole thing in one day something I haven't done in a long, long time. The book traces the author through childhood to her adult years focusing mostly on her relationships with her troubled mother and father. Her mom has a succession of boyfriends/husbands and drags Joelle and her little brother all over the West Coast absentmindedly parenting them. Joelle's dad lives in Hawaii and is a writer and an alcoholic. She moves between their two worlds awkwardly searching for love and acceptance in relationships that very much mirror her mother's experience. I liked the book, especially the brutal honesty the author displays in her depictions of the love and pain she alternately looks for and rejects. It was also interesting to read the book because it takes place in the same years I was growing up so all the pop-culture references mean something to me too. Occasionally the narrative is somewhat disjointed, timewise, but overall a very good read. # Monday, December 30, 2002 ( 7:10 AM ) Jeanne This holiday season has meant I've had Juan around more and thus more time to read. Here's what I've read the last few weeks. Coraline by Neil Gaiman Finished reading this the other night with Micaela and loved it. It is a modern fairy tale a la Brothers Grimm (and not the Disneyfied version!), dark, spooky and with a wonderful heroine. Coraline ends up in a parallel universe created by her "other" mother by stepping through an unused door in her flat. This book comes recommended by Terry Pratchett, Lemony Snicket and Diana Wynne Jones, need I say more? Leviathan by Paul Auster I love Paul Auster and this I think is my favorite book of his yet. He is so wonderful at writing about the crazy coincidences that bring events and people together when they least expect it. I Thought My Father Was God edited Paul Auster Who better to edit this then the guy who sees connections in everything? This is an anthology of true stories sent in by ordinary people to the National Public Radio story project. I was alternately left laughing, crying or with the heebie jeebies as I read this. The Future of the Past by Alexander Stille I highly recommend this book if you're interested in archeology, art, cultural memory or in technology and the way it affects preservation efforts of all kinds. Highly readable the book contains essays on the rebuilding of the library in Alexandria, one priests efforts to preserve Latin in the Vatican, saving the Ganges from environmental disaster and more. The best thing about this book is that it outlines the paradoxes present in trying to "preserve" the past. In the section on the Sphinx and efforts to preserve it Egyptologist Mark Lerhner relates the Heisenberg uncertainty principle in physics "we change what we observe" to archeology saying "You study it you kill it." Another wonderful thing about this book is the author's examination of how differently different cultures view preservation. # |
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