Shortlist for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2011

The Man Asian Literary Prize  for 2011 has increased its short list from five to seven books.

Dream of Ding Village

2011 Shortlist

JAMIL AHMAD, Pakistan - The Wandering Falcon (Penguin India/Hamish Hamilton)

JAHNAVI BARUA, India - Rebirth (Penguin India/Penguin Books)

RAHUL BHATTACHARYA, India - The Sly Company of People Who Care (Pan Macmillan/Pan Macmillan India/Picador)

AMITAV GHOSH, India - River of Smoke (John Murray/Penguin India/Hamish Hamilton)

KYUNG-SOOK SHIN, South Korea -  Please Look After Mom (Alfred A. Knopf)

YAN LIANKE, China - Dream of Ding Village (Grove Atlantic)

BANANA YOSHIMOTO, Japan - The Lake (Melville House)

Please Look After Mom

I've reviewed Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin, and was intensely moved by this very sad but revealing story from South Korea.

I've also listened to most of the audio of River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh, and was fascinated by the historical fiction account of the Opium War and British and Indian involvement.

All of the other books are on my wish list for my several reading challenges.

Book Review: Finding My Balance, a Memoir by Mariel Hemingway

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify the author and title for readers.

"It seems to me that before I discovered meditation I traveled from one want to the next, seeking comfort and joy in winning acting roles and the love of my peers, or even things as trivial as a silk carpet or the perfect physique.... " (ch . 12)

Title: Finding My Balance: A Memoir by Mariel Hemingway
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (January 30, 2003)
Source: library

Comments: Mariel Hemingway, granddaughter of the writer Ernest Hemingway, writes the memoir of life as a member of the famous family and describes how she navigates through the minefield of her life, eventually "Finding My Balance." She uses yoga as a help to reach that goal. Her memoir alone is interesting, but adding yoga to the mix makes the book both useful and informative. At the end of the memoir are detailed instructions for basic yoga moves, with pictures and instructions.

Publisher's description: "Actress Mariel Hemingway uses the lessons and practices of yoga as a starting point for her own personal reflections and a larger-than-life family story. The result is a searingly honest memoir that is firmly practical, as well as a moving narrative of the author's struggle to deal with a complex and often stressful life.

Mariel was the third daughter born to Jack Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway's son, and Byra Whittlesey. Her older sister, Muffet, suffered for years from instability, while middle sister Margaux, a celebrated actress and model, eventually died of the effects of her driven lifestyle. Their mother, Byra, was darkly moody and emotionally quixotic, and made no secret of her disdain for her husband, while Jack, himself insecure in no small part because of his celebrated father, a man he never really felt he knew, was an indifferent parent at best.

Even before she was a teenager, Mariel was forced to assume the role of stable center of her family. In just about every way, she never really had a childhood of her own, a situation that was exacerbated by her sudden thrust into celebrity when she was first cast in sister Margaux's film "Lipstick," then in Woody Allen's "Manhattan." Suddenly, Mariel was a movie star."

© Harvee Lau of Book Dilettante. Please do not reprint without permission

Book Review: Folly Beach by Dorothea Benton Frank

"... here's the guy who allegedly put Charleston on the map again with Porgy and Bess."

What do you mean allegedly?"

"DuBose published the book Porgy in 1925, not the play."

"Then who did, The Gershwins?"

"Nope, the play Porgy appeared on Broadway in 1927. Gershwin's play didn't run until 1934...." (ch. 14)

Title: Folly Beach: A Low Country Tale by Dorothea Benton Frank
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (December 27, 2011)
Genre: Southern fiction
Objective rating: 3/5

My comments: Cate Cooper lost her husband to suicide, and finding that she had also lost her home due to her husband's enormous debts, she returns to Folly Beach, South Carolina, the place where she grew up. There she rekindles her love for her old home state, finds new love with John Risley, and finds a hobby delving into local history through the South Carolina Historical Society. Cate's personal story is the background for the more interesting part of the novel.

She researches the history of local writers Dorothy and DuBose Heyward, who wrote the original book, Porgy and then the play in the 1920s. The Heywards collaborated in the 1930s with George Gerswhin, the composer, and produced the famous musical play/opera, Porgy and Bess. Cate also discovers that the talented and more educated Dorothy allowed her husband DuBose to take most of the credit for the book and play, staying in the background while he shone in the limelight as a writer. But through it all, the novel shows the Heywards as a happily married couple and part of the Charleston aristocracy.

Though the author's approach to the story was too nostalgic for someone like me, who has visited Charleston and South Carolina only once, Gerswhin fans and those who like southern fiction will enjoy the setting and the history of some famous people of the state.

Product description: "Folly Beach is considered one of South Carolina's most historic and romantic spots, the land of Cate Cooper's childhood. Cate never thought she'd wind up in this tiny cottage on this lovely strip of coast. But circumstances have changed, thanks to her newly dead husband who has left Cate homeless, broke, and unmoored....

For Cate, Folly holds unexpected fulfillment when she is forced to look again at her life and the zany characters that are her family. She finds that you can go home again. "



List of all TLC reviews: Folly Beach tour stops
A review copy of this book was provided through TLC Book Tours.

© Harvee Lau of Book Dilettante. Please do not reprint without permission

Mystery and Suspense Reading Challenge 2012- I've Joined

I will keep track of my mystery reviews this year by once again joining the Mystery and Suspense Reading Challenge hosted by Book Chick City. Head on over to sign up! Read 12 or 24 books to complete the challenge.

Here are my books so far. Click on the titles to see the reviews.

1. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley
2. The Dark Rose by Erin Kelly
3. Oath of Office by Michael Palmer
4. The Barbary Dogs: A Mystery by Cynthia Robinson
5. The Face Thief by Eli Gottlieb
6. The Look of Love by Mary Jane Clark
7.  Raylan: A Novel by Elmore Leonard
8. Paydirt by Paul Levine
9. Pineapple Grenade by Tim Dorsey
10. No Mark Upon Her by Deborah Crombie
11. Double Booked for Death by Ali Brandon
12. Helpless by Daniel Palmer
13. Fashion Faux Paw by Judi McCoy
14. The Hope Vendetta by Scott Mariani
15. To Catch a Leaf: A Flower Shop Mystery by Kate Collins
16. The Probability of Murder by Ada Madison
17. The Expats: A Novel by Chris Pavone
18. Shore Excursion by Marie Moore
19. The Big Kitty by Claire Donally

20. From the Ashes by Jeremy Burns
21. The Girl Next Door by Brad Parks
23. Murder Buys a T-Shirt by Christy Fifield
24. The Scarlet Pepper by Dorothy St. James
25. Due or Die by Jenn McKinlay
26. Death of a Kingfisher by M.C. Beaton (read but not reviewed)
27. A Spirited Gift by Joyce and Jim Lavene (read but not reviewed)
28.  Home for a Spell by Madelyn Alt (read but not reviewed)
29. Cat in a Vegas Gold Vendetta by Carol Nelson Douglas
30. An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd
31. The Fear Artist by Timothy Hallinan
32. Tahoe Trap by Todd Berg
33. Broken Harbor by Tana French
34. The Playdate by Louise Millar
35. And When She Was Good by Laura Lippman
36. A Sinister Sense by Allison Kingsley
37. A Fistful of Collars by Spencer Quinn
38. The Book Thief by Fuminori Nakamura
40. Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear
41. Allergic to Death by Peg Cochran
42. Rally 'Round the Corpse by Hy Conrad
43. Cat Bearing Gifts by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

Book Review: I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows

.

About the plot: Amateur sleuth and budding chemist, Flavia de Luce, age 11, makes friends with famous actress Phyllis Wyvern, who arrives with cast and crew at Flavia's historic mansion home in the middle of winter to do scenes for a new film. The de Luce family are in financial straits and have "rented" out part of their huge ancestral home to the film company over the Christmas holidays.

Besides fending off the gibes and malicious teasing of her teenage sisters, Flavia watches the goings on of the film crew and actors staying in the mansion, and later on, does her own investigation of a murder that takes place in the house, during a blizzard that traps everyone indoors for days. Her one reliable friend is her father's old army friend, all-purpose handyman and helper, Dogger.

"No need to explain. Older sisters are much alike the world over: half a cup of love and half one of contempt."
I couldn't have put it better myself.
"My sister's the same," she said. "Six years older?"
I nodded.
"Mine, too. I see we have a great deal more in common than a taste for horrific murder, Flavia de Luce." (ch. 3)

Comments: Flavia is always a delightful if very young but astute protagonist in this mystery series. This is the 4th book and Flavia seems to have grown up quite a bit, doing investigations and research and making observations that are quite advanced for her age. At other times she is very much a child, however, and still is not sure if Santa Claus exists or not. Her experiment to "trap" Santa as he climbs down the chimney on Christmas Eve ties in nicely with the mystery plot and provides a setting for good suspense in the investigation.

You will like this recent Flavia de Luce mystery if you suspend disbelief for a while and enjoy the antics and crime solving skills of a precocious 11-year-old.

Title: I Am Half-Sick of Shadows: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan  Bradley
Publisher: Delacorte Press, hardcover
Publication: November 1, 2011
Genre: mystery; Source: library
Rating: 4/5


© Harvee Lau of Book Dilettante. Please do not reprint without permission

Book Review : Poser, my life in twenty-three yoga poses by Claire Dederer

"You girls, you take everything so seriously," said my mother. "You make it so hard on yourselves. When our children were little, we weren't so worried about everything. We liked to have a good time." (ch. 4)

Book description: Ten years ago, Claire Dederer put her back out while breastfeeding her baby daughter. Told to try yoga by everyone from the woman behind the counter at the co-op to the homeless guy on the corner, she signed up for her first class. She fell madly in love.

Over the next decade, she would tackle triangle, wheel, and the dreaded crow, becoming fast friends with some poses and developing long-standing feuds with others. At the same time, she found herself confronting the forces that shaped her generation. Daughters of women who ran away to find themselves and made a few messes along the way, Dederer and her peers grew up determined to be good, good, good—even if this meant feeling hemmed in by the smugness of their organic-buying, attachment-parenting, anxiously conscientious little world. Yoga seemed to fit right into this virtuous program, but to her surprise, Dederer found that the deeper she went into the poses, the more they tested her most basic ideas of what makes a good mother, daughter, friend, wife—and the more they made her want something a little less tidy, a little more improvisational. Less goodness, more joy."
(publisher)

Comments: Claire Dederer says about her memoir Poser, "This book was inspired by my mother and her life." Claire and her brother Dave grew up in a nontraditional family, since her mother left her home and her husband when her two children were young and took them with her to live with Larry, a much younger man. Over the years, the families on both sides came to live with this unusual arrangement. Claire's parents refused to divorce and continued to be "married" while they lived separate lives.

Though Claire admits that growing up with this arrangement did not really damage her or her brother, she concludes that her mother's life may have both liberated her, Claire, from living a conventional life as a young adult, and helped form her as a mother and wife who had to do everything the right way, no matter what. The discovery and the practice of yoga helped to show Claire what lay inside her subconscious, underneath the outward layers where she was being the perfect person and mother.

I loved reading about her journey to self-realization and, as a beginning yoga enthusiast, ate up the detailed descriptions of the 23 different yoga poses that she melded into the story of her life - her life as a child growing up in two different households, as an adventurous and unorthodox young adult, and as an overly-dedicated married woman and mother.

Title: Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses by Claire Dederer
Published: December 21, 2010
Genre: memoir
Source: library
My rating - 4.5/5


© Harvee Lau of Book Dilettante. Please do not reprint without permission

Book Review: The Thread, A Novel by Victoria Hislop

Title: The Thread: A Novel by Victoria Hislop
Headline Review (2011), Hardcover, 400 pages
Genre: historical fiction
Objective rating: 4.5/5

Book description: Thessaloniki, 1917. As Dimitri Komninos is born, a fire sweeps through the thriving multicultural city, where Christians, Jews and Moslems live side by side. It is the first of many catastrophic events that will change for ever this city, as war, fear and persecution begin to divide its people. Five years later, young Katerina escapes to Greece when her home in Asia Minor is destroyed by the Turkish army. Losing her mother in the chaos, she finds herself on a boat to an unknown destination. From that day the lives of Dimitri and Katerina become entwined, with each other and with the story of the city itself.

Thessaloniki, 2007. A young Anglo-Greek hears the life story of his grandparents for the first time and realises he has a decision to make. For many decades, they have looked after the memories and treasures of people who have been forcibly driven from their beloved city. Should he become their new custodian? Should he stay or should he go? ((publisher)

My comments: I valued this novel both for the excellent story telling and the historical research on the city of Thessaloniki, Greece during fire, war, and earthquake. We follow the life of Katerina, from her forced evacuation from her home in Asia Minor to a chance landing in Thessaloniki, where she and her "adoptive" mother are helped to find a new home, and where Katherina becomes a successful seamstress. The story continues with their lives before and during WWII, their friendship with other families, and the invasion of the city by German troops. Katerina becomes closer to her childhood friend Dimitri, whose life is only saved during the war when he joins the resistance and fights in the mountains away from Thessaloniki. Their stories are deeply entwined with the story of the city and of Greece during and after this period.

This book was printed in hardcover and as an ebook on October 27, 2011 by the Headline Publishing Company in London. It will be available in paperback in July 2012.

A complimentary copy of this book was sent to me for possible review.
© Harvee Lau of Book Dilettante. Please do not reprint without permission.