| Archive | February

Book Giveaway – I’jaam an iraqi rhapsody by Sinan Antoon

29. February 2008 · 82 comments · Categories: Book Review and Giveaway, Goldfish Award Books, Iraqi Literature · Tags: goldfish award, i'jaam, Iraqi Literature, sinan antoon

A handful of times in my life I have finished a book and turned it over to start again. Sometimes I want to carry the book around with me even after I’ve closed the pages, just to look at the cover and remember. I finished reading I’jaam – An Iraqi Rhapsody by Sinan Antoon three days ago, and I keep going back to pick it up and read.

In this fictional memoir, a forgotten manuscript is found in a filing cabinet of an Iraqi prison. Someone must read through it and determine what should be done with it. The entire book is that manuscript, which was written by a poet jailed during Sadaam’s regime. The mixture of beauty and pain throughout reminds me of Elie Wiesel’s Night, a deeply moving story of a Nazi concentration camp victim.

Weighty in substance but not difficult to read, I’jaam deserves to go down in history as an account of what happened in the Iraq of Sadaam’s terror. This book is not political. It is deeply human, and no matter what your race, religion, or ethnicity, you will walking away with more understanding and compassion. The book’s 97 pages allows the reader to finish in a few submersed hours which gives it more of an impact.

Sinan Antoon was born in Baghdad and now lives in New York where he teaches Arabic literature and culture at NYU. He’s also a poet, a novelist, and a filmmaker, having co-directed and produced a documentary called About Baghdad.

Win Your Own Copy: If you want to experience I’jaam too, I am fortunate enough to have a copy to give away. Leave a comment here telling me what intrigues you about the book. For another entry, post a link on your blog to this giveaway. If you are subscribed to carp(e) libris reviews, you are already entered to win this and all other book giveaways here, but feel free to comment and link for extra entries as well. The winner will be chosen at random on Sunday March 2, 2008, at 12:00pm.

Buy I’Jaam here and support carp(e) libris and your local bookseller.

Published by City Lights Books.

carp(e) libris goldfish award book

The Budding Tree by Aiko Kitahara

26. February 2008 · 3 comments · Categories: Book Reviews · Tags: Dalkey Archive Press, Japanese Literature

Teacher, calligrapher, restaurant owner. These were all common jobs during Japan’s Edo period. If you were a man. But what if you were a woman who had to support herself? What if you were one of the best and willing to stay the best, despite the prejudices against you?

The Budding Tree – Six Stories of Love in Edo, by Aiko Kitahara, contains stories of such women. Each story features a talented woman full of the desire to succeed in a male-dominated profession during a time in Japan’s history when even the most successful fought to stay afloat through economic hardships. Not only did these women have to work against the current to prove themselves professionally, but they also often dealt with the heartbreak of being seen as unfit for marriage, good only as mistresses and lovers.

The Budding Tree is an evocative collection of stories written in a style that reminds me of The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, an ancient Japanese manuscript. (Considered by many scholars to be the first written novel in the world, it was written by a woman.) Even though The Budding Tree is set in a different time period several hundred years later, the feel was there that I remember from Genji. The voice is simple and elegant, painting one single picture from six distinct stories, as Genji has numerous story lines forming one overall picture. It is no wonder Kitahara won the Naoki Prize for this collection in 1993 when it was first published in the original Japanese.

Buy The Budding Tree here and support carp(e) libris and your local bookseller!

Published by Dalkey Archive Press.

Essential Elements Book Winner!

26. February 2008 · Comments Off · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: giveaway winner

Congratulations go out to Bob the Magician, who has not pulled a rabbit out of his hat, but a book. He won the book Essential Elements featuring the artwork of Andrew Stevovich! Bob, you’ll be receiving the book soon. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. Come back anytime and share your impressions after you’ve had an opportunity to look it over.

We’ll be having another book giveaway in a couple of days.

Thanks for reading!

Glass Voices by Carol Bruneau – Book Review and Giveaway

25. February 2008 · 58 comments · Categories: Book Review and Giveaway · Tags: cormorant press, Fiction, Giveaways, reviews

Lucy and Harry haven’t always been the placid elderly couple everyone thought they saw. 50 years had passed since they were the victims of the Halifax Explosion, a horrific accident that occurred in 1917 off the coast of Nova Scotia in the Halifax Harbour. That tragic day, two ships collided which ignited massive amounts of explosives. Their marriage bent under the weight of mourning and loss. Sometimes their relationship showed the wounds in obvious ways, other times more subtle undercurrents pulled them under.

We’ve all made the mistake – looked upon an elderly person as though they’ve never been anything else, never been younger, never lived 1,000 lives before they got to be old. GLASS VOICES shatters all of these preconceived ideas. It’s 1969 and Lucy, now in her 70′s, is afraid of losing her husband. He’s had a stroke and she doesn’t know if he’ll live or die, and if he lives if their life will ever be the same.

GLASS VOICES flows back and forth between past and present, building two intertwining story lines. As Lucy tries to deal with her life upending once again, she flashes back to how her difficult marriage has molded her into the person she has become.

Bruneau’s novel is a moving story placed in a tragic historical event that I found fascinating to read about. It was easy to keep turning the pages, wanting to witness and understand just what the Halifax Explosion was and how it affected the lives of so many. I couldn’t help but draw parallels between it and 9/11 due to the totally unexpected devastation that killed about 2,000 people. To me, Glass Voices reads like a book begging to be a movie.

Carol Bruneau is a Canadian author currently living in Nova Scotia. She has five other novels to her credit and has won both the Thomas Head Raddall Award and the Dartmouth Book Award for fiction. Glass Voices is published by Cormorant Books.

There are three ways to enter to win a copy of Glass Voices: 1.) Leave a comment here telling me what intrigues you about the book. 2.) Subscribe to carp(e) libris reviews to be entered to win this or any other book given away here. 3.) Blog about this giveaway with a link back to it. Do all three, and you have three chances to win!

The winner will be drawn with Random.org on Thursday, February 28th, 2008, at 12noon EST.

Essential Elements – Andrew Stevovich Artbook Giveaway

20. February 2008 · 13 comments · Categories: Art Books, Book Review and Giveaway

What a perfect way to kick off the new location of carp(e) libris – by adding an artistic facet to the blog. I am including art books for reviews and giveaways here now, and Essential Elements is a beautiful beginning to our new chapter.

Essential El ements showcases the work of Andrew Stevovich, an Austrian-born artist whose work focuses on people – people in subways, coffee houses, diners. The colors are clean and bright, full of round faces and almond-shaped eyes. Each work gives the viewer a glimpse into a scene of everyday life, sometimes public, sometimes private. At first glimpse you may feel you’ve seen all the artist intended, but on further study, you find clues and the mind creates its own story. In fact, the writerly mind will find page after page of guaranteed inspiration.

What captivates me in Stevovich’s Essential Elements is a mixture of 1930′s flavor and the modern world. A women might be dressed as though she resides in pre-World War II, while there may be a cell phone or a laptop in front of her. Deciding when she happens is for the viewer to choose.

I’ve been drawn into this book since it entered my house; the smooth lines, the deliciously rich colors, the snippets of life that make me want to eavesdrop. Stevovich’s work has been inspired by dreams, early Italian Renaissance, or a sudden flash – all of these are elements that invite the viewer to interpret what they will.

And now I invite you to win a copy of this exquisite book. To enter, leave a comment here telling me what you like about the work below, entitled Woman with Fish Bowl, (which seems the obvious choice for this blog). For a second chance to win, link to this giveaway on your site and let me know in the comments or by email (themommyspot(at)gmail(dot)com). As always, subscribers to carp(e) libris are automatically entered into this and all book giveaways.

I will draw a winner on Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 12:00 noon EST.

Welcome to the New carp(e) libris!

19. February 2008 · 1 comment · Categories: Uncategorized

Hello and welcome to the new location of carp(e) libris! The move to its own domain is going to give this blog more breathing room, more opportunity to expand into what I have planned for it, and for what I haven’t even thought of yet.

If you’ve been a subscriber to carp(e) libris at Blogger, please take a moment to subscribe here in the right hand column. I’ve got a shelf full of books for review with numerous giveaways, and if you continue your subscription here, you won’t be left out of a single drawing. Yes, subscribers to the new site will be eligible for every giveaway, just as before! And if you’ve linked to carp(e) libris in your blog roll, please redirect that link here. The old site will remain, but it will not get any new posts. Those will all be right here.

In honor of the site’s move, I have a nice lineup of several giveaways starting in the next day or two. Check back often, and help me spread the word about carp(e) libris. The bigger it gets, the easier it will be to promote all the wonderful books published by the indies!

Thanks for reading!

A Book Giveaway and a Great Link

18. February 2008 · 3 comments · Categories: Book Giveaway, Interesting Links

Just a quick announcement – if you hurry, there’s still time to sign up for a book giveaway on my other blog, dkMommy Spot. It’s for a book of essays called At Work in Life’s Garden, so go check it out!

Also, I was made aware of an article written by Laila Halaby (Once in a Promised Land) called Dare I Ask, which discusses questions often asked of Arab and Muslim Americans, and what is and isn’t appropriate. It’s a great article with a YouTube video that fits well with her article, so go check it out!

Walking in Two Worlds by Nancy M. Peterson

15. February 2008 · 2 comments · Categories: Book Reviews

When I was young, there was a series of biographies I loved reading. Our teacher gave me extra credit for each one I read, and I thought I was really pulling one over on her because I was reading them purely for the entertainment value. I guess in the end, my teacher knew what she was doing – I was learning.

Walking in Two Worlds (Mixed-Blood Indian Women Seeking Their Path) gave me that same feeling all over again. A series of biographical stories, Peterson’s book covers the lives of several mixed-blood Native American women. Each biography is compelling and inspiring, and full of descriptions of Native American life around the turn of the 20th century. This was a time in history when Native Americans were quickly losing their land, their freedom, and their identity. These women, born into a life torn between their two heritages, became the perfect fighters for what was being lost in tribal life.

Peterson’s writing style is clear and easy to read, giving you the desire to learn even more of these courageous women and the struggle of their peoples. Walking in Two Worlds is a good book to read if you need a push to follow your dreams in the midst of opposition.

Published by Caxton Press.

Locke 1928 by Shawna Yang Ryan

11. February 2008 · 1 comment · Categories: Asian American Literature, Book Reviews, Goldfish Award Books

Sometimes a book draws you in like a lucid dream. You smell, hear, touch; you see everything before your eyes but printed words on a page. This was the journey I took in Locke 1928, guided by the masterful storytelling of Shawna Yang Ryan. The pages are filled with Chinese folklore, moving flashbacks, and a vivid attention to detail. The narrow streets lined with Old West-style wooden buildings harbor lost souls, broken dreams, and the possibility of ghosts. When three Chinese women float to shore on a dilapidated boat after having been adrift at sea for over a month, the men of the town line up to woo them. The madame of the local brothel begins having visions she takes as a warning. The pastor’s wife, the only “whitewoman” in town who isn’t a prostitute, takes two of the women under her wing, and it could be a big mistake.

Locke 1928 reveals a real town in the Sacramento Delta very few Americans have heard of. The first town in America built by the Chinese for the Chinese, the city of Locke still exists today, and looks much the same as when it was first built in 1915. I was fascinated by the pictures on the city’s website because Locke looks just as Ryan portrayed it in her writing. In fact, Ryan’s seven years of obvious hard work on this book gives it such realism it feels as if she walked in the shoes of each and every character herself.

Locke 1928 is breathtakingly haunting. I’ve ingested the characters and will carry them with me, and for this reason, I am giving Ryan’s first novel the carp(e) libris Goldfish Award. A completely moving work worth reading, without a doubt. If you have a to-be-read list, this one must be placed at the top.

Published by El Leon Literary Arts.

Once in a Promised Land by Laila Halaby

07. February 2008 · 2 comments · Categories: Book Reviews, Muslim American Literature · Tags: laila halaby, Muslim American Literature

Once in a Promised Land by Laila Halaby is the tragic story of a Jordanian couple in the U.S., struggling with secrets that drive wedges between them. Set in the shadow of 9/11, this novel tells of two people caught in their knot of lies while getting tied up ever tighter in the misconceptions of others.

Once in a Promised Land is not a suspense or thriller, yet the reader will not be able to keep from reading faster, wanting to get up and yell warnings to the book’s protagonists. The married couple of Jassim and Salwah become real people, with whom you wish you could be friends. I myself wanted so badly to give them my advice, and when I wasn’t reading, I found myself wondering if they were able to undo the mess their lives had become.

Hallaby has a way of crafting sentences that gracefully dip into the spirit of an ancient Arab folktale. For a moment, you get a hint of where Salwah and Jassim are from before the writing style shifts back to contemporary America. It gives the reader a real sense of who these two people are and how they’re caught between two worlds. With page-turner events and a strong cast of characters, Once in a Promised Land is a book you can definitely sink into.

Published by Beacon Press.