Adam & Eve: A Novel

First, I would like to thank William Morrow/HarperCollins Publishers for sending me this uncorrected proof. In return, I am providing an unpaid review of the book containing my personal opinions of Naslund's newest novel Adam and Eve. In her two previous novels, Ahab's Wife and Abundance, the author brought a fictional character to life - Ahab's wife (from Moby Dick) and took a real life character - Marie Antionette, into a fictional world. In her latest novel, Naslund wraps her characters around ancient religious symbols and texts - moving from Amsterdam, to Eden (somewhere in the Middle East), to France.


Lucy Bergmann was in Amsterdam when her husband was killed. Shortly before his death Thom, an astrophysicist, had given Lucy his flash drive with the quip that it was the keys to the kingdom. And the kingdom included extraterrestrial life! He could prove it. At this point, I was thinking, oh brother ~ another one of these stories ~ but I persevered! And I loved this book.

The book bounces back and forth in time, but is easy to follow. We meet people who are to help Lucy, like Adam who finds himself adrift from a war he never believed in - adrift in Eden. Alone until Lucy ~ his Eve ~ crashes a plane nearby. Together they look for a case Lucy was carrying ~ holding ancient biblical texts. Lucy and Adam are not the only people searching for them and the two find themselves in the center of a battle between the three main ancient religions.

I was glued to this book from beginning to end. I had to hear what the ancient texts said, I had to follow Adam and Lucy in Eden, I had to know who the bad guys were, and was there a happily ever after? I hope that you will grab this book and spend some time with it. I plan to read it again as soon as I can and check out the author's previous two books as well.

TITLE: Adam & Eve: A Novel
AUTHOR: Sena Jeter Naslund
COPYRIGHT: September 2010
PAGES: 335
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: I found this to be a beautiful book that provoked joy and deep thinking about our place in the universe. A perfect blend of mystery, faith, and beauty.

Sunday Sidelines (And Awards, ~squee~)

So, today is a special Sunday around our house ~ it is my husband's birthday! He is 42 today and we are celebrating with a special dinner with vanilla cake (with vanilla icing) [his choice, as per our household agreement, birthday person picks cake and icing flavor]!

What a sweet thing to find in my comments today! CMash @ CMash Loves to Read gave me the following two awards:

The Honest Scrap award is given to bloggers who share honest bits of information about yourself. And the Versatile Blogger award is given to a new blog that you think is fantastic. So first, I want to thank CMash for these two awards. It is always nice to know that someone out there is reading what you write and thinks of you. I love reading CMash's posts so I feel very special to receive these awards.

And now for the criteria:
To accept these awards it is required that I share ten things about myself.

1. I have four chihuahuas that I treat like my children ~ I have four of those as well, but they are all grown.

2. My husband is fifteen years younger than I am, we both work for the same library!

3. I have two grandsons and wish that my other three children would get busy and provide me with some granddaughters!

4. I wake up two or three times each night and go outside and read ~ probably not good for my health, but I get some reading done!

5. I have so many books that I have read and not reviewed that I could just cry ~ all of the Outlander series, about four review books from publishers, two from LibraryThing ~ oh, goodness the list just goes on and on! I'm working on it.

6. I love playing all of the Lego games on the Wii ~ sometimes I have to get one of my children to beat a level so I can more forward.

7. I work with young people all day long, and I think it keeps me young as well. Now if some how they could just help me lose weight??!!

8. I traveled to Eastern Europe and absolutely fell in love! I hope that I get the opportunity to return.

9. I have another blog that focuses on Holocaust resources for children. I am really drawn to these books and feel it is important to provide this information to our children.

10. I have really enjoyed getting to know all of the book bloggers out in the blogosphere! What a great bunch of people. Thanks again to CMash!

I would like to pass the award on to the following bloggers, in no particular order:

Crazy for Books

In Which a Girl Reads

Lost in the Library

Peaceful Reader

Reading While Female

If you don't already follow these blogs, you should definitely check them out ~ they are fantastic!

Don't forget LunaNina and the Word Association Game:

1.Mustache :: Pete
2.Person :: of interest
3.Restore :: my health
4.Discretion :: is the better part of valor
5.Lamp :: Lava
6.Pillow cover :: so soft
7.Arousal :: sexual
8.Seattle :: needle
9.ATM :: card
10.Custard :: vanilla

Wishing everyone a Happy Sunday and a wonderful week!

Room

Jack is only five years old.
He lives with his MA in ROOM.
Everything outside the ROOM is pretend.
ROOM is all Jack has ever known.

But one day MA tells Jack that
There is another life outside of ROOM.
MA has lied to him.
But can they leave ROOM?

If they do leave ROOM
How will they live?
Will Old Nick find them,
And take them back to ROOM?

Will MA's family care
Care that they have been in ROOM
Such a long time
Only to finally reappear?

Can Jack and MA escape from Old Nick?
Will the love between MA and Jack sustain them
Outside the ROOM?


Thanks to Little Brown and Company, I had the privilege to read this fascinating book. Five year old Jack is the narrator and author Emma Donoghue has done a magnificent job in giving Jack just the right voice for his age and experiences. One would think this book, limited in range to one small room and two people, would be flat and boring. Instead Ma and Jack's story is a testament to love and ingenuity. With very little to assist her in her efforts, Ma provides Jack with as many "normal" childhood experiences as she can, using what she has, and providing loving care for her son. Still she knows things have to change. And they do! Ma thinks of a way that she and Jack can fool Old Nick and escape Room. Will they succeed and will they find greater happiness? You will have to read the book to find out!

TITLE: Room: A Novel
AUTHOR: Emma Donoghue
COPYRIGHT: September 2010
PAGES: 321
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: I loved this book, as a reader, as a mother and as a child. Fantastic novel!

If my recommendation is not enough, Room is on the Man Booker Prize short list! If you have read this one, let me know how you felt about it!

BBAW - Future Treasure

I want to hear all about your FUTURE treasures. We’ve been visiting each other and getting to know each other better…now is your chance to share what you enjoyed about BBAW and also what your blogging goals are for the next year!

I have enjoyed every single part of Book Blogger Appreciation Week! From the very beginning with judging blogs from all of the categories to this last little bit ~ and of course every little thing in between. I have found some wonderful blogs which are new to me that have over-filled my Google Friend list, I have given some love to beautiful bloggers who have influenced what I am reading, I have created a monstrous TBR pile of books that I just know I am going to love, and I had the pleasure of interviewing two fantastic bloggers! So how much fun was all of this? T.O.N.S of FUN! Thank you to all of the people who helped to organize BBAW and thanks to all of the bloggers who showed just how much they love books!

My blogging goals for the next year are to try my best to review books immediately after I read them whenever possible ~ and I would even say, to review books that I have read, because sometimes I get so far behind (voracious reader that I can be) that it seems impossible to get caught up, so I just stop like a deer in the headlights! I hope to remember that this is always supposed to be fun. I would like to make even deeper connections with my fellow book-loving nerds and enjoy what we all have to say!

BBAW - Forgotten Treasures!

Today’s Topic: Sure we’ve all read about Freedom and Mockingjay but we likely have a book we wish would get more attention by book bloggers, whether it’s a forgotten classic or under marketed contemporary fiction. This is your chance to tell the community why they should consider reading this book!

What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt is a wonderful novel that I have not seen bounced about in the blogosphere much. I read the book as part of the Scandinavian Reading Challenge 2010 which you can find at The Black Sheep Dances.

Here is the beginning of my review:

For me, the mark of a great book is one that, while I am reading it, I say to myself "This is the best book I have ever read." Now granted I am prone to saying that with some frequency, but for me, What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt was just such a book. I loved every part of it - the mundane, the excitement, the familiar, the unknown, the art, the critic, the loneliness, the camraderie. This book has everything and then some. The focus is clear as we have a single narrator who leads us through his twenty-five year friendships in New York's art world.

I hope that you will take some time to read the rest of my review which can be found Here.

I found another excellent review of What I Loved at The Public, The Private, and Everything In Between. Beyond this review I didn't find too many others, so I hope you will read this book and post a review ~ and come back and leave me a comment to make sure I read it!

BBAW - Unexpected Treasures

Book bloggers can be some of the most influential people around! Today we invite you to share with us a book or genre you tried due to the influence of another blogger. What made you cave in to try something new and what was the experience like?

This is an easy question for me. Because of Presenting Lenore and her Dystopian August with promotion and love for the Hunger Game series, I read all three Hunger Game books as fast as I could when Mockingjay was released. I do like YA books, and I love reading her reviews of YA materials - but dystopian novels with strange worlds ~ not my typical read. And I absolutely loved the three books. In fact, I plan to read all three again when I have a bit of time on my hands. Of course, I continue to read Lenore's reviews of other YA books and know that I can trust her judgment! She is my Queen of YA books!!

Table Talk Tuesday

It is time again for Table Talk Tuesday! Welcome to TABLE TALK TUESDAY hosted by Cheryl at CMash Loves to Read. I missed last week because I had it in my mind that it was Table Talk Thursday - very, very close! OK, so this week is Book Blogger Appreciation Week and that is very exciting, so my conversation tidbits will be about BBAW. But first let me answer CMash's questions.
CMash's conversation tidbits:
1. Do you have any special plans for this week?

I stay super busy most weeks, but this week I am trying to set aside some time to read as many BBAW related posts as possible. This is coming on the heels of what was probably a very successful Blogfest (which I did not sign up for because I am slow!)

2. It's that time of year, do you get a flu shot?

Absolutely - even with the flu shot last year I was one of the lucky Floridians who managed to get the Swine Flu - working in a library, I think we are offered every possible bug every day!

3. What are you reading this week?

I am reading A Call from Jersey by P.F. Kluge - which I love so far.

Now here are my thoughts and questions:

1. I am in love with BlogFest and BBAW - I mean seriously book bloggers are the greatest people. How have you participated? I did an interview with one person for each of my blogs - here are the links: Sophisticated Dorkiness and Age 30+ - A Lifetime of Books
Both are phenomenal bloggers so I hope you will check out the interviews and visit their blogs.

2. Tell me how you found out about BlogFest - did you participate? Do you know any bloggers in real life? How did you meet? I would love to meet with real people just once!

3. Do you ever participate in the Read-a-thons? If yes, how many hours of 24 do you actually read? Do you significant others understand this insanity? I have not participated but I would love to, so I am thinking about Dewey's Readathon.

Hope you have a wonderful week! I've enjoyed my cup and cake with you this morning!