Lemuria Books – Page 146

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Raveena reviews Die for Me

On November 5, 2011

Here is another review from one of Jackson’s smartest bunch of kids: the readers! Raveena is an 8th grader at St. Andrew’s and a member of Lemuria’s middle school girls book club (still working on it’s official name) and she is a lover of young adult romances. See what she has to say about Amy Plum’s debut novel, Die for Me:

I have read so many paranormal romance books, but none compared to Die for Me by Amy Plum. Usually its the same story girl meets boy

and they fall in love, but in Die for Me it take that simple concept and twists it into a fabulous tale. The main problem for the characters in Die for Me (and best part of the story in my opinion) is how they have to work together to make their relationship work.

The book introduces a broken-hearted girl named Kate. Her parents have tragically died in a car crash and she is moving from her home in America to Paris to live with her grandparents. At first she is completely lost within herself, but her out-going sister, Georgia, pushes her to get out to see the city. So she goes to a cafe to read and that’s when she first sets sight on Vincent. He is laughing with friends and looking over at her and smiling. From then on she always went to that cafe in hopes of seeing him again. Naturally, they soon met each other and begin a relationship, but the story takes a twist. This book will take you on a journey that shows true love can work through anything.

In conclusion, Die for Me is a book about falling in love and dealing with the problems every relationship has, but to never give up. This is the first installment in the Relevant series, and I can’t wait for the sequel, Until I Die, to come out in May!

Murakami Love: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

By admin

On November 4, 2011

In Foreign Fiction

In getting ready for the long-awaited release of 1Q84 on October 25th, I was pleasantly surprised to find evidence of Lemuria-Staff-Past who have also been devoted fans.

Enjoy this review by Catherine, Lemuria Class of 2006.

One of the more preoccupying themes of Japanese literature in this century has been the question of what it means to be Japanese, especially in an era that has seen the rise and fall of militarism and the decline of traditional culture; but from reading the books of Haruki Murakami, one of the country’s most celebrated novelists, you’d never know he was Japanese at all: his characters read Turgenev and Jack London, listen to Rossini and Bob Dylan, eat pate de foie gras and spaghetti, and know how to make a proper salty dog.

In Murakami’s early books, the references to Western pop culture were sometimes so obscure that they even flew over the heads of many Americans. Murakami’s protagonists are soft, irresolute men, often homebodies with dynamic girlfriends or wives, who go through long, inert periods of ennui — a blatant renunciation of the frenetic, male-dominated ethos of modern Japan. Breaking with his own tradition, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is Murakami’s attempt to not only glimpse at Japanese-ness, but to use a very wide lens.

This is a big, ambitious book clearly intended to establish Murakami as a major figure in world literature. Although his earlier books bristle with philosophical asides and literary allusions (Western, mainly), most critics treated him as a lightweight, a wise guy who never took anything seriously. Wind-Up Bird Chronicle almost self-consciously deals with a wide spectrum of heavy subjects: the transitory nature of romantic love, the evil vacuity of contemporary politics and, most provocative of all, the legacy of Japan’s violent aggression in World War II. But it all begins with a man losing his cat. Then his wife. (Then his mind?)

Focusing some of Wind-Up Bird Chronicle’s best chapters on the occupation of Manchukuo and the consequent border skirmishes with Russia and the Mongols, Murakami seizes upon a sense of collective guilt as cause of personal Japanese confusion. The Manchukuo passages are absolutely dazzling; the prose crisp and the visuals epic. The narrative leaps from 1930s Manchuria to 1980s Japan – with comparative stints spent in downtown Tokyo and Siberia.

The transitory nature of the book, to me, was one of the most intriguing elements of Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Yes, it is a big book, but one that is constantly changing. At times, I felt so far away from the original premise that I wondered if I was still reading the same book at all; oddly enough, instead of feeling muddled by the development of the book, I felt refreshed, glad to be always moving; leaving characters and plot lines behind; going deeper into the rabbit hole.

Many regard Wind-Up Bird Chronicle as Murakami’s masterpiece and I would be inclined to agree. The experience of reading this book is absolutely mesmerizing — and utterly indescribable, so perhaps I will stop trying to explain. Instead, I will say that Murakami has written a bold and generous book, and the resulting reading experience is its own reward. Trust me: It’s a beautiful mind bender.

Written by Catherine (Lemuria 2006)

For an introduction to Murakami and preview of 1Q84, click here.

Click here to see other blog posts on Murakami.

1Q84 is here.

hmhm

The Wicked Years by Gregory Maguire

By Former Lemurians

On November 3, 2011

In Fiction

If you have not had the pleasure of seeing the Broadway play Wicked then I encourage you to do so at some point. This fabulous show opened in October 2003 in San Francisco. Because of the popularity of the play, it expanded to other large cities which also lead to being shown off Broadway in some smaller cities as well. That being said, it could be on it’s way to you.

The musical is based on Gregory Maguire’s book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. This story tells of the time in the Land of Oz before Dorothy is welcomed in. Wicked has two main characters: Elphaba and Galinda. Elphaba is the one with green skin who-you guessed it-becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. Opposite the Wicked Witch is Galinda the popluar, attractive one who becomes the Glinda the Good Witch of the North. The storyline that intertwines these two is very entertaining, funny and may cause you to belt out the tunes that go with each scene!

After reading Wicked, you will want more. Luckily for you, Gregory Maguire continued on for more books in the Wicked Years. The second title Son of a Witch came out in 2005. A Lion Among Men came out in 2008. The final book in the Wicked Years, Out of Oz, came out on Tuesday.
This beautiful book was just unpacked and we have them ready for you to buy. The best news is….we have signed first editions of Out of Oz.

Come see us and start on the Wicked journey! -Quinn

Reading The Scarlet Letter, The Handmaid’s Tale & When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

By Former Lemurians

On November 2, 2011

In Fiction

Reading Hillary Jordan’s new masterpiece When She Woke is much like reading Hawthorne’s classic The Scarlet Letter at the same time as The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood…..a great mixture, huh?

When I read Jordan’s first novel Mudbound in 2008, I was mesmerized by her description of the Mississippi Delta during the horrible sharecropping years. She is really, really good with setting and creates specific images which remain in your mind for years to come. I can even remember scenes from Mudbound and how I felt while experiencing the anguish of the character, particularly the female protagonist.

In fact, as I write this, I am thinking about the similarities between the female protagonist in Mudbound compared to the female protagonist in the new When She Woke. The same comparison I would make between the female character in A Handmaid’s Tale with the female protagonist in When She Woke.

Set in some futurist society, probably the mid 21st century (yes, this novel is a dystopia), When She Woke follows the life of Hannah who has had an affair with a super fundamentalist preacher named Reverend Dale, who, of course, is not what his followers think he is: perfect in morals and aspirations and examples of the Godly life. Since I have already compared this novel to A Scarlet Letter, one can already surmise that Hannah is impregnated by Reverend Dale, so she is forced to have an abortion, a HUGE “no-no” in this dystopic world, which in this way, may not be too far ahead in our early years of the 2000s.

Because the prisons have been hugely overcrowded, the current government has decided to “mark” or “color” people for their crimes against society, in order to clear the prison. So, being “red” means a woman had an unlawful abortion in some back room, or being “yellow” means a man committed rape. Hence, all colors of humanity walk the streets of any given city, marking these sinners as wayward, or evil, or despicable, and to be avoided. To say this novel is a comment upon prejudice or inequality or bias is an understatement!

Hannah does not tell anyone, including the father of her baby, Reverend Dale, that she is pregnant. She arranges her own abortion, and when spied upon and caught by spies for the government and indeed sent to prison, she refuses to incriminate, not only the father, partially because her parents and sister worship him, as well as everyone she knows in her Quaker like previous existence, but also the abortionist. Once she serves her time in prison and her skin is infused with “red”, she is released.

Hannah’s new life begins in a dogmatic boarding house where she is forced to make her own “baby doll” representing her lost baby, name it, and care for it as if it were alive. Shivers and repulsion and sympathy, and a myriad of emotions flood the reader at this point! One can see Hillary Jordan’s talent here at its best, in my opinion.

As the reader follows Hannah’s flee from this horrific cult like religious boarding house, through her numerous skirmishes through the underground network of her rescuers, some to be trusted, some not, the reader altruistically experiences the hopes, disappointments, fear, and repulsion of Hannah.

I am not going to tell whether Hannah survives or not, for the reader needs to experience this novel first hand. To say that most of us here at Lemuria, who read this enticing novel, could not “put it down” is another understatement. It is fast paced and mesmerizing. When She Woke will probably be chosen as one of the best novels of the year. I know it is one of mine!

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan (Workman, October 2011)

-Nan

Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War

By Lemuria

On November 1, 2011

In History, Southern History

Richard Dortch, an avid reader of Tony Horwitz, contributes this review of his latest book, Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War.

The Civil War didn’t start with the firing on Fort Sumter, said the great African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass. It started with John Brown’s 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry.

In a feat that was at once brave and reckless, brilliant and stupid, a scheme of inspired lunacy – John Brown and a band of 21 dedicated abolitionist fighters managed to capture and occupy a U.S. government arsenal containing a stockpile of over 100,000 rifles. It wasn’t Brown’s capture of these weapons that triggered the Civil War, but what he intended to do with them: distribute them to slaves in northern Virginia so they could rise up, kill their masters and assert their God-given rights of freedom and liberty.

The moral confusion of a nation dedicated to the principles of freedom, yet acquiescent to the institution of slavery, would be reduced in John Brown’s hand from shades of gray to the clarity of day and night.

The raid on Harpers Ferry exposed the precarious position of the few who enslave the many, triggering panic and unfounded rumors of slave revolts across the South. Southern politicians responded with harsh and abusive new slave laws, bellicose anti-U.S. rhetoric, and ultimately, a fateful decision to secede from the Union. Within two years of Harpers Ferry the United States would be convulsed in its bloodiest and deadliest war ever.*

In Midnight Rising, author Tony Horwitz has chosen this epic break-point in American history to explore a poorly-understood phase of our nation’s adolescence and paint a clear picture of one of history’s most obscure and controversial anti-heroes: John Brown, a sober and deeply religious old-line Calvinist whose hatred of slavery grew to consume his life and ultimately destroy it.

Horwitz preps his reader with the saga of Bleeding Kansas: the violence that erupted over whether Kansas would become a slave or free state, and where John Brown cut his teeth as a militant abolitionist. Pauses in the action are filled with rich biographies of Brown, his band of raiders, the women who supported them and the Secret Six: a cadre of wealthy Northern abolitionists who helped finance Brown’s covert operations.

Armory Guard House and Fire Engine circa 1862

The book hits its crescendo with the raid at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, which Horowitz renders with an unflinching and emotionally devastating blow-by-blow of the 32 hours John Brown and his men controlled the U.S. arsenal. The imagery is stark, the violence vivid; the raiders picked off one-by-one until only a handful remain to make a futile last stand against U.S. troops led by Col. Robert E. Lee (yes, that Robert E. Lee). Horwitz delivers a history lesson that reads like an action film – marking him as a true modern genius in the art of turning ‘boring-old’ history into page-turning literature.

There is one element common to Horwitz’s other books that readers will not find in this one: a great deal of lighthearted humor. In Midnight Rising Horwitz relinquishes his congenial first-person perspective to deliver a straightforward and sobering historical narrative. Those looking for a laugh-out-loud road trip spiked with hilarious characters, vis-à-vis Confederates in the Attic, will not find it in Midnight Rising. John Brown was called many things by the people of his time. Funny wasn’t one of them.

————————-

* It merits mention for Lemuria readers that among John Brown’s personal items were found maps derived from 1850 U.S. Census data showing counties in the South where the slave population outnumbered whites. Among these were Hinds, Rankin and Madison counties in central Mississippi – all of which contained more enslaved people than free people at the dawn of the Civil War.

-Written by Richard Dortch

Jack Cristil: Voice of the MSU Bulldogs

By admin

On October 31, 2011

In Newsworthy

“All good things, as they say in the trade, must come to an end sooner or later. Please accept my genuine, my honest and heartfelt thank you for the kindness that you have displayed to me during my 58 years. It has been one genuine pleasure to be associated with such a magnificent university.”

– Jack Cristil, Feb. 23, 2011

Voice of the MSU Bulldogs is signed by the author Sid Salter and Jack Cristil.

To reserve a copy of Voice of the MSU Bulldogs for IN-STORE PICK-UP or for UPS delivery, please call the store at 601.366.7619.

You may also place an order for UPS delivery on our website by clicking here.

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to give us a call!

The Reading Promise

By Former Lemurians

On October 31, 2011

In Biography/Memoir, Oz: Children's Books

If nothing else, I was drawn to this cover. All those books? And the title? The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared. Perhaps I love the thought because my father and I are on the same path of reading. Generally, we read the same type of books. It is fun to read and pass on or get a recommendation from him.

I read a review of this book somewhere when it first was published in May. I read only a portion of it and knew I had to add it to my list. A few days later I was in need of a read, so I jumped into the lives of Alice Ozma and her father.

Young Alice and her father, a hard working school librarian, both love books. He is a single father who works hard and strives to be both a mother and father in Alice’s life. He succeeds. As a school librarian, his love for books carries over from school straight into his home. He and Alice start out with a promise. A reading promise. They set out to read 100 nights in a row. Once that 100^th night passes, they enjoy it so that they decide to continue on.

For eight years they do not miss a night. Eight years later, Alice’s father helps her settle in college as a freshman. Before he leaves her, they sit for one final read. They sit together on a stairway in a hallway-away from any interruptions. It is here that “The Streak” ends.

Alice and her father read a great variety of books. They cover several time periods, genres and authors. In the back of the book, The Reading Streak book list is also given. It is quite extensive but here is a sample list.

Wish You Well by David Baldacci

L. Frank Baum

Judy Blume

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days by Stephen Manes

Select short stories and poems by Edgar Allan Poe

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

Christmas is already on my mind. I know that my father will be receiving this book along with a book I know he will love. Not a bad gift. Come by and see us; we would love to help pick the perfect book from Alice and her father’s reading list to pair with The Reading Promise. -Quinn

A Taste of the Tupelo Honey Cafe in Asheville Comes to Lemuria

By admin

On October 29, 2011

In Cooking

Join us Sunday afternoon at 3:00 for a signing & tasting with Elizabeth Sims of the Tupelo Honey Cafe in Asheville. The cookbook is beautiful! We cannot wait to taste some of the food.

For more info, Click Here.

The Buddha in the Attic

By Former Lemurians

On October 29, 2011

In Fiction

In 2002 a little green book was published and just about all of the staff went crazy for it. If you were shopping with us at that time I’m sure that you will remember it because no one left the store without it in their bag. When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka tells the story of one Japanese American family who are forced to leave Berkley, CA and are placed in a Utah internment camp for the duration of the war.

Well, guess what? Julie Otsuka has a new little book, The Buddha in the Attic. I started reading it over the weekend and I am just as in love with this one as the other. One could almost call this a prequel because of the timing and subject matter. Otsuka tells us the story of a group of ‘picture brides,’ who were brought to the United States to begin a new life with new husbands they have never met, and to escape their lives in Japan.

We follow them as a whole group for the next 20 years, from their journey, their arrival in San Francisco, their first night with their husbands, their new lives which consist of back breaking work in the fields and scrubbing floors for white women, to their struggles learning a new language and culture, their child birth experiences and motherhood, to the beginning of WWII and imminent internment.

We cooked for them. We cleaned for them. We helped them chop wood. But it was not we who were cooking and cleaning and chopping, it was somebody else. And often our husbands did not even notice we’d disappeared.

Reading this is like listening to a ‘chorus’ of women telling their stories as one. I really thought that I would be bothered reading a book that really doesn’t have a plot or even a narrative but I soon realized how strong and powerful this book is.

I will be readily recommending The Buddha in the Attic to all my customers especially book clubs because I believe that so many people will be able to empathize with these women’s plight and how they deal with their situations.

Talking about Running and Murakami

By Former Lemurians

On October 28, 2011

In Staff Blog

Until this summer, I would never have considered myself a runner. In fact, my description for people who ran on a regular basis was “crazies.” And now I am one of those crazies. I am a crazy person who puts on running gear and runs several miles and feels absolutely wonderful afterwards. I’m not going to use the silly cliche about getting high on adrenaline or oxygen or life (I have to give myself a little more credit than that) but the feeling that I encounter after pushing myself for a few miles on a run through my neighborhood is harder to describe than I initially would have imagined. Luckily, I have Haruki Murakami to help me out on this one:

“As I run I tell myself to think of a river. And clouds. But essentially I’m not thinking of a thing. All I do is keep on running in my own cozy, homemade void, my own nostalgic silence. And this is a pretty wonderful thing. No matter what anybody else says.” –What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

This is exactly why I am now a runner. I love losing myself to the physical aspect of putting one foot in front of the other and just going. After making some relatively big life decisions this summer – which included making the move from Nashville down to Jackson without having a job lined up or any sort of actual plan for that matter (insert thanks to my Lemuria family for taking me in!) – I found running to be the perfect distraction. At first, half a mile was overwhelming, but I have eventually worked my way up to around 5 miles and am pretty proud of it! I am even planning, perhaps a little too ambitiously, to run the Mardi Gras half marathon down in New Orleans at the beginning of March 2012. Whoa.

A couple of weeks ago I picked up What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Murakami’s memoir about running, writing and how he intertwines the two in his life. (We’ve recently had some Murakami fever at the store due to the fact that his latest novel, 1Q84, hit the shelves this past week.) Not having read any of Murakami’s work, fiction or non-fiction, I didn’t really know where to begin, so I started with his memoir on running. If nothing else, I hoped it could give me some inspiration. Thus far, I have not been disappointed.

Reading Murakami’s thoughts on running, writing and life in general has been similar to having a really wonderful one-sided conversation-0ne of those conversations where you can’t get a word in edgewise, but you really don’t mind because what the other person has to say is so interesting that you want to keep listening. Even a person who is not into running would enjoy reading Murakami’s memoir, and I cannot wait to get into his fiction, which is highly recommended by several Lemurians. (And to any readers who feel they are up for the half marathon in March, see you in NOLA my friends!)

Click here to see all of Haruki Murakmai’s books.

Click here to see other blog posts on Murakami.

by Anna

Page 146 of 257

Raveena reviews Die for Me

Murakami Love: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

The Wicked Years by Gregory Maguire

Reading The Scarlet Letter, The Handmaid’s Tale & When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War

Jack Cristil: Voice of the MSU Bulldogs

The Reading Promise

A Taste of the Tupelo Honey Cafe in Asheville Comes to Lemuria

The Buddha in the Attic

Talking about Running and Murakami

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