The Archivist's Story by Travis Holland

The Archivist's Story is actually one of my alternate selections for this challenge, but I had first dibs on it from my public library so I read it this week. This book was selected by Alyson, who writes the following:

"This book is just out, and I haven't actually read it yet. But I am studying to be an archivist, so I thought it would be a good choice. I love books that have librarians or archaeologists or historians having adventures. As someone who studies those fields, I can only hope that I get to experience such things."

Well, Alyson, I hope you never have to hide great pieces of literature to protect them for future generations! The Archivist's Story is a pretty good selection, especially if you love history and books.

My review:

In the late 1930’s, Joseph Stalin orchestrated The Great Purge in the Soviet Union. At a time of tremendous government paranoia, many Russian writers and poets were executed for the benefit of “the party.” This is the setting for Travis Holland’s first book, The Archivist’s Story.

The main character, Pavel, is an archivist at a Soviet prison that detains the ill-fated Russian writers. Pavel’s job is to collect the “evidence” against the writer and archive his writings until a time when Pavel’s superiors ordered that the writer’s works be burned in an incinerator. As a former literature teacher, watching the writers’ imprisonment and the destruction of their works was almost too much for Pavel to bear. Upon discovering an unpublished manuscript of famed Russian writer Isaac Babel before his imprisonment, the archivist makes a split- second decision to smuggle the manuscript to his apartment - a crime punishable by death. At any moment, Pavel expects to be arrested for his crime. Paranoia becomes a lifestyle for this lover of Russian literature.

If this story isn’t exhilarating enough, Pavel is also dealing with the increasing memory loss of his mother, the possible imprisonment of two close friends and the investigation of his wife’s death. The story takes many twists and turns, leaving you hanging on until the very last page.

Travis Holland’s freshman effort is a good one. I was on pins and needles with every knock on Pavel’s door, every slamming car door and every conversation he had with Soviet soldiers. I would recommend The Archivist’s Story to readers of Russian literature or historical fiction – or to anyone who wants to appreciate the freedom of writing and reading great works of literature.

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Happy Reading!
Jill =)
http://mrstreme.livejournal.com

The Giver

This post, minus my pop-psychology analysis of the person who chose the book, is reproduced on my blog.

Review #3 for the "Something About Me" reading challenge is on The Giver by Lois Lowry. I would like to say something like, "The Giver is a [insert genre here] novel about blah, blah, blah...," but frankly I don't know what genre it falls into. Is it science fiction? Didn't really seem like it to me, no outer space stuff or anything like that, no weird species or wars among weird species. What qualifies something as science fiction anyway? And what genres exist from which to choose? So a-googling I went, because this is a lack of knowledge that could possibly mark me forever as a moron in the minds of all the literary-types with the book blogs that I've been enjoying. So, in case any of you is hiding under the ignorance rock along with me, here is a list of literary genres. Based on this list, I've narrowed The Giver down to these possibilities: children's literature, social science fiction and philosophical novel. I'm going to go with my own, made up, genre: children's philosophical novel. If I'm way off here, please enlighten me. So, with that out of the way, let's continue.

General comments:

The Giver is a children's philosophical novel (I think) about a boy, Jonas, who is given the assignment of "Receiver of Memory" by the community in which he lives. It is set in the future, exactly how far we don't know, but far enough that society has "evolved" to total control of the individual. There are strict behavior parameters to which everyone must adhere, and yes, Big Brother is watching, or listening, actually. There are no strong emotions and no choices. Even the weather is controlled. Life is colorless, in many ways. But there is one person who is allowed to know and experience the truth, and that is the "Receiver of Memory." This novel is about what happens when the old "Receiver," now called "The Giver," passes on his knowledge to Jonas, the new "Receiver."

If the movie "Pleasantville" and Orwell's novel "1984" were to produce an offspring, this would be it. Granted, it's been over 10 years since I read 1984, and it's been since whenever "Pleasantville" came out that I've seen it, but I just kept thinking of those two as I was reading this book.

I'm not going to do the "What I liked, what I didn't like" thing that I did on my other two reviews, mainly because there wasn't anything that jumped out at me for either of those categories. Overall, I did enjoy the book. It was a quick and pleasant read. I could see it used in a middle school English class; it would be one that the kids would probably really like, and it contains plenty of things to analyze.

This novel was on Sarah Miller's list. Her comment regarding the book that "Oh, and for the record, I believe in happy endings...." is important, in that the ending of the book can be interpreted different ways. So that tells me that Sarah is probably a pretty optimistic person, who can look at an ambiguous situation and see the good possibilities. A glass-half-full kind of gal. :)

Bonnie's review of Place Last Seen

1. Title, author, and date of book?
Place Last Seen by Charlotte McGuinn Freeman, 2000

2. Genre: fiction

3. What made you want to read it? Did it live up to your expectations?
Wendy at Caribousmom put it on her Something About Me Reading Challenge list, and I chose it as one I wanted to read. It is every bit as good as I expected.

4. Summarize the book without giving away the ending.
During an idyllic autumn-day hike in the Desolation Wilderness of the Sierra Nevadas, the Baker family is hurled into a nightmare when six-year-old Maggie, a child with Down Syndrome, runs away while playing hide-and-seek with her brother. As the Search and Rescue team combs the place where Maggie was last seen, all the family can do is wait and hope that a clue will lead them to her.

5. Share a quote from the book.
Here are the opening lines:

Maggie is lost.
Ann crouches in the trail, listening to this sentence loop over and over through her brain. Her daughter is six years old -- blond, brown eyes, Down syndrome, lost.

6. Did you think the characters and their problems were believable?
All except that mother, who seemed strange to the search and rescue team as well. We know the little lost girl through flashbacks; we see that her father, mother, and 8-year-old brother all feel guilty that she is got away from them; but the story is really (in my opinion) about the searchers. I was fascinated to learn about THEIR problems as they tried to find nearby dog teams to follow the scent before it was lost -- only to discover they were in Peru, helping there. The longer it took to get the trained dogs to the PLS, the place last seen, the more likely the scent would be washed away by rain or otherwise contaminated by helpful volunteer searchers. And then there was the new guy, learning to track, who stepped on the first good clue to be found. Oh, yes, their problems were very believable.

7. Was location important to the story?
Location was everything. The story is located in the Desolation Wilderness area of the Sierra Nevadas in the state of California. I know I'll have to read the book again, now that I have found a map of that area, but I was too engrossed to look for online information as I was reading the book. The need to know what's next kept me turning the pages. But look at this wonderful map I found since finishing the book! (Click on the map to make it larger.)



8. What do you think will be your lasting impression of this book?
What I got from Ed and Michelle, two of the search team members, about the whole point of tracking:

Ed believes, "Tracking's mostly learning to see" (p. 63).
Michelle says, "Tracking's all about learning to see" (p. 66).
Ed "knows that the only way to find something is, in some sense, to stop looking with your brain and start seeing" (p. 127).

I get it, I get it! But do I really? Jonathan, who is on his first search, has a hard time learning to really see the lay of the land (literally) and the little clues that seasoned trackers notice. What I may think I learned by reading this book wouldn't take me far in the wilderness, but what a challenge ... to really pay attention to everything that is in your line of sight. Is there a broken twig? Is the grass flattened? What's really right there in front of your nose?

9. How would you rate the book?
Rated: 9/10, excellent! Thanks, Wendy!

10. What I learned about Wendy:
Oh, yeah, one more thing: I can't forget to report what I learned about Wendy from reading this book. She said: "This book is a touching novel about a lost child and the search which ensues to find her. It represents me on a couple of levels. I have been involved in Search and Rescue for almost ten years now (the first 7 of those years was with my Search and Rescue dog - Caribou- and now I'm a certified Tracker I for my county team). In addition, the child in this novel has Down's Syndrome. As a licensed Physical Therapist, I work with children and adults with developmental disability. McGuinn Freeman does an outstanding job of portraying both the search teams and the family of this little girl."

I posted this on Wendy's blog: "I have finished reading Place Last Seen and feel I know you a lot better now. What I want to know is, which dog in the team photo is Caribou?

Wendy replied: "Caribou and I are not on the Shasta County dog team...we worked for an state-wide organization called CARDA. I retired Caribou two years ago due to her developing arthritis ... and now I serve as a tracker for my county team (which is the link I provided in my 'explanation' of the book). You can see a photo of Caribou here on my blog."

Caribou is a beautiful dog! Go see for yourself. This is exactly what I was hoping to learn about some of you when I joined this challenge. Wendy has been out there searching for people like the characters in this book, on search and rescue teams and with her trained dog. This has been great, learning something new to me and at the same time learning about my new friend Wendy.

I reviewed this on my blog, Bonnie's Books as well.

The Iliad - Review

I posted this review on my blog as well Rhinoa's Ramblings but am adding it here too. It wasn't on my list of five books to read for this challenge, but Alyson proposed it and seeing as I read it I though why not talk about it here too!

Rating : 4.5/5

Reason for reading : Various challenges, always meant to get around to it

The well-known story of the Trojan War is recounted here. It was all started when Paris (son of Priam of Troy) ran off with Greek Helen the wife of Menelaus. Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon raise an army and lay seige to Troy consisting of a selection of famous warriors including Odysseus, the two Ajax's, Achilles, Nestor, Patroclus and Diomedes. The Trojan side is led by Hector (eldest son of Priam), Paris, Aeneas, Sarpedon and Polydorus.

The story begins six years into the fighting with an arguement between Agamemnon and Achilles over a girl. Achilles refuses to help in the fighting, even though the Greeks are losing, until his best friend Patroclus is killed by Hector. He then gains his revenge by killing Hector even though his death has been prophesised to follow not long after. The novel ends with Hectors funeral and before Achilles dies and the sacking of Troy.

There is a great collection of characters on both sides and the story is filled with action and some great speeches. It can get a little A killed B, C kills B in retaliation and then D etc. To stop it from being just a list of the names of the fallen and their killer, Homer has a little back story for most of the characters just before they are killed. The methods of killing seem to be mostly by rock or by spear just above the nipple, in the liver or in the eyes or mouth. It's pretty gruesome in places and the killing blows nicely match my imagination of their armour and their weak spots.

My favourite, yet most annoying aspect, is the role of the Gods (mostly Hera and Athena who really mix things up and cause havoc). The Gods are not content to sit on the sidelines and let destiny unfold naturally and as prophesised, they are constantly argueing and getting involved. They often help their favourites by whisking them away from battle or shielding them from attack. They also make things more difficult for the opposition and attack the other Gods in the process. It's like the traditional image of them playing chess or another board game with the human warriors as the pieces.

Overall though, a great book. Again I can see why it is such a classic and I am looking forward to reading The Odyssey in the near future.

Leslie's books about me :)

There is No Me Without You, by Melissa Faye Greene (NF). One woman's response to the orphan crisis in Ethiopia
Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder (NF). About Haiti and Dr. Paul Farmer, a out-of-the-box public health thinker and provider
Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book, by Walker Percy (NF). Thought provoking and funny.
Sammy's Hill, by Kristin Gore (F). Funny description of DC life and politics. Just a fun read.
A Most Uncommon Degree of Popularity, by Kathleen Seidel (F). Fun novel about DC area moms of middle school girls. (Which one of these years I will be!)

Glory-Ho Bookshelf Snapshot

Long Quiet Highway, Natalie Goldberg, Non-Fiction (my life and true writer awakening)
Crossing to Safety, Wallace Stegner, Fiction (a curious, timeless calming about our place in the world)
Cowboys Are My Weakness, Pam Houston, Fiction (how I felt through my 20s)
Expecting Adam, Martha Beck, Non-Fiction (my spiritual awakening)
The Thornbirds, Colleen McCullough, Fiction (my first real book, inspiring me to seek far away lands)

Maryanne's five books to read

Hi, everyone! Finally I now have a list of the five books I will be reading for the challenge.

But first, a recap:

I had a hard time coming up with the five "about me" books. But then when I started to relax and decided to just have fun, choosing became easier. Here are the five books that I like that also tell something about me:

1. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. Because this is how I love, with a fiery passion that lasts and lasts and lasts. I've actually watched the movie before I was able to read the book, and when I finally got the book and was ready to read it, I hesitated. I wondered how I would react if the book would come across as very different from the movie. Indeed it was different, and I loved the book more than I loved the movie! Funny thing is, I don't know how to cook at all. This is one of the books that made me realize that the best cooks of all are the ones who cook with love.

2. The History Of The Siege of Lisbon by Jose Saramago. Because I'm working on a book of history at the moment, and I am also plagued by the issues that the main character was worried about. I'm hoping to triumph in the end, like he did! Women writers are said to view history differently, and ask different questions, no matter if they were trained the same way as the men. Right now I'm deep in the work, and although I am currently on a much-needed break, everyday I stop and wonder about all the books of history out there, and how our lives would have been different had they been written differently.

3. How To Walk In High Heels by Camilla Morton. Because I'm a single girl living alone in the big city. I also have a thing for shoes. This is really a how-to book, which I found so endearing, because it provides instructions for eveerything, including how to unwrap a cd, how to hire a plumber, and how to burp in public!

4. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Because when I was young I used to believe in vampires and ghosts. There was a period in my young life when, during summer, I'd pretend to fall asleep and then when everybody else was asleep, I'd get out of bed and peer out the window towards the lot of our next-door neighbor, about 300 kilometers away on the farm, and try to see those strange lights that old wives used to talk about. In the farm, where I grew up, everybody believed in ghosts and spirits and superstitions.

5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Because I simply looove chocolate!

And here are the five that I will be reading, from the lists that the others have posted:
1. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, from Rhinoa's list
2. On Writing by Stephen King, from Jill's list
3. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, from Stephanie's list
4. East of Eden by John Steinbeck, from Vasilly's list
5. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote, from
Lucca's list

And here's one more, in memory of Nattie, who isno longer with us: An Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler.

As I finish reading each book, I'll be posting a mini-review, here and in my blog, in the context of the "Something About Me" Reading Challenge.

Happy reading to all of us!