Book Review: The Kite Runner

Book: The Kite Runner

Author: Khaled Hosseini

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Brief synopsis:

A novel set mostly in Afghanistan. The introverted and insecure afghan narrator, Amir, grows up in Afghanistan in the closing years of the monarchy and the first years of the short-lived republic. His best and most faithful friend, Hassan, is the son of a servant. Amir feels he betrays Hassan by not coming to his aid when Hassan is set on by bullies and furthermore forces Hassan and his father Ali to leave his father´s service. Amir´s relatively priviledged life in Kaboul comes to an end when the communist regime comes to power and his extrovert father, Baba emigrates with him to the U.S. There Amir meets his future, afghan wife and marries her. Amir´s father dies in the U.S. and Amir receives a letter from his father´s most trusted business partner and, for a time, Amir´s surrogate father, which makes Amir return, alone, to a Taliban-dominated Afghanistan in search of the truth about himself and his family, and finally, a sort of redemption.

My review:

Wow! Why it took me as long as it did to get around to reading this book I don't know. It was amazing. Powerful. It made me stop. It made me gasp. It made me cry. It was nothing short of amazing. Some books are best sellers because they are popular. And some are best sellers because they are well written, eloquent, beautiful pieces of prose. This is definitely the latter.

I am sure many who are reading this have read The Kite Runner before me. I sold many copies of it during my days as a bookseller at Borders. And, now I know why. While it's tough to get through at points, and requires a strong stomach at several points. But, it is a book that should be read. It's a story of love, friendship and family. It's a story that helps Americans understand the culture of Afghanistan-- and the impact that the wars that have wrought the country have had.

In short, just read it. It. is. just. Good. Very, very, very good.

Recipe Box: Mint Cake!

I've realized that I haven't posted any recipes in awhile, something I've meant to do on my blog. While I aimed to make 30 recipes before 30, that honestly fell away. I think mostly because my time and attention were given to Lucy. (She takes a lot of both!)

So, I'm trying to get back to my blogging and am sharing a new recipe. For a friend's birthday in July, I made a family favorite, simply called "mint cake." It's very, very easy and very, very delicious. This is a super simple one. Enjoy!

Mint Cake

Ingredients:

One box of white cake mix

Bottle creme de menthe

Cool whip

Fudge ice cream topping

To prepare:

Prepare the white cake mix according to the box directions. (Or for those more culinary inclined, prepare white cake batter from scratch.) Add creme de menthe to the batter. I eyeball it, but about 1/8th cup is probably close. Bake the cake according to cake mix directions. Let cool. Add layer of fudge topping on top of the cooled cake. Mix creme de menthe into cool whip. Again, I eyeball it, but 2-3 tablespoons is probably about right. Spread the cool whip layer over the cake. Serve and enjoy!

Book Club Reading List

I am so excited that we've come up with a reading list for BYOB Book Club. I can't wait to dive into these good reads over the next year and discuss them with a great group of fun women!

Based on our group recommendations (we started with 40, narrowed that down to 27 based on what people had already read), we came up with these eight great reads for 2011-12.

2011

September: The Wrong Mother, Sophie Hannah

November: Loving Frank, Nancy Horan

2012

January: Maze Runner, James Dashner

March: Blindness, Jose Saramago

May: Delirium, Lauren Oliver

July: The Lonely Polygamist, Brady Udal

September: Freedom, Jonathan Franzen

November: Never Let Me Go, Kazu Ishaguro

Puppy Terrorism

Lucy has gotten to the puppy terrorist stage, as I'm calling it. To date, her damage has been limited, but as she's getting bigger and more aggresive, I'm getting more nervous for the state of items in my life that I like.

So far, she's managed to:

• Rip up two book covers that I've carefully taped back together.
• Chew through more newspapers and mail than I could ever begin to fathom.
  
• Rip up a corner of my carpet and chewed on the padding beneath.
  
• Chew on four pairs of shoes that I know of, fortunately, only one of which is damaged so badly that I need to replace it, the others are minor and can mostly not be seen.
  
• Break two pairs of sunglasses. (The second pair, an exact replacement of the first I think I can glue to together.)
  
• Chew through more cardboard than I could ever imagine.
  
• Rip up at least five rolls of toilet paper and scatter it all around her.
  
• Pee on the rug more times than I can count.
  
• Rip out the black lining underneath the box spring of my bed, turning it into a cocoon to sleep in at night.
• Capture a baby rabbit, but fortunately she has a soft bite and I was able to pry the bunny out of her mouth and let it hop away to safety.
  

However, she has not yet (knock on wood):

• Destroyed the sofa.
  
• Chewed on my expensive dining room furniture, nor my large office desk.
• Run away any farther than down the street to the neighbor's house.
  
• Jumped up on someone with such strength she knocks them down.
  

So, really, I can't really complain, I mean, she is a puppy and I did want a puppy after all. But word to the wise, shoes should be out of reach at all times. At. All. Times.

We're an official book club! Hooray!

The book club that I decided I want is now a reality! I look forward to sharing reviews from the books we read on my blog. In the mean time, check out our new logo thanks to Jenni who is amazing! I'm so excited! Organizing this new book club brings me to my happy place.

We've named the book club, BYOB (Bring Your Own Books) Thanks to Molly who cleverly came up with our name!

I added the tagline "Bring your own books, bottles or bars!" to celebrate our gathering of books, good drinks and good food (including desserts). I think I'm clever. Maybe it's just me, but, hey, I founded the darn thing. :)

Can't wait to get started! Hooray!

I need a book club. I've made a book club.

So I put a post on Facebook this morning about needing a book club, and now, I have a book club with at least 10 members! All in a days work! Needless to say, I'm quite excited!

I need a book club

It's official. I've said it for years, but have not really done anything about it. I need a book club.

I suppose some of this need is coming from my part-time job at Borders coming to an end. I now need another outlet to discuss books.

So, I need a book club and, gosh darnit, I am bound and determined to start my own. Now, I just need people to join and recommendations from others who are in book clubs for what works well for them.

If you need a book club, or a second book club, let me know. Or, if you have good book club recommendations for reading or tips to get started, please also let me know. I am going to start a book club somehow.

Now, I just need some book club friends to join me.

And on another note, I just finished reading Something Blue. I read its predecessor, Something Borrowed, years ago. I couldn't quite get myself to read this one for a long time because Darcy wasn't the most likeable character. I don't feel like giving it a full review, but I will say, I'm glad Darcy mostly redeemed herself in this book.

Now, onto The Kite Runner, another book I've been meaning to read for years.

Dogs as Socialization Agents

If I've learned on thing in the last four months, I've learned that a great way to make new friends is by getting a dog. One of my co-workers said to me, "Dogs and kids are both socialization agents."

That much is certainly true. I've met and befriend a lot of people in my neighborhood who I had never even talked to before. Lucy is a friend creator. People love her. Of course, it helps that she is a super friendly puppy who wants everyone she meets to pet her.

Tonight we went to the dog park. We've been there a few times before. She loves it. She's gotten to meet lots of new dogs and tonight especially she learned to be a bit braver around other

dogs.

Of course, she still favors the small dogs to the big dogs because she's still learning that one day she'll be a big dog, too.

My best dog park memory yet is that she's learned to be a brave dog and, true to her breed, swim! (See photo.)

My friend Lisa half-jokingly says that I'm going to meet my husband at a dog park. It's funny because now my dog park trips are not only about allowing Lucy to run off some energy, but also about my glancing at the left hands of attractive men to see if I should attempt to strike up a conversation. (To date, I've struck out.)

Dogs certainly are socialization agents. I now wonder... are they marriage agents? If so, Lucy will most certainly take part in the wedding.

Book Review: Sarah's Key

Book: Sarah's Key

Author: Tatiana De Rosnay

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Brief synopsis:

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.

Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.

Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode.

My Review:

Sarah's Key is a book who many have read before me. It's not a new release, but one I've meant to read for awhile now. So, because of that, I'm going to make the disclaimer, this is a short review.

In short, I liked it, but I didn't love it. And I feel bad about that because I really wanted to love it. There was a lot that was really quite good about this novel... and all that was what revolved around Sarah, rather than Julia. Julia has a sad life and quite honestly, in spite of a few very redeeming moments, I found her to be a bit of a weak heroine.

My great critique is that I wanted to know more of Sarah through her voice. This happened through the first half, then faded as they moved into the second half. I loved that the first half of the novel flipped between the two, but that ended abruptly about half way through. While this change was intentional and made sense in the context, I wanted to know more of Sarah's story and what happened to her after the epic moment where they left off.

What De Rosnay did really well is to give people a historical insight into World War II France. The story of how Jewish families in France were impacted by Nazi occupation was extremely powerful. De Rosnay shared a wonderful glimpse into how this impacted the French, both historically and in present day.

I also have to admit, I could have done without the romantic ties that De Rosnay introduced toward the end. It felt very forced to me and also took away some of the power of Sarah's story. In the end, it made it more of a story of Julia finding happiness, rather than redemption for Sarah.

Now those who have read this can disagree with me. In fact, I hope they do. This book has gotten rave reviews. So, maybe listen to the critics not me. (See the editorial reviews on Amazon.com.)

With that said, I'd recommend this book to a friend. It has a powerful story to tell, that is, if you pay attention to Sarah and the historical context of the book, rather than the present day problems that Julia encounters in her personal life.