Before You Know Kindness - Chris Bohjalian

Why did I choose this book?
I was looking for a book for my ABC-challenge and this writer was recommended to me on the LibraryThing site because of the other books I've read. So I went to the library to see if there were any of his books there, and I found this one.

About the author:
Chris Bohjalian is the bestselling author of nine novels, including Midwives (a Publishers Weekly Best Book and an Oprah's Book Club selection), The Buffalo Soldier, and Trans-Sister Radio, as well as Idyll Banter, a collection of his magzine essays and newspaper columns. His work has been translated into seventeen languages and published in twenty countries. He lives in Vermont with his wife and daughter. See his website.


The Story:
Every summer the Seton family meet in their country house in New England. They play tennis, swim and they've started a vegetable garden. But they also have secrets. John is an animal rights activist, but his brother in law has started hunting. When the vegetable garden is ruined by deer, and Charlotte finds her uncles gun in the boot of his car she decides to shoot the deer, but instead shoots her own father. An accident that changes the lives of all the members of the family. But was it really just an accident?

Review:
What I liked most about the book is how the girls are struggling to come to a decision about wether to tell the truth or not. This is really too big a decision for a child of their age, but they feel they can only confide in each other. When both reach a different decision it seems like the end of their friendship.

Rating:

Finished!

I finaly finished Before You Know Kindness. It took me a long time to read it (nearly a month!). Not because I didn't like it, I did actually like it a lot. But I just was too busy with other things and had very little time left to read. And in the evenings (when I do most of my reading) I was just too tired (went to bed early a lot in the last month). But now it's finished. Review will follow shortly.

I'm going to start on River Thieves now, another book for my ABC challenge. Hopefully it won't take as long as the last book!

Update

Not a lot of time for reading these past few days. I'm still reading Before You Know Kindness by Chris Bohjalian. It's a really nice book, but I cannot find the time to read more than a few pages a day. Hope to read a bit more over the weekend. We're visiting family and have to make a train journey of two hours to get there (and back), so should be able to get some reading done then!

On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan

Why did I choose this book?
Because it was possible to win an authographed copy of this book! Well, I didn't win...

About the author:
Ian McEwan (21 June 1948) was born in England, but spent much of his youth abroad. His won the Man Booker Prize for his book Amsterdam . He was awarded a CBE in 2005.

The Story:
A young couple are on their honeymoon. It is their fist night together. And what is supposed to be the best night in their lives turns into a nightmare, because of unspoken fears and feelings.

Review:
You really feel for these young people who could have made such a nice couple and had a great time together. But one night changed all that. If only they had told each other beforehand of their hopes and fears, things might have turned out different.

Ratings:

Top 10 of Favourite Books

This blog is only about books I am reading now or in the future. But naturally there have been lots of books I've read in the past that have made a lasting impression. So I've tried to make a list of the 10 most favourite books I've read in my life. Which is of course impossible. This list is far from complete. It does not include any Dutch books, or books I read in my childhood. If I'm asked to make this list again a month from now, part of it will probably be the same, but I'm sure there will be other books on it as well. So for what it's worth, if I had to go to an desert island these are the books I would take with me (only not really, because if I really had to go to a desert island I'd probably be better off taking a survival handbook!):

1. Mutiny on the Bounty - Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
2. The Princess Bride - William Goldman
3. A Pair of Blue Eyes - Thomas Hardy
4. Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
5. On the Beach - Nevil Shute
6. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
7. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
8. Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
9. The Cider House Rules - John Irving
10. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

Winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year Award
Guardian Children's Fiction Prize
South Bank Show Book Award
longlisted for the Man Booker Prize

Why did I choose this book?
It was recommended to my by a neighbour. He told me what it was about. And because I know some children with autism, I was intrigued.

About the author:
Mark Haddon (1962) is a very versitile person. He is an author of both adult and childrens books and poetry, illustrator and screenwriter. As a young man he has worked with autistic people.


The Story:
Christopher, a boy with Asperger's syndrome, finds his neighbours dog lying dead in the garden. It has been killed with a garden fork. Christopher tries to find out who has killed Wellington, but in the process he unearths some other nasty secrets which turn his whole world upside down and make him undertake the most terifying journey of his life.

Review:
One of those books that you just can't put down. I finished it in one day! This book really shows you what the world looks like when you look at it through the eyes of someone with autism. How confusing life is for someone who cannot distinguish the important bits from all the background noise, like 'normal' people do. What a scary place the world must be! And then a dog gets killed and there is family trouble, and Christopher has to make the most terifying journey of his lifetime; from Swindon to London, on his own. Christopher is a lovely boy who just does not understand the world he is living in, and in return is not understood by the world. This book will definitly help me to better understand the children with autism I know.

Ratings:

Update

Change in plans: I've decided not to read The Virgin in the Garden for my abc challenge. I've started reading it a few times now, but I just can't get into it. So I'll have to find another B book. But first I'm going to finish some other books from my TBR list. I've started in Beowulf last night. It's quite difficult, but I'm sure I can finish it, if just because it is only about 75 pages. And I'm going to get started on The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.

The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Original title: La Sombra del Viento
translation: Lucia Graves

Why did I choose this book?
It's been on all the booklists for so long, has won so many prizes and has been translated into so many languages; it must be good. So I knew I had to read it sometime. But sometimes when a book is this popular I get a bit reluctant. I don't want to read what everybody else is reading, I want to read something special, something nobody else knows about. But in the end I succumb anyway!

About the author:
This book is written by the Spanish writer Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Barcelona, 25 September 1964). He has written three novels for young adults before this novel, which was published in more than 40 countries and translated into more than 30 languages. It has won numerous awards.

The Story:
Daniel is taken to the Cemetary of Forgotten Books by his father. This is like an orphanage for all the books that nobody wants anymore. Daniel may pick one book and he chooses The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax. He is gripped by the story and wants to know more about the writer and any other books he has written. Then he finds out that over the years some mysterious person has been burning all the books by Julian Carax. His might be the last one left! With the help of Fermin he tries to unravel the mystery, layer by layer.

Review:
I loved it. It's as simple as that. The story sucked my right from the very first sentence. It is a book about literature, about love, mystery, tragedy, friendship, death and betrayal. The story is great, and you keep wondering what is going to happen next right till the very end. The characters are very divers, and you feel like you really get to know them. They seem like real persons.
What I really liked is how it tells about the passion for books. I loved the idea of a Cemetary of Forgotten Books. I would love to get lost in it!

Rating:

New book

I've been to the library today to get some books for my daughter, but I just couldn't resist... So I've found the next book for my ABC-challenge; River Thieves by Michael Crummey. Never heard of either book or author, but the reviews on the back (one of them by Jeffrey Lent, author of In the Fall, which I liked a lot) sounded very promissing. It is about a struggle between the whites and the indians in Canada in the early 19th century.

Progress Report

I'm still reading The Shadow of the Wind. I'm about halfway through. It's a great book. I got hooked almost on page one. And I still have no idea where it's going! Which is always great in a book in my opinion. I hope I'll have a lot of reading time this week so I can finish it!