Eugene is a mover in New York City whose favorite author is Constance Eakins. While doing a job one day, he runs into a biographer of Eakins who also happens to have a beautiful daughter, Sonia. Everyone else in the world believes Eakins is dead — that he just disappeared in Italy quite a few years back and never showed up again. He’s legally declared dead by the Italian authorities. Sonia’s father, the biographer, demands that it isn’t so — that his daughter speaks to Eakins regularly. But, no one has heard from her after her latest trip to Italy. Eugene decides to look for Sonia.
Meanwhile in a parallel story, an elderly Mr. Schmitz, also a New Yorker, is grieving the loss of his friend Rutherford who has just moved to Italy. He receives lucid letters from Rutherford at first, but then they become more and more incomprehensible. Schmitz also decides to take off for Italy to look for his friend.
This was a bizarre story that was unique enough to keep me reading and wanting to find out more. The book has quite a few fantasy elements too, and that was unexpected, but it certainly added to the story. It’s definitely a different book.
This is Nathaniel Rich’s first novel. It was released on April 17.
Anthem is a great introduction to the philosophy of Ayn Rand. A dystopian novella, it is much less intimidating than The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged. I guess it’s considered science fiction as well, so I also counted it for Carl’s Sci-Fi Experience.
It was extremely fascinating reading this book after having read We by Yevgeny Zamyatin and The Giver by Lois Lowry last year, both of which were in my 2007 Top 10. Anthem definitely borrows from We, and The Giver most definitely borrows from Anthem. In Rand’s book, the main character even refers to himself as ‘We’ because in his society individuality is highly suppressed, and the goal is for it to be eliminated. Everything must be done for the brothers in the collective and nothing for the individual.
While I agree with Rand’s philosophy to a point, I believe she takes it just a bit too far. I very much enjoyed this book, but at the end it just felt too preachy to be rated the same as We and The Giver, which both received 4.5 stars.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was just as good as the first book, and once again, I didn’t guess the ending, which made me very happy. Moaning Myrtle and Gilderoy Lockhart were great and funny additions to the storyline. As in The Sorcerer’s Stone, I watched the movie right after reading the book. I did enjoy the film, but it was a little anti-climactic after just finishing the book so soon before.
For books 3-5, I decided I’m going to watch the movies first and then read the books. Then with 6 and 7 I’ll read the books first again. My husband and kids are listening to the audio CD’s and enjoying the series as well.
I’m wondering if I am the last one on earth to start this series?! At least I won’t have to worry about spoilers!
This first Harry Potter was delightful, and though I won’t be fanatical about it like most people are, I did enjoy it quite a bit. It was a much better book than I was expecting, and I really liked the fact that I didn’t expect Professor Quirrell at all. I saw the movie a few days after reading it and I thought they got the casting of Harry, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape just right. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.
Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell is a fictional story about Agnes, a middle-aged woman from Cleveland, who finally gets the courage and means to travel on her own. Her choice is Cairo, and while there she meets up with Winston Churchill, Gertrude Bell, and T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) while they are drawing the new map for the Middle East after World War I. Russell’s descriptions of Egypt are spectacular. I have been to Cairo myself, and some of the points made were still true from when I traveled there. I enjoyed the setting of the book and the historical accounts from this period tremendously. From this conference in Cairo, the boundaries for present day Iraq and other countries in the Middle East were set. The book has encouraged me to explore more about this era of history and re-view the movie Lawrence of Arabia.
However, there were several things I did not like about Russell’s writing style. Normally I don’t care if a book is written in first or third person. This book was written in first person with Agnes as the narrator. It just didn’t work for me, especially when she speaks directly to the reader. I felt it would have been better had the book been written in third person. In addition, I did not care for the ending at all and actually thought it was quite silly. I can’t describe more, though, without giving spoilers. I’ve read Russell’s books The Sparrow and the sequel The Children of God, and together they were my most thought-provoking books of 2006. I have not read A Thread of Grace, but I have heard good things about it and still plan on reading it. I’m sad to say, however, that I was disappointed in Dreamers of the Day. It could have been an excellent book if it had taken a different path. I’m still rating it a 3.5, though, because the descriptions of Cairo made me miss it tremendously, and because it did make me interested in the history of how the present Middle East was formed.
I finished this book two days ago, and I still don’t know how I feel about it. Loved some of it, hated some of it, and was confused by the ending (particularly the second to last chapter; did they ?). I am reading this with my Book Awards group in September, and I have many things I’d like to talk about and discuss with them first before I write any kind of formal review.
I guess I will write one later. Lay Ter. (If you’ve read this book, you know what this means!)
"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)
Eugene is a mover in New York City whose favorite author is Constance Eakins. While doing a job one day, he runs into a biographer of Eakins who also happens to have a beautiful daughter, Sonia. Everyone else in the world believes Eakins is dead — that he just disappeared in Italy quite a few years back and never showed up again. He’s legally declared dead by the Italian authorities. Sonia’s father, the biographer, demands that it isn’t so — that his daughter speaks to Eakins regularly. But, no one has heard from her after her latest trip to Italy. Eugene decides to look for Sonia.
1938, 105 pp 
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was just as good as the first book, and once again, I didn’t guess the ending, which made me very happy. Moaning Myrtle and Gilderoy Lockhart were great and funny additions to the storyline. As in The Sorcerer’s Stone, I watched the movie right after reading the book. I did enjoy the film, but it was a little anti-climactic after just finishing the book so soon before.
I’m wondering if I am the last one on earth to start this series?! At least I won’t have to worry about spoilers!
Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell is a fictional story about Agnes, a middle-aged woman from Cleveland, who finally gets the courage and means to travel on her own. Her choice is Cairo, and while there she meets up with Winston Churchill, Gertrude Bell, and T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) while they are drawing the new map for the Middle East after World War I. Russell’s descriptions of Egypt are spectacular. I have been to Cairo myself, and some of the points made were still true from when I traveled there. I enjoyed the setting of the book and the historical accounts from this period tremendously. From this conference in Cairo, the boundaries for present day Iraq and other countries in the Middle East were set. The book has encouraged me to explore more about this era of history and re-view the movie Lawrence of Arabia.
The God of Small Things
