March in a Nut Shell

March was a great reading month for me and an exciting month for other reasons as well. We sold our home in 2008 and bought a condo in 2009 (we are moving in the end of April – we love it and I’ll have my own reading loft full of book shelves, a comfy chair, good reading lamp and of course my laptop). I decided to pack up all my books except for my review books (that will force me to read more of those hopefully). I also have about (5) library books to read in the next few weeks. I hate moving, but this will be our last move most likely and now we’ll be much closer to family which is great.

Back to my March reading…..I LOVED most of the (19) books that I read in March. I visited many wonderful new places and a few familiar places too. I visited India, Hong Kong, Berlin, Poland, England, Japan, Korea, and Nigeria. I also saw some more of the United States: New Hampshire, Washington, Mississippi, Colorado, New York, Honolulu, and Pennsylvania.

By Title: MARCH

34. True Colors; Kristin Hannah - 2.5/5 (audio)
35. Little Bee; Chris Cleave - 5/5
36. The Housekeeper and the Professor; Ogawa - 5/5
37. The Seance; Harwood - 4/5
38. The Help; Stockett - 5/5
39. Living Agelessly; Altoonian - 4/5
40. While My Sister Sleeps; Delinsky - 4.5/5
41. Tallgrass; Dallas - 4.5/5 (audio)
42. The Mercy Papers; Romm - 3.5/5 (ARC Review)
43. The Piano Teacher; Lee - 4/5
44. The Emperor of Ocean Park; Carter - 4/5 (audio)
45. Finding Your Own North Star; Beck - 4/5
46. The Overlook; Connelly - 3/5 (audio)
47. Handle With Care; Picoult - 5/5
48. The White Tiger; Adiga - 3/5
49. The Winter of Our Discontent; Steinbeck - 4/5
50. Honolulu; Brennert - 4.5/5
51. Still Life; Fielding - 4/5
52. The Boy in the Stripe Pajamas; Boyne - 5/5 (audio)

Favorite Books in March:

• Little Bee: A Novel;Cleave – 5/5
• The Help;Stockett – 5/5
• Handle with Care: A Novel;Picoult – 5/5
• The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Reader;Boyne – 5/5 (audio)

Challenge Progress - 2009:

• Total Books Read in 2009 - 52
• 100+ Books Challenge for 2009 - 52/100
• New Authors Challenge for 2009 - 36/50
• A - Z Challenge for 2009 - 18/26
• Support Your Local Library for 2009 - 33/50
• Read Your Own Books for 2009 - 19/100
• Audio Book Challenge 2009 - 12/12 - COMPLETED
• 2009 Pub Challenge - 14/9 - COMPLETED
• In Their Shoes 2009 - 4/4 - COMPLETED
• John Steinbeck Mini Challenge – 1/2
• Spiritually Speaking - 3/6
  
• Spring Reading Thing – 5/15

How did you enjoy your month?

Tuesday Teasers

Tuesday Teasers is hosted by Should Be Reading.


TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

My teasers are from my current read : The Weight of Heaven: A Novel
(review copy)

p. 157....."Her heart full of misgivings, Ellie eyed the road stretched out in front of them. She imagined it looks like her future---dark and endless and lined with ominous, threatening rain clouds".

This book is terrific; the writing is so beautiful. It will be released on April 14, 2009. Watch for my review in a few days.

What is your Tuesday Teaser?

52 - The Boy in the Striped Pajamas; John Boyne

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Reader, by John Boyne was an amazing audio book. Here is what the back of the audio book says about the story:

.....Audio book description "The story of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is very difficult to describe. Usually we give some information about the audio book, but in this case we think that would spoil the listening. We think it's important that you start to listen without knowing what it is about. If you do start to listen, you will go on a journey with a nine-year-old boy named Bruno. (Though this isn't a story for nine-year-olds.) And sooner or later, you will arrive with Bruno at the fence. Fences like this exist all over the world. We hope that you never have to encounter such a fence."

Classified as a book for Young Adults, the story is told through the eyes of 9-year old, Bruno who returns home from school one day, and is told that his whole family (mother, father, sister) are moving far away because of his father's job promotion. He must leave his huge house in the heart of Berlin, and move to a place called "Out With" (Auschwitz), a place in Poland. Bruno is a lonely, and a pretty naive young boy. He is very unhappy in "Out With" as he must leave all his old friends behind. One day from his window, Bruno notices a tall fence running farther than his eyes can see. There seem to be lots of people gathered beyond the fence, and Bruno is curious about what he sees in the distance.

Since Bruno has always wanted to be an explorer, he wants to learn more about the area around him, and hopes to meet some friends as well. One day he meets a boy the same age as himself, who even has the same birth date as Bruno. The boy is named Schmuel, and he is very thin, his skin is gray in color and his eyes are set deeply. He realizes that the boy is hungry too. The two boys meet for one year along the fence to talk; Bruno even brings the boy food from time to time. He asks why the boy gets to wear his "striped pajamas every day"? The boy tells him that everyone dresses the same. Each day, the two children meet and talk, and each day Bruno learns a little more about his new friend and the people he lives with.

Bruno's innocence about what is going on around him seems very unbelievable, but what this innocence does is make the conclusion of this book all the more shocking. This is one story I will never forget. I look forward to seeing the movie based on this book as well, even though the topic: Nazi Germany and the Holocaust is a tough topic to read about or view.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Reader is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

RATING - 5/5 - COMPLETED - 3/30/09
WHERE FROM: Library

51 - Still Life; Joy Fielding

Still Life: A Novel, by Joy Fielding was my Waiting on Wednesday pick for 2/4/09, and as luck would have it, I was first on the reserves list at our library to get this book. A quick page turner and fun read.

Casey Marshall seems to have the perfect life: she is beautiful, wealthy, has great supportive friends, a handsome adoring husband, and a successful design business. She is so happy with her life that she thinks it may even be time to start a family.

One day after having lunch with her friends in Philadelphia, she is walking to her car in the parking garage, when a car slams into her at almost fifty miles an hour. She lies in a coma with numerous broken bones, but then a strange thing happens. Casey realizes that although she cannot move or speak, she can hear everything that is being said around her. As visitors appear at her bedside, she begins to realize that maybe her injuries were not an accident at all, but that someone was trying to kill her. But who: a friend, her sister, her husband, her health care providers, and why?

I enjoyed this book even though it was somewhat predictable. It was just the type of story I needed after a few more serious reads.

Still Life: A Novel is RECOMMENDED

RATING - 4/5 - COMPLETED - 3/28/09
WHERE FROM: Library

50 - Honolulu; Alan Brennert

Honolulu is a story about a young Korean girl born in 1897. Her parents were so disappointed she was not a boy, that they named her: "Regrettable”; eventually her name was shortened to simply "Regret". Her name alone gives the reader a glimpse into how females were viewed in turn-of-the (20^th) century Korea.

As Regret grows up, she realizes that if she stays in Korea, her fate has pretty much been decided. More likely than not, she would have an arranged marriage, and be little more than a servant to her mother-in-law, just like her mother. When Regret tells her father she already knows how to read a bit (having learned behind his back), and that she wishes to continue her education her father will hear nothing of the kind. When her close friend Sunny tells her about someone who finds picture brides for men in Hawaii to marry, Regret decides that this just may be her ticket out of Korea to a better life in Hawaii. Regret's father is only to happy to release his insolent daughter, so he agrees to take money from a man named Mr. Noh, and ships her off to Honolulu for the two to marry.

After more than a week at sea the picture brides land in Honolulu. They are quarantined, in case they brought any diseases with them from Korea. When they are medically cleared the girls meet their husbands, get married and before long they learn that these men were not "as advertised". Regret's husband is not wealthy by merely a plantation worker who likes to drink and gamble. Almost immediately he begins to abuse his new wife, Regret. Mr. Noh beats Regret so badly that she loses her unborn child. Very quickly she decides this life is not for her and she leaves her husband, seeking refuge under the roof of a prostitute. She soon begins earning money as a seamstress. She changes her name from Regret to Jin and she eventually meets a good man, and divorces Mr. Noh.

Spanning some 40 years, Jin never forgets the people she left behind in Korea. She returns one last time to her roots to make peace with the life she left behind many years earlier.

Honolulu was very compelling and extremely well researched. I especially enjoyed learning more about Hawaii (Honolulu) in its early years through the eyes of a picture bride. Alan Brennert has been added to my list of favorite authors. His earlier book Molokai was a favorite read of mine in 2008.

RATING – 4.5/5 - COMPLETED - 3/26/09

WHERE FROM: Library

49 - The Winter of Our Discontent; John Steinbeck

The Hawley family is "Discontent". Ethan Hawley is working as a grocery clerk in the store he previously owned. The store now belongs to Marullo, an Italian immigrant who tries to teach Ethan what makes a successful businessman. Even Mr. Baker, the banker, has advice for Ethan: he tries to teach him how to be a good investor. It seems that everyone has an opinion on how Ethan Hawley can bring respect back to his family name. His wife is restless and doesn't like the fact that they are poor and living in a town where they were once respected. Ethan's son wants to go on television and get rich quick, his adolescent daughter is too secretive for his liking.

Steinbeck's protagonist, Ethan Allen Hawley, is a moral individual who has always done the right thing. This novel is set in New Baytown, a fictitious town near Long Island, a town that operates within a realm of corruption. Yet things have operated that way for so long that no one remembers that it is corrupt anymore. Ethan's family feels that he is too ethical for his own good. He has to choose between his current morals and adapting the definition of his morality.

Steinbeck captures a nation that is growing economically but bankrupt morally. Where this novel differs from other fall from grace novels is that the central character observes himself as a third party and slides down the slippery slope knowing full well the consequences. Steinbeck offers redemption in the form or Marullo, on being deported he gives the grocery store to Ethan Hawley. This happens just when Ethan is about to rob the bank.

A short novel worthy of praise addresses moral questions that really make you stop and think; the dialogue is brilliant.The characters are clever and witty, but at times I found the plot was very slow.

RATING - 4/5 - COMPLETED - 3/25/09

WHERE FROM: My Stacks

Waiting on Wednesday: Into the Beautiful North

This weeks can't wait to read pick is:

Into the Beautiful North: A Novel;Luis Alberto Urrea
Pub. Date: May 19, 2009

From Amazon:
Nayeli, the Taqueria worker of Urrea's fine new novel (after The Hummingbird's Daughter), is a young woman in the poor but tight-knit coastal Mexican town of Tres Camarones who spends her days serving tacos and helping her feisty aunt Irma get elected as the town's first female mayor. Abandoned by her father who headed north for work years before, Nayeli is hit with the realization that her hometown is all but abandoned by men, leaving it at the mercy of drug gangsters. So Nayeli hatches an elaborate scheme inspired by The Magnificent Seven: with three friends, she heads north to find seven Mexican men and smuggle them back into Mexico to protect the town. What she discovers along the way, of course, surprises her. Urrea's poetic sensibility and journalistic eye for detail in painting the Mexican landscape and sociological complexities create vivid, memorable scenes. Though the Spanglish can be tough for the uninitiated to detangle, the colorful characters, strong narrative and humor carry this surprisingly uplifting and very human story.

What's your pick?