How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia

How could you not want to read a book by that title?  How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia is Mohsin Hamid's follow-up to his 2007 hit, The Reluctant Fundamentalist.  Here's what I came up with in trying to categorize this title: Self-Help Fiction.  Seriously.

The main character is actually "You".  The writer is instructing you on how to, you guessed it, get filthy rich in rising Asia.  In each chapter, you move forward in time in your question for riches, checking off each goal as you go.  But there is an actual story here, too.  You meet a pretty girl, in the chapter entitled "Don't Fall in Love", and her appearances and disappearances throughout the novel play a key role, despite the author reminding you to not let such distractions deter you from your ultimate goal.  Yes, sometimes your personal relationships may crumble, but you want to get rich, right?

Other chapter titles like "Befriend a Bureaucrat" and "Patronize the Artists of War" should give you an inkling of what to expect.  The book is very tongue-in-cheek at times, though there is a lot here about the global economy and personal relationships.  Just expect a lot of dark humor along the way.

Ohioana Book Festival

If you are a book lover, consider attending the Ohioana Book Festival at Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center in Columbus on Saturday, May 11.  This free festival runs from 10:00-4:30 and celebrates authors from the Buckeye State.   You will get the opportunity to meet many of these authors in person.  Listen to some terrific panel discussions and even live music.  There are even activities to keep the kids busy!

Just a few of the authors attending include:

Mary Ellis
Robert Olmstead
Tim Waggoner
Emilie Richards
Ellis Avery
Carla Buckley
Candice Walkins
Denise Verrico

This great event is sponsored by the Ohioana Book Association.  The association "is dedicated to collecting, preserving, and promoting the written work of Ohio’s writers, artists, and musicians".  Visit their website for more information on the Ohioana Book Association and the Book Festival.

Come talk about Year of Wonders next Thursday!

The "Let's Talk About It" book group will meet on Thursday, May 2 at 10:30 a.m. to discuss Year of Wonders: a Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks, a historical novel about the ravages of the Black Death on a remote English village.

Plague comes to Anna's village when infected cloth arrives from London and people begin to fall ill. Anna, a recently-widowed handmaid, must rise to the occasion and tend to the sick and dying while dealing with her own tragic losses. Tensions rise in the village and its denizens turn on each other, sparking a witch hunt that will have deep ramifications for them all.

Here are some questions to get you thinking before Thursday:

• Think about the feminist undertones of the story. How does each female character exhibit strengths that the male characters do not?
• How would you explain Anna's mental and spiritual unraveling? What are the pivotal experiences leading up to her breakdown and her eventual rebirth?

If you liked this novel, other authors to try include Lisa See, Barbara Kingsolver, and Nancy Horan, who all write literary historical fiction.

Pick up your copy of Year of Wonders at the information desk today, and please join us for a lively discussion next Thursday morning in the Junior Home room at Tiffin-Seneca Public Library!

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena

Anthony Merra's novel A Constellation of Vital Phenomena ranks as one of the most well-written debuts I have recently read.  This title is set to be released in early May and you should definitely add it to your "to read" list.  The heartbreaking story compares well with other debut novel A Light Between Oceans, though the subject matter is vastly different. The emotional impact of both is amazing.

The story takes place in a small village in Chechnya at the end of 2004.  Eight-year old Haava has hidden herself away while Russian soldiers kidnapped her father.  Her neighbor, Akhmed, knows of a bombed out hospital some eleven kilometers away.  He takes Haava there, with the idea that he will work for free in exchange.  The young doctor, Sonja, who is one of only two hospital employees left, reluctantly agrees, despite having to deal with her own issues.  Not only is she trying to take care of patients virtually by herself, she is also searching for her sister, Natasha, who disappeared a year ago.  Over the next five days, Akhmed and Sonja relive their pasts and what has been lost.  It is revealed that they are connected in astonishing ways and the suspense builds as those connections are unraveled.

This is a highly recommended debut.  I read the final two chapters twice.  The story is that beautiful and heartbreaking at once. 

The Death of Bees

The Death of Bees by author Lisa O'Donnell is an excellent, affecting debut novel about two sisters whose abusive, drug addicted, absentee parents die unexpectedly. Afraid of losing each other to separate foster homes, the girls bury their parents in the garden and try to subsist on their own. They catch the notice of a neighbor, Lennie, who takes the girls in. He cares for them and they begin to realize what it is like to have a real family. However, before long their maternal grandfather arrives with probing questions about the whereabouts of his daughter.

This is a profoundly sad and moving novel about the lose of innocence and childhood. The girls lost everything and everyone important in their lives and have only each other until Lennie comes into their lives. It is a story that explores the power of the bond between sisters and between those who are not related by blood but by a deep connection.

The distinctive style of shifting viewpoints between the three central characters adds different perspectives on the story. Each character's voice is unique, dynamic, and raw, yet limited. It is only through the combination of the three protagonists that we get the entire story, which reflects the theme that these characters need each other to survive. This is a novel about escaping the clutches of poverty and the cycle of abuse and will leave you unable to forget the girls who buried their parents under the lavender bushes.

Join us for Coffee By the Book on Thursday!

Our next meeting of Coffee By the Book will be held on Thursday, April 18 at Bailiwicks Coffee Company here in Tiffin.  The group meets from 6:00-7:00 in the evening.  This month's book is The Vanishing Act by Mette Jakobsen.

The story takes place on an unnamed island and is told by twelve year old Minou.  She lives on the island with her father.  The island is also inhabited by several other characters looking to escape their past.  But the story focuses on Minou and her mother, who disappeared one year earlier.  We find that Minou has not lost hope that her mother will soon return.

One day, a dead boy washes up on shore.  Minou's father decides to keep the boy in her mother's room until the boy can be picked up by boat so the authorities can try to solve the mystery.  Minou deals with the disappearance of her mother and the identity of the boy by trying to solve both puzzles herself. 

The story is one of love and loss, told in such a beautiful way that the reader will be disappointed when this short tale ends.

Copies of the book are available at the Information Desk at the Tiffin-Seneca Public Library.

Man Booker International Prize Finalists

The Man Booker International Prize finalists were announced back in January.  Somehow this flew under my radar.  Better late than never, I suppose!

According to the Man Booker Prize website, "the prize is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language."  Past winners/nominees included such well-known authors as Milan Kundera and Joyce Carol Oates.  But, as the press release states, this year's list does not include many famous authors, aside from Marilynne Robinson and Aharon Applefield.  I see this as a strength rather than a weakness.  Readers will be introduced to authors they have never previously read.  That is something to celebrate!

Check out this year's finalists:

U R Ananthamurthy
Aharon Appelfeld
Lydia Davis- Check out Varieties of Disturbance to get a taste of this magnificent short story author.
Intizar Husain
Yan Lianke
Marie NDiaye- Three Strong Women has been on my "to read" list for way too long.  The reviews I have seen have been stellar.
Josip Novakovich- Terrific essayist is also known for his novel, April Fool's Day.
Marilynne Robinson- Check out popular works Home and Gilead.  Her book of essays, When I Was a Child I Read Books, is a solid collection.
Vladimir Sorokin
Peter Stamm- I really enjoyed Seven Years and We're Flying.

The Book Thief

I had always heard that The Book Thief by Markus Zusak was a must-read book. The novel has won many awards, including the American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults in 2007 and the Publisher's Weekly Best Children's Book of the Year in 2007. I finally got a chance to read it this last week, and it surpassed my expectations.

It is a hard book to describe, in many ways. The narrator is Death, an entity who is sympathetic to humans despite his reputation for being grim and cold. Against his better judgment, he follows a young girl named Liesel as she lives through World War II in Nazi Germany. The girl's mother sends her to live with a foster family in a town near Munich, where Nazism has grown deep roots. As the Hitler cult reaches a fever peak, the family takes in and hides a Jewish man in their basement. However, this book is not action-oriented - it is more of a character study, with in-depth detailing of the thoughts and feelings of the main character, Liesel, which make her come alive in your mind.

The text is rich with evocative description and vivid emotion. The brief interjections from Death are at times heartbreaking, funny, or enlightening, sometimes all at once. Unlike many other Holocaust books, The Book Thief explores Nazi Germany from the perspective of a regular German family, giving new light to an event tread many times over. At its heart, this is a novel about words - over the course of the novel, Liesel learns to read and write, steals books, and learns the power of words to change the world, for better or worse. This is a book that takes hold of you and does not let go till the very end.



The Movement of Stars

Debut author Amy Brill take the story of Maria Mitchell, the first professional female astronomer in America, and weaves her own tale in The Movement of Stars.  I was able to obtain a copy of this new book through the Penguin First Flights program.

The story takes place in 1845 and centers on Hannah Price, who has lived her entire life in a small Nantucket Quaker community.  While she lives her life according to the principles of the community, she has a goal unlike those of the other women in the community.  She wishes to win an award for discovering a new comet.  Hannah watches the night sky with the best tools available to her and studies the newest breakthroughs in the world of astronomy.  But her life is about to change when Isaac Martin, a dark-skinned whaler, enters her life.

Isaac wishes to improve his status upon his boat and seeks out lessons from Hannah.  She agrees to teach him, but somehow their tutoring sessions become much more.  Hannah finds herself trapped in a situation she never imagined.  Her understanding of her community, and herself, begins to unravel around her.

Brill has written a tremendous debut novel and has based it upon an historical figure whom I had never heard anything about.  Check out the Maria Mitchell Foundation for more information on this fascinating figure.