BiblioAddict The First Step on the Road to Recovery

While browsing through Amazon’s Best Books of 2011 So Far list, I came across Galore by Michael Crummey. Well, I didn’t really come across it since I’d seen it around the interwebs many times before. But Galore was one of those books that I knew existed but didn’t really have on my future reads radar.

I finally started paying attention a few days ago, and now I can’t wait to read it. Maybe it’s because the Amazon editors think it’s one of the best of the year (so far). Maybe it’s the cover (which I think looks kind of steam-punkish even though the book isn’t at all). Or, maybe it’s this synopsis:

Out of the belly of a whale, Michael Crummey pulls the marvelous story of Paradise Deep, a remote settlement on the northern Newfoundland coast, a place “too severe and formidable, too provocative, too extravagant and singular and harrowing to be real,” teeming with fierce rivalries, affections, and loyalties spanning five intertwined generations. His tale opens in a hungry winter, when a beached humpback arrives as an unexpected gift and the townspeople convene to claim their piece. From a slit in its gut spills a man–white, mute, and eerily alive–who assumes a central role in the lineage of the Divine family. Alternately feared as a devil and revered as a healer, Judah fathers a fish-scented son with the raven-haired Mary Tryphena. Their family comprises the heart of the town’s rich mythology, with all its ghosts, mermaid trysts, strange accidents, miraculous babies, and impossible loves, rendered in language so gorgeously raw, it will transport you to a land whose sky is “alive with the northern lights, the roiling seines of green and red like some eerily silent music to accompany the suffering below.” –Mari Malcolm

Alright, so the synopsis is also by Amazon. This is usually when I begin to suspect corporate coercive strategies, but 39 people also gave Galore a near-perfect rating (I’m of the opinion that Amazon book reviewers are very hard to please). Besides, anything that uses the cliched phrase “hungry winter” can only sway me so much. Anyway, Galore sounds like the perfect winter read. Unfortunately, winter is also when I’ll have the least time to read this, so I might just pick it up after I’ve finished Cypress House by Michael Koryta. Galore‘s wintry setting should be a nice contrast to Cypress House‘s balmy summer on the Gulf Coast.

Two Cents From Around the Web (a few links to what others thought of Galore):

The Book Catapult (with video of Crummey talking about Newfoundland folklore)

The Walrus

Largehearted Boy (with a playlist of music relating to Galore created by Crummy himself)

The Second Pass

Rundpinne

Arts and Culture: Christopher Purdy

Like Fire

Fat Books, Thin Women

Devourer of Books

Hooked on Books

Popularity: 9% [?]

Tired, I guess, of seeing me lug a bag of books with me everywhere I went, BiblioGuy got me an iPad for my 28th birthday. He had it inscribed with one my favorite quotes: “Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt,” Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five. It was actually very sweet and – need I say – very, very cool.

My iPad and I have slowly been getting to know each other these last couple of weeks, and I must say that I think iPad and I have embarked on the beginning of a beautiful relationship. I had already begun to kind of like it when I used it to surf the Internet and watch Netflix movies while moving from room to room, but Love (capital “L” intended) didn’t really set in until I downloaded the British Library 19th Century Collection app. This app is, for me, a peak into biblioaddicts’ heaven. And if there is such a thing, the folks at The British Library should get a one-way ticket there.

What those divine librarians have done is scan over 1,000 of their rare books from the 19th Century and made them searchable by title or author. So, if you feel like reading a rare copy of Sherlock Holmes stories or of Mansfield Park by Austen all you have to do is a quick search, and there you have it. I didn’t really think I was much into reading copies of rare books, but it turns out I was wrong. I don’t think I’m into possessing copies of rare books – that would be way too much pressure – but reading them is something altogether different. It’s fantastic. There’s definitely something to be said for reading a classic in its original typeface with its aged paper and original illustrations. It’s quite simply gorgeous:

If you have an iPad, this app is highly recommended. Plus, as with all great things in life, it’s free.

Popularity: 8% [?]

It is now, officially, summer. Which means I have a mountain of reading to do. Which means I’m breathing new life into my sleeping BiblioAddict. I’m throwing open the curtains and letting the sunlight in. I’m sweeping the dust from the floor, building a few new bookcases, and stacking them neatly and nicely with all of the books I plan – hope, desperately desire – to read this summer. Finally, I’m throwing in a flea-market worthy chair made comfortably worn by a thousand different butts and positioned just-so by the window with a reading light at my elbow and … voila! We are back in business.

I’m rusty at this whole book blogging business, so I should probably start off slow and ease my way back into things. But, come on: ease? Who has time for that? What I do have is nine months worth of reading to catch up on in two months. I’ve got to get to work!

**reading voraciously**

Stay tuned.

Popularity: 9% [?]

On saying good-bye and shutting it down:

Ok, so obviously I stole the title of this post from Joshua Ferris (or from the editor who gave his book its title) since he (she?) can say it much better than I ever could.  And anyway, this post is about six months overdue so I doubt there are too many people around to care at this point.  I’m sure all of this blog’s regular readers have migrated to more prolific bloggers long, long ago.  Nevertheless, even though it’s probably too little too late, I’d like to give my poor, neglected blog an official shut-down.  I’m pulling the curtains, sweeping the empty floor, and turning off all the lights.  As much as I wish I still had time to give BiblioAddict the care and attention it deserves, life has intruded in a way that leaves little time for “pleasure” reading, much less maintaining a blog about said reading.  I speak of nothing less than law school.  Yes, Biblioaddict (me) has moved to law school in the Windy City. (!)

I’m currently deep in the thick of things.  The good news is that I’m finding the learning material endlessly interesting.  One of my best and worst qualities is my boundless curiosity – I want to know everything about everything and anything.  The up-side is that I know a little bit about a lot of stuff.  The down-side is that I know a little bit about a lot of stuff.  Because I’m interested in so much, it’s difficult for one subject to maintain my interest long enough for me to see how deep its rabbit hole goes.  Law is full of deep rabbit holes and all of them seem boundlessly interesting.  I’ve found it fascinating on so many levels, which – let me tell you – is a surprise in and of itself, because I would never have thought it was possible four years ago.

So that’s the good news.  The bad news is that it’s a lot of reading.  Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m not complaining about reading per se, because, I mean – come on.  What I am saying is that I do so much reading for class that I have little time to read The Best American books I bought a few weeks ago. (Speaking of which, is it me, or are the Best American books spectacularly good this year?  I got the 2010 Best American Short Stories, Mysteries, Travel Writing, and Essays. I haven’t read a dud yet in either of the four books.  It makes me wish I could add three more hours to the day.) I still manage to read about 30 mins. a day of “leisure” reading, but 30 minutes of reading does not a good blog make.

So, I’m shutting it down.  I may return sometime in the future, but just in case I don’t, let me say that it’s been a fun ride.  Before starting BiblioAddict, I had no idea that there were so many people in the world who are as crazy about books and reading as I am.  Lo and behold, not only are there other Biblioaddicts out there in the world, but there are too many to count!  It has been a revelation to learn that I’m not a weirdo for being passionate about books.  It only makes me a member of a very large, very cool community of readers who are some of the greatest people I have ever “met.”  Besides that, being a blogger has expanded my reading interests in ways that I could have never have anticipated when I started this blog.  I learned that I like young adult literature and Jane Austin.  I discovered M.R. James, and Phillip Pullman and Wilkie Collins.  For the first time, I thrilled to Joyce Carol Oates and Alison Bechdel and Jeanette Winterson.  That’s just to name a small few.

And just because old habits are hard to break, before I shut it down for good I should probably mention what I’m reading now which are the following:

2010 Best American Short Stories ed. by Richard Russo

2010 Best American Travel Writing ed. by Bill Bryson

2010 Best American Mystery Stories ed. by Lee Child

2010 Best American Essays ed. by Christopher Hitchens

My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me ed. by Kate Bernheimer and Gregory Maguire

The Haunted Dolls House and Other Stories by M.R. James

Being Wrong, Adventures in the Margins of Error by Kathryn Schultz

As you can see, I’ve definitely transitioned to shorter stories while I work my way through this first quarter of law school.  I hope to work my way back up to full novels, but short stories will do for now. After all, it’s not like I don’t have enough anthologies on my TBR shelf to keep me busy for many years to come.

Aaaaand, that’s all, folks.  May your reading take you to far away lands of knowledge, enlightenment and entertainment. Keep reading, keep loving it, and most of all keep talking about it.  Whenever I need a break from the land of law, I always check my GoogleReader to see what everyone else is talking and thinking about.  I may not comment, but I’m definitely around. Goodbye, all. It’s been fun.

Exeunt.

Popularity: 18% [?]

On princes, mist, and double le sighs:

Whoa, whoa whoa.  I know I’ve been off the radar and all but when did Carlos Ruiz Zafon come out with a new book?  I wasn’t expecting this at all.  Especially since I waited almost six years (or something that felt like six years) for Zafon to come out with The Angel’s Game after I read and loved The Shadow of the Wind. I figured I’d have to wait just as long for Zafon’s third book so I, er… haven’t even read The Angel’s Game yet.  Now I’m behind.  Double le sigh.

The Prince of Mist is a little different from the other two in that it’s classified as a young adult novel. There also seems to be more overt supernatural elements in this book than in his other two.  The book description on Amazon reads:

It’s war time, and the Carver family decides to leave the capital where they live and move to a small coastal village where they’ve recently bought a home. But from the minute they cross the threshold, strange things begin to happen. In that mysterious house still lurks the spirit of Jacob, the previous owners’ son, who died by drowning.

With the help of their new friend Roland, Max and Alicia Carver begin to explore the strange circumstances of that death and discover the existence of a mysterious being called the Prince of Mist–a diabolical character who has returned from the shadows to collect on a debt from the past. Soon the three friends find themselves caught up in an adventure of sunken ships and an enchanted stone garden–an adventure that will change their lives forever.

Oh, and did I mention there’s a trailer?

…….

Needless to say, I’ve already requested a copy from the library.  The library hasn’t received their own ordered copies yet, which means I have some time to read my way through The Angel’s Game.  Sweet.

Popularity: 37% [?]

On brothers, latrines, closing out the city, starting the big machine, and uncovering the hidden brain:

No excuses for my two-day silence.  Onwards and upwards, folks!  Besides, I’m feeling pretty good since I just polished off China Mieville’s The City & The City.  I’ll say only that I liked it, because I’ve found that the less I say about a book before I’ve posted my post-read rambles, the most likely I am to actually to post my post-read rambles. So tonight is for catching up on the memes I missed this week, the first of which occurred on Tuesday: Teaser Tuesdays!

The following paragraph is taken from Brothers by Yu Hua:

Baldy Li had never met his birth father, since on the day he was born his father left his earth in a fit of stink.  His mother told him that his father had drowned, but Baldy Li asked, “How? Did he drown in the stream, in the pond, or in a well?”  His mother didn’t respond.  It was only later, after Baldy Li had been caught peeping and had become stinkingly notorious throughout Liu Town – only then did he learn that he really was another rotten melon off the same damn vine as his father.  And it was only then that he learned that his father had also been peeping at women’s butts in a latrine when he accidentally fell into the cesspool and drowned. – page 3

Brothers is the epic and ribald story of Baldi Li who navigates the changing world of China from the Cultural Revolution to reform and globalization.  According to the back of the book, this novel is hugely popular in China despite – or perhaps, because of – its very irreverent take on Chinese cultural.  This may have had something to do with why it was short-listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize and the winner of the Prix Courrier International Winner.  When I saw Brothers in the bookstore I was instantly drawn to it.  It’s been a long while since I’ve read a book set in China.  In fact, I can’t remember the last book I read set in China so this will be a real treat to read once I get around to it.

Now on to the second meme I missed this week, Library Loot!  Well, unfortunately there isn’t very much to report here since I haven’t made any trips to the library within the last week.  Given the fact that I already have more than a few books I’m trying to speed through before the due date, I guess that shouldn’t be much of a surprise.  Now that I’ve wrapped up The City & The City, I need to get cracking on Big Machine by Victor LaValle and The Hidden Brain: How our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives by Shankar Vadantam, both of which are due back in the library in the next five – yes, five – days.  I swear this library thing is going to give me a heart attack.

Before I sign off, I should say that though I didn’t make it to the library this week, I did pick a free copy of Linchpin: Are You Indespensable? by Seth Grodin yesterday.  My company gave it out to everyone at an office-wide event yesterday.  I’ve seen this book around and I gotta say I was really happy when I heard they were giving out copies to everyone.  Of course, when am I ever not happy when someone’s giving away free books?  In any case, since there are some things that I’d like to change about my professional life at the moment, it looks like this may have arrived at just the right time.

And that’s all, folks.  I have some serious speed-reading I need to get back to.  Happy reading, all.

* Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading

* Library Loot is a weekly meme co-hosted by Eva and A Striped Armchair and Marg at Adventures of an Intrepid Reader.

Popularity: 21% [?]

On reading too many books, a bit of a conundrum, two cities, and a big machine:

What am I reading?  One too many books, that’s what.  I need help!  One of my goals this year was to cut down on the number of books I read at a single time.  I was doing pretty well too.  Granted, I went from reading two books at a time, to three, and now to four – but four was the absolute limit, I tell ya.  Any more than four and I know where this road ends.  It ends with my reading ten plus books at one time and hardly ever finishing any of them.  So, no more.

Only now I have a bit of conundrum.  I’ m currently reading:

The Forever War by Dexter Filkins.  I’ve already gushed about it here, and it’s still just as good.

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.  I haven’t gushed about this one yet, but everyone else has, and so far it’s lived up to the hype.  This novel is ridiculously well written.  I love it when authors make poetry out of seemingly simply constructed sentences and that is exactly what McCann does.  The language is gorgeous and lush at the same time that it’s economical.  I love it.

The Book of Night Women by Marlon James.  I’ve seen this book around a while, but when I first saw it, I didn’t really have much of an inclination to read it.  I’m thanking my lucky stars I checked this one out from the library.  This book is unlike anything I’ve read in a very long time.  It’s no wonder this one made it so far into the Tournament of Books.  The dialogue in which this novel is written – the Jamaican English of seventeenth century slaves – is feat of wonder.  It’s consistently unique yet authentic, and very, very impressive.

Then there are the two books which have been battling it out for the fourth spot for the past week.  To read or not to read, that is the question at hand.  Both of them are library books, which is exactly the problem, because you know, due dates and all.  A few weeks ago, as you may recall, I checked out China Mieville’s The City & The City.  I started read that as my fourth book, because I’d been wanting to read some Mieville for a while.  In fact, last year I almost bought Un Lun Dun, about which I’d heard very good things.

I went for The City & The City instead, because it seemed I’d been hearing a lot of good things about it lately, plus it won the British Science Fiction Association award, and it recently made the shortlist for the Nebula awards.  What can I say?  I’m a sucker for a good award-winning novel, especially one with a premise as interesting as The City & The City.  The City & The City is essentially a murder mystery set in a city that occupies the same space as another, rival city.  The two cities share the same land, but they exist on two separate planes even though residents of one city can technically see the residents of the other city.  It’s definitely unique, but I’ll be darned if it doesn’t work.

I was reading The City & The City at a pretty happy clip until I had the bright idea to put in a hold request for Victor LaValle’s Big Machine. I’d first head about this on the Tournament of Books, too.  This book went pretty far in the the competition as well.  In fact, it got knocked out of the competition by none other than The Book of Night Women. From what I remember though, it was a pretty close call.  In any case, when I put in a hold request at the library for a copy, I didn’t think it would arrive as soon as it did.  I didn’t have much time to finish off one of my other current reads before I had to pick this one up at the library.  It seems now that the word is out that Big Machine is a book worth reading, other people have requested this at the library.  What this means for me is that I either read it before the due date, return it unread, or accrue .25 cents per day in overdue fines.  (Sidenote:  Overdue fines are .25 cents a day now?!  I mean, really?  When did this become standard policy?  Not to sound like a golden oldie or anything, but I remember when overdue fines were more like nickel or dime a day.  I understand libraries need to make their revenue and patrons – including myself – really should return books on time, but a quarter? Sheez louise.)

So what’s a girl to do?  Does she drop The City & The City, a book which she’s very much enjoying, for one with a due much more urgent?  Or does she start on the slippery slope of doom and read five books at one time?  I suppose I could drop either The Forever War or Let the Great World Spin, since I own both of those books, but I don’t want to stop in the middle of reading those either.  It seems like the thing to do is to engage in a little speed reading.  I guess I better get cracking!  Sigh. I complain, but I love having too many great things to read.  But…ahem, if you have any alternative solutions to my speed reading, I’m open to hearing them.

Happy reading all.

*It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by BookJourney.

P.S.  The spammers have been out in full force lately, so unfortunately I’ve had to turn on my comment moderation.  It sucks, I know.  Blame it on the spambots.

Popularity: 29% [?]

On the everyday and the fantastic:

This book is now five days overdue at the library.  Normally, I would feel really bad about that, especially since other patrons have requested it and are waiting for it as we speak, but I am so happy that I didn’t return Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me before I had a chance to read it.  Good lord, what a wonderful book.  I have no words for how much I enjoyed this novel, only that I’m thanking my lucky stars When You Reach Me wasn’t published four years ago when I thought YA literature couldn’t possibly suit my adult literary taste.  How wrong I was.

One of my favorite kinds of novels are those that mix the everyday with the fantastic, and what I really enjoy is when novels use the fantastic not just for its inherent appeal, but to reveal how profound the everyday really is.  When You Reach Me is one of those books.  When You Reach Me is the story of Miranda, a twelve-year old girl who’s learned how to expertly navigate the streets of her New York neighborhood with her best friend Sal.  Avoid crazy laughing man on the corner.  Check.  Always have key out before you get to the door. Double check.  Miranda’s life seems to be a normal one until something terrible and momentous happens to her best friend, and suddenly Miranda is forced to think about the true meaning of friendship, and what it means to be a thoughtful and generous person.

Oh, but it’s about so much more than that, and I’m making it sound all blah and cliche, aren’t I?  How do I explain that it’s also about understanding that people are complicated, that you might have more in common with someone you despise or less in common with someone you find generally agreeable.  It’s about navigating the tumultuous waves of friendship; it’s about the embarrassment of your first crush and the excitement of your first kiss; it’s about the moment at which we realize our parents can dream and be disappointed too.  It’s about boring music assemblies (I remember those!), and first jobs, and quiz shows, and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.

And, I haven’t even gotten to the fantastic part yet. Somewhere in the middle of all of this Miranda begins receiving mysterious notes from someone who knows more than anyone could possibly know about Miranda’s life.  The first letter reads (don’t worry – this doesn’t give away anything of the plot):

M,

This is hard.  Harder than I expected, even with your help.  But I have been practicing, and my preparations go well.  I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own.

I ask two favors.

First, you must write me a letter.

Second, please remember to mention the location of your house key.

The trip is a difficult one.  I will not be myself when I reach you.

And so begins the mystery of When You Reach Me.  The mystery at the heart of this novel – who is sending the letters? Why are they sending the letters? How do they know so much about Miranda’s life? – is what makes this great novel unforgettable.  No wonder it won the Newbery Medal.  As far as I’m concerned, it deserves many more.  And I’ll tell you another thing, I really need to read A Wrinkle in Time.

Sigh.  So now that I’m finished, I guess this means I have to be a good library patron and return When You Reach Me to the library now.  Naturally, I’m already saving up cash and space to add a copy to my personal library.  Highly recommended.

Happy reading, all.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Wendy Lamb Books / July 2009
$15.99 / 199 pages

Popularity: 36% [?]

On crappy internet service and a late library loot:

Yes, I know I’m a day late (as per usual), but my internet wasn’t working last night, and rather than give myself gray hairs cursing Time Warner’s crappy service, I decided to shrug my shoulders and curl up with one of my very good books.  Today’s Library Loot is very small compared with last week’s, but then – *cough, cough* – I still have at least half the books from last week’s Library Loot still checked out, so my library pile is still pretty towering.

But, I digress!  This week’s Library Loot:

Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It by Mailey Meloy.  First lines: “Chet Moran grew up in Logan, Montana, at a time when kids weren’t supposed to get polio anymore.  In Logan, they still did, and he had it before he was two.  He recovered, but his right hip never fit in the socket, and his mother always thought he would die young.  When he was fourteen, he started riding spoiled and unbroke horses, to prove to her that he was invincible.  They bucked and kicked and piled up on him, again and again.  He developed a theory that horses didn’t kick or shy because they were wild; they kicked and shied because for millions of years they’d had the instinct to move fast or be lion meat.”

War Dances by Sherman Alexie.  Excerpt: “Back in college, when I was first learning how to edit film—how to construct a scene—my professor, Mr. Baron, said to me, ‘You don’t have to show people using a door to walk into a room. If people are already in the room, the audience will understand that they didn’t crawl through a window or drop from the ceiling or just materialize. The audience understands that a door has been used—the eyes and mind will make the connection—so you can just skip the door.’”

Lit: A Memoir by Mary Karr.  Excerpt:  “For the first time in front of me, he drew a pint bottle from under his seat. He put the upended lid in the ashtray, and before he handed the bottle over, he drew out a corner of his shirttail to wipe the top with, saying, Want a swig?  As a kid sitting on the bar, I’d sipped beer through the salted tri- angle of his aluminum can, but Daddy had so long and adamantly denied drinking every day that Mother had long since stopped asking. And he’d sure as hell never handed me any hard liquor.”

I’ve been dying to read Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It ever since I heard about it some time last year.  I knew that I wanted to read it even before I knew what it was it about simply because its title spoke to me.  Sometimes you just know from a book’s title that it’s something that’s going to speak to you as a reader.  Meloy’s collection of short stories is one of those books.  I read the first story on the subway on my way home from the library and it was everything I expected it would be – absolutely wonderful.  The story of a cowboy falling in love for the first time was simply told, but packed a punch.  No wonder this book was on a number of award shortlists.

War Dances will be my first Sherman Alexie book.  Umm, do I need to tell you how excited I am?  I am truly hoping that this will be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.  Of course, I’m almost sure it will be given how many of you have raved about Alexie’s other books.  And finally, I was extremely surprised to see Mary Karr’s Lit just sitting on the shelf yesterday.  Earlier in the year, when I thought about placing this book on hold, I believe there were something like 400 people who were waiting on 12 copies to be returned.  I figured I’d be waiting for ages to get a copy so I didn’t even bother adding my name to the list.  But there it was yesterday, just sitting there all unassuming-like. Needless to say, I scooped it up.

Finally, I’d like to say a few parting words for Jasper Fforde’s Shades of Grey, which I returned to the library unfinished.  I wish I could say I returned it because it was due, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.  Honestly, I just couldn’t get into it.  I tried.  I did.  I love Fforde after all, and I know a couple of you told me that the book picks up, but I just didn’t find the story very compelling nor did I really care for the characters all that much.  If I didn’t have a ton of other more compelling stuff to read, I may have stuck with it, but as it is, that just isn’t the case.  It looks like this is going to be a series, so maybe I’ll come back to it later.  Anything’s possible.

So, tell me folks, have you read any of these?  Thoughts?  Comments?

* Library Loot is a weekly meme co-hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Marg at the Adventures of an Intrepid Reader.

Happy reading, all.

Popularity: 23% [?]

On scary fairy tales and once upon a time:

Today’s teaser is taken from Ludmilla Petrushevskaya’s collection of short stories, There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby: Scary Fairy Tales.

“The Miracle:”

There once lived a woman whose son hanged himself.

Which is to say, when she returned home from the night shift one morning, her boy was lying on the floor next to an overturned stool underneath a length of thin synthetic rope.

He was unconscious, but his heart still beat faintly, and so the paramedic who came with the ambulance suggested that her son wasn’t really trying to hang himself.

Even though there was a note on the table: “Mom, I’m sorry.  I love you.”

And it was only when she’d returned home from the hospital, having held her son’s hand as they rode in the ambulance, and then with him into the hospital as he lay on a stretcher, right up to the doors of the intensive care unit,  where she finally had to let him go – only upon returning home did she discover that the wool sock in which she kept her savings was empty. — page 61

There Once Lived a Woman was voted as one of New York Magazine’s Ten Best Books of the Year and as one of NPR’s Five Best Works of Foreign Fiction.  Another, longer excerpt can be found here.

This has been sitting on my TBR shelf for little over month.  Unfortunately, I don’t have time to participate in this year’s Once Upon a Time IV challenge, but if I were participating, I’d definitely be reading this.

Have you read this?  What did you think of it?

Teaser Tuesdays is hosed by Miz B at Should Be Reading.

Popularity: 21% [?]