akeela's reading in 2013

Hi guys, today I'm just jumping in!

I've been wanting to establish this 2013 thread for too long, so here I am...

2013 reads in no particular order:

Swimming Home by Deborah Levy (British)
Tell it to the Trees by Anita Rau Badami (Indian-Canadian) *
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (Latin American) *
Exposure by Sayed Kashua (Isreali) *
Wonder by R. J. Palacio (American)
The Black Lake by Hella S. Haase (Dutch, translated)
The Sand Fish by Maha Gargash (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)
Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron (African, Rwanda) *
Melisande!: What Are Dreams? by Hillel Halkin (Israeli)
The Crying Tree by Naseem Rakha (American)*
Habibi by Craig Thompson (graphic novel) *
If Today Be Sweet by Thrity Umrigar (Indian-US) *
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle *
Kitchen Chinese by Ann Mah (China)
Lyrics Alley by Leila Abulela (African, Sudan) *
Love Times Three: Our Story of a Polygamous Marriage by Joe Darger (NF, American)
Monique and the Mango Rains by Kris Holloway (NF, African, Mali)*
The Guardians by Sarah Manguso (NF, American)
The War of the Wives by Tamar Cohen (British)
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman (Australian)*
The Days of Abandonment by Elana Ferrante (Italian, translated)*
Sabbatsreis by Annalie Botes (South African, Afrikaans F) *
Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill by Dimitri Verhulst (Dutch, translated)*
The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri (Italian, translated)*

On hold:
For the Mercy of Water by Karen Jayes (South African)*
The Foundling by Agnes Desarthe (French)
Certain Woman Hala el Badry

Discarded:
Swimming in a Sea of Death: A Son's Memoir by David Rieff (too narcissistic)
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thomson Walker (was bored)

Welcome back, Akeela!

Thanks, Darryl! I've been longing to be here :)

Hello Akeela! I'm planning to revive my own thread over the next couple of days - I'll keep mine going if you keep yours going!

Hi Rach! We have a deal :)

Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron is set in Rwanda and tells the story of Jean Patricks Nkuba who loves long distance running and dreams of participating in the Olympics – something he could very well do, given his aptitude and passion.

His success in hampered by the outbreak of the (recent) Rwandan genocide between the Hutus and the Tutsis who were, until then, neighbors and friends.

The author is an American who has done extensive work amongst genocide survivor groups in Rwanda. Her descriptions of the African landscape is lush and her characters are real and likable, especially Sean Patrick and his beloved gorgeous Beatrice.

This book was reviewed in Belletrista ages ago, and I am glad I finally got to read it. It is a good African read. It was the winner of the Bellwether Prize for Fiction.

Running the Rift is one of the books I am considering for my Commonwealth challenge for Rwanda. I'm glad to hear your opinion of it. I may decide to read more than one book as there are a few excellent options but this one is going to the top of the list.

Hi Vivienne! It would be a good choice IMO. Off to find your reading thread... :)

The Sand Fish by Maha Gargash is set in 1950s Dubai. Strong-willed and independent 17-year-old Noora lives with her conservative brother who will not rest until he has seen her married. Despite her objections he betroths her as a third wife to a rich, much older man.

Noora's father had been liberal and reared a resilient woman, able to hold her own, but her situation becomes very challenging. She puts her life at risk when her curiosity leads to a dangerous, passionate liaison with a charming young man.

This is definitely not modern Dubai and the cultural setting is a far cry from the modern throbbing metropolis that is Dubai now. The book provided a window into the Bedouin lifestyle decades ago, and was surprisingly not translated but penned directly in enjoyable, lyrical English.

Running the Rift and The Sand Fish both sound interesting. I will check them out.

Hi Colleen!

If Today Be Sweet by Thrity Umrigar. Tehmina Sethna’s beloved husband, Rustom, has died leaving her to fend for herself. She finds herself in Ohio with her son Sorab and his family. Much as she loves them, she is torn by her loss and by the cultural divide between her home in Bombay and what she perceives to be an utterly materialistic and superficial outlook in the States.

This is a tender story of family, love, pain, and widowhood. Of Tammy coming to terms with her loss and having to carve out a new life for herself, in a new country. Ultimately, she must also decide whether she will stay in Ohio or go back to Bombay.

I enjoyed The Space Between Us by Umrigar before. She has keen insight into the human psyche. The title is what she imagines Rustom would say to her if he were alive. It is based on a poem by Omar Khayyam the premise being, If Today Be Sweet, then why concern yourself with tomorrow? Enjoy What Is.

A fairly good read, though I did skip paragraphs here and there (not usually a good sign) as it was a teeny bit repetitive.

I'll try to write brief thoughts on some of the books read this year.

Exposure by Sayed Kashua. Translated from the Hebrew by Mitch Ginsburg. This novel is about an Arab lawyer in Israel who is living the ideal life. He has a beautiful wife, a pigeon pair in terms of kids, lives in a gorgeous home, drives the best make of car, and once a month, he and his very select group of friends meet to talk about books and to drink and chat about important issues of the day. Though he would love to read the classics, like Tolstoy and Dickens, he reads books he thinks he should read because these are the books his friends and other important people will have read.

While reading one of these books one day, a note falls out of the book penned by his wife thanking a man for the evening before. And he sees RED. The more he considers that his wife may be having affair, the more his life falls apart. He leaves no stone unturned in his efforts to uncover the truth behind the note.

While we read his story (he is never named) each alternate chapter in the book is about another character embroiled in a dilemma of his own. The two compelling stories are brought together and interwoven expertly by Kashua. It was interesting to get into the male psyche and to note that men are as unravelled by the idea of infidelity as women might be.

Or maybe it was just the Arab male psyche! :)

oh lord STOP! STOP! You are killing my wish list! Rift and Exposure for sure! Thanks for the reviews. They sound great.

Well, actually didn't impact my WISH list cause I just bought Exposure! Yahoo!

Nice to see you back!

Really nice to see you here, Akeela! I expect lots of your books to hit my WL. Running the Rift sounds really good.

Hey Rebecca and Cushla! Thanks :)

Merrikay, there was a lot more to be said about Exposure. I hope you enjoy it!

The Black Lake by Hella S. Haasse. Translated from the Dutch by Ina Rilke. The novella shares the carefree days of friendship between a Dutch boy, based in Java with his family, and his childhood friend, Oeroeg, a native of the island. (Java is one of the larger islands of Indonesia.) As children, the boys revel in the rich forests and vast lakes daily, but as they mature, the gulf between them widens as a result of their distinct backgrounds – one is the son of a land owner; the other the son of a servant. A fairly good read.

I'm hoping to pick up a bit of inspiration, Akeela, and get off my backside and revive my sorely neglected thread. I can't seem to find the time to post something....even though my greatest fear is that it will go lower and lower on the list of threads until it is on...gasp!...the second page. Perhaps if I just write short reviews - really short.

>15 mkboylan: A cure for wishlist syndrome! Just buy it! Wonderful!

Haha! I know that feeling, Lois! :) Hence the short notes to start with...

I hope I can find a copy locally, but I will buy it. Thanks for the little push!

I'm just finding your thread, but it's so nice to see you posting again. Looking for forward to more. Exposure sounds fantastic.

Exposure sounds like a good one.

Hi Akeela!

Also just caught up with your thread, and now have starred it.

I also think Exposure sounds really good. As I've already got his other titles on the said wishlist, I think it's high time I bought myself something by Sayed Kashua!!

Thanks for stopping by Dan, avidmom and Polaris! Hope you guys Exposure when you get around to it.

I still have reviews to catch up on including Tell It To The Trees by the adept Anita Rau Badami.

I seem to be struggling to finish any one book... I'm reading several at the moment, including the tiny and magical A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. It's gorgeous and I wish I'd read it as a child!

oh my akeela! I just finished Exposure and I need to think a bit before I review, but once again, I am stunned by my lack of knowledge. I am so glad I read this book, particularly because I had both Israeli and Palestinian students in my classes - wish I had read it before I retired. AND glad I read it after I read How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less. Different viewpoints. By the way - bad touchstone for Exposure. Try this Sayed Kashua. Or its alternate title Second Person Singular those of you who may be interested. I'll be writing a review in a day or two I hope.

ETA: I tried to link the two titles but don't feel like I did it right. If anyone knows how to correct it.........

Hi Merrikay! I'm glad you thought Exposure worthwhile. Like I said in >18 akeela: above, there's a lot more to say and appreciate about this book, and I'm more than pleased that you'll be adding another angle to the paltry 'review' I provided :)

Hmmm. The touchstone for Exposure by Sayed Kashua seems to have disappeared...

I think we are both standing on the edge of the Club Read River watching a very fast current carry the water past us. Maybe we forgot our bathing suits, life jackets, or perhaps our canoe, but we know tha, at this moment, it would be dangerous for us to jump in...(probably because someone somewhere behind us is calling us to come away from the river's edge).

Happy Birthday, btw.

Haha! Still alive, nevertheless!

Thanks, Lois :)

Still contemplating how to jump in at this point...

Akeela, Lois, I'm with you in the edge! I wish I could get back in, but the river's flowing too fast for me...

We need a few literary kayaks and a couple of life jackets, me thinks.

> 30 and 31 Haha!

Seems I finally had a lifeline - in the form of Kamila Shamsie.

I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing her at the fabulous Open Book Festival in Cape Town this month. She was very impressive, in a completely unassuming way. She's intelligent, clearly well-read, totally down-to-earth, with a surprisingly good sense of humor thrown in.

And I finally read, wait for it, Broken Verses. It blew me away! It is a beautifully crafted novel. I don't have the wherewithal to write a review at the moment but what I managed to say a few moments ago on the book page is this: Broken Verses is a subtle and beautiful character-driven novel of family, love, disappointment, grief and ultimately hope. It is probably my favorite read this year.

Rachel and Avaland, both of you are linked to Shamsie in my mind - of course there was the gorgeous Shamsie Trio by Cait, in Belletrista, and Rach I think you loved Burnt Shadows? Did you read Broken Verses? If you did, I credit you with the rec! :)

>32 akeela: I have not read Shamsie, Akeela, but obviously will have to pick up Broken Verses now!

Lois, I loved it but she's since written Burnt Shadows, an apparently more accomplished work, which I must get to!

I recently read the slight memoir The Guardians by Sarah Manguso and found it to be a strange tribute to Maguso’s friend, Harris, who had committed suicide by stepping in-front of a moving train. The book is egocentric and Manguso shares some alarmingly personal thoughts about her friend, with allusions to a romantic relationship that might-have-been.

She writes: “”… I think my life wouldn't have been swallowed by disappointment if I’d married someone else – that if I’d married Harris, I would always be happy and he would have lived.”

She goes on at length about how Harris’ death traumatised and incapacitated her for years. What is most surprising is that Manguso is married, though some of her assertions showed a worrying disregard for her hapless husband... Not sure what the point of the book is. This is not a book I'd recommend.

Hi, Akeela! I'm glad that you were able to see Kamila Shamsie in person, and that she was as impressive a person as she is a writer. I loved Burnt Shadows, which I gave 5 stars when I read it in 2009. I'm also pleased that you enjoyed Broken Verses; I own it and In the City By the Sea, but I haven't read either book yet.

The Guardians, on the other hand, was awful and horribly self-absorbed. I did like Manguso's memoir The Two Kinds of Decay, though.

Hi Darryl. Welcome back! You're making the trip to and fro across the pond look very easy!

And so, two recs from you in one breath :) Thank you!

I read and really liked In the City by the Sea but it was very simple. Almost obviously a first novel. Shamsie has grown in leaps and bounds from book to book, it seems!

I'm glad to see you making another appearance here. Any contemporary South African books you'd like to recommend these days, perhaps something that has come across your desk at work?

Lois, you may know that I've never really loved South African work quite as well as I love African fiction! That's not to say that South African fiction isn't good... Lol!

Some of my colleagues have devoured Philida by Andre Brink. Other titles not really up my alley that I've heard people rave about are Lauren Beukes' The Shining Girls and Deadlands by Lily Hearne. I'll have to cast my eye about and report back here...

Funny that you should ask actually because just today I became engaged in a national endeavor inviting South African librarians to nominate their Top Ten Books published in South Africa in the last 20 years of our democracy. Will be interesting to see what response we get!

I will keep you posted. It will run for a couple of months, at least.

>38 akeela: Intriguing---of the last twenty years! Wonder if I can guess any?! Top ten by potential importance or by popularity? Disgrace? Agaat? A Dry, White Season? The Heart of Redness? The Good Doctor? Living, Loving & Lying Awake at Night? (just playing with you!) It would be an interesting list if the list is inclusive (not that I could read any of the titles if they weren't in English. Don't you have quite a number of official languages in SA?). Do post it if one is put together!

I saw the Badami book Tell it to the Trees on the Impac Dublin Award longlist, nominated by the Cape Town central library, and wondered if you had anything to do with that nomination;-)

I'd also love to see that list!

> 39 You got me! Some great choices there, Lois. A Dry White Season preceded democracy in South Africa but Andre Brink has certainly not stopped writing, so I'm sure he will feature on the list. See how good you are: the first nomination came in this evening for The Heart of Redness of Zakes Mda!

Oh, it has since become a search for the The Librarians' Choice: Top 20 South African books, since librarians felt 10 books would be too limiting. Part of the brief: "In celebration of 20 years of democracy we are calling on you, South African library staff, to nominate your favorite books published in the last 20 years in South Africa. The nominations are open to all genres, all types of literature from fiction to non-fiction, adult and even children’s books. We want you to tell us about those books that you treasure; books that you believe should grace each and every library collection in the country. The titles could focus on issues of democracy or contribute to the consolidation of our new democracy; or it could examine who we are and where we are going as a nation. It must be written by a South African author in one of our official languages and must be published between 1994 and 2013."

> 40 It's a fairly lengthy process that will be completed only by March 2014. Will share it!

... I work at the fabulous Central Library in Cape Town :)

http://flavorwire.com/309136/10-wonderful-libraries-repurposed-from-unused-struc...

Well you certainly do work at fabulous place! Had to google which led to this. How wonderful!

Then I clicked on the bizarre libraries and didn't care for those. Yours is the best!

Thanks, Merrikay :)

Wow, your library is beautiful...and to think, that is your office...

Definitely the Cape Town library is in the "Wow!" category. Beautiful!

Thanks, guys! :D

One of the perks of my job is that I am responsible for collection development - I get paid to buy books, lots of them!!!

It sounds like the ideal job in the ideal setting.

Beautiful!

I failed to check the publication day of the Brink, but yes, he is still writing, isn't he—but I should have known better.. I think I just saw that he has a new book out (or coming out), but I don't remember whether it was a translation or not.

akeela - just wanted to add my voice to the chorus - you certainly do work in a beautiful place. I'm sure you know how lucky you are - and it sounds like you have one of my dream jobs!

Thank you, Paul, Colleen, Lois :)

> 48 You're way too hard on yourself. Lol. I was very impressed with the authors you listed off the top of your head. There are South Africans who wouldn't have been able to come up with any names or titles!

I expect the nominations will be almost 100% English... Brink writes in both English and Afrikaans. He is a Professor in the English Department at the University of Cape Town, my Alma mater.

Gorgeous library -- what a lovely place to work.

>50 akeela: Will that make the nominations somewhat less inclusive? Or do most notable books in any of the other languages eventually get translated so the rest of the country can read them? I can't imagine how a country functions with so many official languages*; is English the language most business is conducted in?

Lois, a lot of nominations have come in and many of them for Afrikaans books! Most of the notable books are translated into English, if they were written in Afrikaans, yes. And English is definitely the language in the business world.

The reason we are sitting with 11 official languages was to be inclusive, but it is unwieldy!

>53 akeela: unwieldy. I'd expect so. But, somehow in my mind, I associate Afrikaans with Apartheid, and can't help but wonder about a list that might be dominated by Afrikaans books. And here I say that I am likely very undereducated about South Africa, it's history and makeup, and may be making improper and certainly outdated associations. I know the country is trying to move on from Apartheid.

Either way, any list you all come up with, if it gets some attention, will help some of the other titles get translated and published in English, and perhaps other languages. It may gain them a wider readership.

Beukes is published here and is getting attention in SF circles. We have Zoo City, though I haven't read it (and currently it's packed away).

Lois, I think it will even out in the next weeks, and there will be a much greater number of English books in the final tally than Afrikaans. We'll see...

Afrikaans communities have traditionally had access to books and education in South Africa, so they're an established reading community. With indigenous speakers in South Africa, we find that a reading culture still needs to be developed. These communities were historically deprived of books, libraries, education, even. There's a lot of catching up to do. Mindsets to be changed. Work to be done, for librarians, teachers, and so on. But there is some magic happening among the young kids who are exposed to books and libraries via their schools early already! We have happily seen some bookworms emerge :)

Beukes is a big star here... It's not a genre I favor so I haven't yet read Zoo City. I should probably. One day.

>55 akeela: A librarian with a vision! I like that!

> 56 :)

The War of the Wives by Tamar Cohen. The story, briefly: A man dies/ commits suicide, possibly, and at his funeral two wives and their grown children turn up to mourn his death. Both have been happily married to him. One for 28 years, the other for 17 years, and as far as both are concerned, he traveled a lot for work, so was frequently away from home.

The realization for both women - who have dissimilar personalities - is devastating. There are undeniable resemblances to their father, in the children, on both sides. The narrative swings from one wife’s perspective to the other, by the chapter. Cohen does a good job of drawing one into the inner world of the women, as they struggle in their distinct ways to come to terms with the shattering revelation.

Neither can fathom what they've just learned. And at the heart of the matter the two women have pain, humiliation, disappointment, and grief in common - something none of their friends, siblings, or children can grasp quite like they do.

The book was compelling. Cohen has a good sense of humor. There were a couple of strange grammatical errors. And she threw in a lot of twists, one or two too many, but I found it to be an enjoyable, undemanding read.

Years ago, I knew someone something similar happened to. Her husband disappeared the day she found out she was pregnant with their second child, after cleaning out their bank account, and it eventually turned out he had another wife and family somewhere.

How awful, Rebecca! How do you recover from that?

Wives sounds kind of intriguing to me. So weird. You know, I really really love my husband, but I don't think I'd want two!

I have no idea, but she was a friend of one of my then-roommates and I completely lost touch with her. This was more than 30 years ago.

Intriguing story. Reminds me a wee bit of Jennifer Haigh's novel Mrs. Kimble, about the three different woman this one man married, one after the other though.

> 62 Will seek out Mrs. Kimble.

The Days of Abandonment by Elana Ferrante. Translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein.

Olga and Mario have been married for 15 years, when one day, out of the blue, he announces that he has another woman and is leaving. The reality of the abandonment is devastating, and the book is a testament to Olga’s gut-wrenching struggle in the face of the rejection she feels.

I read this book in a day and was taken by Ferrante’s ability to capture the raw pain and incapacitation of this woman; the depths she plunges to as she struggles to find her way out of the quagmire that is her new reality. The writing is sparse and unsentimental but the internal battle she wages is real and staggering.

Ferrante is apparently a reclusive but celebrated Italian author who refuses interviews about her books. This book was lucid, intensely personal, and profoundly honest – sometimes uncomfortably so. Ferrante got to the heart of Olga’s pain to such an extent, I wondered if it was biographical.

I also recently read the much-talked about and reviewed The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman, for work. I may be the last person on earth who read it! In a nutshell, it's about Tom and Izzy, a barren couple who live on an island, where he takes joy in being the lighthouse keeper. One day they find a dead man and a two-month-old baby in a passing boat and, instead of reporting the incident to the mainland, they keep the baby and raise it as their own - a decision that leads to many moral questions. I liked the relationship between Tom and Lucy, the child. I also particularly liked the reverence for the light :)

I also read an autobiographical Afrikaans fiction title by a well-known (at home) South African author, Annalie Botes. The book is called Sabbatsreis, which translates as The Sabbath Journey. It’s a reference to her setting out on a Sunday evening, on a journey, actually to commit suicide from the London Bridge, though she obviously doesn’t tell her family this.

She thankfully does not commit suicide but lands up earning Pounds as a live-in nurse to a bedridden older woman, who lives with her uncaring daughter and thoughtful son-in-law. The author’s saving grace is the forest just outside their home, which becomes her temple for prayer, tears, smoking, creativity and lifesaving insights. I’m disappointed to note that the book has not been translated into English. It’s a brilliant and poignant read.

Always interesting reading, Akeela.

Thanks, Lois. I found too many new TBRs on your 2014 thread already! As a result, jumped into Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill yesterday. It's a perfect holiday read :)

>66 akeela: Madame Verona reminded me a little of Jamilia in that it had a kind folk tale feel to it. I think edwinbcn had a review of another of Verhulst's books on his thread (somewhere around book # 91) but it didn't sound very appetizing.

>67 avaland:

The book I read and reviewed this summer was called De laatkomer, it was published in 2013, and has not yet been translated.

The book avaland has been looking for is De helaasheid der dingen (2006), which was translated as The Misfortunates.

Mevrouw Verona daalt de heuvel af (Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill) was also first published in 2006.

Dimitri Verhulst is a Belgian writer who writes in the Dutch language.

> 67 68 Thank you! I have a copy of The Misfortunates in one of my stacks...Pity..

The Days of Abandonement looks like a good; if uncomfortable read.

Akeela, I hope you will be creating a thread in 2014.... hint, hint.

Haha! I wasn't very good about LT in 2012 or 13 but will probably give it another go, Lois. Thanks :)