Since it’s Friday, I wanted to post something on the lighter side. These bookends are the perfect addition to any book collection 🙂
The MoMA Bookends are cute and functional.
This one might be my favorite, I can’t look at it without giggling.
These are really fun but a bit on the pricey side.
I wish they showed these with some books in the middle.
These were created by a cool design firm Zuny. Their site is actually pretty neat as well and is worth checking out.
With the seemingly ever increasing demand for eReaders, Borders has announced a new contestant, the Kobo. Coming out June 17th, right in time for Father’s Day, the Kobo looks similar to the Kindle and the Nook but is slightly smaller and lighter (measuring approximately 4.7 x 7.2 x 0.4 inches and weighing less than 8 ounces – the Kindle and the Nook are closed to 8×5 and both weigh over 10 ounces). The Kobo is also being released at only $149.99 which should make it a strong contender in terms of price (Kindle and Nook start at $259 each). I think my biggest issue with Border’s device is just that it is kind of ugly…
I did some research and it looks like the Kobo is actually a Canadian eReader that Borders has partnered with to release exclusively in the US. For now, it looks like Kobo is more focused on it’s e-library versus this new device. The eBooks work with several prominent eReaders (other than the Kobo) including Sony’s eReader, the Nook and Bookeen, as well as several others. It is also rumored that there is an iPad app on its way for Kobo eBooks.
I have been wanting to buy an eReader for some time now so I have made sure to covertly read over people’s shoulders whenever I sit next to someone reading on one (I’m sure they all love that…). I have been working on a more detailed analysis on the best eReader (Kindle, Nook, Bookeen, iPad, Sony’s eReader and now the Kobo) for a later post at the end of which I will hopefully purchase my very own, so stay tuned.
The Outlander series (called Cross Stitch in the UK) is definitely one of my guilty pleasures. Bordering on bodice ripper romance, this series stays in the realm of “historical fiction” by Gabaldon’s detailed (sometimes painfully detailed) descriptions of everyday life in mid to late 1700s.
The fourth book in the series, Drums of Autumn did not disappoint although it did seem to drag on a bit towards the middle (all of Gabaldon’s books are intimidatingly long). I am glad I persevered though since the last couple hundred pages were excellent and I could not put the book down towards the end. Gabaldon does a wonderful job of portraying the day to day life of people in the American colonies in the 1700s and makes you feel as if you are realy there with them. Plus the love story between Claire and Jamie is pretty amazing.
I also enjoyed that Gabaldon is setting the books up for the next generation, Claire and Jamie’s daughter, Bree. I am looking forward to getting started on her next book, The Fiery Cross, (which seems to be the longest yet…).
I’ll be honest, when I found out we were reading this book for book club, I was not thrilled. I was expecting another sappy, poorly written love story, Nicholas Sparks style. I was pleasantly surprised by the complexity of the story and the over arching themes of time, mortality and fate that complemented the love story extremely well. Henry and Clare’s story is touching and realistic (despite the whole time traveling thing) in terms of depicting the ups and downs of a normal relationship. The question of freewill was probably the most interesting part of the book with Niffengger arguing that what has been done cannot be undone or changed, i.e. there is only one decision to make for each moment of your life (definitely puts the Lost parallel universe theory in its place). Even when Henry travels back in time, he cannot change the actions that he has already made, these are set forever in stone.
I definitely enjoyed this book more than I was expecting and though I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this to a boy, I would definitely recommend it to any girls out there looking for a lighter but interesting read for the Spring. Enjoy 🙂
I have been going through a sort of reading frenzy over the past two weeks, doing too much reading and not enough writing so now I have a few book reviews to catch up on. I had a tough time writing a review of The Reluctant Fundamentalist because it was the most unsettling of what I have read and, though the shortest book I have read in awhile, also raised the most questions.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist is told from the perspective of a Pakistani man named Changez who has cornered an American man in the city of Lahore where he lives and taken him out to show him the city while also telling him his life story. The entire tale is told as if you are the American man and Changez is telling you his story while interjecting to ask if you would like more tea? or to explain what is going on around you in the city of Lahore. Changez’s tale is a troubling tale of disillusionment and fundamentalism. Changez’s character is a constant contradiction as he relishes being consistently ranked as the best new hire at his financial firm but then berates the firm for their cold hearted capitalist fundamentals. Due to his background, Changez should embrace capitalism, it is the only answer for him and his family that are quickly falling into ruin in the disintegrating Pakistani economy. Instead, he rejects the American ideals and blames them for his troubles in Pakistan, feeling sorry for his neighbors in Afghanistan due to the “American interference” and conversely wishing America would intervene in Pakistan to help with the threat of Indian invasion. While I think Hamid’s point was to get us to sympathize with Changez and to see “the other side’s point of view”, I couldn’t get myself to sympathize with a character that complains about the blessings he has been given (Princeton education, good job, healthy family, etc).
The novel is also an allegory for how America conducts itself abroad (suspiciously and somewhat domineeringly) via the actions of the mysterious American who Changez is speaking to. The reader is constantly suspicious of Changez and what his motives are for taking this mysterious American out to dinner. His constant assurances that everything is fine just serves to deepen your worry as to what his true motives are. Hamid does an excellent job of arousing the reader’s suspicions, making you aware that in this day and age, being American means being suspicious at least some of the time. Who hasn’t been traveling and seen a bag that at first looks abandoned or noticed the security threat level has been raised again and had thoughts about turning around and going home? Hamid reminds us that this is now a sad fact of life.
I have always been extremely fascinated by the last 100 years of Iran’s history, especially the Iranian revolution in 1978 and the subsequent deposition of the Shah, creation of an Islamic Republic, and the following descent into turmoil and war with Iraq. The Septembers of Shiraz focuses on a wealthy Jewish family who live in Iran at the start of the revolution and how their lives are changed completely following the deposition of the Shah.
I loved this book mostly because of how various stories intersect to form a complex reflection on the events of the revolution. The book is extremely frustrating at times and reminded me constantly how lucky I am to live in a society where I have confidence in the legal and political system. The speed with which so many Iranian families lost everything is amazing to me. The hatred was so well seeded that once it began, the revolution destroyed everything it touched. I did like that Sofer tried to remind us what matters most is not our possessions but our relationships and the people we love most and to thank God for these gifts every day. All in all a beautiful and fascinating book.
This book, though sad, was an emotional and beautiful story. The book centers around a nine year old boy, Oskar. Oskar, already extremely precocious for his age (his character borders on having Aspergers syndrome) is further alienated from his friends and family after the death of his father in 9/11. Oskar is instantly likable and hilarious, a 9 year old vegan who speaks French and constantly carries around his tambourine to play with as he walks.
One interesting aspect of the book is that it is halfway between novel and graphic novel, occasionally there are images interspersed through the text to make the story even more visual than it already is. I think this helped to reinforce the childlike tone of the book as well as to further immerse the reader in the story.
Foer constantly brings the reader back to the events of 9/11, which are at some parts very difficult scenes to read. He parallells these scenes with descriptions from Oskar’s grandparents whose lives were destroyed after the Allied bombings of Dresden during the second world war. Foer definitely does not try and soften the blow of how awful these two events were for those involved but he does try and show the inner workings of a child’s brain coping with something as terrible as 9/11. It took awhile for me to come to this conclusion but I do think the ending is meant to be hopeful with a grain of reality.
Despite the terrible events told in the book and the awful impact they have on Oskar, Foer still manages to keep a light note to story and there were definitely times I laughed out loud at Oskar’s antics. As a whole I really enjoyed the story despite the tough nature of the content.
Flourish & Blotts Book News 