April Reading Summary and Challenge Update

I'm finally posting a monthly summary post within a few days of the end of the month!


April was another slow month due to wedding planning and work commitments. I read 2 1/2 books.

The Metropolis Case by Matthew Gallaway

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown


Reading Challenges Progress

Cannonball Read III: 19 of 52 complete

Off the Shelf: 2 of 15 complete

Heroines Bookshelf: haven't started

Outdo Yourself: 19 of 70 complete

March Reading Summary & Challenge Update

I'm a little late in posting last month's summary again because of a busy schedule at work and outside of work.

It was a slow month because I only read 3 1/2 books and I'm behind on reviews.

• Guns, Germs & Steel (March Book Club Pick) by Jared Diamond
• Queen Hereafter - Susan Fraser King
• The Tiger's Wife - Tea Obreht

I also started to read The Metropolis Case by Matthew Gallaway

Reading Challenges Progress
Cannonball Read III: 16 of 52 complete
Off the Shelf: 2 of 15 complete
Heroines Bookshelf: haven't started
Outdo Yourself: 16 of 70 complete

February Reading Summary & Challenge Update

I'm a little late in posting last month's summary because of a busy schedule at work and outside of work.

Anyway, I read 6 books and had to give up on 2 books (Mr Chartwell & I Is an Other)

• The Imperfectionists
• 365 Thank Yous
•  The Three Weissmanns of Westport
• The Lover's Dictionary
• All Facts Considered
• Angel With Two Faces

I also started to read Guns, Germs & Steel (March Book Club Pick) by Jared. Diamond.

Reading Challenges Progress
Cannonball Read III: 13 of 52 complete
Off the Shelf: 2 of 15 complete
Heroines Bookshelf: haven't started
Outdo Yourself: 13 of 70 complete

I picked some ARCs from Harper Collins this past month specifically for my fiance to read.  I was joking with him that he could be a guest blogger and review them if he wanted too.  He laughed, but seemed interested.

CBR3-12: All Facts Considered - Kee Malesky

For the bestselling miscellany market, an NPR librarian's compendium of fascinating facts on history, science, and the arts
How much water do the Great Lakes contain? Who were the first and last men killed in the Civil War? How long is a New York minute? What are the lost plays of Shakespeare? What building did Elvis leave last? Get the answers to these and countless other vexing questions in a All Facts Considered. Guaranteed to enlighten even the most seasoned trivia buff, this treasure trove of "who knew?" factoids spans a wide range of intriguing subjects.

• Written by noted NPR librarian Kee Malesky, whom Scott Simon has called the "source of all human knowledge"
• Answers questions on history, natural history, science, religion, language, and the arts
• Packed with valuable nuggets of information, from the useful to the downright bizarre

The perfect gift for every inquiring mind that wants to know, All Facts Considered will put you at the center of the conversation as you show off your essential store of inessential yet irresistible knowledge. - Amazon.com

This book is written by my colleague Kee Malesky who patiently answered my question about 'how the book writing was going' every time I saw her at work. I really enjoyed reading the introduction to the book.  Kee highlights main reasons on why us librarians are librarians.  Often times Kee's name is the librarian named on the air, but she was gracious in the introduction and acknowledgments to recognize the team of librarians that NPR has.

Instead of pulling out facts included in the book that I found interesting, I'm going to post some questions that were asked of Kee for the DC/SLA chapter newsletter.  Read the book - it's witty and interesting and you'll learn something.  But I want to share more about the great librarian and person behind the book as well.

You’ve been a librarian at NPR for over 20 years can you tell us how NPR has changed over the decades and how that’s affected your job?

I've seen NPR evolve from land lines and typewriters to satellites and computers. NPR has always been on the cutting edge of technological developments, and the library has been an integral part of that -- creating in-house databases to document our programs and make the material easily available, providing desktop research tools to the staff, maintaining current awareness of changes in commercial and primary sources so we are constantly improving the service we provide. 

In all your years at NPR what’s the assignment or accomplishment you’re most proud of?

I would probably say I'm most proud of the briefing books we produce for national elections and other events. They used to be massive 800+ page volumes, and now we can provide the same info on our News Wiki in ways that are even more flexible and useful than the print editions. I'm currently starting a project that could make me very proud -- creating an Audio Pronunciation Guide.

Can you walk us through the process of writing the book? After you thought of writing it what happened next? What was the most challenging part of the process?

I wrote a brief proposal, which included an essay about facts and what they mean and how they change (that became the Introduction to the book). Once it was accepted by the publisher, I arranged to take some time off from NPR and started on the research. Most of the facts in the book are not from actual questions I have answered at the NPR Reference Desk, but I did look through dozens of my old reference desk notebooks for queries that involved interesting facts. I carried a little notebook and pencil everywhere I went, to write down ideas as I found them. Much of the research was done online -- using commercial databases; government, academic and association websites; and online library resources. I also made several visits to the DC Public Library and to the Library of Congress. I collected as many reputable sources as I needed to compile the essential details of each fact, then I tried to tell its story in a couple of paragraphs. It took about six months to research and write. Once the editor accepted the manuscript, I worked with production and copy-editors until we were all satisfied with the final product. I turned in the final Index at the beginning of September.

Check out Kee's website for more interviews and listings of her sources for the book as well.

CBR3-5: The Gendarme - Mark Mustian

Mustian's debut novel is a meditation on memory in which the dreams of a former Turkish soldier contain the truth of his past. Emmett Conn is 92 and living in Georgia when he begins dreaming of his youth and his involvement in the Armenian diaspora. After 70 years of amnesia caused by his WWI injuries, Emmett's past returns with a vengeance following surgery for a brain tumor. Emmett knows he fought the British at Gallipoli, was wounded, and was cared for by a nurse, Carol, whom he married and accompanied back to the U.S. But in his violent dreams, he relives his actions as a Turkish gendarme in the forced death march of thousands of Armenians into Syria. Emmett recalls snippets of his murderous and rapacious acts but also of his obsession with a beautiful young Armenian girl, Araxie. His dream life leads him to one conclusion: he must find Araxie and beg her forgiveness. Mustian's staccato prose, an attempt to emulate Emmett's skittish and elusive dreams, works sometimes better than others, but the novel effectively captures the human capacity for survival and redemption. - Publishers Weekly

I was drawn to the cover of this book at the public library a few months ago, but past it up because I wasn't sure if  the story was as riveting as the cover. Then two of the book bloggers I follow (Medieval Bookworm & S Krishna) both posted reviews about the book that got be intrigued with it again.  Luckily I found an ARC copy at work on the giveaway shelf.

I definitely wasn't prepared for the amount of description of the violence and sexual acts that the main character and others participated in.  Unfortunately, I've become a little desensitized to violence and vivid descriptions, but this book caused some weird dreams for me as well. It was also hard to switch between Emmett's flashbacks through his dreams and the present day at first.

Telling the story from the "immigrant" perspective was compelling.  Emmett's struggle to answer the question of where he was from reminded the reader throughout the book what his mindset was. Before reading this book, I had no idea about the supposed genocide in Armenia and Turkey during World War II. Reading the author chat at the end of the book also informed me about the current day sensitivity towards this subject as well.

This book did his a note with me since I could easily see my grandfather, a World War II veteran who struggled with dementia at the end of his life, within Emmett's actions.  I could relate to Emmett's daughter as she adjusted to her father's behavior. 

While this book can be squeamish at times, it does take modern day themes and intertwines them with a historical setting that most of us are not familiar with.

January Reading Summary & Challenge Update

One thing I thought I would try this year is writing summary posts for each month and providing updates on the reading challenges I'm participating in.

In January, I read 7 1/2 books, but I'm behind in posting a few reviews. Hopefully I can get them written and posted over the weekend.

• Best American Nonrequired Reading 2010
• The Book of Tomorrow
• Miracles Can Happen (January Book Club Pick)
• Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
• The Oracle of Stamboul
• The Gendarme
• One Day

Reading Challenges Progress
Cannonball Read III: 7 of 52 complete
Off the Shelf: 1 of 15 complete
Heroines Bookshelf: haven't started
Outdo Yourself: 7 of 70 complete
     I read 60 books last year and signed up to read 6-10 more books this year

I also participated in the Library Day in the Life project during January. 

 

Reading Challenge fun

I've signed up for two reading challenges in the upcoming year:  Cannonball Read - Round Three & Off the Shelf Challenge. and a reading challenge starting tomorrow at All About {n} 2010 Holiday Reading Challenge. 

I'm also jumping into the reading challenge pond myself by hosting a challenge over the next year based on The Heroine's Bookshelf.  Feel free to join in the fun!

Update: Two books in the to read for the All About {n} Holiday Reading Challenge - Tinsel by Hank Stuever and Promise Me by Richard Paul Evans.

I also decided to join one more reading challenge hosted by The Book Vixen Outdo Yourself.  This challenge strives to push your total books read next year (2011) to be greater than the total read this year (2010).  Right now I'm at 59 books.   I'm going to join this challenge at the "Out of Breath" level initially.