Let me tell you a sad secret: I know nothing about the Siege on Sarajevo. I just don’t. Shame on me. This book has at least introduced me to this part of recent history of which I am completely ignorant and which has piked my curiosity to learn more. Which is why you will soon see the fourth installment of book recommendations on genocide cover this conflict.

According to Wikipedia, the Siege on Sarajevo was the longest siege in the history of modern warfare, lasting from lasting from April 5, 1992 to February 29, 1996. That would have put me at the end of middle school through my junior year of high school. I honestly don’t have any recollection of hearing or seeing any of this on the news. I must have been selfishly engrossed in my own life of school, homework, friends, hanging out, boys, and after school jobs. Seriously, I’m really emberrased. And it’s estimated that of the more than 12,000 people who were killed and 50,000 who were wounded during the siege, 85% were civilians. That literally makes me shudder.

While reading The Cellist of Sarajevo I really could feel the fear that these civilians felt. To go outside for some fresh air, bread, or water was literally putting your life into the scope of a sniper. Crossing the street corner was a life or death situation. I felt so scared for these fictional characters that I can’t even imagine the fear that those who actually went through this felt. Sometimes I just don’t understand why we treat each other the way we do. Why? Why? It makes no sense to me. I don’t think it ever will.

So what is this book about anyways? In this case, I can’t summarize it any better than the book jacket:

In a city under siege, four people whose lives have been upended are ultimately reminded of what it is to be human. From his window, a musician sees twenty-two of his friends and neighbors killed by a mortar attack. In an act of defiance, the man picks up his cello and decides to play at the site of the attack for twenty-two days in their memory. Elsewhere, a young man leaves home to collect drinking water for his family and in the face of danger must weight the value of generosity against selfish survivalism. A third man, older, sets off in search of bread and distractions, and instead runs into a long-ago friend who reminds him of the city he thought he had lost, and the man he once was. As both me are drawn into the orbit of cello music, a fourth character - a young woman, a sniper - holds the fate of the cellist in her hands. While she protects him with her life, her own army prepares to challenge the kind of person she has become.

A quote from The Cellist of Sarajevo:

It doesn’t matter what the world thinks of his city. All that matters is what he thinks. In the Sarajevo of his memory, it was completely unacceptable to have a dead man lying in the street. In the Sarajevo of today it’s normal. He has been living in neither, has tried to live in a city that no longer exists, refusing to participate in the one that does.

And another quote:

[after recounting the birth of his son, nineteen years earlier] Afterward he had an overwhelming feeling of benevolence, not just for his son, but for the world around him, wishing it were everything it wasn’t. , wondering what he could do to make things better.

[ . . . ] Now he often wonders whether there was anything he did or didn’t do that played some small part in his city’s disintegration. he wonders what would have happened if the men on the hills and the men in the city had in their hearts a tiny fraction of the benevolence felt for and known by a small child.

A very powerful novel that was beautifully written. It was completely engrossing. Having just came out, I’m sure many of you have not yet read it, so I suggest that you track down a copy.

Just as I was getting ready to write up this review, I was alerted via Bookninja of this article which states that Vedran Smailovic, the real life cellist of which The Cellist of Sarajevo is based, wants compensation from the author Steven Galloway because he used his reputation without asking.

In the article Galloway says, “The cellist in my book is based on a real character. He doesn’t ever speak in the book. I was kind of careful not to put words, I don’t want to put words in his mouth.” As well as, “[I don’t know] for what I would be compensating. I mean, he performed a public act and I mentioned it?” Apparently, Smailovic feels that if people are making money off of his past he should be entitled to it. Up to this point, I agree with Galloway. But then I find out that Smailovic’s face is actually used on the book cover (not the one that I had). If somebody put my picture on the front cover of a novel, I’d be a little upset as well. That I can see getting mad about, but writing about a performance done in public, I think, is fair game.

What do you think?

A video tribute about the Siege of Sarajevo:

Thanks to everybody who entered my giveaway to win two free books: Angela Ashes and ‘Tis by Frank McCourt. Using random.org the two winners are:

Janssen of Everyday Reading

and

Peng

Congratulations! Email me at natasha (at) mawbooks (dot) com and I’ll mail out your books as soon as I can.

Wow, so far that’s 15 books I’ve given away this month! There will be two more giveaways before the end of July so if you’re not subscribed to my feed via a reader or email yet, I suggest you do that right now.  Plus, I actually do tend to write book reviews from time to time! 

Thanks!

Hardcover Fiction

1. TRIBUTE, by Nora Roberts. A former child star returns to Virginia to rehabilitate the farm owned by her grandmother, an actress who died mysteriously.

2. FEARLESS FOURTEEN, by Janet Evanovich. Stephanie Plum and her boyfriend Joe Morelli become involved when his cousin’s bank robbery goes bad.

3.  THE LAST PATRIOT, by Brad Thor. Scot Harvath, a Homeland Security superagent, searches for an ancient secret that could defeat Islamic militants.

4.  THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE, by David Wroblewski. A mute takes refuge with three dogs in the Wisconsin woods after his uncle murders his father.

5.  SWAN PEAK, by James Lee Burke. The Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux can’t escape trouble on his Montana vacation.

Hardcover Nonfiction

1. WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES, by David Sedaris. The humorist’s latest essays deal with middle age, mortality and giving up smoking
2. ARE YOU THERE, VODKA? IT’S ME, CHELSEA, by Chelsea Handler. Humorous personal essays from the stand-up comedian
3. FLEECED, by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann. Americans are fleeced by government, business, labor unions and lobbyists. (†)
4. WHAT HAPPENED, by Scott McClellan. A former White House press secretary regrets that “I allowed myself to be deceived” by top officials.
5. STORI TELLING, by Tori Spelling with Hilary Liftin. The actress’s memoir.

Paperback Trade Fiction

1. THE SHACK, by William P. Young. A man whose daughter was abducted is invited to an isolated shack, apparently by God. (†)
2. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, by Sara Gruen. A young man-and an elephant-save a Depression-era circus.
3. THE KITE RUNNER, by Khaled Hosseini. An Afghan-American returns to Kabul to learn how a childhood friend has fared.
4. THE ALCHEMIST, by Paulo Coelho. A Spanish shepherd boy travels to Egypt in search of treasure.
5. NINETEEN MINUTES, by Jodi Picoult. The aftermath of a high school shooting reveals the fault lines in a small New Hampshire town.

Paperback Mass-Market Fiction

1. LEAN MEAN THIRTEEN, by Janet Evanovich. The New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum becomes a suspect when her ex-husband disappears.
2. DOUBLE TAKE, by Catherine Coulter. Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock — F.B.I. agents as well as husband and wife — join with a San Francisco colleague to solve a murder and find a missing woman
3. SOMEDAY SOON, by Debbie Macomber. A widow and a mercenary fall in love; a reissue of a 1995 book.
4. DEAR JOHN, by Nicholas Sparks. An unlikely romance between a soldier and an idealistic young woman is tested after 9/11.
5. STEP ON A CRACK, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. A detective raising 10 children alone must rescue 34 high-level hostages.

Paperback Non-Fiction

1. THREE CUPS OF TEA, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. A former climber builds schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
2. EAT, PRAY, LOVE, by Elizabeth Gilbert. A writer’s yearlong journey in search of self takes her to Italy, India and Indonesia.
3. BIG RUSS AND ME, by Tim Russert. Russert remembers his father and the other important teachers in his life.
4. WISDOM OF OUR FATHERS, by Tim Russert. The journalist presents readers’ letters about their fathers in response to his memoir, “Big Russ and Me.”
5. THE AUDACITY OF HOPE, by Barack Obama. The Illinois senator proposes that Americans move beyond their political divisions.

Hardcover Advice

1. DECEPTIVELY DELICIOUS, by Jessica Seinfeld. Tips and recipes to fool children into eating right, from a mother of three (and the wife of Jerry Seinfeld).
2. THE LAST LECTURE, by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow. After learning he has terminal cancer, a Carnegie Mellon professor shares his thoughts on the importance of “seizing every moment.”
3. THE SECRET, by Rhonda Byrne. The law of attraction as a key to getting what you want.
4. GOODNIGHT BUSH, by Erich Origen and Gan Golan. A requiem for the Bush administration, based on the children’s book “Goodnight Moon.”
5. THE SOUTH BEACH DIET SUPERCHARGED, by Arthur Agatston with Joseph Signorile. A guide to faster weight loss.

Paperback Advice

1. A NEW EARTH, by Eckhart Tolle. A spiritual teacher prescribes letting go of the ego to help end conflict and suffering.
2. SKINNY BITCH, by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. Vegan diet advice from the world of modeling.
3. THE POWER OF NOW, by Eckhart Tolle. A guide to personal growth and spiritual enlightenment.
4. SOUL WISDOM, by Dr. Zhi Gang Sha. A doctor of Western and traditional Chinese medicine explains how to harness the power of the soul for healing and personal transformation. (†)
5. PERFECT SELLING, by Linda Richardson. A five-step system for meeting sales objectives and increasing business. (†)

Children’s Picture Books

1. YOU CAN DO IT!, by Tony Dungy. Illustrated by Amy June Bates. How faith and dreams help us succeed
2. GALLOP!, written and illustrated by Rufus Butler Seder. Animals seem to move when you flip the page. (Ages 4 to 8 )
3. ALPHABET, by Matthew Van Fleet. An interactive safari ABC. (Ages 2 to 6)
4. A VISITOR FOR BEAR, by Bonny Becker. Illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton. A mouse pops in on an antisocial bear. (Ages 4 to
5. SMASH! CRASH!, by Jon Scieszka. Illustrated by David Shannon, Loren Long and David Gordon. A truck named Jack and a dump truck named Dan love to smash into things. (Ages 3 to 7)

Children’s Chapter Books

1. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, written and illustrated by Jeff Kinney. The travails of adolescence, in cartoons. (Ages 9 to 12)
2. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: RODRICK RULES, written and illustrated by Jeff Kinney. How Greg embarrassed himself on his summer vacation (ask his older brother, Rodrick); a sequel to “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” (Ages 9 to 12)
3. WARRIORS: CATS OF THE CLANS, by Erin Hunter. Illustrated by Wayne McLoughlin. A guide to the characters in the Warriors series. (Ages 10 and up)
4. LOCK AND KEY, by Sarah Dessen. A free-spirited high school girl is sent to live with her wealthy older sister. (Ages 12 and up)
5. THE WILLOUGHBYS, by Lois Lowry. Two wicked parents and their precocious children parody the conventions of children’s literature. (Ages 9 to 12)

Children’s Paperback Books

1. KRISTEN, by Lisi Harrison. In summer school, a scholarship student baby-sits for a popular boy’s younger sister; a Clique novel. (Ages 12 and up)
2. THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX, by Kate DiCamillo. Illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering. A mouse, a rat and a girl on a magic trip. (Ages 10 and up)
3. ALICIA, by Lisi Harrison. In Spain for the summer, a girl auditions for a role in a rock video; a Clique novel. (Ages 12 and up)
4. THE BOOK THIEF, by Markus Zusak. A girl saves books from Nazi burning and shares them with a Jewish man in hiding. (Ages 14 and up)
5. TEMPTED, by Cecily von Ziegesar. Who at Waverly stopped Jenny from being expelled? An It Girl novel. (Ages 15 and up)

Children’s Series Books

1. THE TWILIGHT SERIES, by Stephenie Meyer. Vampires and werewolves in high school. (Ages 12 and up)
2. PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS, by Rick Riordan. Battling mythological monsters. (Ages 9 to 12)
3. BOOKS OF EMBER, by Jeanne DuPrau. In a postapocalyptic future, children try to save the world. (Ages 10 to 13)
4. HARRY POTTER, by J. K. Rowling. A boy wizard hones his skills and fights evil. (Ages 10 and up)
5. THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS, by Ann Brashares. Four friends share a pair of magical pants. (Ages 12 and up)

Source: The New York Times Best Seller List

So, so funny! Now, I was an avid Archie reader when I was younger. So reading a novel partly done in cartoons was no big stretch for me, although I would not qualify this as a graphic novel. Rather it’s a really funny story with cartoons for illustrations.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid starts out with Greg, our main character writing:

First of all, let me get something straight: This is a JOURNAL, not a diary. I know what it says on the cover, but when Mom went out to buy this thing I SPECIFICALLY told her to get one that didn’t say “diary” on it. Great. All I need is for some jerk to catch me carrying this book around and get the wrong idea.

Greg is a “wimpy” kid in middle school and writes down his humorous accounts about the school year, his best friend Rowley, and the “cheese touch.” Of Rowley, he says:

Rowley is technically my best friend, but that is definitely subject to change.

I’ve been avoiding Rowley since the first day of school, when he did something that really annoyed me.

We were getting our stuff from our lockers at the end of the day, and Rowley came up to me and said, [told in the cartoon] ‘Want to come over to my house and plaayyy?’

I have told Rowley at least a billion times that now that we’re in middle school, you’re supposed to say “hang out,” not play.” But no matter how many noogies I give him, he always forgets the next time.

And another quote from Diary of a Wimpy Kid about the cheese touch, which after I read knew I wouldn’t be able to put this book down, because it was way too funny:

That piece of Cheese has been sitting on the blacktop since last spring. I guess it must’ve dropped out of someone’s sandwich or something. After a couple of days, the Cheese started getting all moldy and nasty. Nobody would play basketball on the court where the cheese was, event hough that was the only court that had a hoop with a net.

Then one day, this kid named Darren Walsh touched the cheese with his finger, and that’s what started this thing called the Cheese touch. It’s basically like the Cooties. If you get the Cheese Touch, you’re stuck with it until you pass it on to someone else.

The only was to protect yourself from the Cheese touch is to cross your fingers.

But it’s not that easy remembering to keep your fingers crossed every moment of the day. I ended up taping mine together so they’d stay crossed all the time. I got a D in handwriting, but it was totally worth it.

This one kid named Abe Hall got the Cheese touch in April, and nobody would even come near him for the rest of the year. This summer Abe moved away to California and took the Cheese touch with him.

I just hope someone doesn’t start the Cheese touch up again, because I don’t need that kind of stress in my life anymore.

I highly recommend this book especially if you have a reluctant reader in your household or even if you’re a woman pushing thirty like myself. I totally can see why this and it’s sequel Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules has been on the bestseller list for 65 and 26 weeks, respectively.

According to Jeff Kinney’s website, the third installment Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw is coming out January 17, 2009 with two more books planned after that as well as TV/movie possibilities. You can also watch a video presentation of Jeff Kinney here. I found it interesting to note that Jeff Kinney still holds down a full time job as a online game developer and designer and considers himself a cartoonist rather than an author.

Maybe I was in the perfect mood, but man, this was a way too much fun. Can’t wait to read the second one!

You know what? I’m not going to get too deep into this book review. Adichie creates a amazing story of the lives of three characters as they are “swept up in the turbulence” of “Biagra’s impassioned struggle to establish an independent republic in Nigeria in the 1960’s, and the chilling violence that followed” (quoted from book jacket). Adichie did state in her author’s note that she did take some liberties with the Nigeria-Biafra War but I still learned a lot about this conflict that I was completely ignorant on. This is one of those books that makes me grateful for the life that I have.

The story was heartbreaking, the characters wonderful, the narrative enjoyable (well, as enjoyable as a depressing book like this can be). I was so invested in Ugwu’s character that I was sooooo disappointed in a choice that he made towards the end of the book. I really felt like he “let me down” which I thought was superb storytelling on Adichie’s part. Highly recommended and I’m looking forward to reading Purple Hibiscus, also by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie. And can I just mention that she is absolutely beautiful!

Watch the book trailer:

What books have you read that took you forever to get into but you thoroughly enjoyed?

This trailer does showa lot, but I think it’s better then the first. My husband and I both agree that Twilight has a “Smallville-ish” feel to it. If you watch Smallville (which we do love) then you know what I’m talking about it. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then I don’t even want to get into it.

Are you Stephenie Meyer fans getting more excited?

I bought If You Come Softly because I had previously read Feathers, a Newbery honor book, by the same author (click on book title to be taken to my book review). I did enjoy this one much more, although I enjoyed Feathers as well.

Ellie and Miah both attend a private high school and once they literally bump into each other they can’t stop thinking about each other. Things only get better when Miah is transferred into Ellie’s class and they soon become inseparable and caught up in the joy’s of first love (ahh, first love . . . . makes me think back). But people whisper behind their backs and old ladies give them startling looks? Why? Because Ellie is a white, Jewish girl and Miah is black. Can their love survive, especially when they meet each other’s parents?

What I especially liked about this book is that is wasn’t the typical white and black relationship stereotype that you see in so many movies (you know all those ones that feature dancing and the “forbidden” relationship). Ellie has problems of her own, mostly fear that her mother, who left not just once but twice when Ellie was young, will abandon her again. The one in her family who found it hard to accept her new relationship was surprisingly her lesbian sister, who you would think would be okay about that sort of thing. Miah is not your average black boy from “the hood.” He’s the son of a Academy Award winning director and his mother is a well-known author and he lives in a huge and beautiful home.  That’s what I like about this book.  Both characters are on equal footing, their only difference is their skin color.

A couple quotes that I thought were insightful from If You Come Softly:

I used to think it didn’t matter - that everyone in this world had the same chance, the same fight. Imagine two babies born - one white, one black. Maybe their mothers shared the same hospital room and talked low - when all the excited visitors were gone and the hospital was heavy with sleep - about their futures. Talked about their dreams for the babies, long after the two a.m feeding was over. I used to think that all those babies needed was some kind of chance - and a mother’s dream for them. I was so . . . so silly back then. Naive. I believed stuff like that. Just because no one in this family had ever said a hateful thing about black people.

‘All people,’ Marions was often saying. ‘All people have suffered. So why should any of us feel like we’re better or less than another?”

But where were they then - these black people who were just like us - who were equal to us? Why weren’t they coming over for dinner? Why weren’t they playing golf with Daddy on Saturdays or quilting with Marion on Thursday nights? Why weren’t they in our world, around us, a part of us?

The title of the book comes from this passage:

‘There’s this poem,’ he [Miah] said, ‘that my moms used to read to me.

If you come softly
as the wind within the trees.
You may hear what I hear.
See what sorrow sees.
If you come slightly
as threading dew,
I will take you gladly,
nor ask more of you.

When you told me that thing about Marion, it made me think of it. The way stuff and people come and go.’

‘It’s pretty, that poem.’ I closed my eyes. Maybe people were always coming toward each other - from the beginning of their lives. Maybe Miah had always been coming toward me, to this moment, sitting in Central Park holding hands. Coming softly.

Okay, I could come up with tons more. But that should give you a taste of the book. I think I’ll be reading more of Jacqueline Woodson for sure, and well she’s got a lot! Visit Jacqueline Woodson’s website here.

On a side note: A few more days left in my giveaway of Frank McCourt’s Angela Ashes and ‘Tis. Don’t forget to enter.

The story is told in alternating viewpoints (a style that I personally love) with Cornelia, a coffee shop manager, telling us her story in hindsight. Cornelia has a fantastic voice and I loved her thought processes and tangents. It made her really believable and somebody that you would want to sit down with and have a chat. Cornelia loves old, romantic movies and therefore is thrilled when she meets her perfect man, Martin Grace. She says, “My life - my real life - started when a man walked into it, a handsome stranger in a perfectly cut suit and, yes, I know how that sounds.”

Martin Grace does sound just about perfect and even sweeps Cornelia off her feet by starting their romantic relationship with an offer to visit London. But Martin doesn’t stay perfect forever and Cornelia soon discovers that he has a eleven year old daughter, Clare, with whom he simply doesn’t try hard enough to be a good Dad.

The other viewpoint is told in the third person from Clare’s perspective. Clare lives with her mother who is spiriling downward due to a mental illness. She must fend for herself but when her mother disappers she’s forced to seek out her estranged father. Cornelia’s and Clare’s world’s collide and they form a special friendship that will undergo several phases of redefinition Clare needs her missing mother and Cornelia finds herself needing Clare more everyday.

I really enjoyed all the references to a lot of other books (most featuring the main character as orphans) and classic film. I don’t know why but fiction books that mention other fiction books are always cool. And I wouldn’t mind having a sneak peak into Cornelia’s apartment because it really sounds like she has the perfect decorating style. All that apart, Love Walked In was beautifully written, fast paced, had true to life characters, and was a fantastic debut for Marisa de los Santos. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel Belong to Me, which just came out.

Visit Marisa de los Santo’s website for reading group guides and more.

Question to get things rolling:  Wat would you do if you found out the guy that you were dating had a daughter that he never mentioned and that he doesn’t seem that interested in?   And that daughter’s mother had gone off the deep end?

Using random.org the two new numbers selected between 1 and 4742 (yes, that’s a LOT of entries) is:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

1894 3380

Timestamp: 2008-07-17 03:00:54 UTC

Congratulations to our first new winner: Alison (there’s more than one Alison, this is the Alison who’s email begins with aligetrxxx@xxxxxxxx.xx)

Alison says The Host sounds really intriguing and is glad to have found a new book that she’s interested in.

And our second winner is: Lisa from Books on the Brain!

So exciting Lisa! And don’t give her a hard time because she hasn’t read Twilight yet. Shh . . . our secret. Did I say that out loud?

I’ll be contacting you by email to get your mailing addresses. And congrats again!

I’m currently hosting another giveaway for free books. Click here for details.

What do you think?