The immigrant Icelanders are so obscure you could easily go your entire life in this country and never hear a word about them. [...] Nobody’s heard of New Iceland. Was it because we were so wretchedly oppressed? Hardly. If anything, the opposite was true. We assimilated more quickly than most, with our fair features and devotion to literacy, our ability to persist through hardship etched in our genes. No, the answer is simple enough, it seems to me: there were too few of us to matter. All said, only fifteen thousand Icelanders emigrated at the tail end of the ninteenth century — a droplet lost among the million-size waves of immigrants who flooded North America’s shores. It’s no wonder we never made it into my college history books.
The Tricking of Freya is a wonderful debut novel by Christina Sunley. Taking place in Canada and Iceland, the book is a love letter of sorts to her Icelandic ancestors and heritage.
Freya is the granddaughter of Olafur, one of Iceland’s greatest poets but who had, much to the chagrin of Icelanders, emigrated to Canada. Though she spends her first 7 years in America, Freya learns first hand about her Icelandic heritage when she and her mother travel to Gimli, just outside of Winnipeg. There she meets her grandmother for the first time and her aunt, nicknamed Birdie. Birdie discovers that Freya’s mother has not been teaching her Icelandic, and she immediately begins that task. Freya takes to Birdie and her Icelandic heritage very well, but also slowly learns that Birdie can be unstable.
When Freya gets the opportunity to go to Iceland, she becomes even more aware of her heritage. One of the most interesting facets of Icelandic life is their love of books:
Cousin, that house was the most marvelous thing I had ever seen. Not from the outside. From the outside was a three-story cement facade painted pastel green. But the inside! Books lined every wall of every room. Books climbed up stairs and rested on landings. Books stretched over the arches of doorways like bridges, stood guard over mantels. Old leather-bound volumes with gilt titles gleamed in glass cabinets. Books in the basement, books in the attic. Four stories of books. How many, I wanted to know.
“Nine thousand, six hundred,” Ulfur answered. ”Approximately. The largest private book collection in Iceland.”
This book’s themes include history, mythology, psychology, and the significance of one’s family roots and heritage. I enjoyed it very much and will look forward to Christina Sunley’s next book.
2009, 342 pp.
[Disclaimer: This copy was obtained from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.]
I really enjoyed this small companion book the the Harry Potter series. The tales were wonderful, and so were the illustrations, which were also done by J.K. Rowling. There are five tales:
The Wizard and the Hopping Pot
The Fountain of Fair Fortune
The Warlock’s Hairy Heart
Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump
The Tale of the Three Brothers
After each tale, we are privileged to get Dumbledore’s commentary about the story. I loved this. Not only did it bring some extra insight into the stories, but it was great to hear Dumbledore’s voice again. In “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot,” a son inherits his father’s pot and rethinks how he will act among the villagers. In the commentary, Dumbledore tells of a woman who tried to sweeten the story up by rewording the ending with the following results:
Mrs. Bloxam’s tale has met the same response from generations of Wizarding children: uncontrollable retching, followed by an immediate demand to have the book taken from them and mashed into pulp.
In “The Fountain of Fair Fortune,” three witches seek to “fight their way to the Fountain, bathe in its waters, and receive Fair Fortune forevermore.” This story was my favorite of the five. It is also interesting to note that in the commentary, Dumbledore states that Lucius Malfoy’s objection to the book
…marked the beginning of Mr. Malfoy’s long campaign to have me removed from my post as headmaster of Hogwarts, and of mine to have him removed from his position as Lord Voldemort’s Favorite Death Eater.
“The Warlock’s Hairy Heart” is by far the darkest tale. In this one, a Warlock is determined to never fall in love; “Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump” tells the reason why “no witch or wizard was ever persecuted in the kingdom again.”; and in “The Tale of the Three Brothers,” the siblings each meet up with Death and strike up a bargain with him.
I thoroughly enjoyed these tales, and I would love it if there were more at some point.
I finally read Twilight. I think I was (almost) the last to do so. Even my sisters both bragged that they read the whole series before I even got to the first book.
So what did I think? Well, for the first few pages,I thought, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do this… Then I don’t know if the writing got better or I just got sucked (pun intended) into the story, but I did end up liking it quite a bit. I think Stephenie Meyer knows how to tap into a teenage girl’s mind and the book fits its audience quite well. As far as this 40+ woman goes, well, I did roll my eyes at some passages, but the overall plot of the book is pretty darn good.
The movie was remarkably faithful to the book for the most part, and l quite enjoyed it when I saw it last year. In fact, I’ll probably re-watch it soon and then go ahead and read New Moon so when talk comes up about the upcoming movie I won’t have anything spoiled for me. Then I’ll read Eclipseand Breaking Dawn during Carl’s R.I.P. challenge (if I can wait until September).
Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata, was first translated into English in 1958. Kawabata won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968, and he died in 1972.
I found Thousand Cranes interesting, but a little hard to follow. Two of Kikuji Mitani’s father’s mistresses insert themselves into Kikuji’s life. He falls for one of them, and later her daughter. A tea ceremony is central to the story, but it’s meaning is a little lost on this Westerner. It’s a short novel, but one I’m afraid I just didn’t ‘get.’
I also own Kawabata’s Snow Country, which I still plan on reading at some point, but unfortunately I didn’t find Thousand Cranes to be all that exciting.
1949-1952, 1958 for the English translation, 147 pp.
Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair was written in 1924, when Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was only 19. It went on to sell millions of copies over the years and was translated into multiple languages. Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971 and died two years later in 1973.
Neruda’s poems definitely have a sensuousness about them, and they also evoke the poet’s passion and pain. I only wish I knew Spanish so I could understand the poems in their original. Poetry must be one of the most difficult of writings to translate, but this dual language edition was penned by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet W.S. Mervin.
An interesting note — the cover of the book is Heart by Andy Warhol.
A portion of “Every Day You Play”:
Mis palabras llovieron sobre ti acariciándote.
Amé desde hace tiempo tu cuerpo de nácar soleado.
Hasta te creo dueña del universo.
Te traeré de las montañas flores alegres, copihues,
avellanas oscuras, y cestas silvestres de besos.
Quiero hacer contigo
lo que la primavera hace con los cerezos.
My words rained over you, stroking you.
A long time I have loved the sunned mother-of-pearl of your body.
I go so far as to think that you own the universe.
I will bring you happy flowers from the mountains, bluebells,
dark hazels, and rustic baskets of kisses.
I want to do with you
what spring does with the cherry trees.
Tomato Girl is a heartbreaking novel of love, desire, and madness.
Ellie is in love with her father Rupert and just adores him. She loves spending time with him — especially when she can help him in the store he manages. Not only does Ellie’s father takes care of her when her mother is unable to, he also manages and cares for Ellie’s mother when she is in one of her ‘moods.’
Although Rupert loves his daughter dearly, he is also falling in love with the girl who brings in the tomatoes at his store. This has severe repercussions for everyone involved, not only leaving poor Ellie caught in the middle but also worsening her mother’s mental condition.
Pupek manages to make us sympathize with all the characters involved and thankfully, also provides other characters for Ellie to lean on in a difficult situation. Her best friend Mary, a concerned teacher, and a loving black couple all do their best to support Ellie. Tomato Girl really makes one realize there are consequences to every personal decision, and that all our choices will affect our family members as well.
While I liked the book, there is a magical element to the book at the end that I didn’t care for, and I sometimes felt Ellie’s voice was too old for 11, and sometimes I thought she seemed too young for that age. These are minor criticisms, though, and Jayne Pupek is certainly a promising new novelist.
CLOSED If you’d like a copy of this book, just go to Novels Now, where I am giving away an autographed copy. All I ask is that you haven’t read the book yet, and that you’ll make an effort to read and review it on your blog in the next 6 months.
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.”
Okonkwo commands respect from his community, his three wives, and his children through both hard work and intimidation. He rises to prominence despite and perhaps due to his father’s laziness in community and family matters. He stands firm to his culture and traditions. So he is outraged when some of his people start converting to Christianity. A power struggle ensues and ‘things fall apart.’
I’m intrigued by Achebe’s history and background. I’d like to read the sequel to this book, No Longer at Ease, at some point.
It is almost always easier to learn about history through historical fiction or current world events through memoirs, and this book is no exception. Daoud Hari gives us a harrowing account of his experiences translating for various media outlets in the Darfur region. The violence in Darfur, especially toward women and children, is unspeakable. Though not overly graphic, it is still difficult to read in spots.
Similar to the plight of the Kurds, the people of Darfur have had their lives shattered due to boundaries set by people not of their region. This brief, engaging book will not only enlighten you to the situation in Darfur, but will also make you question the wisdom of meddling in other countries’ affairs at all.
“The Christmas Baramundi” Definitely the most depressing story in the book, and one of the few I really didn’t care for. A woman thinks she meets the perfect man, but then finds out differently.
“This Year It Will Be Different” This one is also depressing. A woman thinks her family wants to help her with all the Christmas preparations, but do they?
“Season of Fuss” This time, a woman’s family helps with the preparations, but is that what she really wants?
“A Typical Irish Christmas. . . ” This one’s nice. A family is reunited.
“Traveling Hopefully” A man and a woman are stuck on a long plane ride together. Will the relationship continue after the flight?
“What Is Happiness?” A boy is caught up in his father’s infidelity when the mistress stalks the family.
“The Best Inn in Town” Two grandmothers fight over their turf in a family that is usually united over the subject.
I would have to say I much preferred the first half of the book to the second half. The second half of the book is much more depressing. While the families depicted in the first half were far from perfect, there was at least a little hope involved. Not so in some of these later stories. However, overall I did enjoy the book and would recommend it for the Christmas season.
Why did it take me so long to read this? Since it’s such a well-known classic, I won’t summarize the plot except to say it’s about a girl from Irish-Catholic descent facing poverty and family struggles in Brooklyn.
(Spoilers ahead!)
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I loved Francie. I loved how she fought to go to a good school and how she loved her father. And of course, how she loved books-in spite of the not-really-there librarian. How awful was she?! The grandmother’s advice about reading the Bible and Shakespeare was excellent. Carrying it out for all those years was even more admirable. I loved seeing her grow and develop into a young woman. The responsibility of a 14 year-old to support the whole family! Amazing.
Some favorite quotes:
That is what is called learning the truth. It is a good thing to learn the truth one’s self. To first believe with all your heart, and then not to believe, is good too. It fattens the emotions and makes them to stretch. When as a woman life and people disappoint her, she will have had practice in disappointment and it will not come so hard. In teaching your child, do not forget that suffering is good too. It makes a person rich in character. (Mary Rommely’s advice)
From that time on, the world was hers for the reading. She would never be lonely again, never miss the lack of intimate friends. Books became her friends and there was one for every mood. There was poetry for quiet companionship. There was adventure when she tired of quiet hours. There would be love stories when she came into adolescence and when she wanted to feel a closeness to someone she could read a biography. On that day when she first knew she could read, she made a vow to read one book a day as long as she lived.
(Katie, Francie’s mom:) You wait until us women vote. . . You don’t believe we will? That day will come. Mark my words. We’ll put all those crooked politicians where they belong-behind iron bars.
(Francie’s dad:) If that day ever comes when women vote, you’ll go along to the polls with me-arm in arm-and vote the way I do. He put his arm around her and gave her a quick hug.
Katie smiled up at him. Francie couldn’t help noticing that mama was smiling sidewise, the way the lady did in the picture in the school auditorium, the one they called Mona Lisa.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
The immigrant Icelanders are so obscure you could easily go your entire life in this country and never hear a word about them. [...] Nobody’s heard of New Iceland. Was it because we were so wretchedly oppressed? Hardly. If anything, the opposite was true. We assimilated more quickly than most, with our fair features and devotion to literacy, our ability to persist through hardship etched in our genes. No, the answer is simple enough, it seems to me: there were too few of us to matter. All said, only fifteen thousand Icelanders emigrated at the tail end of the ninteenth century — a droplet lost among the million-size waves of immigrants who flooded North America’s shores. It’s no wonder we never made it into my college history books.
I finally read Twilight. I think I was (almost) the last to do so. Even my sisters both bragged that they read the whole series before I even got to the first book.
Thousand Cranes
Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair was written in 1924, when Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was only 19. It went on to sell millions of copies over the years and was translated into multiple languages. Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971 and died two years later in 1973.
Tomato Girl is a heartbreaking novel of love, desire, and madness.
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
Last Monday, 
Why did it take me so long to read this? Since it’s such a well-known classic, I won’t summarize the plot except to say it’s about a girl from Irish-Catholic descent facing poverty and family struggles in Brooklyn.
