Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Canadian Book Challenge - Manitoba

Manitoba is the province I called home for six years and still have very fond memories of the place. This is one province I would be willing to move back to again sometime. Manitoba is the place where Louis Riel was transported to and buried after he was hung in Saskatchewan. While on the topic of this controversial figure you can see his first coffin (the one used to transport him), and his grave site. If you're looking for something a little more up lifting you can visit his home just outside of Winnipeg.

If you'd like more about Mennonite history you can visit any part of Southern Manitoba and see various Mennonites or just go the Steinbach for the Mennonite Heritage Village Museum. Or visit Friesens, one of the publishers of one of the Harry Potter books (only printer of that book in Canada). But I digress, on with the main event.

*** WARNING - spoiler alter ***


    Though my selection this time around is for Manitoba the book took me closer to my actual location (Seoul, Republic of Korea) Vietnam. David Bergen (my second of two Mennonite authors) won the Giller Prize for this book. And that book is of course The Time In Between.



    The Time In Between is the story of a brother and sister (Jon and Ada) in search of their missing father Charles Boatman. Charles first made the trip to Vietnam during the war. Bergen goes about telling the story in an interesting way. He talks about the siblings quest to find out what happened to their father and the suspicions they about his disappearance. Then all of a sudden the story shifts. We experience the final few moments of Charles Boatman's life, from his perspective. It did take me a while to figure out what was happening the change happened so flawlessly.

    I enjoyed the book but it was far from one of my favorites. There were times when I felt to story drag and I pushed through it just to get it finished. The subject matter was of little interest, which made it hard to read at times as well. But the way Bergen dealt with depression in the book was good, I could relate to that part quite well.

    As for the characters I found Ada quite interesting and wanted more from here, even thought we get her through most of the book. Jon was of no interested and I'm not really sure why he was even present, he popped up every once in a while just to make a presence. He could have stayed on the mountain in British Columbia with their other sister. Charles Boatman was of some interest. He seemed like a nice guy and through most of the first half of the book I was wishing he wasn't dead, but the book wouldn't have worked as well as it did if he was alive at the end.

    The Time In Between is an okay book but I'm not as thrilled with it as I was Peace Shall Destroy Many by Rudy Wiebe. If you had to pick between the two go for Wiebe's book.
Posted by Aaron Kropf at 00:03:32 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Non-Fiction Five Challenge



    I've taken some time to think about the books I want to read for this challenge.  There are so many out there it was difficult to decide on just five.  I have selected some books but I'm leaving the fifth choice open right now, I'm sure what I want to read.  Until I've made my decision I'll leave it open and post another time my final choice.

    So, here are my selections for the Non-Fiction Five Challenge, running from May to September;

1. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
2. Dude, Where's My Country? by Michael Moore
3. Maus I and II by Art Spiegelman (Graphic Novels which I think need to be read together - from what I hear)
4. Brother One Cell: An American Coming Ace In South Korea's Prisons by Cullen Thomas
5. ???????????????

    There is plenty of time for other still join the challenge.  And with most things the more the merrier so head over to Thoughts of Joy... and join the challenge.
Posted by Aaron Kropf at 16:31:26 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Orbis Terrarum Challenge



So, I explained the Orbis Terrarum Challenge in my last post so I'm not going to do it again here, rather I'm just going to post my list. I'm very excited about this challenge and have compiled my list, rather than babbling on and on I'll just give the list and let the books speak for themselves.

1. The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers
            Country ~ Germany
2. The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez
            Country ~ Argentina
3. Blindness by Jose Saramago
            Country ~ Paruguay
4. Folk Tales from Korea by In-Sob Zong
            Country ~ South Korea
5. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
            Country ~ Italy
6. The Unberable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
            Country ~ Czecholovakia
7. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
            Country ~ Great Brittain
8. A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
            Country ~ Japan
9. The Black Notebook by Michel Tremblay
            Country ~ Canada

I think this will be a fantastic voyage around the work via books.
Posted by Aaron Kropf at 18:03:41 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

More Challenges

While skulking about on the internet, reading some of the blogs of fellow bibliophiles, I came across a couple of book challenges.  This is very exciting; they should help me reach my goal of 100 books for the year.  They are vastly different challenges and both are of great interest.  Without rambling too much here are the challenges.  I'll be posting my lists in the near future, perhaps later on today.  So, here we go on two new book related journeys.

1. Non-Fiction Five Challenge 2008


Joy is hosting this challenge over at Thoghts of Joy....  It's a short and simple challenge; the rules are as follows;
    a) Read five non-fiction books between the months of May through September.
    b) Read at least one non-fiction book that is different from your other choices.
With wanting to read more works of non-fiction I thought this is a good way to go about do it.  I have some idea of what I want to read for this challenge but I have quite a few options.  And I'm one of those that post a list and commits to it, so until I'm sure I'll leave the list posting.


2. Orbis Terrarum Challenge



This is another simple challenge, slightly longer than the Non-Fiction Five Challenge but one I think I may be looking forward to with greater zeal.  The rules for Orbis Terrarum Challenge:
    a) Runs from April 1 through December 20, 2008.
    b) Readers choose nine books, one book for each month of the challenge.
    c) Each book must be of an author for a different country.
Easy, nine books over nine months.  I love that this challenge is forcing me to expand my reading.  I've expanding my reading recently to other countries and I find I really enjoy reading Spanish writers.  So, I'll use this opportunity to expand the countries I've read, but I'll be sure to have some countries I've read before.  I have one book from my home country (Canada) that I'm not reading for The Canadian Book Challenge that I really want to read, so it's getting plugged into this list.  I have a better idea of what I'm going to read for this challenge so this list will be posted in the very near future (and it starts soon). 

    These seem like great challenges and I would like to encourage others to join them as well.  So check out the sites and add your name to growing list of readers. 
Posted by Aaron Kropf at 11:55:01 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

Canadian Book Challenge - Saskatchewan



    Okay, it's been a while since I've done a post for The Canadian Book Challenge.  Part of that has been because I waited for a while for my Saskatchewan book to arrive.  It got here and I waited little time to jump into it.  I had to wait for this book because I'm reading cross-country starting with British Columbia and ending in the Yukon Territory.  So, with that said here we go on this journey across this wonderful land we call Canada.

    I left King Ralph country a while ago (as I mentioned earlier) and entered the rectangle province.  I have yet to experience anything of great excitement in this province.  The only point of interest is the cacti, a lot just outside of Swift Current at the Sasktachewan Landing Provincial Park.  I guess you cannot talk about Saskatchewan without mentioning Louis Riel, who was tried for treason in the province for his involvement in the rebellion he helped to lead there.

    Saskatchewan is also the land of the Mennonites, which is the subject of our tour guide for this province.



    I first want to say I loved this book, which may be my Mennonite background speaking and some of my issues with the Mennonite church coming out but there you have it.  Peace Shall Destroy Many (Rudy Wiebe's first novel) caused a huge hubbub in the Mennonite community.  It's interesting to note that not much has changed so it didn't anger them enough to make many changes.  I think I leave that as my rag on the Mennonites because I still consider myself one and they really aren't bad, just easy to find issues with the way the deal with particular issues.

    I didn't read anything by Rudy Wiebe until after I went to Goshen, Indiana at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary for a conference honoring Wiebe.  It was there that I was introduced to great Mennonite writers (this was part of my education at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg MB).  Other great Menno writers include; David Bergen (come up as my Manitoba selection), Paul Hiebert, Sandra Birdsell, and Di Brandt just to name a few.  After my attendance at the the conference, where I met some of the afore mentioned authors, I picked up Wiebe's Sweeter Than All the World which contains many of the same themes as Peace Shall Destroy Many but not nearly as compelling.

    Peace Shall Destroy Many is a year in a Mennonite community in the fictionalized town of Wapiti.  The story pays close attention to Thom Wiens (for those not familiar with the Mennonites of Saskatchewan and Manitoba - they are different than the ones you find as you move East the names you see in the book are typical Mennonite names) a young farmer.  The time is 1944, so in the background you have the Second World War to contend with and thus you have the crux of the novel.  Wiebe brings about the discussion of pacifism during time of war, and issue always at the fore of Anabaptists.

    I'm sure the book would be of greater interest to anyone of Mennonite heritage, like most Mennonite writing (I'm thinking particularly of Miriam Toews' A Complicated Kindness).  There are references to many "Mennoniteisms" that may be lost on some readers but they won't take away from the story.  This was one book, and it hasn't happened much lately, that I couldn't put down.  I couldn't get enough and when it was done I wished Wiebe gave me anther year in Wapiti, perhaps something he could consider for his next work. 

    This is one book that deserves to be on a list of great Canadian literature, and he's not as well known as others.  Read Wiebe before you read anything by Margaret Atwood, his work is better and he stands in her shadow (they are after all good friends - found that out at the conference).  Wiebe is more uplifting but has a hint of Atwood's bleakness. 

    To this point Peace Shall Destroy Many is the best book I've read for the challenge, maybe even best book of the year (the jury is still out on that one).  If you read any Wiebe read his first, it's wonderful and a great introduction to life of small prairie communities.  The book reminded me of my three years in Winkler Manitoba, a Mennonite city reminiscent of Wapiti. 

    On to Manitoba hitting the good old Trans-Canada Highway onto Winnipeg, a city near and dear to my heart.
Posted by Aaron Kropf at 00:15:55 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Friday, March 28, 2008

Booking Through Thursday #4



    Well, it's been a while since I've had internet at my new apartment in Seoul. As a result I haven't been able to keep up with my blogging. Meaning I have a lot of catching up to do in the next little bit. What better place to start than with Booking Through Thrusday? Rather than leaving it much longer (I'm already late) here is my entry for this week.

While acknowledging that we can't judge books by their covers, how much does the design of a book affect your reading enjoyment? Hardcover vs. softcover? Trade paperback vs. mass market paperback? Font? Illustrations? Etc.?

Thanks for the question Julie (of i like shiny things). There is so much anyone could say about this but the first comment I want to make is you cannot judge a book by its cover? Hmmm, perhaps I should stop doing that. But I will be the first to admit that a cover does affect my judgment, it's the first obstacal a book must make on shelf. If it doesn't catch my attention it is doomed to lead a life collecting dust. The only exception to this is of course if I've heard about the book and I'm purposely hunting for it.

There are many aspects of the book that make it more enjoyable to read. The first being soft cover, they make handling a book much easier. On the other side of the coin, I prefer the presence of hardcover books on my shelf. Thereby causing a dilemma when it comes to purchasing the book.

    The second aspect that really gets me is the smell of the book. Now all books smell good, the sound of the book opening for the first time may be the only thing that surpasses smell in book enjoyment. I'm not suggesting that it's the smell of a new book by any means; sometimes the oldies have a better smell. I really enjoy coming home from What the Book? (the title of this blog is an homage to this book palace in Seoul) and getting a good whiff of one of the used books I've come home with. It makes me wonder about the person who previously owned the book, a book with history.

Trade paperback is a must. I'm currently reading a mass-produced copy of Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore and it keeps getting relegated to later reading. It's not a challenging read or is void of interest it's just that the margins are terrible and the print is too small to make reading enjoyable. Unfortunately it cannot be left much longer as it needs to be finished for book club next weekend. So, that leads to font. This isn't usually something I pay much attention to, size is more important than anything else. If the print is too small it makes reading a chore at times. But after reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close I've found enjoyment in playing with the font, Douglas Coupland also did this in jPod.

    I see this is already becoming very long and so I'll just say an illustration once in a while can definitely enhance the telling of a tale. Until next Thursday (which should be completed on Thursday), good reading.
Posted by Aaron Kropf at 19:38:06 | Permanent Link | Comments (3) |

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Booking Through Thursday #3



    I guess it's better late than never.  I don't have internet at my place these days, after just moving into Seoul.  So, the opportunity to blog is diminished greatly.  Hopefully I'll get internet this week and can therefore do a better job of blogging again.
So, without further ado here is this week's booking through Thursday.

You've just reached the end of a book ... what do you do now?  Savor and muse over the book?  Dive right into the next one?  Go take the dog for a walk, the kids to the park, before even thinking about the next book you're going to read?  What?

(Obviously, there can be more than one answer, here-a book with a cliff-hanger is going to engender different reactions than a serene, stand-alone, but you get the idea!)

    I guess this is an easy question to answer because I tend to do the same thing when I end a book.  Actually, the process starts before the book is even finished.  By the time I'm half way through my novel I tend to have the next book chosen and cannot wait to start it.  Once my current book is finished I reached for the new one and get started. 

    There are times I give some pause before I start the next one.  This usually happens when I have the book to been emotional.  It doesn't happen because there is a cliff-hanger or part of a series.  The last couple of books that made me pause before starting the next one were We Need to Talk About Kevin and What is the What.  These two books were emotionally draining and I need some time for reflection.

    Right now I'm almost finished Peace Shall Destroy Many by Rudy Weibe and the next book in store is The Time In Between by David Bergen (both works by Mennonites and both for The Canadian Book Challenge). I guess I find I have too many books I want to read and don't have the time to wait before I start the next one.
Posted by Aaron Kropf at 13:39:11 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Great Beginning

There is no way to know the full potential of everyone the Nazi's exterminated in the Second World War.  Until this point the only book I really know of, for certain, that was written during the was Anne Frank The Diary of a Young Girl.  But now Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise can be added the rank. 

    I must admit that I approached this book with great trepidation, and even more after reading the translator's note at the beginning of the book.  This came about for a couple of reasons; first, the book is incomplete, and second, some alterations were made to the text.  After getting into the book my feelings soon changed and now I'm here to sing the praises of Suite Francaise.

    The tilt of the book is significant in that Nemirovsky was planning on writing a booking following the musical concept of a suite.  Meaning a work of music comprised of five parts.  Suite Francaise has two parts, but ideas for what may comprise the next three movements.  The world has some idea of what may happen if Nemerovsky was able to finish this work.  This was not to be because her death at the hands of the Nazi regime.  Suite Francaise was going to follow the war from the infiltration of Paris until the completion of the conflict.

    Books one and two (Storm in June and Dolce) deal with a few wealthy families fleeing the Paris invasion.  There were a few points that I thought were interesting and puzzling.  The one most perplexing item was how many of the wealthy people of had made preparations for their flight from the French capital but stayed until the Nazi's were on their doorstep.  It just never made any sense to me why someone would wait until escape was practically impossible. 

    Given the subject matter I was glad to see that there were moments of humor.  When dealing with the subject of World War II humor isn't usually something you would expect.  But Nemirovsky deals with it in a tasteful way.  Even while laughing I couldn't help notice that it was also touching.  It's great that this was accomplished in a first draft.  For a first draft this is a wonderful work of art.

    Reading the first two parts of Suite Francaise made me want to read more.  I was very pleased to find that notes for the next three parts of the novel were placed as the first appendix.  It has me craving more by Irene Nemirovsky, I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for Fire in the Blood.  Suite Francaise ended up being another great selection that was read for Bookleaves.  Our next book is Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami, which has been great so far.
Posted by Aaron Kropf at 22:22:14 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

Monday, March 17, 2008

Travels Across Northern Africa


    This months Bookin' Around selection is What is the What by Dave Eggers.  This is a fascinating book for a number of reasons; first, the subject matter, secondly, it's classification, and thirdly, because it's a collaboration (of sorts).  I know I won't be able to say everything I'd like to about this book because there is so much one could say about it.  With that being said I'll give you some of my impressions of the book.

    Dave Eggers was asked to write about the life of Valentino Achak Deng, one of Sudan's Lost Boys.  I don't think I don't have to talk about the issues in Sudan.  As a side note I was talking with a Doctor from Sudan while waiting for a bus heading back to Daejeon.  He asked if I know anything about Sudan and I had mentioned how I knew about it, specifically the issues in the Darfur region.  His response was somewhat shocking, and that's putting it mildly.  The good Doctor told me, "Darfur isn't really that bad".  Needless to say it took everything I had in me to prevent my mouth from hitting the ground.  I guess I'll have to chalk it up to the things you hear in Korea.

    The trials that Valentino Deng faced during his time traveling across Sudan for Ethiopia only to have to travel across once more for the safety of Kenya.  The close encounters with the wild life, particularly the lion that consumed one of the boys in his party, make you think about the difficulties the Lost Boys harrowed, not only them but any refugee.  Then when you factor in the diseases that infected the Sudanese boys your heart goes out to these boys (now men).  This is just the story of one man, What is the What made me wonder about the other stories out there that we don't hear about.

    Deng had many advantages that some of the others while at the two refugee camps he, and the other Sudanese, stayed.  He became a leader of the youth in the camp through and NGO, which happened to be a paid position.  I only wish that some of the difficulties including the stint of blindness he had while traveling.  I don't want to say that he had an easy life, because it hasn't been, but he is one of the lucky few that still has parents that survived the rampages that happened in south Sudan.

    Dave Eggers wrote this book after spending a lot of time talking with Valentino Achak Deng.  So, in a way, it's a collaboration of sorts.  Making it an interesting way to produce a novel, about a persons actually life.  It's a good thing that Deng has connections that allowed him the opportunity to connect with a writer like Eggers, because he didn't think he could write his story on his own.  It is definitely a story that needs to be told and I only wish others had the same opportunity.

      The last point I want to make about his book is that What is the What is being marketed as a novel.  This was a great choice given the issues that have come out surrounding other people and their alleged memoirs.  The most known would the issues surround A Million Little Pieces by James Frey because of the connection with Oprah.  Rather than dealing with the controversies that could come out if it was marketed as memoir Valentino thought it should be sold as a novel because, "It should be known to the readers that I was very young when some of the events in the book took place, and as a result we simply had to pronounce What is the What a novel". 

    Eggers' What is the What is a fantastic novel that should have many readers.  Even if you aren't interested in reading the book you should purchase this novel because the proceeds from the sale of the novel go directly to Valentino's foundation which, "would be used to improve the lives of Sudanese in Sudan and elsewhere," in my humble opinion a worthwhile cause.
Posted by Aaron Kropf at 22:50:56 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Saturday, March 15, 2008

And the Winner is.....


As many of you avid readers of That's the Book! know I've been paying close attention to Canada Reads, which has been over for two weeks now, but they had a year end round-up this past week. They asked for people to submit questions for the winner of this year's author. Paul Quarrington (his book was King Leary) was then going to choose ten questions that he would answer. If your question was picked you would receive a signed copy of King Leary (author or defender of the book), a signed Canada Reads 2008 poster, and a gift certificate for the CBC shop.

I've noticed, because of the Canadian Book Challenge and Canada Reads, that it's difficult to find Canadian literature in Korea. So, I wanted to find out what an author thought of this situation. Thus I submitted the following question to Paul Quarrington:
I'm currently teaching English in Korea and have been paying close attention to the Canada Reads competition, as I do every year. However, I wasn't able to attain any of the selections in any of the bookstores in the country. So, I wanted to know what Mr. Quarrington thinks of the marketing of Canadian books overseas? I love Canadian literature and I want anything Canadian, and not Margaret Atwood or Robertson Davies, I have to place a special order. At present I think the Canadians out number the Americans as teachers, so I don't think it's due to not enough Canadians around. And I guess as a follow-up question, what would you suggest be done about this issue? Thank you.

After making this submission a couple of weeks ago I didn't think about it anymore.

Flash forward to last night. Charlotte and I went to Seoul for White Day (a day when men give gifts to women, women did the gift giving on Valentines Day) we had dinner and watched Blueberry Nights (review coming soon to The Reel View, my movie site). I happened to find a collection of Shakespeare's works in graphic novel (No Fear Shakespeare) form.  There were three that they had, I don't know if more exist or not, and I pick up Macbeth and cannot wait to read it.  When we returned I checked my email and low and behold there was an email from Canada Reads informing me that my question was one of ten questions selected. I was quite excited about this find.

Now, I play the waiting game for my book, poster and gift certificate to show up. If you're interested in seeing the winning questions and Paul Quarrington's answers you find them here.
Posted by Aaron Kropf at 23:46:03 | Permanent Link | Comments (3) |
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