Introverted Reader

Enzo: Character Connection

Enzo, the narrator of The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, is a dog. But not just any dog; he believes that he has gained the wisdom to come back in his next life as a man. I agree. If anything, he's probably too wise to be one of us. I loved Enzo from his first sentence. I have to own up to being more of a cat person, but I do love well-behaved dogs too. I have zero patience for dogs who yap and bark and jump all the time. But the quiet ones who will have your back when you need them? They rock. Enzo is one of those. Enzo sees all the ways that people hurt each other, in big ways and in small. Denny, his owner, goes through some serious trouble with his in-laws after his wife's death. Enzo can't understand why people would act that way. Everyone is hurting in that situation. Why make it worse by lashing out and being nasty? He comments on the fact that people rarely just listen. Even when we appear to be listening, we're really just formulating our responses to what the other person is saying and then derailing the conversation in the direction we want it to go. He feels superior to us in that respect. He knows that he can't verbally communicate, but he knows that his value as a listener is unmatched. Enzo also sees that we spend too much time worrying about the past and the future instead of the here and now. That's where the title comes from. Denny, a race car driver, has won many races when rain started falling because he has a talent for letting all conscious thought go and just reacting to what's in front of him.…

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January 3, 2013

Bookish Miscellany

2012 Reading by the Numbers

I picked up the idea of analyzing some of my reading patterns over the year from other bloggers and I did it for the first time last year. So here you have it--more than you could ever hope to know about my reading in 2012 [...]

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January 2, 2013

Read more about the article Top Ten Books Read in 2012

Bookish Miscellany / Book Review Lists

Weekly Update for December 31, 2012

Welcome to my weekly update for December 31, 2012! It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Posted [...]

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December 31, 2012

Introverted Reader Features

2013 Nonfiction Reading Challenge

The Challenge: Read any non-fiction book(s), adult or young adult. That's it. You can choose anything. Memoirs? Yes. History? Yes. Travel? Yes. You get the idea? Absolutely anything that is classified as non-fiction counts for this challenge. I always like levels in my challenges, so here are mine: Dilettante--Read 1-5 non-fiction books Explorer--Read 6-10 Seeker--Read 11-15 Master--Read 16-20 This challenge will last from January 1 to December 31, 2013. You can sign up anytime throughout the year. I am not limiting the challenge to bloggers. You can also link to a review you wrote on another site, such as GoodReads or LibraryThing. Crossovers with other challenges are acceptable, and feel free to read your books in any format you like. I'm signing up at the Seeker level. I'll track my progress here. Don't Know Much About Mythology: Everything You Need to Know About the Greatest Stories in Human History but Never Learned by Kenneth C. Davis The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring by Richard Preston A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain Apologies to My Censor by Mitch Moxley Mountainfit by Meera Lee Sethi Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind: A Bestseller's Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood by Ellen F. Brown and John Wiley, Jr. The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe The Trivia Lover's Guide to the World: Geography for the Lost and Found by Gary Fuller The Heroine's Bookshelf: Life Lessons, from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder by Erin Blakemore The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage, and My Family by Dan Savage The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara and Susan McClelland NPR Favorite Driveway Moments: Radio Stories That Won't Let…

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December 31, 2012

Introverted Reader Features

2013 Books in Translation Reading Challenge

Details: I'll be hosting the Books in Translation Reading Challenge again for 2013. I failed pretty miserably at it last year, reading only two when my goal was 4-6. Oops. I hope to do better this year. The goal is obviously to read translations of books, from any language into the language(s) you're comfortable reading in; they don't have to be in English. You can read any genre and any age range. Crossovers with other challenges are fine. Any format that you choose is also acceptable. The challenge will run from January 1 through December 31, 2013. Reading Suggestions: Looking for suggestions? I have a shelf on GoodReads you can check out. There's also a Listopia list on GoodReads. Last year's linked reviews are a great resource. I am not limiting the challenge to bloggers. You can also link to a review you wrote on another site, such as GoodReads or LibraryThing. Levels: Levels:Beginner: Read 1-3 books in translationConversationalist: 4-6Bilingual: 7-9Linguist: 10-12 My Personal Progress I'm committing to the Conversationalist level at 4-6 books. I'll track my progress here. Doctor Zhivago by Boris PasternakBalzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Sijie Dai, translated by Ina Rilke, read by B. D. WongThe Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, translated by Alison AndersonLabyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings by Jorge Luis Borges, translated by various Sign Up and Link Your Reviews! I hope you'll join me! Sign up anytime throughout the year by linking below! Post your reviews here as well. Enter your name or your blog name and the title of the book in parentheses. Example: The Introverted Reader (The Bookseller of Kabul) 1. Maphead's Book Blog2. Lizzy Siddal3. Darlene @ Darlene's Book Nook4. Joy @ A Little Reading5. Tanya @ Girlxoxo6. Aleksandra @ Aleksandra's Corner7. TracyK @ Bitter Tea…

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December 30, 2012

Introverted Reader Features

2013 Southern Literature Reading Challenge

Photo Attribution I'm a little late to post this, but I am hosting the 2013 Southern Literature Reading Challenge this year. Sign up and link your reviews below. The rules: Read a book(s)--non-fiction or fiction of any genre, for any age group--written by an author from the South and set mostly in the South. Definitions of the South are flexible, so I've decided to define it the way I want. That's the fun of hosting your own challenge, right? :-) The states:South CarolinaGeorgiaAlabamaNorth CarolinaVirginiaTennessee MississippiLouisianaKentucky West VirginiaTexasArkansasFlorida Please keep in mind that this is a Southern literature challenge. It's possible to find books set in each of these states that are not Southern in nature or feeling. Use your best judgment when choosing your books. Levels: Level 1--C'mon in the house! Read 1 book. Level 2--Pull up a seat and stay a while! Read 2 books Level 3--Have a glass of sweet iced tea, honey. Read 3 books Level 4--Y'all come back now, y'hear! Read 4 books The challenge will run from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. You can join in anytime throughout the year. I am not limiting the challenge to bloggers. You can also link to a review you wrote on another site, such as GoodReads or LibraryThing. Crossovers with other challenges are acceptable, and feel free to read your books in any format you choose. I'm signing up at the Y'all Come Back Now level. I'll track my progress here. The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean MayhewOral History by Lee SmithSummer Rental by Mary Kay AndrewsThe Big Beautiful by Pamela DuncanThe Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder by Rebecca Wells, read by Judith IveyMargaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind: A Bestseller's Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood by Ellen F. Brown and John Wiley,…

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December 30, 2012

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon: Book Review

On a dark and stormy night in 1968, a widow is alone at home, as she usually is. She hears a knock on her door. She isn't expecting anyone, but, these being simpler times in many ways, she answers anyway. A young black man and white woman are outside, drenched, in obvious need of help. It soon becomes apparent that the man is deaf and the woman has some sort of developmental disability. There's also a newborn girl hidden under the woman's sodden clothes. White, the girl is obviously not the black man's daughter. Martha, the widow, sets about making the man, woman, and infant comfortable. Then there's a second knock at the door. Police. They're looking for the couple, "escapees" from the local "school for the feebleminded." They quickly find Lynnie, the woman, but the baby is hidden away and they don't seem to know about her. The man, "Buddy," makes his escape out the back door. Lynnie, who hasn't uttered a word up to this point, whispers one request into Martha's ear as the authorities drag her away: "Hide. Her." Meaning the baby. In a life-altering decision, Martha does exactly that. Oh my gosh, this was so heart-breaking to listen to. Seriously. My heart just ached through some of the descriptions. It's just so hard to imagine the conditions that citizens with different abilities were subjected to, and not that long ago. Families were ashamed of their children and locked them away, out of sight, never to visit again. The families who felt differently were often pressured into sending their children to these "schools," where a good front was assumed on visiting days. The book follows Lynnie's story after she is sent back to the school. One toothbrush to share, bullies as "caretakers," violence, menial work, and absolutely…

The Inferno by Dante Alighieri: Book Review

To summarize for those who don't know, this is an epic poem, part of a greater poem called The Divine Comedy. Dante the Poet travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise at the behest of his dead true love, Beatrice. His guide for his tour of Hell is the great Roman poet, Virgil. This was tough. I rip through books quickly, but this took me a good six weeks to read. I could only read one or two cantos (about four pages) at a time. I would start to fall asleep. I'm not one of those people who reads to fall asleep. I read for enjoyment. I watch tv to fall asleep. I also read a couple of other books at the same time, so that slowed me down too. Part of what slowed me down is the translation. It was translated by Longfellow. So, here I was, reading a 14th-century Italian poet translated by a 19th-century American poet. You see the trouble? It felt like a very word-for-word translation. I know that poets are allowed to play around with English syntax, and that's fine. But everything felt sort of backwards. I don't know anything about Italian, but when I've waded through French in school and now trying to learn Spanish, a lot of their syntax is backwards to me. I assume Italian is the same way since it's also a Romantic language. So I would read a line and then mentally turn it around to a form that made sense to a modern English speaker. Wow. That really bogged me down. Another thing that really slowed me down is that in the B&N version, there were at least as many pages of endnotes as there were of actual poem. Don't get me wrong--the endnotes were mostly a huge help. Dante…

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall: Book Review

4 Stars. I listened to this ages and ages ago, but I remember that I loved it. I don't even recall the sisters' names, but as I listened they each had a distinct personality and I was easily able to differentiate between them. There is no big plot here, it's just a series of little adventures that these sisters have on their [...]