Double-Stacked Bookshelves

Teaser Tuesday:  The Paris Wife Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn @ A Daily Rhythm . Here are the rules: grab whatever you're reading, open to a random page, select no more than two sentence (NO SPOILERS), share the title and author, and GO! Here's today's teaser: "His letters came crushed and strangled, full of deliciousness, sometimes two and three times a day.  I tried to be more reserved at first, vowing to write only once a week, but that fell apart immediately.  Before long I found myself in a real bind." --page 37           The Paris Wife by Paula McLain I am loving this book so far...such beautiful prose! Happy reading!

Teaser Tuesday:  The Sandcastle Girls Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn @ A Daily Rhythm . Here are the rules: grab whatever you're reading, open to a random page, select no more than two sentence (NO SPOILERS), share the title and author, and GO! Here's today's teaser: "The women look like dying wild animals as they lurch forward, some holding on to the walls of the stone houses to remain erect.  She has never in her life seen people so thin and wonders how in the name of God their bony legs can support them.  Their breasts are lost to their ribs.  The bones of their hips protrude like baskets.           'Elizabeth, you don't need to watch,' her father is saying, but she does.  She does." --page 13           The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian Haunting images of the Armenian Genocide...I know little of this...so tragic. Happy ...

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men Logistics Title:  Of Mice and Men Author:  John Steinbeck Published:  1937 Publishing Company:  Penguin Books Page Count:  103 Summary via Goodreads The tragic story of the complex bond between two migrant laborers in Central California. They are George Milton and Lennie Small, itinerant ranch hands who dream of one day owning a small farm. George acts as a father figure to Lennie, who is a very large, simple-minded man, calming him and helping to rein in his immense physical strength. My Thoughts I have to be honest...I did not love this book...or particularly like it all that much.  Yeah, it's good.  But kind of boring.  Don't get me wrong, I get why Steinbeck is considered one of the greatest American writers (and I'm not a huge fan of American writers), but this was such a letdown.  So many people have raved about this book and I just don't get it.  I did feel for the characters, ...

Happy Friday, fellow A-Zers!  I'm glad this week is over...it sure felt like it went on forever.  Anywho...today presents us the letter V and I'm bringing you:  Kurt Vonnegut! Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) An American writer, Vonnegut is known for his blend of satire, humor, and science fiction.  Very active in the American Civil Liberties Union and considered a critical pacifist intellectual, he was known for his believe in humanist ideals.  A soldier and POW during World War II, Kurt Vonnegut utilized his experiences to help shape his work.  An advocate for anti-authoritarianism, he incorporates much of himself into his work.  There is a deep cynicism and wild leaps of imagination that run rampant throughout.  He also utilizes the idea of determinism, perhaps best seen in Slaughterhouse Five .  In addition to his writing, Vonnegut became quite a popular artist and a political activist.  He's a wonderful writer, though many have...

Happy Monday...and Easter hangover day.  It was a very busy weekend and this week doesn't look too good for a slow down.  Regardless, it's another day in the A-Z Challenge and today is all about the letter R.  I'm bringing you the following R authors:  JK Rowling, Mary Roach, and Salman Rushdie. JK Rowling (1965-) This is a given if you know me at all.  I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter series (I re-read the entire series almost every summer), have posted multiple times on the series, and continually attempt to convince people who haven't read the books that they are fantastic and they should read them...NOW!  I remember putting off reading the HP series for years, but one weekend of camping effectively cured that notion.  When you're camping and you've finished all the books you brought with you, you have to have something to occupy some of the downtime.  Luckily my mother had the first two books stowed away and thus my love for the...

Hello, Saturday.  We meet again!  Today's post is about the letter Q.  I'll admit it was more difficult to find an author for this letter, but I managed to do it.  This post is going to be about:  Daniel Quinn. Daniel Quinn (1935-) I've only read one book by Daniel Quinn, but it was a good one.  Quinn, an American novelist, tends to focus much of his writing on the idea of environmentalism or cultural criticism.  Originally intending to become a monk, Quinn instead went into the publishing field; though he eventually left publishing to become a freelance writer.  It was at this time that he wrote Ishmael , the first in a loose trilogy, to great success.  It won the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award , a one-time award given to an unpublished work of fiction that offers creative and positive solutions to global problems.  This single novel was inspiration for Pearl Jam's "Do the Evolution" and aspects of the movie Instinct , th...

It's Friday (Friday, Friday...damn you Rebecca Black !) and we're moving on to the letter P for the A-Z Challenge.  Today is all about:  Edgar Allan Poe and Chuck Palahniuk.  So it's all a little bit on the darker side... Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) I have loved everything I've ever read that Poe has written.  His darker, Gothic material has always been among my favorites.  A writer during the American Romantic Movement , Poe is best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre; though is was also a writer of satires, humorous tales, and hoaxes.  He is also one of the earliest writers of short fiction in America, in addition to being considered the inventor of detective fiction; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was heavily influence by Poe.  Though his personal life was mired with controversy (alcoholism, drugs, marriage to his 13-year-old cousin), his work was always well-received and he was one of the most respected literary critics of his time....

Happy Tuesday, fellow A-Zers.  It's a glorious day here in the Pacific Northwest (we've been experiencing abnormally nice weather for this time of year) and we're exactly halfway through with this years challenge...whoa!  Today I'm bringing you the following M writers:  Thomas Mann, Margaret Mitchell, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Thomas Mann (1875-1955) The first time I read something by Thomas Mann I was hooked.  It was a novella, so a quick read, and disturbing in so many ways.  But this one story has stuck with me so much so that when I was in Italy, where the novella is set, I purposely went to the island of Lido because of it.  A German novelist, short story writer, social critic, essayist, and Nobel Laureate in 1929, Mann's work is highly symbolic and noted for its views on the intellectual and the psychology of the artist.  He was also adept at incorporating ideas from philosophers, such as Goethe , Nietzsche , and Schopenhauer .  ...

Happy Monday, fellow A-Zers.  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and that you're all ready to get back in the swing of the challenge this week.  I know I am!  Today we move to the nearly halfway point of the challenge and the letter L.  And I bring you:  Lawson, Lee, and Levi. Jenny Lawson If you are looking for a writer who is laugh-out-loud hilarious, look no further than Jenny Lawson.  Her frank, open musings and honest reflections on life are wonderful.  Lawson does not shy away from aspects of herself that might not be "mainstream," instead preferring to air everything in the open in an effort to show people that, whatever their issues, they are not alone.  I remember seeing adverts for her first book, Let's Pretend This Never Happened , and thinking that it sounds good; it had been receiving excellent reviews.  I finally picked it up from the library and looked like a complete lunatic while reading it in public.  It...

Happy Saturday, fellow A-Zers.  We've made it through week two of the challenge and I'm feeling good!  Today is all about the letter K and I'm bringing you the following authors:  Franz Kafka, Elizabeth Kostova, and Erich Kaestner. Franz Kafka (1883-1924) The first time I read Kafka, I was hooked.  His work is dark, seedy, and brutal.  Often he deals with themes of alienation, physical/psychological trauma, labyrinths, and terrifying quests, so there is a lot to be found in his work.  Born in Prague, Kafka wrote all of his work in his native language of German which contrasted with the mainly Czech-speaking population of the city, thus causing much tension.  Added to this, Kafka's Jewish heritage further alienated him from the masses.  The majority of his work was published posthumously despite his wish that they be destroyed after his death.  The pieces that were published during his lifetime, mainly in literary journals, attracte...

I must admit that historical fiction is one of my favorite genres; especially when the time period is surrounding World War II.  Because of this, my J author is:  Pam Jenoff. Pam Jenoff  An American author, Pam Jenoff has spent much of her career working for the government in various support positions.  From being the Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army to working in the Foreign Service with the State Department where she was placed in Poland assisting on an Auschwitz restitution project, Jenoff has gained the background knowledge and experience necessary to make her novels believable for the time period in which they are set.  This ability has garnered her much recognition and best-seller status.  Her writing pulls you in and the novels are quick to read.  Check them out . *Recommendation:  The Kommandant's Girl and The Diplomat's Wife Who are some of your favorite J authors?

We're midway through the work week and we've landed on the letter H.  Today is about:  Ernest Hemingway.  I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of Hemingway's novels.  I do, however, love his short stories.  For that reason alone, he's taking the place of my favorite author under the H category. Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) I really encountered Hemingway's work when I took an entire course dedicated to him during my undergrad studies.  I'll admit that American author's are not my favorite, and Hemingway didn't necessarily help change my mind as a whole.  I didn't care for his writing style, the short, choppy sentence structure was too staccato for my liking, and the novels were boring and drawn out.  However, when we got around to reading The Old Man and the Sea and other various short stories he had written, my attitude toward Hemingway changed for the better.  There were better points made in the short stories that seemed to take too l...