Reading 123 Meme

I've been tagged not once but twice for this one. Thanks to Presbyterian Gal and Gautami Tripathy for getting me to play along.

The rules of this particular meme are:

1). Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages)
2). Open the book to page 123
3). Find the fifth sentence
4). Post the next three sentences
5). Tag five people


The nearest book was The Hours by Michael Cunningham. My Bookmooch pile is next to my computer. So here it goes:

"It is her tribute, her gift. What more can she offer him?

She is on her way back to the kitchen when the intercom buzzes."

Taken out of context that could mean many things. Just so you know, it's a segment of the book where Clarissa is thinking about the dinner party she's giving for Richard. There are many ways you could take those lines if you didn't have the context.

I hate tagging people because I think everyone's already done this one. So instead of a traditional tag, how about a contest? Post a comment linking me to your version of this meme. I'll draw a name at random from the comments, and they'll win my slightly used copy of The Hours. The nice part is if you've already played, all you need to do is leave a comment!

I'll draw the winning name on Friday the 15th. Start sending me those links!

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

I read this one for the A to Z Challenge on the advice of numerous bloggers. It is the story of Henry and his wife, Claire. The book chronicles their life together from the time Henry met Claire when he was an adult, and she was a child. It turns out that Henry has a genetic mutation which allows him to travel through time. So he is able to meet Claire when she's a child, but he's already an adult. As their life together progresses, the reader follows Henry's erratic moves through his life. In some instances, Henry even meets various versions of himself.

STRENGTHS OF THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE: I loved everything about this book. Henry and Claire's love story is quite touching and believable, despite Henry's travels though time. The book starts as Claire declares that her job is to wait. She does spend much of the book waiting for Henry to return from a different time or waiting for him to show up at an appointed time. However, I didn't find myself feeling sorry for her because she lived a full life with friends and her art, making paper and paper sculptures. I found the ending to be both sad and glorious. Instead of being sappy, I felt like these two people were truly destined to be together.

Niffenegger's humor was apparent as Henry always appeared in his travels naked and had to beg, borrow, or steal clothes and money to get by in his new time. Henry was a wonderful character. Even though it's obvious that he has a problem with alcohol, and possibly drugs, he maintains high moral standards. He doesn't reveal what he knows of the future to friends, except for the occassional stock tip, and will not consummate his relationship with Claire until she is 18.

The author also created a wonderful world of supporting characters. I especially enjoyed some of the trampy women in Henry's life during a time period before he was married to Claire. His best friend, Gomez, and his wife were nice touch points in the story. It was a bit hard to believe that they knew about the time travel and accepted it, but it was nice to see the true friendship between the characters.

WEAKNESSES OF THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE: I really liked the book, but it was not told in a linear fashion since we followed Henry's shifts through time. This might bother some people, but it was essential to the story.

Overall, this is also a five star book for me. I could read this one over and over and probably see things I'd missed the first time through. I highly recommend it and look forward to hearing what other people thought of it.

Friday Fill-In

1. I'm looking forward to a five day weekend next weekend.
2. Australia is a place I always wanted to visit and haven't made it there yet.
3. I've fallen in love with lots of things including Maui, my husband, and chocolate - but probably not in that order.
4. Six of one, half dozen another is a phrase but I wouldn't mind six hours off for each hour worked.
5. Addiction to books can be a dangerous thing (and costly too:)
6. The American Idol auditions crack me up!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to family movie night even though it's How To Eat Fried Worms, tomorrow my plans include hopefully some time for myself to do a whole lot of nothing and Sunday, I want to have date night at a Chorale concert!

Booking Through Thursday - Spare Time

Today's BTT is only partly reading related. It's true .... my life is not all about books. So here goes:


Okay, even I can’t read ALL the time, so I’m guessing that you folks might voluntarily shut the covers from time to time as well… What else do you do with your leisure to pass the time? Walk the dog? Knit? Run marathons? Construct grandfather clocks? Collect eggshells?

Leisure time is not always something I have a lot of but here are some of the things that do fill my days. My daughter takes figure skating lessons so I spend time at our local ice rink, or running the kid taxi to the rink! I'm also a Scout leader so I do spend time with a great group of girls having a lot of fun. I also volunteer at my church on the sound board for Sunday services and the occasional wedding.

My husband and I have regular date nights at either the symphony or our local Master Chorale concerts. It sounds so much more expensive than it is because I have great in-laws that watch our daughter, and we buy inexpensive season tickets. When it's hockey season, you'll find us watching (when we can.)

I enjoy cake decorating. I'm not a pro but I have a good friend who helps me, and we have a blast when we do one. I also like to write - we'll see what happens in that area of my life.

After reading someone else's answer, I realized I had to add my two TV addictions. I love Project Runway on Bravo and Lost (which is finally back!)

I didn't even include work stuff. That fills up time in my life, too. I'm looking forward to reading about other people's interests.

Swann by Carol Shields

This is the third novel by Carol Shields that I've read for the Canadian Book Challenge. I really liked the other two: The Stone Diaries and Unless. This one is the story of four people who are united by a relationship with Mary Swann, an obscure, dead Canadian poet.

They are: Rose, the librarian in the small town where Swann lived and died; Sarah, the academic scholar who "discovers" Swann's book; Morton, Swann's biographer; and Frederic, the retired journalist and publisher who publishes Swann's only book. The book is divided among these four people and tells their stories as they prepare to attend the Swann Symposium. Shields also tries to weave a minor mystery plot throughout the four stories as items related to Swann keep showing up missing, or stolen, from each of the main characters.

STRENGTHS OF SWANN: Shields develops wonderful interesting characters. I especially liked Rose because Shields seemed to capture the essence of a small town woman with her variety of roles, yet showed her loneliness as well. Shields also did an excellent job of creating Mary Swann - a character we never meet because she has been killed by her husband before the story even takes place. There is a true sense of despair about her, even though we only meet her in reflections by Rose and Frederic. It is interesting to ponder how real these reflections are because Frederic also reveals some half-truths about the contents of Swann's book. Shields does play with the theme of what is art and who makes it throughout the novel.


WEAKNESSES OF SWANN: I did not like the last quarter of the book at all. Once the main characters are gathered at the Symposium, Shields tells the story via a movie script, complete with stage directions. I lost the flow of the characters and found the stage directions quite tiresome. It is also in this section that the mystery element moves forward. I found that I didn't care who was taking the Swann material. I also found all the sneaking around with flashlights and secret meetings tedious and not in keeping with the characters as they were presented.

Overall, I'd give this three stars. It was not my favorite Shields book by any means. If you haven't read her, don't start with this one. I'm not sorry I read it because the characters were engaging, but I did find myself skimming the last part of the book to get it finished. If you've read this one, I'd love to know if I missed something.

Banned Book Challenge

I told myself that I wasn't doing any more challenges, but I have to participate in this one. I can't stand the prospect of book banning and firmly believe that everyone has the right to read, or not to read, anything they'd like. This challenge is sponsored by the Pelham Public Library. I heard about it at Juli's blog Can I Borrow your Book?

The rules:

1. Select a number of books you'd like to read from banned book lists. The Pelham site has a good list.

2. Register at the Pelham blog.

3. Reading is done between February 24th and June 30th.

My choices are:

1. Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (this is cross-listed with the A to Z Challenge)

2. Dance Me Outside by W.P. Kinsella (which will also apply to the Canadian Book Challenge and is listed on the A to Z Challenge)

3. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

Eva's Book Meme

I got tagged for this one by John who mildly threatened to stop reading my blog if I didn't respond. Actually, he'll keep reading because I'm 2/3s of the way through with another Carol Shields book, and I'm sure he's curious to read the review. He got it from Eva at A Striped Armchair. Anyway, here it is:

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?

I've had The Road on my TBR list for awhile but every time I got to pick it up, I can't even face the cover. I actually left one copy in Hawaii and had to mooch a second, which I still haven't read.

If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?

1. Clara Trueba from The House of the Spirits because I'd love to experience her incredible abilities.

2. Rachel from The Poisonwood Bible to experience her vapidness.

3. Liesel Meminger from The Book Thief because her spirit astounded me.

Obviously, we'd have a ladies tea because I think this group would kill each other on a deserted island!

(Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can't die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realise it's past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?

I'd have to say Smilla's Sense of Snow which my husband gave me to be nice. I really hated the first twenty pages, and think it would be misery to read the whole thing.

Come on, we've all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you've read, when in fact you've been nowhere near it?

I'm drawing a blank on this one. If I haven't read it, I'm usually honest about it. There are classics which I can't finish, but that's not the same thing.

As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realise when you read a review about it/go to 'reread' it that you haven't? Which book?

I tend to get the plots of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility mixed up. I have read them both, but when I read reviews of them I can't keep them straight.

You've been appointed Book Advisor to a VIP (who's not a big reader). What's the first book you'd recommend and why? (if you feel like you'd have to know the person, go ahead of personalise the VIP)

I'd have to hand them a copy of The Book Thief because it's sense of humanity is amazing. I'm probably thinking of a VIP who is also a world leader. Maybe they need to think more and react less.

A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?

Spanish! I'd love to read Isabel Allende without translation.

A mischievious fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?

Wow, there are a lot of choices. I could reread The House of the Spirits, The World According to Garp, Paula, or The Book Thief anytime!

I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What's one bookish thing you 'discovered' from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art-anything)?

I don't think I've discovered any new genres, but I have found authors. Carol Shields is one of the people I've read because of book blogs. I don't think I would have found The Book Thief on my own either. I've found that book blogging has pushed me out of the comfortable mystery genre and gotten me to read many more things. Thanks to everyone for that!

That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she's granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leatherbound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead-let your imagination run free.

I don't think it would be about the books, but the place. I'd love to have a reading room. I'm picturing a few bookshelves, a great cozy chair with a table next to it, a tall reading lamp, and a door for quiet and privacy. That would be a dream come true.

I guess I'm supposed to tag some people so CJ, Literary Feline, Presbyterian Gal, and Alison consider yourselves tagged!