Levithan, David "Every Day"

Levithan, David "Every Day" - 2012

An interesting book. Not especially my genre. I wouldn't even call it fantasy because to me that's trolls and dwarfs and giants and all those characters that are like humans only a little different and that don't really exist. I wouldn't call it science fiction, either, because that means to me future technology and aliens. Maybe it's dystopian but it's not a different world, at least not for most of the characters.

This is about someone who we know can't exist, either, but the idea is just too captivating not to follow it. What if there were "beings" without a body who would go from one person to the next and live their life for one day? One such "being" is A who has lived 5994 days at the beginning of the book and 6034 at the end. Which means we accompany him/her on forty days of a very complicated life. As a boy he falls in love with this girl Rhiannon and tries to see her again. This changes quite some lives, the lives of the teenagers he or she is inhabiting on those days. We meet a lot of different people together with A and see how he gets to understand them, how  he can live in them for only a short time but really jump in as if he'd been there all the time.

As I said, interesting concept, well written, certainly deserves to be a best-seller, especially for the "young adults" it has been written for because it pauses so many questions that ever teenager goes through. Who am I? Who am I really? How come I am not somebody else? What if I were a boy or a girl? What if I were adopted? What if I could live in someone else's body for one day?

This book was recommended to me by someone who is a lot younger than me. She claimed it was her favourite book ever. I would not go that far but, let me say, I understand her.

From the back cover:

"I wake up.

Immediately, I have to figure out who I am. It's not just the body - opening my eyes and discovering whether the skin on my arm is light or dark, whether my hair is long or short, whether I'm fat or thin, boy or girl, scarred or smooth. The body is the easiest thing to adjust to, if you're used to waking up in a new one each morning. It's the life, the context of the body, that can be hard to grasp.

Every day I am someone else. I am myself - I know I am myself - but I am also someone else.
It has always been like this."

Apparently, there is a "sequel" to this both "Another Day" which could also be called "The Story of Rhiannon" and a "prequel" called "Six Earlier Days" which talks about, well, six earlier days of the protagonist A.

Hislop, Victoria "The Sunrise"

Hislop, Victoria "The Sunrise" - 2014

A gripping story. A story about the common people, rich or poor, winner or loser, the ordinary people who always suffer most in a war. A story that goes deep and shows how stupid any war is, anything that some people who think they are more important than others want to change with weapons and destruction. What do we gain of it? Nothing. Ask anyone who lived in a country during wartime.

Famagusta, a town in Eastern Cyprus, is not different. People live their ordinary lives. They go to work, they go home. They love their families, they love their lives. Then the invasion. First just a big hotel somewhere, well, they will stop, this will be it. Nope, they carry on. Some people leave. Others stay, thinking/hoping it won't be that bad. It gets worse, some more leave. Until it is too late for some to leave. Must be terrible knowing you are trapped somewhere and could have left if you would have just not clung to your possessions too much. Or thinking you can evade a destiny if only you close your eyes and your ears.

The worst part of the story, the war in Cyprus took place in 1974, more than forty years ago. The city of Famagusta still has parts that cannot be visited by anybody, even people who used to live there. That is what war does. It doesn't just kill people, it destroys everything, first and foremost humanity.

Another brilliant book by Victoria Hislop whom I've come to love after reading her other books:
"The Island" - 2005
"The Return" - 2008
"The Thread" - 2011
"The Last Dance and Other Stories" - 2012

From the back cover:

 

"In the golden city of Famagusta, Greek and Turkish Cypriots alike enjoy a life of good fortune.
Invasion comes without warning, bringing chaos and terror.

 
As forty thousand people flee their homes in panic, Famagusta becomes a ghost town. But not everyone will find it so easy to leave."

Find the other Victoria Hislop books I read here.

Photo ABC

I am a member of a photo group where we get a prompt for every day and have to take an appropriate picture. Because we had the alphabet one month, I decided to do a book theme.
I always added either the link to my blog or to the books. I have decided to post a picture every week so my booky friends can enjoy them, as well.

W is for ... War books 
 

All the books I read about any kind of wars can be found here:
Afghanistan 
Civil Wars 
Cold War 
Vietnam War 
World War I 
World War II 
Others 

Fowler, Karen Joy "The Jane Austen Book Club"

Fowler, Karen Joy "The Jane Austen Book Club" - 2004

I'm reading this with an ad hoc online book club a friend started to read this and Jane Austen's books. Since I just reread all of them, I am refering you to the link here for my reviews of them.

I'm afraid this book does not give Jane Austen any credit. The book club is like many of the clubs my friends have told me about - and I once briefly was a member of one, too, but left it rather quickly since I would love to talk about the books we read, not gossip about everything but books. The sticker on the cover "Richard & Judy's Book Club" should have rung huge bells. I will let that be a warning to me.

Do they ever talk about the books? Has Karen Joy Fowler even read any of them? If she did, she doesn't know how to talk about a book because I am under the impression she hasn't even opened any of these fabulous novels. Why else would she construct a story around Jane Austen without even getting into her writings?

A disappointing read. I only finished it so we can talk about it in our little group.

From the back cover: "In California's Sacramento Valley, six people meet once a month to discuss Jane Austen's novels. They are ordinary people, neither happy nor unhappy, but all wounded in different ways, all mixed up about their lives and their relationships. Over the six months they meet marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and, under the guiding eye of Jane Austen, some of them even fall in love . . ."

There were, however, some other books mentioned in the book, apart from all the Jane Austen novels:
Henlein, Robert A. "Stranger in a Strange Land"
Junger, Sebastian "The Perfect Storm"
LeGuin, Urusla K. "The Left Hand of Darkness"
LeGuin, Ursula K "The Lathe of Heaven"
LeGuin, Urusla K. "Searoad"
Radcliffe, Ann "The Mysteries of Udolpho"
Rand, Ayn "The Fountainhead"
Tolkien, J.R.R. "The Lord of the Rings"

Photo ABC

I am a member of a photo group where we get a prompt for every day and have to take an appropriate picture. Because we had the alphabet one month, I decided to do a book theme.

I always added either the link to my blog or to the books. I have decided to post a picture every week so my booky friends can enjoy them, as well.
 
V is for ... Vocabulary books 

Scott, Mary "Yours to oblige"

Scott, Mary "Yours to oblige" - 1954

Mary Scott managed to write many charming little stories that tell the tale of a hard but humorous and loving life in New Zealand in the 1950s. Like this one of Justin, a lawyer's son who has just finished his studies and whose girlfriend asks him to give up his cosy life for three months and work hard in a little village where it's difficult to find workers because of the tough life they have to lead.

It wouldn't be a Mary Scott novel if Justin didn't manage to find a job and find a lot of friends in the middle of nowhere. We meet many new characters, most of them lovely and delightful.

This novel is just as nice to read as all of her others books. Find a list of all her books here.

From the back cover:

"Engagement - postponed on probation

There are difficulties between Justin and Elaine, a young, almost engaged couple. Because Elaine wants to know whether Justin can live without his father's money, whether he is able to stand on his own feet. They want to separate for three months, as a test.

Justin hitchhikes into the country where only the real guy counts, someone who can work hard. In Totara, a pioneer settlement on the New Zealand coast, he passes his practical test: In a bushfire, he shows willingness and courage, and now he is recognized by the villagers as one of them, as a real guy.

When Justin gets to know the young farmer's daughter Sally, he believes he has found the woman of his life. But first there is still his old friend Elaine, and secondly, everything turns out quite differently."

Unfortunately, Mary Scott's books are out of print and only available second hand. I have heard in the meantime, that you can buy some of them as eBooks, like this one here.

Happy September!

September is my favourite month, summer ends and with it the hot and humid days. It is one of the best months for my migraine. And the days get shorter so there is more time to read.

So, I am happy that there is such a happy picture on my calendar this month: Watercolour painting by Hanka Koebsch "Small Happiness".