Spring has arrived! What are you all up to this weekend? I am throwing open the windows and starting some spring cleaning. After a long winter our old house just smells...old. I also have about 100 windows to clean. Spring clean up the yard. Dust off the patio chairs and sink into Edgar Sawtelle in the +17 sunshine. I made the mistake of clicking on the link on the side bar - the Reading Group Guide. This book goes where I never expected it would. It totally revealed the story line so I do NOT recommend reading it unless you like that kinda thing.
I've got Edgar Sawtelle going in the evening at home and Twilight going at my desk at lunch...okay and I read a bit when I'm supposed to be working too. I was going to dive into another Phillipa Gregory (The Virgin's Lover) as soon as I was done, but this book, The Disappeared, has caught my attention. I LOVE historical fiction and I LOVE a love story. This book blends the two. Maybe I'll save it for a pick for next year, if I can wait that long. BD thinks that we should only pick books for Book Club that we have already read. What do you gals think of that format? The month where everyone is reading your book, you would have to read another one of your choosing.
Either way...here's Heather from Chapter's review of The Disappeared.
A Beautiful Blending of Truth and Fiction
I have often noted in my reviews that I love great historical fiction. The stories can cover a brief moment or grand sweep of time. It is simply that beautiful blending of truth and fiction that always seems to strike a chord. The Disappeared by Kim Echlin is one such story. The book centers on a single love story, the intense romance between Anne and Serey and is set against one of the most tormented moments in human history: Cambodia under the reign of Pol Pot.
Anne is a high school senior when she falls in love with the slightly older and exotically charismatic Serey who is in exile from his beautiful Cambodia. Their romance begins in a small café in Old Montreal, moves through intense exploration and love making. But Serey cannot stay with his new life. Compelled to discover the fate of his parents and friends, Serey knows he must pull himself from the passion he feels and return to his home. He promises he will be in touch, and, at the right moment, they will reunite forever. But once gone, Anne never hears from Serey despite endless letters and efforts to reach him.
Years later, unable to bring closure to her feelings, Anne goes to Cambodia to search out the man she knows is the love of her life. Woven beautifully into her story of love rediscovered -- in language which is both poetic and heartbreaking -- are the unspeakable horrors wrought by the now retreated Khmer Rouge.
As Anne works to understand the man who becomes the father of her child, and all that is Cambodia, we come to learn how easy it is to allow distance and the burdens of truth to insulate us from bearing witness to war and its aftermath. But as Anne herself says, “If we live long enough, we have to tell, or turn to stone inside.”
From its first page, The Disappeared takes us into the land of kings and temples, fought over for generations. It reveals the forces that act on love everywhere: family, politics, forgetting. This is a story that will embrace you from the first page and stay with you like a good wine.
4 comments:
Ok, so I didn't read the Wolf book, and am half way into Shantaram - an excellent book about an Aussie living in the slums of Bombay (Mumbai). Didn't really read much in Thailand to be honest, we were mostly chatterboxes who could not shut up - OK he was. Don't know if I will get to the Sawtelle book in time to finish for bookclub next month. But whatevs. I will get caught up again I'm sure.
I missed you broads.
What am I doing this weekend? Hmmm....Entertaining the Bauer clan once again. I know. How did I ever get so lucky? Good Grief! I sure hope they are Ok this time NOT sleeping in the basement. Good lord, I'm sure something will get me in a tizzy. Perhaps the milk will be the wrong percentage or maybe, just maybe (if I'm really lucky) the mashed potatoes won't be the right consistency. Frick. I look forward to sharing my tales of woe with you all again. For some reason, it really makes me feel better so thank you.
Edgar's been great so far. A little bit of a slow start for me but I'm only just beginning.
Happy Cleaning Christine!
Okay, so initially I agree with Candice. Edgar was a slow start, and with how big it is, I really wanted to get into it. That being said, with the nice weather this weekend, I've spend most of it layed out on my hammock reading and I'm half done. Quicker then I thought. Such a sad book. So sad. However, I am currently enjoying it, and will probably need something to fill me up for the rest of the month.
Can't wait to see you peeps on Friday! Should be some good stories about A Wolf...
I think that you should recommend any book that you want as your choice for book club. I don't think that it specifically needs to be a book that you have already read, but if there is a book that you really enjoyed and want the rest of us to read, then by all means... I usually just read magazines in between book club choices. LOL. I'm kidding. Kind of.
Also, I got a lot of reading done this weekend, cause my husband has turned into a maga nerd this weekend. His new hobby is building and launching rockets. Which we did on Saturday night, in the field by our house to the delight of the neighbourhood kids (thank god they were there, cause they could chase down that rocket and bring it back for us). Only to find out today that it's illegal to launch rockets in the city limits as they are classified as fireworks and are punishable by a $500 fine. Good grief...
Post a Comment