Fall in Love with the Classics by Amanda of The Zen Leaf

I am out of the country at my sister's wedding in India with a quick stop in London on the way back! While I am gone some lovely bloggers have stopped by with guest posts! Woohoo!

Today Amanda from The Zen Leaf shares with us how to turn trepidation towards the classics into a flat-out love affair. Take it away, Amanda!



Thank you, Rebecca, for this opportunity to guest-post!

So many people think of classics as boring. We think of classics as the books we were force-fed in high school, like The Scarlet Letter and Billy Budd.** But classics don't have to be the boring, difficult books that many of us were exposed to in school. There are so many wonderful (and easy!) classics out there to choose from. Today, I want to highlight some great examples of fun classics.


The Awakening by Kate Chopin - As one of the first real feminist novels, The Awakening was not well received when it was published 100 years ago, but interest in it revived in the past few decades. The language is so modern and familiar that if I didn't know it was written circa 1900, I would guess this was modern historical fiction.


Catch-22 by Joseph Heller - This book is comedic satire in the same vein as M.A.S.H. It makes me laugh and cry every time I read it, and it truly is a book that can be reread multiple times. Just don't get caught up in trying to make sense of everything - it's meant to be nonsensical and absurd!


Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - RL Stevenson is the grandfather of horror! This is one of the original creepy books. It's short, fast, and very easy to read. Stevenson also wrote a bunch of adventure books: Treasure Island, Kidnapped, etc.


The Painted Veil by William Somerset Maugham - Nearly all of Maugham's books are written in easy, straightforward prose which didn't make him too popular among writers. His books are the reason I read classics today. I never knew classics could be easy until picking up his books.


The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck - Pearl Buck was the daughter of white missionary parents in China. She drew on her experiences growing up in China for this historical fiction novel about a rags-to-riches family of farmers. I believe this book was featured on Oprah's book club list.


Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - Okay, so maybe a lot of people have already read this, but as this novel is pretty much the mother of modern romance, I have to include it. Of course, there are plenty of other classic romances out there: Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, etc...


The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett - Hammett wrote tons of detective and crime novels, many of which were later made into movies. Several of his books, including this one and The Thin Man, have now been classified as classics.


The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - If you like surreal, take a trip down Kafkaesque lane with this book, which opens with the pronouncement that Gregor Samsa has woken up as a giant bug. Literally. Kafka practically invented his own genre, and this novella is so short it's easy to read in a couple hours.


The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins - Classic mystery novel. Collins is the grandfather of mystery, and his helped to popularize the epistolary style of writing. His books are long, but they rush by very fast.

This is just a small sampling of the many great classics there are out there. Yes, there are many boring, difficult classics. I'm a classics-lover, and I still think there are many boring, difficult classics! But not all of them. Some are very wonderful, and I hope more and more people will give them a chance.

**I'm not saying either of these books are bad or that anyone who enjoyed them has poor taste. These are just ones that many high school kids have to read and don't like.


Thanks, Amanda! I know I for one struggled with The Scarlet Letter in school. H-A-T-E-D it. Luckily I escaped unscathed by my disdain for Hawthorne's writing style and have found other classics to love. As a matter of fact, my senior year in high school is when I first fell in love with The Great Gatsby! Thanks for sharing with us!

Come back tomorrow for another fab guest post! See you soon!

P.S. Check out some reviews of well-liked classics:
Lord of the Flies by William Golding at The Zen Leaf
East of Eden by John Steinbeck at The Zen Leaf
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster at Lost in Books
Emma by Jane Austen at Things Mean a Lot
My Antonia by Willa Cather at Book Nut
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins at Trish's Reading Nook
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte at Bloody Bad Book Blog

Guest Post: Author Ru Freeman Shares About Raising Children in Sri Lanka and America

I am elated to have author Ru Freeman as my guest author today as part of TLC Book Tours. Her book, A Disobedient Girl, which I reviewed here, takes place in Sri Lanka, which is just southeast of India. I was fascinated with the culture (I know surprise, surprise) and asked Ru if she'd talk more about it. She said she loves the opportunity to share her culture with everyone. I hope you enjoy, and thank you so much Ru! (Photos come from author's website. See bottom of post.)



"The first time I ever considered what childhood in Sri Lanka was actually like, was when I held a baby of my own in my arms. With my true-blue American husband beside me, we mused aloud about all the ways in which this baby of ours could be nudged toward adulthood by her imperfect but perfectly well-informed parents. But the same things that made it possible for her to enjoy a wide-angle view of the world with her own feet planted in two very different worlds, made it difficult for her mother to figure out exactly how to raise a "half-and-half" in only one country.

Sri Lankan children are unreservedly indulged from birth to the age of five. Mothers chase after them at lunch, with little balls of rice on spoons or, more usually, in their fingertips, cajoling the beloved to take one more bite of food. Water is warmed for their baths, they are coddled and cuddled and forgiven for all manner of travesties. They throw tantrums which are observed by smiling, sweet-tongue extended family. They are given the best of every luxury that a family is fortunate enough to come by, no matter their social status. At five, though, everything changes. That is when all children go to school; usually to montessori schools. At this point, they are expected to buckle down to the serious business of being not babies but children. Almost overnight, children realize - and appear to do so without too much trauma - that the honeymoon is over. They turn away from parents toward their peers, united by their common predicament. Parents, in turn, bond with those to whom their children are entrusted: teachers.


Sri Lankan children move, therefore, between what are considered two sets of parents, the ones who gave them life and those who teach them how to live. The first songs that children are taught in Sri Lanka are those that describe the respect due to both parents and teachers. And, in true Sri Lankan style, the lyrics are gut-wrenching! It is relatively easy for children to undergo this transformation because there is a universally accepted set of cultural beliefs to buttress the frame within which it takes place: respect for their elders no matter where they are found, the value of education, the importance of religious and cultural observances (Sri Lanka celebrates all four major religions of the world), the worth of hospitality toward guests and loyalty to ones friends. Children wear uniforms to school and no adult would feel the least sense of guilt at reprimanding a child - any child, known or unknown - whom they find wandering out of school during the hours when they ought to be sitting in classrooms. Uniforms, particularly for girls, have monograms that identify the school to which they belong, and Sri Lankan children have a particularly actue aversion to bringing dishonor upon their alma mater. All things that ensure that children grow up in a world whose truths, as they pertain to relationships both personal and public, are relatively immutable, leaving them free to explore the realms of knowledge and learning where there is greater opportunity for experimentation.

But how does a Sri Lankan born mother raise a daughter in America where none of these rules apply? I'd have to say with some creative license. Our traditions are modified, but they exist. My three daughters thank their teachers at the end of each year, their coaches at the end of every practice. They eat everything that someone else cooks for them without complaint; well, most of the time. They are not allowed to ask for things that have not been offered (juice, when milk has been mentioned, for instance!), when they visit other peoples homes. They do not open presents in front of the giver. They have to share everything they own except for a few, very few, very special things. Sometimes they buck at these odd rules that they tell me, sometimes pitching their voices a little higher than I'd like, none of their friends have to observe. I smile and take heart that their friends appear at ease with my admonishments which are directed to them as they are to my own daughters, as I would have done had I been living in Sri Lanka. And I use those words used in every home, be it Sri Lankan or American, to maintain serenity: "This is my house and these are our rules." And I take heart that someday they will invent rules of their own that enable them to raise their own children by the seat of their pants just as I do now."


Ru Freeman's creative and political writing has appeared internationally. Her debut novel, A Disobedient Girl will be published in the US and Canada by Atria/Simon & Schuster in July, 2009, by Viking in the UK and in translation in Italy, Israel, Taiwan, Brazil and the Netherlands. You can visit her website here. All of the photos of Sri Lanka come from Ru Freeman's website.

A Disobedient Girl by Ru Freeman

BOOK #: 72
REASONS READ: Sent to me for review; 21 Cultures Challenge
PUBLISHER: Atria Books
GENRE: Fiction; Women's Fiction
RATING: 4.5/5 Stars


BOOK SUMMARY: A Disobedient Girl is a compelling exploration of personal desire set against the volatile backdrop of class and prejudice, as three women journey toward their future, united by a shared history but separated by different fates. A bold and deeply moving account that spans three decades of love and loss, it is a tale about the will to survive and the incredible power of the human spirit to transcend the unforgiving sweep of tragedy.

FAVORITE PARTS: This was an incredibly moving book. The book seemed a little slow and jarring to start but I got used to going back and forth between the two stories being told. I liked the way it all came full circle and you were shown how the two stories were linked. I thought I had it figured out, but I was mistaken about the exact connection. I really liked how both Biso and Latha were each afraid and it seemed like the world was against them but they persevered. They were not flaky or prissy but strong, determined, and courageous.

MORE SINHALA: I loved Freeman's use of the Sri Lankan language Sinhala throughout the book. There were many Sinhala words and phrases such as Poddack inna, kiri-hodi, sambol, and aanam aalu, dispersed through the stories and I loved that. I do wish I knew what more of them meant, though. I was able to ask Freeman about a couple of them but I would like to have had possibly a glossary of terms in the back of the book.


QUOTES FROM THE BOOK:
When I reach our compartment, the children look up at me, eyes expectant. I shrug my shoulders and feel a keen twinge in my heart at their crestfallen faces. Still, I won't go back.

Who would have thought that a house with such bitterness hid so many spaces that could generate euphoria in the minds and bodies of two people?

They had told her that nobody would ever want her again. That's what happened to little ___ like her, Mrs. Vithanage had said. She had said it calmly and without acrimony, so it had sounded true.

She walked over to the mirrors and stared at herself. She was grown up, but who was she? She turned to the first mirror: a mother with no daughter? The second mirror: a daughter with no mother? The last: a woman with no man?


Be sure to check out Ru Freeman's guest post on growing up Sri Lankan.
Also be sure to check out the other blog stops on Ru Freeman's Blog Tour here.

Gayle of Everyday I Write the Book Answers 20 Questions

Welcome back to 20 Questions, where we get to know our fellow book bloggers a little better. Today I would like to present to you Gayle of Everyday I Write the Book! Thanks, Gayle!




20 QUESTIONS






1. Last book you bought: I don't buy that many books anymore, because I get a lot from publishers, and my TBR pile is totally out of control. I think the last book I actually bought was The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller, purchased at Island Books in Corolla, NC.

2. Last book you got in the mail: A galley of the new Audrey Niffenegger, Her Fearful Symmetry (due out at the end of September). I feel very lucky to have gotten an advance copy! But I haven't started it yet.

3. The first book you read over and over: The Westing Game or Harriet the Spy.

4. Children's book every child should read: Oh god, there are so many good ones. I can't pick just one.

5. Favorite place to read: I read anywhere and everywhere I can - my bed, my couch, in waiting rooms, on airplanes, waiting for my kids to get out of ballet or a birthday party, in my backyard very occasionally. I just wish I had more time to read. Ideally, I love to read under a big umbrella on the beach.

6. A book you bought just for the cover. I've never done that. If the inside jacket doesn't sound interesting, a good cover won't sway me.

7. Scariest book ever read: We Need To Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver (reviewed here).

8. Most romantic book ever read: It's a tie between Pride and Prejudice and The Time Traveler's Wife.

9. Book that changed your life in some way: Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed. Those of us with desk jobs are lucky.

10. Book you've re-read the most times: Lolita, by Vladimir Nabakov.

11. Book you needed the Cliff's Notes for: Ulysses, by James Joyce. YUCK.

12. Book you needed the dictionary for: Anything by Alain de Boton.

13. Book you like that no one else does: This doesn't happen that often. It's usually the reverse.

14. Book you don't like that every one else seems to:There seem to be a lot of these. I keep giving books lukewarm reviews, and finding that everyone else loves them. What's wrong with me?

15. Number of books you own (you can guess):I can't even begin to guess. 1000?

16. Number of books on your TBR list (that you have not acquired yet): All of the books on my TBR list are in my possession at the moment. I think there must be 200.

17. Must-have reading accessories: A book. If my contacts are out, my glasses.

18. Literary Destination You Want to Go To: Guernsey, in the Channel Islands.

19. Top Three Favorite Authors: I always find this question hard to answer. Here are a few: Jennifer Haigh, Lionel Shriver, and the late Caroline Knapp.

20. Three Bloggers You Want To See Participate In This Feature: Swapna of S. Krishna's Books, because I am in awe of her reading prowess; Stephanie of Stephanie's Written Word, because I love how she writes and I always look forward to reading her blog; and Jill at Breaking the Spine, who has very similar taste to mine.

Thank you for participating, Gayle! I enjoyed getting to know you better!


Check the schedule below to see who is appearing next on 20 Questions!

Thursday, Oct. 1: Debbie of Debbie's World of Books
Tuesday, Oct. 6: Shannan of Shannan Loves Books and Movies
Thursday, Oct. 8: Alea of Pop Culture Junkie
Tuesday, Oct. 13: Amy of Passages to the Past
Thursday, Oct. 15: Tracy of Yule Time Reading

Do you want to be featured on 20 Questions? Send me an e-mail (which you can find on my Blogger profile!) with your answers to the questions! Please include questions and answers together, which makes it easier for me to post, plus a photo if you want me to put a different one than your blog's profile picture. I will then e-mail you and let you know when you will be featured! Thanks!

The Freedom to Read by Diane of The Book Resort

I am out of the country at my sister's wedding in India with a quick stop in London on the way back! While I am gone some lovely bloggers have stopped by with guest posts! Woohoo!

Today Diane from The Book Resort shares with us why we should never ban books and how we can rally together and fight censorship. Be sure to check some related links at the end of the post. Thanks, Diane!

Banned Books Week (September 26 - October 3, 2009) is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to an unexpected deluge in the number of challenges to books in schools, libraries & bookstores. As an insatiable reader, I find the act of book-banning to be categorically reprehensible. Banning &/or restricting books will result in the deterioration of our cerebral stature in the universe. How on earth can we be more than what we are if we are unable to read, let alone have access, to books that touch our hearts,stir our souls, move our spirits & stimulate our minds by creating absorbing discussions & provocative debates? Why are classics still being challenged after all of these years? Why are author web site's blocked from a school district because of its subject matter? I am not talking XXX either, folks. The essence of the author seems to an abomination just because s/he is expressing themselves or exercising their First Amendment. Hello! Archaic much? Why are so many petrified by the written word? Is it fear of the unknown? Perhaps. I believe it is the old adage, Knowledge is Power! Bottom line, the more you know, the more power you have & that terrifies a diverse assortment of humankind. So, why do censors feel the need to challenge books, movies, music? What gives individuals the authority to deny someone access to beliefs, dreams & reflections they may discover in a book? Nothing does. So nothing or nobody should. If you don't want your brother/sister/cousin/child to read something don't let them! It is as simple as that; after all, it is your choice. What I abhor is when a persons fear consumes not only them but everyone around them. I believe wholeheartedly NO ONE INDIVIDUAL should be able to tell other members of society what they can or cannot read. I ask, who wants to live in a country where books are banned? I certainly don't! So, what is it that we can do to end censorship? ~ Read some of the books that have been challenged. ~ Speak up about censorship. ~ Support the writer's who are being censored &/or challenged: Ellen Hopkins, J.K. Rowling, Toni Morrison, Laurie Halse Anderson, JD Salinger, Paul Zindel, Maureen Johnson,Chris Crutcher Mark Twain, Harper Lee, John Steinbeck, Jack London,Sarah S. Brannen, Cecily von Ziegesar, Ernest Hemingway,Stephen Chbosky, and George Orwell just to name a few. Manifesto

To you zealots and bigots and false
patriots who live in fear of discourse.
You screamers and banners and burners
who would force books
off shelves in your brand name
of greater good.
You say you’re afraid for children,
innocents ripe for corruption
by perversion or sorcery on the page.
But sticks and stones do break
bones, and ignorance is no armor.
You do not speak for me,
and will not deny my kids magic
in favor of miracles.
You say you’re afraid for America,
the red, white and blue corroded
by terrorists, socialists, the sexually
confused. But we are a vast quilt
of patchwork cultures and multi-gendered
identities. You cannot speak for those
whose ancestors braved
different seas.
You say you’re afraid for God,
the living word eroded by Muhammed
and Darwin and Magdalene.
But the omnipotent sculptor of heaven
and earth designed intelligence.
Surely you dare not speak
for the father, who opens
his arms to all.
A word to the unwise.
Torch every book.
Char every page.
Burn every word to ash.
Ideas are incombustible.
And therein lies your real fear.
Manifesto

― Ellen Hopkins,
bestselling author of Crank and newly published Tricks

My Best & Happy Reading!
Diane

Thanks for sharing this with us, Diane! I am a big fan of the un-ban! The great news is that Diane has started you thinking about banned books. On Thursday, October 1, another blogger will be visiting to share with you some more about banned books. Down with Censorship!

I will be in India for 2 weeks. Pleas be sure to come back tomorrow for another fab guest post! See you soon!

P.S. Diane and I would like to share with you some videos having to do with Banned Books Week. I hope you enjoy!

Ellen Hopkins: "Burn every word--ideas are incombustable!" The Manifesto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juRla77tFOY

Katie Couric's Notebook: "Banned Books Week" (CBS News)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ok5e7lf4bQ&feature=fvw

100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1900-2000 by Gottesman Library
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxqbRRQtaLc&feature=related

2008 Banned Books Week Read-Out Put on my the ALA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3ifIdmgVyI&feature=related

TSS: I'm Off to India!

Guess what! I am getting on a plane in a few hours to go to India! Woohoo!

My younger sister, C., is getting married in India on Friday to a terrific man, K. We are so excited for him to be an official part of our family, though he has felt like a part of our family for a long time. K. grew up in India and came over to NC to go to college, which is where he and my sister met. Even though he lives here officially now, his parents still live in India. C. and K. will have their Indian wedding on Friday and then next July they will have their American wedding. As you may know, our father passed away in January so the thought of him not being there to walk her down the aisle (which is a big deal in America, especially the further South you go, I think) is too much right now so she is waiting until next year when it will be a bit less raw. I don't blame her at all.

I cannot wait to see India! And I can only imagine how beautiful the Indian wedding will be. I saw Monsoon Wedding, which, if you don't know, is a movie about a couple who get married in India. While C. and K. met on their own and the couple in the movie were an arranged couple who fell in love, the weddings will be similar. There is typically a week of celebrations and rituals that go with an Indian wedding, but they have pared it down to 2 days of celebrations. I am psyched about the henna ceremony! We get the henna too! I will be sure to have a photo of my henna. :) K. will ride up on a white horse to the hotel where the ceremony will be-- how cool is that?

I will not have any photos of the wedding (maybe decorations, etc.) because it is not my deal, but I will have tons of photos of myself (especially of my outfit for the wedding if I wear a sari) and of India! I am hoping to see a Hindu temple while we are there, and if we can, an ashram, which I have been fascinated with since I read Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I want to visit the market and just see and take in as much as possible!

We will be flying to Newark and then from Newark we have a nonstop flight to India, which will be 15 hours. I have never been on a plane other than a small four-seater plane so this will also be a new experience for me! On our flight back we have a stop-over in London so we decided to stay there for a couple of days and look around- we've never been there either! We will take a couple of tours, including one that is supposed to show some not-so-touristy stuff. Plus I got some good suggestions from you guys of stuff to do and see, too! (I wish we had more time so we could do it all!) Then we will fly back home to NC and fall down from exhaustion and jet lag! lol

(Not my suitcases but they are way cool, right? And, no, I am not taking this many. I have one to check and then one carry on.)

Fifteen hours on a plane each way leaves a lot of time for, you guessed it- READING!!!

So, what AM I taking with me?

• Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster
• The Opium Clerk by Kunal Basu
• Saffron Dreams by Shaila Abdullah
• I'm Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace One School at a Time by Greg Mortensen
• The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner
  

I am taking a couple more books than I will likely finish (I will probably sleep some on the plane) but that way I will have a little bit of a choice. I wanted to take something serious and something funny, a short book, a light book, and a more challenging read. So hopefully I have collected a good mix. I knew I wanted something with some humor in it for when I get to missing my dad during the trip. He would have loved to visit India and London and would have loved to see C. and K. get married. He will be there in spirit, though. (C. and K. have been dating for years. My dad knew him well and liked him.)

Last of all, don't think for a minute I did not think of you while planning my trip! I have lined up some absolutely spectacular guest posts for you by some absolutely spectacular book bloggers! Plus, Tuesdays and Thursdays will have the 20 Questions feature, per usual! I have not had a chance to complete the Take Me Away post for Saturday yet, but if I get a few minutes I will get it posted for you. If I don't get to it, New Zealand will be featured on the following Saturday. There's just been so much to do!

Which is why I am SO SO thankful to the bloggers who wrote these great guest posts for me. I am going to make you wait in anticipation to see who the 10 are and what bookish topics they write about. But I can assure you that there are thought-provoking posts, interesting discussion questions, and lots of book recommendations!

Well, that is it for me. I am off to India and London. I can hardly believe it! See you in two weeks!

Namaste,
Rebecca:)

Take Me Away...to Peru

Take Me Away Saturday

As a lover of books that take place in different cultures and are about different cultures, Take Me Away is a way to share this love with you, my readers and friends!

Each week I feature a different country or culture (ex. Cherokee, Jewish, etc. that do not have a specific country per se) and list some books that can transport you there.

I am keeping a map of the countries we visit and a list of the specific cultures, which you can see at the bottom of this post. Here is a list of where we've been so far:
Vietnam
Triple Threat
Inuit Culture Egypt
Australian Aborigines
Brazil India
Sierra Leone
Sioux Nation
Spain Japan
Haiti Kenya
Norway Taiwan
Turkey Chile

This week we are visiting the South American country of Peru. Here is an easy to see map of Peru:
For more information on this country, click here.

Click on the titles of the books to read reviews and/or purchase the book.

Death in the Andes: A Novel by Mario Vargas Llosa
People have been mysteriously disappearing in the remote mining communities of the Andes, where the inhabitants are more likely to speak the Incan language Quechua than Spanish. Some blame the heavily armed bands of teenage Sendero Luminoso guerrillas that periodically descend on the villages to conduct mock trials and execute "imperialist lackeys." Others blame the equally bloodthirsty government troops. Danish anthropologist Paul Stirmsson suspects that some of the recent victims may have been killed in ritual sacrifices to appease pre-Columbian gods and demons. A witch named Dona Adriana and her husband, Dionisio, whose drunken antics recall the Dionysian revels of Greek antiquity, are the prime suspects. The author (In Praise of the Stepmother, LJ 9/1/90) makes no attempt to assess the Senderistas in political terms. Instead, he offers a sort of Diane Arbus portrait gallery of rural Peru, set in an entertaining detective novel format. Publisher: Picador Pages: 288 Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Supernatural

The Last Days of the Incas by Kim McQuarrie
Starred Review. With vivid and energetic prose, Emmy Award–winner and author MacQuarrie (From the Andes to the Amazon) re-creates the 16th-century struggle for what would become modern-day Peru. The Incas ruled a 2,500–mile-long empire, but Spanish explorers, keen to enrich the crown and spread the Catholic Church, eventually destroyed Inca society. MacQuarrie, who writes with just the right amount of drama ("After the interpreter finished delivering the speech, silence once again gripped the square"), is to be commended for giving a balanced account of those events. This long and stylish book doesn't end with the final 1572 collapse of the Incas. Fast-forwarding to the 20th century, MacQuarrie tells the surprisingly fascinating story of scholars' evolving interpretations of Inca remains. In 1911, a young Yale professor of Latin American history named Hiram Bingham identified Machu Picchu as the nerve center of the empire. Few questioned Bingham's theory until after his death in 1956; in the 1960s Gene Savoy discovered the real Inca center of civilization, Vilcabamba. Although MacQuarrie dedicates just a few chapters to modern research, the archeologists who made the key discoveries emerge as well-developed characters, and the tale of digging up the empire is as riveting as the more familiar history of Spanish conquest. B&w illus., maps. Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pages: 522 Genre: Nonfiction, History, Archaeology, Native Americans

Incas: Book One: The Puma's Shadow by A.B. Daniel
What Gary Jennings did for the Aztecs, Daniel attempts to do for the Incas. Based on the solid storytelling and lean, vivid prose of this first volume of a proposed trilogy (already a bestseller in France and Italy), he's on the right path. The novel's plot juxtaposes the adventures of two outsiders half a world away from each other but destined to meet: in South America the delicate mystic Anamaya, and in Spain the black sheep nobleman Gabriel Montelucar y Flores. Orphaned when the Incas decimated her tribe, Anamaya lands in the court of the Emperor Huayna Capac as a childhood companion to his spoiled daughter, Inti Palla. Anamaya's unique blue-eyed beauty convinces the emperor that she has been divinely sent. She becomes the guardian of the empire and chief confidante of Huayna Capac and later of his successor, the majestic warrior Atahualpa. Gabriel, meanwhile, endures nearly a year of imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition. His wealthy father pays for his release, then abruptly disowns him. Gabriel joins the nascent quest of adventurer Francisco Pizarro, who's lured by extravagant tales of Inca gold. Disease and in-fighting are just two of the ills plaguing the expedition. The book's spectacular climax is both an ending and a beginning (not since The Magic Mountain have star-crossed soul mates taken so long to get together); the opening chapter of volume two is included as a tease. Daniel's rich historical detail is in perfect proportion to his narrative, always enhancing and never slowing down the action, which is considerable. This is a robust and well-balanced adventure. Publisher: Touchstone Pages: 384 Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Series, Adventure

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
"On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below." With this celebrated sentence, Thornton Wilder begins The Bridge of San Luis Rey, one of the towering achievements in American fiction and a novel read throughout the world. By chance, a monk witnesses the tragedy. Brother Juniper seeks to prove that it was divine intervention rather than chance that led to the deaths of those who perished in the tragedy. His study leads to his own death -- and to the author's timeless investigation into the nature of love and the meaning of the human condition. Publisher: HarperCollins Pages: 160 Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Adventure

The Plague of Doves: A Novel by Louise Erdrich
Starred Review. Erdrich's 13th novel, a multigenerational tour de force of sin, redemption, murder and vengeance, finds its roots in the 1911 slaughter of a farming family near Pluto, N.Dak. The family's infant daughter is spared, and a posse forms, incorrectly blames three Indians and lynches them. One, Mooshum Milk, miraculously survives. Over the next century, descendants of both the hanged men and the lynch mob develop relationships that become deeply entangled, and their disparate stories are held together via principal narrator Evelina, Mooshum Milk's granddaughter, who comes of age on an Indian reservation near Pluto in the 1960s and '70s and forms two fateful adolescent crushes: one on bad-boy schoolmate Corwin Peace and one on a nun. Though Evelina doesn't know it, both are descendants of lynch mob members. The plot splinters as Evelina enrolls in college and finds work at a mental asylum; Corwin spirals into a life of crime; and a long-lost violin (its backstory is another beautiful piece of the mosaic) takes on massive significance. Erdrich plays individual narratives off one another, dropping apparently insignificant clues that build to head-slapping revelations as fates intertwine and the person responsible for the 1911 killing is identified. Publisher: Harper Perennial Pages: 352 Genre: Fiction, Family Saga, Native Americans

The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
In the rain forests of Peru, an ancient manuscript has been discovered. Within its pages are 9 key insights into life itself — insights each human being is predicted to grasp sequentially; one insight, then another, as we move toward a completely spiritual culture on Earth. Drawing on ancient wisdom, it tells you how to make connections among the events happening in your life right now and lets you see what is going to happen to you in the years to come. The story it tells is a gripping one of adventure and discovery, but it is also a guidebook that has the power to crystallize your perceptions of why you are where you are in life and to direct your steps with a new energy and optimisim as you head into tomorrow. Publisher: Grand Central Publishing Pages: 256 Genre: Fiction, Spirituality, Adventure

Lima Nights by Marie Arana
Carlos Bluhm leads the good life in upper-class Lima: he attends social functions with his elegant wife, goes out drinking with his three best friends, has the occasional, fleeting assignation. . . . Until he meets Maria Fernandez, a dancer at a tango bar in a rough part of town. The beautiful sixteen-year-old intoxicates him. An indigenous dark-skinned Peruvian, she represents everything his safe white world does not, and soon he can’t get her out of his mind. They begin a passionate affair, one that will destroy his marriage and shatter the only reality he’s ever known. Flash forward twenty years: against all odds, Carlos and Maria have remained together. But when Maria finally presses for a formal commitment, feelings long suppressed erupt in a tense endgame that sends both of them hurtling toward a dangerous resolution that will forever alter their lives. Brilliantly realized, erotic, unsentimental, Lima Nights is a unique love story and a stunning work of fiction that will reverberate long after its final page. Publisher: Random House Pages: 256 Genre: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary Fiction

Machu Picchu by Barry Brukoff and Pablo Neruda
Machu Picchu, one of those talismanic places that everyone dreams of visiting, is celebrated here in the visually stunning photography of Barry Brukoff that evokes the mystery and spiritual atmosphere of this sacred lost city. Interwoven with the images is Pablo Neruda's epic poem "Heights of Machu Picchu" that has been described as "one of Neruda's greatest poetic works." The book is a bilingual edition: a sparkling new English translation of Neruda's poem by noted translator Stephen Kessler runs side by side with the original Spanish. Publisher: Bulfinch Pages: 128 Genre: Poetry, Photography, Travel


This is not, of course, an exhaustive list. There are many others out there. Do you want to share book recommendations that feature Peru? Or do you want to share other thoughts? Please leave a note in the comments!

Be sure to check back for another trip in books! Here is what is coming up in the next month for Take Me Away Saturday:

October 3: no post this week
October 10: The country of New Zealand (Fiction Edition)
October 17: The country of New Zealand (Nonfiction Edition)
October 24: The country of Russia (Fiction Edition)
October 31: The country of Russia (Nonfiction Edition)

The Take Me Away Map of Countries Visited:








Cultures Visited:
Sioux Culture
Australian Aborigines
Inuit Culture

Jill of Rhapsody in Books Answers 20 Questions

Welcome back to my new feature, 20 Questions, where we get to know our fellow book bloggers a little better. Today I would like to present to you Jill of Rhapsody in Books! Thanks, Jill!

20 QUESTIONS

1. Last book you bought:

I have to admit to buying the two available Stieg Larsson books: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire. These purchases were in spite of a tottering TBR pile beckoning me to pay attention to it.

2. Last book you got in the mail:

I used free points from Amazon to order the Pulitizer Prize book, Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, by Douglas A. Blackmon. Now I just must steel myself to read what I know will be a depressing and infuriating book!

3. The first book you read over and over:

There are many books that I read over and over as a child, and they all have a similar theme: everything works out and comes out happy at the end! They include: The Little House by by Virginia Lee Burton (1942), The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper (1930), The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen and The Twelve Dancing Princesses by the Brothers Grimm. These are books I owned, so apparently my mother stuck with the classics in the bookstores!

4. Children’s book every child should read:

This is a hard question to answer since so much depends on the child and the age of the child. But I do know that I like to see children reading books that stretch their imaginations rather than those which tout particular commercial product lines.

5. Favorite place to read:

On the couch, but that’s not the critical part. It’s having a place to put my feet up that is essential. Also nice is a little side table for pens, paper, stickies to mark interesting quotes or important passages, and hot beverage!

6. A book you bought just for the cover:

I wouldn’t buy any just for the cover, but I would buy books in the art or astronomy genres just for the cover plus pictures inside the book. The closest I ever came to buying a book just for the cover was the first “Blue Dog” book I saw by artist George Rodrigue.

7. Scariest book ever read:

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. I was fairly young when I read this, and I started it while babysitting, alone in a big house with no adults. I’m still scared!

8. Most romantic book ever read:

I have always thought Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte was the most romantic. Rochester is irresistible (in the “bad boy” sense) but seemingly unattainable to someone like Jane, given her apparent plainness and station in life. Nevertheless, when he is around Jane, he seems to exude sex appeal and she vulnerability. So there is an erotic tension that builds throughout the story. Then you have this particular passage – my favorite of any romantic expression in a novel, when Rochester talks to Jane about the possibility of her leaving Britain for Ireland:

“…I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you – especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame. And if that boisterous channel, and two hundred miles or so of land come broad between us, I am afraid that cord of communion will be snapt; and then I’ve a nervous notion I should take to bleeding inwardly.”

In my opinion, authors that have to give anatomical descriptions of sexual encounters just can’t write as well as Charlotte Bronte.

9. Book that changed your life in some way:

There are two: one is I Cannot Forgive by Rudolf Vrba. This biographical account published in 1963 tells the story of how Vrba, a Jewish Czech teenager during World War II, became one of the few people actually to escape the Auschwitz concentration camp – an unbelievably daring accomplishment. He then made it his mission to warn the Jewish communities in Hungary and Slovakia, got a message to the Pope, joined the partisans fighting the Nazis, and later gave testimony against Adolph Eichmann. I was young when I read this memoir, and it was the first I had heard of the Holocaust. And it remains one of the most amazing stories to come out of the Holocaust to boot. To say I was shocked is to understate my reaction.

The second book, which I read probably close to the same time, was Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky. Alinsky was a social activist from the Chicago area who advanced the thesis that life doesn’t necessarily have to favor the “haves” over the “have-nots”; that we could actually do something about it. He gave concrete examples through anecdotes from his own career as an organizer of how a more just world could be accomplished. This book definitely helped define my politics from thenceforward.

10. Book you’ve re-read the most times:

This would probably be Ulysses by James Joyce. Each time I read it, there is something more to be discovered.

11. Book you needed the Cliff’s Notes for:

Back to James Joyce for this one, and the winner is: Finnegan’s Wake! If anyone can make it past even one page without a guidebook, he or she deserves my lifelong respect.

12. Book you needed the dictionary for:

The only books that come to mind for which I need a dictionary have been novels published in Britain. The use of Britishisms is often beyond me, and I like to use a British-American translator on Google. (My favorite of such words in nappies for diapers.)

13. Book you like that no one else seems to:

I think The Gold Bug Variations by Richard Powers is brilliant, but I don’t actually even know anyone else who has even read it!

14. Book you don’t like that everyone else seems to love:

These aren’t hard to think of: Gilead, Wuthering Heights, anything by Philip Roth except for Portnoy’s Complaint.

15. Number of books you own (you can guess):

My current number as shown on Library Thing is 2,252 but we have around 50 that have not yet been entered.

16. Number of books on your TBR list (that you have not acquired yet):

Oh, this is a large and always-growing list, and I might add it is added to exclusively these days from recommendations by fellow bloggers.

17. Must-have reading accessories:

First and foremost: reading glasses. There is no reading without them! So I have them all around the house, in any location where I might stop and read.

18. Literary Destination You Want to Go to:

Dublin, Paris, Leningrad…. But to be honest, I would take trips there if I could regardless of their literary associations!

19. Top Three Favorite Authors:

There are some science fiction authors I keep revisiting: Isaac Asimov, Robert Sawyer, Connie Willis, and Orson Scott Card to name a few. There are also some mystery series I enjoy by authors that include P.D. James, Karin Slaughter, and Ridley Pearson among others. A third category of authors I like are favorite historians: David Hackett Fischer, who writes well-researched books that read like exciting novels – I recommend, for example, Paul Revere’s Ride; Thomas Fleming has written very good books that never seem dry about important actors in American history (one example is Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and the Future of America); and James F. Simon writes what I would call “short but sweet” histories that tackle small portions of larger subjects, such as What Kind of Nation: Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and the Epic Struggle to Created a United States.

20. Three Book Bloggers You Want to See Featured in the Future:

Bloggers are such an interesting group: I like reading about all of them!

Thanks for participating, Jill! I enjoyed getting to know you better!


Check the schedule below to see who is appearing next on 20 Questions!

Tuesday, Sept. 29: Gayle of Everyday I Write the Book
Thursday, Oct. 1: Debbie of Debbie's World of Books
Tuesday, Oct. 6: Shannan of Shannan Loves Books and Movies
Thursday, Oct. 8: Alea of Pop Culture Junkie
Tuesday, Oct. 13: Amy of Passages to the Past

Do you want to be featured on 20 Questions? Send me an e-mail (which you can find on my Blogger profile!) with your answers to the questions! Please include questions and answers together, which makes it easier for me to post, plus a photo if you want me to put a different one than your blog's profile picture. I will then e-mail you and let you know when you will be featured! Thanks!