I really can’t see myself getting enough of John‘s Canadian Challenges any time soon. So many wonderful Canadian authors and books. These are the books I’m interested in reading this time around:
This was my first book by Alice Munro, who was recently named as the 2009 Man Booker International Prize winner. This book of stories is a personal, though fictional, history of her family’s emigration from Scotland and their settlement in Canada. It was on the NYT Notable Book list in 2007.
Munro illustrated the struggles of her ancestor immigrants very well. Though I am of German ancestry, I know many of my great-grandparents had many of the same challenges when they settled in Nebraska from Germany. (I would soooo love to read a fictionalized account of their story!)
I enjoyed this book very much, but some may find it a little slow and boring in parts. I’m very interested in family histories of immigration, so I appreciated both the stories and Munro’s writing. I have to wonder, though, were all European immigrants a little hard and cold? Perhaps just the act of survival took all their energy.
I am now curious to read more of Munro’s work for the Canadian Challenge III. If you have any you strongly recommend, please let me know.
Julie and Julia was a pleasant surprise for me. Of course I knew it was about Julia Child, but funnily enough, I didn’t know it was also somewhat about blogging! I remember watching Julia Child on PBS when I was a kid and thought she was the funniest thing. Meryl Streep has to be one of the best (if not the best) actresses of all time. She played Julia sooooooo well. I’ve loved Amy Adams in other movies, but to me she was a little disappointing in this film. All in all, though, I really liked the film. I most enjoyed learning more about Julia’s life — she was quite a character. [Side note: Did you know Julia was 6'2" tall? Her husband made special kitchen counters for her!]
I don’t even like cooking all that much except for a few dishes that my family loves me to make, but I may just have to get Julie Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The recipes looked and sounded delicious!
Just thought I’d give a little update on my reading progress. I’m still mostly listening to audios this month (and still painting). I knocked out another two Pulitzer winners, The Good Earth and The Age of Innocence, both of which I enjoyed more than last month’s two Pulitzers. I am also slowly reading Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. I’m enjoying it so far but only get to read it for about 30 minutes each night.
As most of you know, the Booker longlist was announced and I’ve made some plans to at least read Brooklyn by Colm Toibin and The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters and possibly The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey. I am also interested in How to Paint a Dead Man by Sarah Hall and Love and Summer by William Trevor, but neither of them will be released until September. It’s really frustrating to not be able to have access to these at the library yet. I know I can use The Book Depository, which I love and have used many times before, but I’m sort of in a spendthift mood right now. I’ll probably just wait to see which ones make it to the shortlist and go from there.
I only have one more title to read for the Countdown Challenge and I’m finished. I had a lot of fun with this one and I hope others did, too.
I just wanted to let everyone know that there WILL BE a Countdown 2010, with a commitment of 55 books this time! That seems insane, but 45 books was actually a lot easier to do than I thought it would be this past year. In fact, I’m reading pre-2000 books now so I can save newer titles for Countdown 2010.
Countdown 2010 will the be the second and final year of this challenge and will be held from 9/9/09 through 10/10/10. I’ll have sign-ups in early September at the Countdown Challenge site.
I’ve been doing a lot of work at my house in Kentucky since early July, and I originally thought I wouldn’t get much reading done. However, eight of the books below (all but #1 and #6-8) were audios that I listened to while painting my house inside and out. So, all in all, a very productive month both bookwise and work-wise.
I read/listened to some fantastic books this month. Five were 4.5 star books! Surprisingly, some of my least favorites were the two Pulitzer winners. I am woefully behind on reviews, due mostly to lack of internet access and time. I also like to get quotes from the books, which is hard to do with audios. I’ll have to go to the library or bookstore to search for some. At least I’m knocking out some books. It was a really fun month for audios in particular.
"Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." (John 6:27, ESV)
This was my first book by Alice Munro, who was recently named as the 
by Meg Rosoff (2004, 194 pp.)
by Lisa See (2009, 336 pp.)
by Eudora Welty (1969, 180 pp.)
by Anna Quindlen (2000, 50 pp.)
