The Printed Page

Hey,

I’m home again and home sweet home it is. The look may change or not as I play with WordPress themes now that I have that capability. I just love surfing for new looks and best of all they’re free. I still can’t seem to find a book one but maybe someday someone will design a really classy book blog theme or two or three for WP. Designers are you out there?! Book blogs could be big marketing in terms of free advertisting for you. I mean what’s up with all the poker/casino templates?

Email issues have been resolved. If you sent me email and got an auto delivery failure notice please try again. The address is marcia [at] printedpage [dot] us

My brother is the brains behind this move and I owe him. Probably not a good thing for a kid sister to owe her big brother because the payback can be hell but owe him I do. Least you think I took advantage of his skills both Amazon and my brother will be very happy with the payment he received for all his hard work. THANK YOU!!

I’m a very visual person and love beautiful, or interesting, cover art. It entices, and invites, me to stop and take a peek instead of walking right on by. This week’s Cover Attraction is: Title: The Devlin Diary Author: Christi Phillips Release date: May ’09

London, 1672: A vicious killer stalks the court of Charles II, inscribing his victims’ bodies with mysterious markings. Are these the random murders of a madman? The deadly consequence of a personal vendetta? Or the grisly result of a hidden conspiracy? Cambridge, 2008: A Trinity College history professor is found dead, the torn page of a seventeenth-century diary in his hand. His death appears to be an accident, but the college’s newest Fellow Claire Donovan and historian Andrew Kent suspect otherwise. The professor’s last research subject was Hannah Devlin, a physician to the king’s mistress and the keeper of a diary that holds the key to a series of unsolved murders in 1670s London. Through the arcane collections of Trinity’s Wren Library, the British Library, and the Royal Society, Claire and Andrew follow the clues Hannah left behind, unearthing secrets of the past and present as both stories unfold to their shocking conclusions.

I had trouble finding a cover this week until I came across the UK version of Christi Phillips’ newest novel The Devlin Diary (upper left). Actually the author’s name caught my eye first before the cover. I really enjoyed her first novel The Rossetti Letter and I’m very excited to see she has a new novel coming out next month. I don’t like the US cover at all. I think they are world’s apart in conveying a message.

P.S. Because this is really about cover art I’ve given my Cover Attraction this week a picture frame.

♦♦♦

What’s your favorite cover attraction this week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Cover Attraction post.

If you’re new to Mailbox Monday welcome! Thank you to everyone who stops by Mailbox Monday. Whether you comment or visit I appreciate your taking the time to drop in.

***

Fiction ~ The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg. This is a Read It Forward book with no waiting period. It will go in the mail this week. (Claimed by Janel)

The familiar protagonist of Berg’s 13th novel (after The Art of Mending) is a Boston widow of several months, 55-year-old Betta Nolan, who fulfills her dying husband’s dream of moving out to the Midwest and starting a new life. “It will give me peace to know that what you will do is exactly what we talked about,” says John commandingly before dying of liver cancer; Betta, an author of children’s books, sells their Beacon Hill brownstone and takes off, buying an oversized Victorian in the small town of Stewart, Ill., 49 miles from Chicago. Lonely, she finds herself tracking down three former college roommates from the late 1960s, Lorraine, Maddy and Susanna, whom she ditched once she met John. The women reappear one by one and help give her the courage to open a shop called What a Woman Wants (it’ll sell “all different stuff that women loved. Beautiful things, but unusual too. Like antique birdcages with orchids growing in them”). Meanwhile, she begins to make friends in town, notably with attractive young handyman Matthew and natty oldster Tom Bartlett. 

Historical fiction ~ The Tory Widow by Christine Blevins (new-to-me author/Librarything Early Reviewers program) (Claimed by Michelle)

On a bright May day in New York City, Anne Peabody receives an unexpected kiss from a stranger. Bringing news of the repeal of the Stamp Act, Jack Hampton, a member of the Sons of Liberty, abruptly sweeps Anne into his arms, kisses her—and then leaves her to her fate of an arranged marriage…

1775: Nearly ten years have passed and Anne, now the Widow Merrick, continues her late husband’s business printing Tory propaganda, not because she believes in the cause, but because she needs the money to survive. When her shop is ransacked by the Sons of Liberty, Anne once again comes face to face with Jack and finds herself drawn to the ardent patriot and his rebel cause.

As shots ring out at Lexington and war erupts, Anne is faced with a life-altering decision: sit back and watch her world torn apart, or stand and fight for both her country’s independence and her own.

Fiction ~ The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (new-to-me author). This book arrived as a complete surprise to me. I have no idea who it came from. (Claimed by Linda)

In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man, David Martín, makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. The survivor of a troubled childhood, he has taken refuge in the world of books and spends his nights spinning baroque tales about the city’s underworld. But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house lie photographs and letters hinting at the mysterious death of the previous owner.

Like a slow poison, the history of the place seeps into his bones as he struggles with an impossible love. Close to despair, David receives a letter from a reclusive French editor, Andreas Corelli, who makes him the offer of a lifetime. He is to write a book unlike anything that has ever existed–a book with the power to change hearts and minds. In return, he will receive a fortune, and perhaps more. But as David begins the work, he realizes that there is a connection between his haunting book and the shadows that surround his home.

Contemporary fiction ~ Still Life: A Novel by Joy Fielding (from my good friend Dar at Peeking Between the Pages. Thank you!)

Casey Marshall has it all: a successful interior-design business; a handsome, loving husband; wonderful friends; and a boatload of family money at her disposal. But just as she’s contemplating starting a family, she’s the victim of a hit-and-run accident that leaves her in a coma. But she’s not completely out of it, so she’s a witness to everything that happens in her hospital room. But is that so bad? Isn’t it everyone’s dream to be a fly on the wall, to hear what might be said at our funerals? Even though Casey is privy to everyone’s “private” remarks and conversations as they visit, she feels trapped and helpless, especially when it becomes abundantly clear that the incident with the car was no accident. Her frustration mounts as her sister, the wayward but bighearted Drew, becomes a suspect, along with everyone close to her. While not narrated in first person, the action revolves around Casey’s experiences and perceptions. Fielding makes the most of this intriguing premise without succumbing to gimmicky plot tricks. The moment that Casey solves her own attempted murder is truly riveting, and the anxiety she feels as she tries to avoid the would-be murderer’s completion of his task is palpable. A heart-pounding mainstream thriller

***

Read It Forward details

***

What books came into your house last week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Mailbox post or a list of books if you don’t have a blog.

Today’s pondering:

So with everything that is happening around here right now I don’t actually have time to wax eloquent about these memoirs but every one of them is outstanding. 

Jantsen’s Gift: A True Story of Grief, Rescue, and Grace by Pam Cope and Aimee Molloy.

Out of a family’s grief, especially Pam’s, she’s the mom, comes a life affirming change. With the money donated in Jansten’s name Pam and her family vow to make his young life carry on with meaning. Over time they’ve established the Touch A Life Foundation. The charitable work that this small organization carries out is simply short of amazing. I know that there are thousands of charitable organizations around the world and I applaud them for the work they do. To me what makes Touch a Life unique is they vow to provide life long, lasting support if needed. Now I won’t swear this is unusual but it strikes me that way.

One of the obstacles that Pam encountered when starting her fund-raising was why somewhere half way around the world and not here in her own home town? Honestly that’s usually my question. Yes America is referred to as the land of plenty and granted we have programs in place to assist those in need but still life here is far beyond happy and healthy for a large segment of our society. And what I realized as I was reading Pam’s story is this: for those of us called to help others in need we go where we feel we’re needed the most. If that little voice is telling us to help save slave children in Ghana, street children in Vietnam or runaways here in the States we’ll go where we’re lead. There is no denying what you hear. It niggles at you until you feed it and then it comes back for more and eventually you understand exactly what it is that is being said.

You better have a Kleenex or two to three handy as you read this one. But not all is grief and sadness. Pam is a very funny woman. She deals just like the rest of us – with a sense of humor and a dose or reality. There were actually times when I thought she was too hard on herself. After all while we may live with grace we are only human.

From Amazon: For Cope, life in her small Missouri town seemed perfect; she ran a hair salon, enjoyed a happy family life and lived in a beautiful home. Yet, she explains, I have to say, I put on a hell of a performance. For a long time, I even had myself convinced of how good and right everything was in my life. Her ideal was shattered in 1999 when Jantsen, her 15-year-old son, died suddenly from a heart ailment; this moving memoir recounts Cope’s transformation and growth after her world collapsed. Her metamorphosis began after she accepted an invitation from a friend to visit Vietnam. Though Cope was wrapped in personal grief following the death of her son, the trip illuminated for her the superficial environment she inhabited. After visiting a local orphanage, Cope found for the first time in her life a sense of wholeness and purpose. Soon she stepped outside her own circumscribed world and began creating better lives for the abused, neglected and at-risk children she encountered, first in Vietnam then in Cambodia and Ghana. This is a wonderful story of a woman whose personal tragedy gave birth to a gift and how she fulfilled that legacy to make the world a better place.

*** Next up was Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino, Ronald Cotton, and Erin Torneo. I knew instantly this book would capture my attention because I’ve always been interested in legal and police matters. A case of mistaken identity that could have destroyed lives instead turns into a one of  redemption. 

Two lives are shattered in the space of hours. Those hours turn into eleven long years. Just as sure as Jennifer is that Ronald Cotton is her rapist Ronald knows that he didn’t commit the crime(s) of which he stands convicted. There is a serious miscarriage of justice here and the blame doesn’t rest with Jennifer. The facts and omissions as presented seem to point to a mishandling of Ron’s case from the start. These can be the consequences of an over zealous, blinding belief that the ‘right’ person is in custody. I applaud this police department of instituting new procedures that reduce the risk of mistaken identifications on the behalf of victims and witnesses.

Ron’s capacity for forgiveness is a thing to behold. All those years knowing he didn’t do it. All those lost years that he can’t get back. Denied family, friends, freedom. Though Jennifer’s life wasn’t easy she wasn’t denied to the extent Ron was. How many of us could spend eleven years behind bars and not come out bitter, vengeful people?  I’m betting not many of us. The guilt Jennifer faces could have been crushing but with Ron’s compassion, the man she accused of raping her, she learns to forgive herself. Once again a book full of living with grace and dignity. The friendship they’ve forged is nothing short of a miracle.

From Amazon:

Jennifer Thompson was raped at knifepoint by a man who broke into her apartment while she slept. She was able to escape, and eventually positively identified Ronald Cotton as her attacker. Ronald insisted that she was mistaken– but Jennifer’s positive identification was the compelling evidence that put him behind bars. After eleven years, Ronald was allowed to take a DNA test that proved his innocence. He was released, after serving more than a decade in prison for a crime he never committed. Two years later, Jennifer and Ronald met face to face– and forged an unlikely friendship that changed both of their lives.

In their own words, Jennifer and Ronald unfold the harrowing details of their tragedy, and challenge our ideas of memory and judgment while demonstrating the profound nature of human grace and the healing power of forgiveness.

*** And I’m just pages away from finishing A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy by Thomas Buergenthal.

While all three are very powerful stories, each showcasing the courageous strength of will to endure and help others this one stands a bit above the others only because of the sheer magnitude of the horror of this young man’s situation.  A fortune teller once told his mother his was ‘a lucky child’. Little did the fortune teller know just how much luck Thomas would need. This really is one of those ‘but for the grace of God go I’ stories. 

Every narrow of escape of the death in a Nazi death camp comes with a high price and another day to live. With unspeakable atrocities everywhere Thomas is befriended by those who can help to save him or show him how to save himself. He survives this hell on earth and is eventually reunited with mother. And this reunion is pure luck. This young man was truly blessed by whatever powers that be.

I know they emigrate to the United States with Thomas pursuing a distinguished legal and human rights career but I haven’t gotten that far.

From Amazon:

You think you’ve heard it all: the roundups, deportations, transports, selections, hard labor, death camps (“That was the last time I saw my father”), crematoriums, and the rare miracle of survival. But this one is different. The clear, nonhectoring prose makes Buergenthal’s personal story––and the enduring ethical questions it prompts––the stuff of a fast, gripping read. Five years old in Czechoslovakia at the start of World War II, Buergenthal remembers being crowded into the ghetto and then, in 1944, feeling “lucky” to escape the gas chambers and get into Auschwitz, where he witnessed daily hangings and beatings, but with the help of a few adults, managed to survive. In a postwar orphanage, he learned to read and write but never received any mail, until in a heartrending climax, his mother finds him. In 1952, he immigrated to the U.S., and now, as human-rights lawyer, professor, and international judge, his childhood’s moral issues are rooted in his daily life, his tattooed number a reminder not so much of the past as of his obligation, as witness and survivor, to fight bigotry today.

***

All three of these stories deserve your time and attention. My suggestion is you put Jantsen’s Gift, Picking Cotton, and A Lucky Child at the top your towering TRB pile.

***

A good book should leave you…slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it. ~William Styron, interview, Writers at Work, 1958

***

I’m a very visual person and love beautiful, or interesting, cover art. It entices, and invites, me to stop and take a peek instead of walking right on by. This week’s Cover Attraction is:

Title: The Servant’s Quarters Author: Lynn Freed Release date: April ’09

From Fantastic Fiction: THE SERVANTS’ QUARTERS, a complex and sophisticated love story, evokes a vanishing world of privilege with a Pygmalion twist.

Haunted by phantoms of the Second World War and the Holocaust, young Cressida lives in terror of George Harding, who, severely disfigured, has returned from the front to recover in his family’s stately African home. When he plucks young Cressida’s beautiful mother and her family from financial ruin, establishing them in the old servants’ quarter of his estate, Cressida is swept into a future inexorably bound to his.

In the new setting, she finds that she is, after all, indentured. She is conscripted to enliven George Harding’s nephew, the hopelessly timid Edgar, to make him “wild and daring.” And she takes on this task with resentful fury, leading the boy astray, and, in the process, learning to manipulate differences in power, class, background and ambition.

Only slowly does she come to understand that George Harding himself is watching her. And waiting.

A simple table and chair with an open book. The sunlight slanting in through the cathedral window. The soothing, muted shades of grey. All this invited me to take a seat.

P.S. Because this is really about cover art I’ve given my Cover Attraction this week a picture frame.

♦♦♦

What’s your favorite cover attraction this week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Cover Attraction post.

If you’re new to Mailbox Monday welcome! Thank you to everyone who stops by Mailbox Monday. Whether you comment or visit I appreciate your taking the time to drop in.

** Be sure and check out the Read It Forward announcement towards the end of this post. I still have homeless books. Check out my MM posts for the weeks of 4/6 and 4/13. **

It was a very quiet book week around here until Saturday. I think the mailman was reading ‘em.

Suspense/thriller ~ The Chameleon Conspiracy by Haggai Carmon (new-to-me author)

A Dan Gordon Intelligence Thriller third installment, where Dan Gordon is assigned to the CIA to investigate a case of massive fraud left for dead. He revisits the FBI assumptions and suspects that the fraud was perpetrated by one person who changed identities like a chameleon changes its color. Through cooperation with the Mossad, Gordon discovers that shocking truth. Dan travels undercover to Pakistan, where he survives a kidnapping attempt. A daring covert operation is planned by the CIA and the Mossad and Dan with an unwitting Austrian woman penetrate Iranian society. While in Iran he is hunted by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security. The Kurdish rebels show their loyalty but can he trust them? Are the hints Dan senses sent by a high-ranking Iranian intelligence officer for real or a trap? Is the plan to launch a major terrorist attack on the U.S., a ploy or reality? What role does a network of Islamic charities play? Who wants to collapse the U.S economy? Dan Gordon hovers the globe in search of clues; will he again have the upper hand? Much more than just his person is at stake, and at risk..

Non-Fiction ~ The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler (new-to-me author/Librarything Early Reviewers program) (Claimed by Natalie)

Turn-of-the-century Paris was the beating heart of a rapidly changing world. Painters, scientists, revolutionaries, poets–all were there. But so, too, were the shadows: Paris was a violent, criminal place, its sinister alleyways the haunts of Apache gangsters and its cafes the gathering places of murderous anarchists. In 1911, it fell victim to perhaps the greatest theft of all time–the taking of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. Immediately, Alphonse Bertillon, a detective world-renowned for pioneering crime-scene investigation techniques, was called upon to solve the crime. And quickly the Paris police had a suspect: a young Spanish artist named Pablo Picasso…..

Memoir ~ Who Do You Think You Are? by Alyse Myers (new-to-me author/FSB Associates) (Claimed by Marie)

Shortly after Alyse Myers’s mother dies, Alyse and her sisters are emptying her mother’s apartment, trying to decide what to discard and what to keep. Alyse covets only one thing — a wooden box that sits in the back of a closet. Its contents have been kept from Alyse her entire life. That box, she hopes, will contain answers to her questions: Who were her parents really, and why did her mother settle for so very little in her life?

Growing up during the 1960s in a working-class neighborhood in Queens, New York, Alyse’s home is not a happy one. Her parents argue constantly and after the death of Alyse’s father, her mother at age thirty-three is left with three young girls. While her mother retreats to the kitchen table with her cigarettes and bitterness, determined to stay there forever, Alyse yearns for more in life, including the right to escape. After a childhood of harrowing fights, abject cruelty, and endless uncertainty, Alyse adamantly rejects everything about her mother’s life, provoking her mother’s infuriated demand, “Who do you think you are?”

Contemporary fiction ~ Rooftops of Tehran: A Novel by Mahbod Seraji (new-to-me author/Authors on the Web) (Claimed by Kim)

In this poignant, eye-opening and emotionally vivid novel, Mahbod Seraji lays bare the beauty and brutality of the centuries-old Persian culture, while reaffirming the human experiences we all share.

In a middle-class neighborhood of Iran’s sprawling capital city, 17-year-old Pasha Shahed spends the summer of 1973 on his rooftop with his best friend Ahmed, joking around one minute and asking burning questions about life the next. He also hides a secret love for his beautiful neighbor Zari, who has been betrothed since birth to another man. But the bliss of Pasha and Zari’s stolen time together is shattered when Pasha unwittingly acts as a beacon for the Shah’s secret police. The violent consequences awaken him to the reality of living under a powerful despot, and lead Zari to make a shocking choice…

***

Amazingly I’m not a reader who hoards her books, only cats! For a while now, behind the scenes, I’ve been passing the books I’m finished with along to friends. I’ve decided to offer my books to all Mailbox Monday contributors. No book should be homeless. As long as I have books to share I’ll do so. Here’s the important stuff:

• All books in my Mailbox Monday posts will be available starting the week of April 6th.
• Each week new homes will be chosen at random. See I really do read the comments you leave with the links to your Mailbox Monday posts. Just ask someone who commented, in passing, about wanting to read a book I’ve posted. This is not a structured giveaway or contest. I will simply chose names from those Mailbox Monday contributors who have expressed an interest in one of my posted books. The only stipulation is you must have a Mailbox Monday post with a link I can verify, not just a comment expressing interest in a book.
• If you have more than one choice include your selections in order in case your 1st choice has been claimed.
• It’s too time consuming to respond to all requests so I will only be emailing the new owner. Claimed and unclaimed books will be updated on the corresponding Mailbox Monday posts and the Read It Forward widget on my blog’s right side bar. Be sure to keep an eye on your spam folder just in case
• I will mail to all US and Canadian addresses. If you live overseas I can do two of those a month. If you do live overseas please include that tidbit of information upfront.
• So that I can spread the wealth I’m asking that you claim a book once every two months. If you’re selected in May please don’t request again until July. So that no one gets selected more than once every two months I’m tracking the new homes on a spreadsheet. And hopefully it will keep me from giving away the same book twice!

** Please be patient with me. Just like you my reading schedule is packed full of good books and reading commitments such as By the Chapter. I will try and remember to let you know when I anticipate mailing a book in the initial email. And I will email again when your post office day comes around. **

***

What books came into your house last week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Mailbox post or a list of books if you don’t have a blog.

So I’m not really head over heels wild for Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival by Norman Ollestad. I’m just OK with the storm. Knowing that the author survives takes away some of the suspense in this survival memoir. But when you factor in his age at the time and the how of it then it gets nerve wracking. This young man beat incredible odds and seemingly insurmountable obstacles. He kept his wits about him when many times he could have completely given up and given in. Some unlikely circumstances converged to bring Norman off that mountain alive. We don’t learn until years later just perilous this journey of survival really was.

Chapters alternate between the plane crash and struggle to get off the mountain and Norman’s childhood. The childhood chapters set the tone for Norman’s instinct for coping with such traumatic circumstances. He struggled with a father who set extremely high expectations for his son and his mother’s boyfriend who was constantly picking at him to be better, do better. While his father used tactics smothered in love the boyfriend comes on with a strong-arm mentality. These are my least favorite parts of the book. While I have issues with the parenting styles most likely without these tough love lessons there is no doubt that Norman would not have made it off the mountain.

The chapters revolving around the mountain ordeal are, for me, the heart of this book. As a pre-teen Norman displays exceptional amounts of courage and fortitude. Many an adult would not have survived the harrowing conditions that faced this young man. At first he sincerely wants to believe his father is alive but succumbs to the realization that the man who guided him through life is no longer there for him. Channeling his grief he resolves to save himself and Sandra. She is physically and mentally beyond helping him. Without panicking Norman takes charge of the situation. With the body of the plane in a precarious position he creates shelter under the wing. After a time they hear the chop, chop of helicopter blades but it moves on without spotting them. Realizing that help isn’t coming he makes plans to abandon their sanctuary. If they are to get off the mountain Norman must depend on himself. And so starts the biggest challenge his young life. I leave the rest of this tale to Norman’s telling.

So I’m on the fence about this book. If it had been a straight tale of survival with a minimal of background detail I would have given it higher marks. While it’s helpful to understand his relationship with these men I just could have done with less of it. The survival chapters are exceptional. I guess you’ll need to read it and decide for yourself.

***

A good book should leave you…slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it. ~William Styron, interview, Writers at Work, 1958

***

Welcome to By the Chapter. This week’s featured book is The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway. I’d like to thank Elizabeth from As usual, I need more bookshelves for sharing hosting duties with me this week.

***

If you’re not familiar with The Cellist of Sarajevo here’s a little background on the book from Amazon: Canadian Galloway (Ascension) delivers a tense and haunting novel following four people trying to survive war-torn Sarajevo. After a mortar attack kills 22 people waiting in line to buy bread, an unnamed cellist vows to play at the point of impact for 22 days. Meanwhile, Arrow, a young woman sniper, picks off soldiers; Kenan makes a dangerous trek to get water for his family; and Dragan, who sent his wife and son out of the city at the start of the war, works at a bakery and trades bread in exchange for shelter. Arrow’s assigned to protect the cellist, but when she’s eventually ordered to commit a different kind of killing, she must decide who she is and why she kills. Dragan believes he can protect himself through isolation, but that changes when he runs into a friend of his wife’s attempting to cross a street targeted by snipers. Kenan is repeatedly challenged by his fear and a cantankerous neighbor. All the while, the cellist continues to play. With wonderfully drawn characters and a stripped-down narrative, Galloway brings to life a distant conflict.

***

This story is based around true events, The Siege of Sarajevo.

My co-host Elizabeth said it best, “this book is mesmerizing”. I was immediately drawn into this wonderfully crafted story surrounding the siege of Sarajevo. The author does a superb job of painting the pain of war on the ordinary citizen. It is a roller coaster ride of emotional intensity. This story is driven not by page turning action but stunning sequences written in wrenching prose. This book gets high marks from me as a recommended read. It’s one of those books that I occasionally come across that I want share right and then with whoever is nearest to me. I want to talk about what I’m reading. Usually my reading is a solitary endeavor and that’s why I’ve enjoyed reading The Cellist of Sarajevo with Elizabeth and others this week. It’s given me the opportunity to share my thoughts about this exceptional book. It will, when I eventually get around to it, make my favorites list.

Because I want to do justice to this story I’ve decided to let the characters speak for themselves. I’ve gone back and picked out selected passages for each giving a voice to small pieces of their lives. If you enjoy what you read here then this is a book that will satisfy the yearning hunger of your reading soul.

Kenan “Once he’s in the hall, he sits down on the steps and presses his forehead to his knees. He doesn’t want to go out. He doesn’t want to have to walk through the streets of his city and look at the buildings and with every step be afraid that he’s about to be killed. But he has no choice. He knows that if he wants to be one of the people who rebuild the city, one of the people who have the right even to speak about how Sarajevo should repair itself, then he has to go outside and face the men on the hills. His family needs water, and he will get it for them. The city is full of people doing the same as he is, and they all find a way to continue with life. They’re not cowards, and they’re not heroes.”

“Today is the last cellist will play. Everyone who died in the street while waiting for bread will be accounted for. Kenan knows no one will pay for the people who died at the brewery, or those who were shot crossing the street, or any of the other victims of countless attacks. It would take an army of cellists. But he’s heard what there was to hear. It was enough.” [The Cellist of Sarajevo, Kenan chapter, Kindle sections 2645-2657]

Dragan “There is no way to tell which version of the lie is the truth. Is the real Sarajevo the one where people were happy, treated each other well, lived without conflict? Or is the real Sarajevo the one he sees today, where people are trying to kill each other, where bullets fly down from the hills and the buildings crumble to the ground? Dragan can only ask the question. He doesn’t think there’s any way to know for sure.”

“He knows which lie he will tell himself. The city he lives in is full of people who will someday go back to treating each other like humans. The war will end, and when it’s looked back upon it will be with regret, not with fond memories of faded glory. In the meantime, he will continue to walk the streets. Streets that will not have dead and discarded bodies lying in them. He will behave now as he hopes everyone will someday behave. Because civilization isn’t a thing that you build and then there it is, you have it forever. It needs to be built constantly, re-created daily. It vanishes far more quickly than he ever would have thought possible. And if he wishes to live, he must do what he can to prevent the world he wants to live in from fading away. As long as there’s war, life is a preventative measure.” [The Cellist of Sarajevo, Dragan chapter, Kindle sections 2662-2679]

Arrow “In the Second World War, Vraca was a place where the Nazis tortured and killed those who resisted them. The names of the dead are carved on the steps, but at the time few fighters used their real names. They took new names that said more about them than any boastful story told by drunks in a bar, names that defied the governments who later tried to twist their deeds into propaganda. It’s said they took these new names so their families wouldn’t be in danger, so they could slip in and out of two lives. But Arrow believes they took these names so they could separate themselves from what they had to do, so that the person who fought and killed could someday be put away. To hate people because they hated her first, and then to hate them because of what they’ve done to her, has created a desire to separate the part of her that will fight back, that will enjoy fighting back, from the part that never wanted to fight in the first place. Using her real name would make her no different from the men she kills. It would be a death greater than the end of her life.” [The Cellist of Sarajevo, Arrow Chapter, Kindle sections 133-149]

“She hears one of them take a step back, knows he’s about to kick in the door. She closes her eyes, recalls the notes she heard only yesterday, a melody that is no longer there but feels very close. Her lips move, and a moment before the door splinters off its hinges she says, her voice strong and quiet, ‘My name is Alisa’.” [The Cellist of Sarajevo, Arrow chapter, Kindle sections 2763-69]

The Cellist “He played for twenty-two days, just as he said he would. Every day at four o’clock in the afternoon, regardless of how much fighting was going on around him. Some days he had an audience. Other days there was so much shelling that no one in their right mind would linger in the street. It didn’t appear to make any difference to him. He always played exactly the same way.” [The Cellist of Sarajevo, Arrow chapter, Kindle section 2723-29]

“Arrow closed her eyes, and when she opened them the music was over. In the street, the cellist sat on his stool for a very long time. He was crying. His head leaned forward and a few strands of inky hair fell across his brow. One hand moved to cover his face while the other cradled the body of the cello. After a while he stood up, and he walked over to the pile of flowers that had been steadily growing since the day the mortar fell. He looked at it for a while, and then dropped his bow into the pile. No one on the street moved. They held their breath, waiting for him to say something. But the cellist didn’t speak. There was nothing left for him to say.” [The Cellist of Sarajevo, Arrow chapter, Kindle section 2740-46]

***

If you’ve read, or are currently reading, The Cellist of Sarajevo please share your thoughts with us.

*** This week’s reading scheduling: Monday: The Printed Page Tuesday: Elizabeth from As usual, I need more bookshelves Wednesday: The Printed Page Thursday: Elizabeth from As usual, I need more bookshelves Friday: The Printed Page/Elizabeth from As usual, I need more bookshelves

***

This week’s featured book is The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway.

Follow today’s discussion over at Elizabeth’s blog, As usual, I need more bookshelves

***

This week’s reading scheduling: Monday: The Printed Page Tuesday: Elizabeth from As usual, I need more bookshelves Wednesday: The Printed Page Thursday: Elizabeth from As usual, I need more bookshelves Friday: The Printed Page/Elizabeth from As usual, I need more bookshelves

***

If you’ve read, or are currently reading, The Cellist of Sarajevo, please stop by and share your thoughts with us.

***

So last night I finished The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University by Kevin Roose. It was enlightening, informative, entertaining and in places eye popping and mind boggling. For being a young man 19 years of age and experiencing college in two vastly different environments I thought he did a fabulous job of comparing the differences and the sameness among students and university life at both colleges. I thought it was balanced not leaning too much one direction or another. Kevin’s Quaker, democratic, liberal background is so vastly different from his soon to be friends that I wasn’t sure how well he’d adapt to living in a strictly controlled, structured, totally religious environment. He came through with flying colors. Along the way he learned some valuable life lessons. And really isn’t that what college is about – the experience.

How does a student from one of the most liberal universities, Brown (university link) end up at one of the most conservative, Liberty (university link)? Well for Kevin it started with a research trip to Thomas Road Baptist Church. Thomas Road Baptist Church and environs were conceived of and brought to life by the late Reverend Jerry Falwell. Being a budding journalist and inquisitive young man his interest is piqued by this weekend trip to God’s country. “These days, it seems like all my college friends talk about is study abroad, the modern rite of passage in which students spend a semester in Paris, Barcelona, Munich or any of the other first- world cities with low minimum drinking ages. The appeal of these programs – at least from a school’s perspective – is that experiencing a foreign culture firsthand makes us more informed global citizens. But what about American citizens? Here, right in my time zone, was a culture more foreign to me than any European capital, and these foreigners vote in my elections! So why not do a domestic study abroad? If I enrolled at Liberty for semester, I’d get to take the same classes, attend the same church services, and live under the same rules as my evangelical peers. And maybe I’d be able to use what I found to help bridge our country’s God Divide, or at least to understand it better.” [The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose, pages 10-11].

So we join Kevin on his journey through “Bible Boot Camp” where it’s all about “training champions for Christ”™. His semester isn’t much different from that of the average college student: he attends class, goes to study group, takes exams, participates in extracurricular activities, he shares a room with two other guys, and occasionally dates. But he also sings in the church choir, goes to religious services several times a week, learns to pray and attends pray groups, is mentored by a campus religious leader. It’s typical in so many ways yet different in a hundred others. Boys will be boys and they do boy things. (My personal favorites are the band of renegades who hang out in Jersey Joey’s room breaking rules while trying to reconcile the life they lead with the Liberty way.) They tease each other, rough house, hang out, watch R-rated movies, drink, smoke, talk about, and eye, the girls, surf Facebook and Myspace. What won’t happen at most universities is punishment. And these types of activities at Liberty are heavily regulated along with curfews, dress codes,  and public displays of affection. They are punishable by reprimands, fines and community service. In some cases expulsion.

It’s a roller coaster of emotions. It’ll challenge what you know, or think you know. Fact versus fiction. It’ll test you in ways you never imagined. It even might put you up against a wall or back you into a corner. Biases and prejudices will get called out. Be careful how and who you judge. You meet the hard liners, the liberals, and those straddling the middle road between the two. You’re greeted by ordinary, everyday young people who struggle with the same issues as their secular counterparts – belonging, dating, sex, grades, professors, gossip, parental control, sibling  rivalry.

While Kevin doesn’t buy into everything he was exposed to over that four month period he did come to some revelations of his own. It changed him in ways he never anticipated. It gave him some grounding. He has since returned to Brown and accumulated back into life there but carries with him bits and pieces of his Liberty experience.

It’s culture shock 101. All of my understanding of Evangelicalism before this has been through various modern media outlets. If you’re looking for some real, been there, done that, insight into the world of Evangelical Christians and what makes the youth of this religion tick pick up The Unlikely Disciple. I wasn’t disappointed and I don’t think you will be either.

Take a peek inside:

***

A good book should leave you…slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it. ~William Styron, interview, Writers at Work, 1958

***