WWW Wednesdays

MizB sponsors this weekly event so we can share what we are reading....

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading:

Little Bee by Chris Cleave
I'm about halfway through this and it is so much more than what the back of the book says:
"This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have to face. Two years later, they meet again-the story starts there..." So good.....

Freedom by Jonathan Frazen
Still plugging along with this one and since I have been home from work since last Friday with bronchitis, I haven't been riding around in my car!

Recently Finished:

The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok
I bumped this one up because it was due at the library and I couldn't renew it! I read this for the Memorable Memoirs challenge and really liked it. It's about a woman who's mom is a paranoid schizophrenic and how it affects her and her sister, to the point they move away and change their names, and how it all comes full circle when the author reached out to the homeless shelter where she beleived her mom was living and found out she was dying.

Coming Up:
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
My son just read this in school and highly recommended it (he's in third grade). He keeps telling me they read the "kid's version" but it's a version of it, right? My version is definitely not the kid's version. I'll have to see how it goes, I loved Around the World in 80 days but wasn't so crazy about 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

The Red Queen by Phillipa Gregory
Because someday I really will finish listening to Freedom!

Book Review: The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok

Summary from Book Browse.com: "People have abandoned their loved ones for much less than you’ve been through," Mira Bartók is told at her mother’s memorial service. It is a poignant observation about the relationship between Mira, her sister, and their mentally ill mother. Before she was struck with schizophrenia at the age of nineteen, beautiful piano protégé Norma Herr had been the most vibrant personality in the room. She loved her daughters and did her best to raise them well, but as her mental state deteriorated, Norma spoke less about Chopin and more about Nazis and her fear that her daughters would be kidnapped, murdered, or raped. When the girls left for college, the harassment escalated--Norma called them obsessively, appeared at their apartments or jobs, threatened to kill herself if they did not return home. After a traumatic encounter, Mira and her sister were left with no choice but to change their names and sever all contact with Norma in order to stay safe. But while Mira pursued her career as an artist--exploring the ancient romance of Florence, the eerie mysticism of northern Norway, and the raw desert of Israel--the haunting memories of her mother were never far away. Then one day, Mira’s life changed forever after a debilitating car accident. As she struggled to recover from a traumatic brain injury, she was confronted with a need to recontextualize her life--she had to relearn how to paint, read, and interact with the outside world. In her search for a way back to her lost self, Mira reached out to the homeless shelter where she believed her mother was living and discovered that Norma was dying. Mira and her sister traveled to Cleveland, where they shared an extraordinary reconciliation with their mother that none of them had thought possible. At the hospital, Mira discovered a set of keys that opened a storage unit Norma had been keeping for seventeen years. Filled with family photos, childhood toys, and ephemera from Norma’s life, the storage unit brought back a flood of previous memories that Mira had thought were lost to her forever. " My Thoughts: I think it's the social worker in me that's drawn to books about people with mental illness and how it affects their lives. I was also fascinated about what exactly this "memory palace" was that is the title of the book and what it refers to and here is the answer to that on pg 31: "A memory palace. A man named Matteo Ricci built one once...Ricci, a Jesuit priest who possessed great mnemonic powers, traveled to china in 1596 and taught scholars how to build an imaginary place to keep their memories safe. He told them that the size of the palace would depend on how much they wanted to remember. to everything they wanted to recall, they were to affix an image, to every image, a position inside a room in their mind". As you read further in the book, and the author explores how she feels about what she reads in her mother's journals, she 'places' these memories in her own memory palace. After reading this book I came away with a strong admiration for the author and her sister who dealt with their mother's illness very differently. The author did move away and change her name but set up a post office box through a friend for her mother to send mail to in somoe small way, she could watch out for her. Her sister also moved away and changes her name but chose not to have any contact with her mother. I'm not saying either approach was the right one, just that it was the right one for the particlualr person and I was impressed that they both figured out what they had to do for themselves thought they each struggled with it. The author with knowing too much and her sister with not knowing enough. The summery above is from the book jacket so you know going in that the two sisters travel to Cleveland to see their mother and be with her as she dies. Among her mother's things is a set of 17 keys. One of the keys is to a storage unit that contains all of their childhood photos and affects, items that both sisters thought were gone long ago. As she goes through these, these are the items that help make up her Memory Palace. This was an amazing book about family, love, and forgiveness and I would recommend it highly.

WWW Wednesdays

MizB from Should Be Reading sponsors this weekly event so we can share our reading escapades....

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading:

Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Just started this tonight and to be honest, I was very intrigued by the cover more than anything else! I have heard/read good things about it though so we will see.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
I am halfway through this audio book and I have to admit, it took me a little bit to figure out what was going on but I'm glad I stuck with it!


Recently Finished:
(Don't be too impressed, I finished Room hours after I posted WWW Wednesday last week and The Kite Runner the next morning. Gathering Blue and Messenger were each less than 200 pages so they were quick-reads)

Room by Emma Donoghue
I raved enough about this last week!

The Kite Runner
Another amazing book!

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
Messenger by Lois Lowry
I read these two because I so loved The Giver. They weren't on that scale but I did enjoy them and I didn't realize they were a min-series of sorts.


Coming Up:
The Red Queen by Phillipa Gregory
This may still be "Coming Up" next week as Freedom is a longer book than I thought!

The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok
I wanted to get started on the Memoir reading challenge. this one is about two sister who grow up with a mom who is a paranoid schizophrenic and who that affects the dynamics in their family.

WWW Wednesdays

MizB from Should Be Reading sponsors this weekly event so we can share our reading escapades....

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading:

Room by Emma Donoghue
Cannot read this book fast enough! I started this book Sunday night and have less than 100 pages to go!! If you haven't read this book, you need to!!! It's the story of a 5 yo boy who lives in a room with his mom, who is the victim of a kidnapping. Unbelievably amazing!

The Kite Runner
Another amazing book...this is the story of two Afghan boys and their relationship. Makes me want to read more books about this part of the world; I am fascinated by the culture and customs...I only wish I hadn't waited so long to finally read it.


Recently Finished:

One of Ours by Willa Cather
Read this for my Pulitzer Prize Choice of the Back to the Classics Challenge. It's the story of a young man pre-WWI who is not happy being a farmer like his family has been for generations. He seeks happiness in joining the army to serve in WWI. this is the first book I've read by Cather and I plan to read more.


Up Next:

Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

WWW Wednesdays

MizB of Should Be Reading hosts this fabulous weekly event.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading:

One of Ours by Willa Cather
I chose this as my Pulitzer Prize winner for the Back to the Classics challenge and am really enjoying it. I haven't read any of Cather's works and I think I may have to!

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
I have been wanting to read this one for awhile and I am listening to it on CD. I'm really enjoying it!

Recently Finished:

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
I didn't so much finish this book as gave up on it. I thought it was finally starting to make sense but was halfway through the book and realized that I had no idea what was going on. I might try reading it another time because I have heard so many good things about it. I'm thinking that I may try it on CD - that's how I got through Grehory MacGuire's books and most of the Tudor court books I've read.

Fantastic Mr Fox by Road Dahl
Recommended by my 8 yo son Tucker, I really enjoyed this! He just finished reading it in school and was really excited by it! I didn't find it as weird as I found other books by Dahl (although I have enjoyed all of them!)

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
I read this one for the Celebrate the Author challenge and have to say, while I enjoyed it, I didn't enjoy it as much as Around the World in Eighty Days.

Coming Up:

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
I've heard so many good things about this book so when I spotted it on the shelf of New Audio Books at the library, I snatched it up!

Room by Emma Donoghue
Another book I've heard a lot about and have been waiting for from the library for almost three months and I got an email today that it is ready to picked up!