(Barely Still) Friday Update

My husband and I are at some friends' wedding this weekend and I'm just getting back to our hotel room from a fantastic night out. There's not much book news for me this week - I was too busy to do any shopping and the book fairy didn't bring me anything new - but I hope you all had a great week.

Wishlist

I can't remember where I heard about this one (a book blog, I'm sure), but it sounds wonderful:

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet which will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question the meaning of being "human." When the lone survivor of the expedition, Emilio Sandoz, returns to Earth in 2059, he will try to explain what went wrong.

Via Archidose:

Three Little Pigs by Steven Guarnaccia starring piggy Le Corbusier, Frank Gehry and Frank Lloyd Wright. Its not on Amazon (yet!) but does seem to be available at Unica Home.

Review: Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life

Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life by Roald Dahl is a collection of seven short stories written for adults, and originally published in magazines during the 40's. The stories are all centered on life in a country village, just after WWII, and follow the exploits of a small cast of characters. The star is Claud, a working class, good natured guy who is looking for an easy way to get ahead in life. Life in Dahl's stories can be sweet, but is just as frequently sour, and is always funny. If you've ever read Dahl's children's books to your kids and thought, This guy is weird and I love it, you'll get a kick out of Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life.

Buy Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life on Amazon.

Bookish Stuff

Here are some book related links that caught my eye as I cleaned out my Reader this past weekend.

The Johnson County Library in Kansas had the Barkley Ad Agency whip up some snazzy courier trucks (pro-bono) to help promote the library, classic lit, and reading. [Via Nicolette Mason]

Awful Library Books is a collection of the worst library holdings. The items featured here are so old, obsolete, awful or just plain stupid that we are horrified that people might be actually checking these items out and depending on the information.

And my favorite - book art:


The work of Guy Laramee, including this fantastic sculpture of Petra.
[Via Jezebel]

Review: Never Let Me Go

There are a lot of really spoiler-y book reviews out there for Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. I will try very hard to not make this one of them. I was spoiled for this book and still thought it was incredibly powerful, but I think it would be even better to not know. So, what can I say that doesn't give too much away?

Set in England, Never Let Me Go is narrated by Kathy, a woman on the edge of a major life change, as she looks back on her past, especially her years at an exclusive boarding school with her friends Ruth and Tommy. The book builds up slowly. Kathy's story is mostly chronological, but she jumps around as memories come to her and we learn about where all three of them go as adults. As the story comes together, realization emerges of just who these people are and why they were at Hailsham.

This is an incredibly powerful book. I found it to be very moving and sad, but in a very subtle way. This isn't a weepy book, where I need to carry a box of Kleenex around with me while I read. Instead, I felt like a blanket of sadness was being pulled onto me, as I gradually realized the magnitude of Kathy's story. When the book was done, I put it down and sat quietly for a while, just absorbing what I'd read, and in the days since, I've thought about it several times. (This is actually my next book club book and I'm very disappointed that I will not be able to attend the meeting, as I would love to have a long conversation about Never Let Me Go with someone who's also read it.)

I highly recommend Never Let Me Go. It was one of the best books I've read so far this year, and will stay with me for a long time to come.

Buy Never Let Me Go on Amazon.

Never Let Me Go is by the author of Remains of the Day, and was a Man Booker Prize finalist.

Friday Update

I love four day work weeks! I wish every weekend was a three-day weekend. Since I also like paychecks, though, I don't think that's going to happen.

As I may have mentioned, my birthday was earlier this week. Thanks to my wonderful family, I got several new items for my library. My husband bought me some new books:

Broken (Book 6 of the Women of the Otherworld series I've previously reviewed.)

Time of Your Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 4)

The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 1) by Patrick Rothfuss (who, based on the photo on his site of him wearing a Serenity t-shirt and the reference to Angel in a post about Rome, would entirely approve of me reading Buffy comics and his book at the same time).

My parents (deciding that I own enough books, perhaps) went instead with a fancy new library accessory: a personalized book embosser to label all of my books.

We're off to the County Fair with friends today. I'm predicting several rides, looking at farm animals, and eating funnel cakes and corn dogs in my future. Happy 4th of July!

Birthday Giveaway Winner

Thanks for all your birthday well-wishes! From Random.org, here the giveaway entrants in random order:

1. Teresa
2. Lenore
3. Julie
4. Missy
5. Mari
6. shananaginsbooks
7. drey

Congratulations, Teresa! Please send me an email (lorin_arch (at) hotmail (dot) com) with your contact info.